If you haven’t looked at Traktor DJ, Native Instruments’ iOS app (it runs on Mac and PC too) recently, a new update and the concurrent global stay-home happening seems like the perfect time to do it. The update to Traktor DJ 2.4 has a bunch of features that look like they’re straight out of a user feature request thread – mostly focused around the transport interface.
Traktor DJ 2 vs Traktor Pro 3: A Refresher
Traktor DJ 2 is the “rewrite” of the Traktor codebase, modeled after the Traktor DJ iOS app. It’s available on iOS devices, MacOS, and Windows. It has a lot of the functionality of Traktor, but it’s free, has SoundCloud Go+ integration, and track recommendations. It’s still just two decks – but we imagine it may replace Traktor Pro one day.
Traktor DJ 2.4 features + changes
Here’s what the Traktor team has shared as being the big feature additions and improvements in the 2.4 update to the app.
- Transport Bar can now be assigned to the left, right, or bottom on iOS
- Swappable Play / CUE buttons
- New “CUE slide-to-play” allows for holding CUE and sliding into Play
- Track genre is now visible, searchable, and sortable
- Track time displays next to each track in the browser (iOS)
- Increased track length limitation
- Improved Waveform readability
- Stripe Waveform now has 3 bands
- Tracks can now be played before analysis is complete
- Clock in the header
- Improved Browser view layout shows stacked decks when using waveform view (iOS)
Overall, these feel like major quality of life improvements for DJs who use the app. UI customization based on user preference (assignable transport bar, play/cue button swapping, etc) has been a constant request of Traktor Pro over the years, but we’re betting that the more modern codebase of Traktor DJ makes such changes a bit more reasonable to implement.
What Will The Future Bring for TDJ?
First, let’s note something awesome: Traktor development seems to be continuing. It was a bit concerning last year to see all of the layoffs at Native Instruments followed by a likely global recession this year, but releasing an update is a great sign of life.
For those wondering what’s really up next with the Traktor DJ project, the team shared a little bit more in their update post:
We continue to prioritize what we work on based on your feedback, so please keep the requests and suggestions coming. We don’t have the time to answer every post here right now, but you can trust that we’re still listening.
We have another exciting release coming early in the new year that should address a lot of the requests and issues mentioned here on the forum, so stay tuned for that.
