NI Traktor Kontrol or Vestax vci-100 Arcade ?

[Timmi]

Hi Guys !

I am dabbling a little in Ableton and want to jump in on Traktor for live performance/remixing.

Can anyone tell the advantages of the S4 vs the Vci-100 Arcade and can I do the same things with the vci-100 arcade (sampling, looping, overdubbing) as with the S4 ?

Does anyone know if the vci-100 Arcade will work with the new Traktor Pro 2 coming out in april ?

I thing the vci-100 arcade is übercool and the things I have seen done with it on this site is mindblowing, but I need some mini "reviews" of both the S4 and vci-100 Arcade to make up my mind, which controller to buy.

Totally appreciate any feddback, thanks.

Timmi

[MeAngry]

I've just made the move from a VCI-100 SE (not arcade though) to a Kontrol S4, and after a few hours of use I can say the following.

- The VCI-100 SE in general, but I think the arcade even more so, seems more appropriate for beat juggling than the S4. The arcade version because of its buttons of course, but also because I haven't found an easy way yet to have access to cue points 5 - 8 without giving up some sampler functionality.
You can map the sampler buttons to cue points 5 - 8, but then you'll of course loose the direct sampler access. Maybe somebody else can add some idea's to this?

- The Kontrol S4 is more suitable for people that love to use lots of different samples, loops and what-not at the same time. The VCI-100 does have a sampling function, but it's more of a hack currently and relies on effects to achieve such a feature. That may change with TP2 though.
The Kontrol S4 on the other hand has up to 8 sampling decks (4 on deck C and D each), which you can use while also controlling deck A and B. So I can imagine Ableton users like that a lot.
You'll also have a loop recording function directly on the controller which is absolutely awesome if you ask me. You won't get such a function easily on a VCI-100 when TP2 comes out, but maybe Ean and his team can work miracles again, you'll never know.

The VCI-100 should just work with Traktor Pro 2 by the way, the VCI-100 is still a MIDI controller, so you can map it freely in Traktor Pro 2. I've also heard it will be possible to import Traktor Pro 1.x mappings, but I'm not 100% sure about that.
To use the real sampler decks, or other new functions of TP2 with the VCI-100 will require some modification of the current DJTT mapping though, while all of this functionality will immediately work with the S4.

Please bear in mind that this is my own opinion about this stuff after just a few hours of S4 use, ymmv.

[alex8337]

The S4 is a delicate controller, not one that can be cleaned easily, thus not the controller I take to gigs. I'll be only taking my Hercules 4Mx to gigs now and leaving my S4 at home.

[Accidental-DJ]

Get the S4 its a great controller,

A lot of people that dj with them dont actually beat juggle. So a S4 would be fine.

Ive also taken my S4 and played out and long as you take care of it nothing is going to happen to it.