Nokturnalist

We held off on this one for a bit as we wanted to get the details on Native Instruments upcoming Traktor Kontrol S2.  The S4 has been a big success since its release last year, and although we did not review it, we thought it had some positives as well as negatives.  After reading up on the S2, it appears many of the main features of the S4 will be available in the little brother, minus one of the best things the S4 had going for it in the 4 channels and the loop recorder.  The four channel feature allows you to run 2 tracks, samples, and acappellas together seamlessly integrating all of them at once into your mix.  The loop recorder allows you to record samples on the fly and trigger them at any point while beatmatching them, making for a great way to add extra snippets to your mixes.

The S4 also allows you to use it as a mixer while utilizing your own CDJ’s or 1200′s (or any other turntable) while the S2 does not.  This is a good feature for those of you that want to have the S4 as a portable system when playing out, but also allowing yourself to be able to use your own tables at home.  Hey… some of us will never give up using vinyl.  I think one of the worst things that both products have going for it is the feel of the jog wheels.  They’re very small and when you’re trying to mix with them, you can only have two or three fingers on the wheel.  Again, this might be fine for some, but for those of you who are used to CDJ’s, it can be uncomfortable.  Also there is no MIDI synching on the S2 if you want to record MIDI from another program or piece of hardware the way the S4 can.

Most of this is probably not a deal breaker for some of you.  A lot of people who bought the S4 were bedroom DJ’s looking to get started in DJing, or those who had old gear and didn’t want to shell out the cash to update their mixer and tables/CDJ’s.  Keep in mind, the S4 as a package came in at $900, while a mixer and two CDJ-900′s would run you $3000.  And we have to admit, although we ended up not keeping the S4, it’s a solid product with good functionality that is great for beginners without blowing your bank account into pieces, and the S2 will be more of the same.  For those of you starting off, the S2 is hands down the best controller on the market for Traktor (which we think is the best DJ’ing software on the market as well… so a win win).  Check out the links below for a lot of great information on the S2.

S2 Interface Explorer: http://www.native-instruments.com/#/en/products/dj/traktor-kontrol-s2/?content=1672&page=2850

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