So who ordered a Z2?

**rdej47** · 11-08-2012, 02:53 PM

Got mine within 2 days of ordering (Quebec to Saskatchewan). If you're in Canada I highly recommend ordering from Moog Audio (based in montreal). There customer service is awesome (shout out to Danny), emailing them might as well be instant messaging.

**botstein** · 11-08-2012, 03:02 PM

Originally Posted by rdej47

Got mine within 2 days of ordering (Quebec to Saskatchewan). If you're in Canada I highly recommend ordering from Moog Audio (based in montreal). There customer service is awesome (shout out to Danny), emailing them might as well be instant messaging.

+1, Moog Audio helped me out when I was in Quebec this summer.

**GI Trackt** · 11-08-2012, 04:01 PM

Just ordered mine today :-) Can't waiiiitttt!

**DJSigma** · 11-08-2012, 08:56 PM

Here's a copy and paste of the post I made on DJ Forums about this mixer: -

Unboxing and first impressions

The mixer comes with everything you'll need in the box, except the software. It comes with a registration card for the Traktor Scratch Pro software and on that is a link where you can download the installer for either Windows or OS X. I'm in the UK and my mixer came with separate power leads for both European and UK plug types.

The mixer feels weighty and is well built, in fact, the build quality is better than I expected given the price (£630 with shipping in the UK). NI's claim in a recent demo video of “we built this so you could throw it against a wall” is obviously OTT, but this is a nicely built piece of kit. The faceplate is magnetic and is easily removed just by removing the mixer's knobs – a nice touch. The faceplate is glossy black though, so it is a fingerprint magnet. The aesthetics of the mixer are a matter of opinion, but I think it looks great.

The first thing I did after taking the mixer out of the box is get a feel of the faders. The Z2 uses mini versions of the popular Innofaders from Audio Innovate. This is my first gripe with the mixer, as the mini Innofaders have their tension preset in the factory and in the case of this mixer, Native Instruments chose to use a loose fader for the crossfader and stiffer faders for the lines. The crossfader feels great – smooth, light and quiet. The line faders, however, are far too stiff for my liking. I understand the reasoning behind that – that many DJs want a loose crossfader for scratching and stiffer ones for more precise control when mixing with the lines, but I don't really buy that reasoning, as there is no reason why you can't smoothly and accurately control the line faders when they're loose. It's a matter of preference of course, but I would have preferred 3 loose faders. Full Innofaders will fit into this mixer, but in the UK they cost £140 each which would obviously push the cost up considerably if you were to fit 3 of them!

All of the knobs, switches and buttons feel good. The pots are plastic unfortunately, but obviously it remains to be seen if there are any longevity issues with any of the controls.

Overall, aside from the stiff line faders, I was impressed.

Installation

Setting up the mixer is easy. It has a sound card for Traktor built into it, so you can wave goodbye to external boxes and extra wires.

I had Traktor installed already as I have a Traktor A6 package, but I decided to do a completely fresh installation. I uninstalled all Traktor entries from Programs & Features and removed any left over files/folders and registry entries manually – you certainly don't need to do this, but I thought I would start totally from scratch.

Installation is very simple. Download the Traktor installer from the link given on your registration card and run it. One of the set up screens lists various controllers and devices which you can install drivers for. They're all checked by default, but I unchecked all of them apart from the Z2 as I see no reason to install a bunch of drivers for devices I'll never use.

Once you've installed the software, you just need to hook up the mixer. Connect your decks to the mixer as you would with any other, plug in the power cord, then connect the USB cable from the back of the mixer to a USB port on your PC. Turn the mixer on, fire up Traktor – job done.

Initial performance

I'm using Traktor on Windows 8 Pro and the Z2 is connected to my PC via a USB 3.0 port – a potentially problematic combination, lol. There is currently an issue with Traktor Scratch Pro on Windows 8 and when you exit the program, it will save your settings as normal, but then it will continue to run in the background and you have to end the task with Task Manager. Native Instruments are aware of this and are working on a fix. Aside from that though, it all runs fine. In fact, I am able to use buffer settings as low as this: -

With those buffer settings, my CPU load is at about a third when mixing and scratching. Occasionally it will spike up, but I'm not experiencing any audio glitches, drop-outs or unwanted effects. I'm getting much better performance out of this than I got with the Audio 6 as I couldn't have the buffer settings as low with that. YMMV of course, because how low you can have the buffer settings will depend on the specs of your machine, the operating system, and how well maintained your rig is. I should say that I do no tweaks on Windows, so no services are disabled or anything like that – it's just a default, clean installation of Windows 8, although I make sure that no unnecessary software runs at boot. Overall, I'm very impressed with the performance.

Using the mixer with real vinyl

I use a combination of real vinyl and time-coded vinyl when I DJ, so the first thing I did was try using some proper records. Switching between time-codes and regular vinyl is just a case of pushing a button on the mixer – there's a button for each deck. That switches the mode in Traktor. Very simple.

Using the mixer with time-coded vinyl

Performance with time-coded vinyl is excellent. As I mentioned above, I am able to use very low buffer settings with the Z2 and there's no noticeable latency nor audio glitches.

If I had one gripe here it would be with the Traktor software, rather than the mixer. When you are using key lock and you scratch, it can sound “digital” and not very realistic, even when key lock is set to high quality mode and scratch mode. Some improvements could definitely be made here, but it's certainly not a deal breaker and it's not an issue with the Z2 itself.

Faders, sound quality and EQs in use

The crossfader is great. I'm a hip-hop/scratch DJ, so the crossfader is the most important part of a mixer for me. While there is no tension adjustment, it's a very light, smooth fader and I doubt anyone would consider it to be too stiff. The lag is 1-2mm, which is nice and low. The cut-in is very sharp when the curve is set to its sharpest settings. The fader can be calibrated using a button on the fader itself (although it is NOT recommended that you do this), and it can also be calibrated from within Traktor, although the software-based calibration obviously has no effect on the fader when you're using real vinyl – it only works when you're in Traktor mode. There's a reverse/hamster switch for the crossfader and a curve control knob on the front of the mixer.

The line faders are far too stiff, as I mentioned above. Even for fading echo scratches, they feel horrible. People who don't scratch will have no problem with them and may even prefer them being stiffer, but for me, these faders suck and it's a real shame because they are the exact same faders as the crossfader but they've been factory preset to be stiffer. There are no curve/reverse controls on the mixer for the line faders.

The EQs and sound quality are very good. You have 3 band EQs and a filter knob. I don't have the best speakers in the world for my home setup, but it sounds fine to me both through the speakers and through some fairly high-end headphones.

Controlling effects, cue points, loops etc. via the mixer

The mixer has built-in controls for many of Traktor's features. You can scroll through tracks and load them up to your decks. There are 4 pads either side of the crossfader for controlling loops, cue points and what have you. These have a nice satisfying click to them and they also change colour depending on what you're doing – a nice touch. You can control effects directly via buttons/knobs on the mixer too. There is a LOT of functionality here and I'm not going to get into it as it would make this post bigger than it's already gonna be, lol.

The big addition for me is post-fader effects. If you don't know the difference between pre-fader and post-fader, here's an example: -

Pre-fader – I am scratching with “fresh” and have some echo applied to it. When I close the fader, the sound completely cuts off, including the echo.

Post-fader – If I do the same with post-fader effects, when I close the fader, the echo continues to be heard, which is exactly what you want to happen.

Final thoughts

Before I bought this mixer I was trying to decide whether to go for this or the Rane 62. While the Rane 62 is certainly better in some areas - fader controls for instance, as it has full curve and reverse for all 3 faders (and no stiff line faders!) - I couldn't justify spending £1,800 on one as I'm just a hobbyist DJ these days. This may well be considered a poor man's 62 by many, but that's just fine for my needs and wallet!

So the big question - is the Z2 worth the money? I would have to say that as long as you are aware of its limitations – absolutely. You get a solid mixer with many of the buttons/controls that an add-on controller would give you along with a sound card all in one neat package, plus you get the very latest version of Traktor Scratch Pro. Yes, I have accepted some compromises with this mixer as I would have preferred full curve control on all 3 faders, but I'm also taking price into consideration when saying whether it's worth £630 or not. The only doubts in my mind now are regarding longevity of the pots, buttons and switches, but obviously that's impossible for me to comment on at this stage. If I have any issues I'll be sure to update this thread, but as of now I'm very pleased with my purchase.

**photojojo** · 11-08-2012, 10:33 PM

Nice write up. I'm a little concerned with the pots as well. The X1 pots are plastic and they seem to be doing very well after a couple of years if that's any indication. They do get less use than EQ's though so we'll still have to wait and see.