After a well placed teaser weeks ago, Native Instruments finally gave up the goods and announced Traktor Pro 2 today with a release date of April 1st 2011. Traktor Pro 2 is the newest successor in the Traktor line, taking the Traktor Pro S4 features and rolling them into Traktor Pro with a few nice extra touches. They include colored waveforms, multi channel support, and potential for up to 16 concurrent loops! Continue reading for our extensive 10 minute tour of Traktor Pro 2 plus a breakdown of every new feature.

Looking for helpful Traktor Pro 2 tips and tricks? These articles will get you started:

• Using Sync
• Perfect beat grids with Traktor Pro 2
• Easy Transitions with Traktor Pro 2 FX 

Traktor Pro 2 Essential Info

• available in April
• $229 for the software
• $79 if you have Traktor Pro
• $129 if you have LE
• $0 if you have a Kontrol S4 or Audio 2 USB interface (both available in our online store!)

THE NEW FEATURES

Side By Side Install

• Traktor Pro 2 uses same analysis files as Traktor Pro 1,  but does a side by side install so you can revert to T Pro 1 if needed.

New GUI

The new style is similar to the S4, and has a dark rich color palette that may be perceived by some as more professional. It’s actually starting to look more and more like the original Traktor 2 layout which was dominated by black and green tones.

New Deck Sizes

To make your screen less clutter and more feedback, Native Instruments offers a few new deck sizes that maximize or minimize space.

• Essential Deck
• Micro Deck

Multi Colored Waveforms

There are now 4 colored waveform options. Sadly, the one option that is not present is the Traktor 1 style waveforms. Instead you can choose from:

• X-ray
• Infrared (Above)
• Ultraviolet
• Spectrum (Above)

Zoomable Waveforms

• The new waveforms also zoom in really tight for the most accurate cue points you can possibly imagine!

Grid-Lines

The style of grid-lines can be customized in the Deck Preferences. There is now:

• light
• strong (above)
• tick
• invisible

New Platter and Scope

• The size of the platter has been increased by reducing the width of the phase meter.

LOOP RECORDER

4 Sample Decks

• S4 supports samples and loop decks on all 4 decks.

4 New Effects

• Tape Delay

• Ramp Delay

• Bouncer

• Auto Bouncer

Additional Features

• Plugging in a NI sound card will automatically change the audio from internal to the NI sound card and route the outputs so you don’t have to worry about changing settings.

• You can send multiple decks out over the same channel – 4 decks over a 2 channel sound card. (Only with the audio 6 or 10.)

• Future S4’s will ship with Traktor Pro 2 CD’s and all S4’s can also run Traktor Pro (no word on a upgrade price yet)

• Multiple decks can now use the same CD or turntable input.

• Dragging a loop from a deck into a sample slot now copies the tracks filter position.

Pricing and availability