Kontrol S8 experience for Open format DJs?

[cyberninjitsu]

Hi All,

Long time Traktor user. Four years ago I picked up a S4 mk1 used at a great price, and it has served me perfectly for house parties and local DJ sessions. Along the way I picked up a F1 + Z2 + Midifighter 3D and have used turntables in my home setup.

Saw a great local deal on a Kontrol S8 and with my S4 on its last leg (FX Buttons work when they feel like it, channel B+D faders have phantom movements), I'm thinking of making the jump. Issue is I play a lot of open format and I'm supposed to pick up the unit tomorrow.

I'm the type of person to play a chill lounge DJ set, and then drop some hip hop. I make frequent use of transition tracks and one of my favorite features on the s4 has been the pitch reset to zero. I'd sync an intro to a hip hop song over a house song for a few beats and then reset to zero as the vocals hit.

Long story short, any Open Format DJs making it work on the S8?

[the_bastet]

My home AR7 does. You can do the same with the s8 resetting to zero pitch. Doing long mixes with live recorded tracks can be a challenge without a jog wheel or turntable to do quick drastice pitch bends, but prepping your tracks super precise can help alleviate that.

[CookieDoe]

Hi All,

Long time Traktor user. Four years ago I picked up a S4 mk1 used at a great price, and it has served me perfectly for house parties and local DJ sessions. Along the way I picked up a F1 + Z2 + Midifighter 3D and have used turntables in my home setup.

Saw a great local deal on a Kontrol S8 and with my S4 on its last leg (FX Buttons work when they feel like it, channel B+D faders have phantom movements), I'm thinking of making the jump. Issue is I play a lot of open format and I'm supposed to pick up the unit tomorrow.

I'm the type of person to play a chill lounge DJ set, and then drop some hip hop. I make frequent use of transition tracks and one of my favorite features on the s4 has been the pitch reset to zero. I'd sync an intro to a hip hop song over a house song for a few beats and then reset to zero as the vocals hit.

Long story short, any Open Format DJs making it work on the S8?

I've been playing Open Format style mixes on my S8 at clubs, parties, and even weddings for over a year now and love it. I upgraded from the S4 and was concerned about the same things as you mentioned, but within 1 week of using the S8 all my fears flew out the window.

To answer your questions about the pitch reset on the S8, you can do that easily by clicking the bpm setting button located next to the screen on the deck you want to reset and hold the "back" button under the browser encoder. Another option is to just hold shift and quick turn the master tempo encoder located right in the middle of the S8.

The S8 also makes it insanely easy to adjust the beatgrids of your tracks even live on the fly if needed. Prepping tracks is so easy using it. People think that mixing open format using any type of sync is either impossible or sounds incredibly boring and cliche, but they are totally wrong. I use sync on and quantitize off (unless I'm mashing up 4 songs at once or it's the end of a long set and I might have had a little too much to drink) Nudging with the touch strip is a little foreign at first but the phase lights on there help you practice and in no time it's second nature. Having the ability of the single master tempo knob allows you to constantly be adjusting the tempo and syncing the intros of your songs while adjusting the tempo with one knob allows you to focus on effecting the songs coming in/out, creating extremely creative builds/drops, and endless multi-tracking options. I use a Midi Fighter 3D to run all my effects as well, instant gratification FTW!!