It’s April 1st, but today’s sale news isn’t a prank. Native Instruments has issued a price drop on the legendary Traktor Kontrol S4 and S2 MK2 controllers. The controllers are now available – $699 and $449.
As most DJTT fans know, we’re long supporters of the Kontrol S4 and S2 hardware as one of the best solutions for DJs looking for a great controller. The MK2 upgrade seemed incremental, but NI did a solid job of refining what was already a winning controller. They added Traktor DJ (on iOS) support for the controller and it’s sound card, RGB buttons, and improving the quality of the jogwheels.
Check out the sale here: $699 KONTROL S4, $449 Kontrol S2
A few important notes on this sale:
- It’s highly unlikely that a MK3 series is coming in the near future (the MK2 was released just 6.5 months ago)
- Both units come with a full Traktor Pro 2 license and a full set of Chroma Caps
- The first 20 units sold at DJTT get free codes for Traktor DJ on iOS and iPhone
To celebrate the sale and the impending launch of the Midi Fighter Twister, we’re giving away golden tickets in random orders of the S4/S2s. The winners will get some of the first production Twisters when they arrive in a few weeks.
As always, every sale in the DJTT store goes to support the process of creating powerful new DJ products, crafting tutorials, writing reviews, and helping to support the community of DJs with tools like Maps.
sweet deal if you end up with one of the twisters and get the license for traktor dj too. i’d be all over it, if i didn’t already have an S4 and a pair of F1 decks. as for new hardware being released… i couldn’t see a standalone cd tabletop unit (too much R&D for both optical component and processor… then don’t forget about the OS to run traktor), but i do wish they would introduce a platter based controller that has 2 deck control.
I’m Wondering what the next NI product announcement will be.
Since they have a mixer out, it’d be really cool to see a CDJ with the maschine studio screen.
I’m imagining being able to export my tracks/playlists onto a thumb drive like I would if I was going to play on someone else’s setup, but instead the Traktor CDJ would just read the files appropriately with cue points, beatgrids, etc already set up. Maybe a few RGB pads on the CDJ somewhere too. Would buy!
I’m right there with you. Unfortunately I think we will have a long time to wait since nothing they have is in the realm of a standalone player. I’m still wishing though.
I think you underestimate the amount of processing power that is needed to properly playback/scratch/modulate songs without an external computer.
A CDJ 2000 nexus (what you are kind of reffering to) is basically a laptop in CDJ shape with stripped down version of Traktor and a small screen. Just look at the price: for the price of a CDJ 2000 nxs you could buy a S2 and a proper macbook pro. Pioneer did an amazing job in engineering all this stuff into a handy and nice to use solution. So there is no way, NI would bring out an standalone player anytime soon. I think their goal is to push the laptop further away, but stick with it, as it’s a very versatile and powerful external processor and data storage for awesome controllers.
Stanton actually showed that this is possible – their SCS.4DJ is a stand-alone player with waveform display just like the CDJs – except that it costs less than 500 EUR: http://www.stantondj.com/dj-systems.html
Yes! The CDJ2000s are impressive but their price is not related to the technology they use.
Competition always helps the market and I think NI is in a great position to provide it and help prices/innovation on all fronts. Hoping anyways 🙂
As if the SCS.4DJ is even close to the features of Traktor Pro…
Well, it has song sync/beatgrids, hotcues, looping, effects, coloured waveforms. It’s not Traktor Pro, but also a CDJ doesn’t have all the features of Traktor.
I am just saying if Stanton can do it for 500 EUR, maybe NI can do something better and sell it for 1000 EUR ?
*facepalm*… you do realize that this is not just “another” controller. even though it doesn’t have a slot load for cd’s, it does have the ability to run DVS. most controllers will only run the “dj” version of the software, not the scratch version. My S4 runs on Traktor Scratch, not Traktor Pro, giving me the ability hook up turntables or cdj’s as needed. try that with your standalone.
I think NI’s biggest challenge is that Traktor lost its lead in the software market. Serato now covers 90% of the needs of most DJs and has the better hardware on offer. So maybe the next big thing from NI should not be a new controller, but Traktor Pro 3.
You may want to recheck your sources, Native Instruments was dumping $$$ into DVS long before Serato was a company. Final Scratch was a joint effort between Stanton and Native Instruments. over the last 2 years they have definitely stepped up their software “game”. The engine has finally become stable and the inclusion of the 4X4 sample remix deck. Then there is the fact that Maschine loops can be exported as optimized loops for Traktor’s remix deck. I’m also finding lately that, in comparison to the Serato dj’s that i work with, the file paths and layout are easier to navigate and software stability has less issues. If Serato is so superior these days, why is Traktor winning DMC competitions?
To respond to your question, marketing budget. Though I’m not certain, I would say NI has a much larger budget to sponsor DJs especially high profile ones that are going to be competing DMC competitions. A good DJ can play just as well on either software with some getting use to.
Personally, I see VERY few people on DVS using Traktor Scratch Pro. Come to think of it, in person I’ve never seen anyone using TSP. You see a lot guys on controllers using Traktor Pro but from what I’ve seen, Serato has become the standard for DVS.
my point of including DMC as an example speaks of the stability of the software these days. a turntablist wouldn’t waste his/her time or suffer the aggravation of using flaky software, especially in a competition.
I think your examples show exactly the problem that I meant: only a small minority of DJs would want to export Maschine samples to Traktor or use remix decks at all (interestingly that never really took off). So people decide more based on the hardware and this is where Serato currently shines.
But it will indeed be increasingly difficult to innovate on the software-side as Traktor and Serato are both very mature at this stage. But tackling the most important problems of Traktor would be a nice move (i.e. simpler mapping, flexible beatgrids, better iTunes integration, etc)
the ability to add your own simple loops from maschine to a production remix set bought from a distributor allows you to do a live remix, not to mention dubs and layering. as an ex-ableton user (live 4,5,6 and 7) and an older dj (yes, i started on vinyl), I find that traktor’s strength lies in it’s flexibility in comparison to serato and stability of the engine since 2.5 has made it a viable option.
after throwing the last fund-raiser for our community radio station, a lot of serato users were asking quite a few questions about the Z2 mixer i brought in for the gig. should have seen eyes pop when the switch to serato was just the touch of a button.
oh yeah, as to the comment of “no one using remix decks in traktor”…. you may want to remember that a bunch of djtechtools revenue is based on controllers for the remix deck function in traktor. after all the sales pitch for this article is based on a “golden ticket” (nice play on ean’s name btw djtt) for the midifighter twister.
Must admit you have a point there about the remix decks.
The closest thing I could see NI doing as far as a CDJ would be a slightly bigger Z1 with a screen built in running Traktor DJ. It would more or less be the same thing as having a Z1 and an iPad. All it would take would be a new case, guts of a Z1, guts of an iPad (or tablet) and the screens out of the Maschine Studio. Some software tweaks on Traktor DJ and boom… stand alone controller.
Those maschine screens are definitely going to make an appearance somewhere else in the NI lineup. I’m curious as to where.
Apple isn’t known for allowing other companies to create hardware that comes with iOS. If NI were to create a version of Traktor DJ for Android I could see it, but think of all the features you lose out on due to hardware, software and OS limitations.
Agreed with the Apple portion. There would be some work put in to convert Traktor DJ to a different OS. The biggest thing for me on Traktor DJ is lack of hardware control for triggering loops and cue points. I agree those features would be crucial on a new controller but those are about the only features I would miss.