Photo courtesy of Native Instruments
August 16th, 2010 – I’m a big fan of Native Instruments. I like their FM8 and Absynth instruments, and I have a fairly large Kontakt library. One of my next purchases will be Maschine, and I like Traktor Pro quite a bit. Well, today brings exciting news because they’ve finally released their own standalone controller, the Traktor S4 system.
It’s a hardware controller with a built in audio card (no doubt using their line of very well regarded audio cards), containing an effects section mirroring the Kontrol X1, high-resolution platters (using some fancy pants magnetic tracking system), and a special version of the Traktor software. Not only that, but while the hardware runs off of an AC connection, it is able to run in emergency mode off bus power, with lowered headphone output, and dim LEDs. Pretty snazzy! You’ll also be able to connect your Traktor control vinyl (for those who will use the S4 with a traditional turntable setup) in a forthcoming update.
The software has some new features, like replacing decks C and D with 8 loop decks with volume, filter, and syncing for each. That brings me to an interesting side-note about the S4: it was designed in concert with Ean Golden of DJ TechTools. Ean and the community at DJ TT have been extending the mappings of Traktor Pro for years, making gear like the Vestax VCI-100 a force to be reckoned with.
With Ean Golden and Native Instruments, the Traktor S4 must be something special. Of course, awesomeness doesn’t come cheap; the Traktor S4 system will be available this winter for a grand. It’s already got me salivating. I must review one!
2 Comments, Comment or Ping
Dave
I love the look of it, but the price puts me off. I’ll have to touch one to know for sure.
Sep 4th, 2010
Sean
@Dave: Yup, it’s pretty pricey but I’m sure since it’s an NI product, it’ll be of good quality.
Sep 6th, 2010
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