My Outlandish ,speculations on what Traktor Hardware Native Instruments will put out.

[city_boy07]

This is exactly right. Traktor is the heart of what NI do regarding the DJ division


This I would disagree with, with the exception of mixers (the Z2 is no game changer).

Maschine is the THE beat machine these days and the S4 is amazing at the price it comes in at (with Traktor Pro) and has sold bucket loads. And, lets not forget that the X1 was an amazing controller (still is) which is has been a complete and utter competition killer.

The X1 is THE BEST piece of kit i have ever had!

[Karlos Santos]

The Z2 is said to be their best device so far build-quality wise, and even that doesn't match up to a decent hardware mixer. I've had MIDI issues with my Maschine and have been told by Support that it's a design flaw and there's nothing they can do.

And the S4 is in real need of an update, unless they plan on continuing to lower the price. Jogs are horrible and can easily shut down a whole deck when they malfunction. The small round buttons are awful and often don't work properly. There's a new post almost every day complaining about the faders. And for some reason, they can't manage to have a reliable headphone socket which they've managed to implement just fine on the low-end Audio 2.

But you were talking about competing with "the competition", not build quality etc. I don't think the Z2 has competed with the competition as well as many other NI products. People are still buying Pioneer over the Z2, therefore it has not competed that well, imo.

The S4 may indeed be due an update but you cannot deny it's popularity. It basically made all other all-in-ones redundant over night from a sales perspective, which is what I thought we were discussing?

[dj gullum]

Only thing I wish Traktor would have is a way to use external FX like the RMX-1000 as a send/return device in the FX module.

[Polygon]

This I would disagree with, with the exception of mixers (the Z2 is no game changer).

Maschine is the THE beat machine these days and the S4 is amazing at the price it comes in at (with Traktor Pro) and has sold bucket loads. And, lets not forget that the X1 was an amazing controller (still is) which is has been a complete and utter competition killer.

^this.

At their price point, NI hardware is simply phenomenal.

[rdej47]

I do really like NI products but there are signs of cheaper hardware compared to the competition. For example the body of the Z2 is nice but the knobs are all plastic, and the glossy faceplate was a terrible idea (not to mention the paint wears off almost immediately). I wouldn't mind paying just a little more to have a quality bump for NI products. Even if you look at the Pioneer DJM T1, it has really solid construction compared to the Z2 and it's the same price.

[octostout]

NI's business plan right now is to entice newbie kids to get into stupid flashy techniques with their videos, and then sell them cheap entry-level gear by giving it exclusive features. This business plan is working very well right now because of how insanely glamorous DJing is right now, and how many people want to start. The only exception to this has been the X1, which is genuinely useful to experienced DJs, playing in a capacity that matters. Notice though, this was their first controller, when they were still trying to market themselves as pro-level....

They're definitely going to do a new all-in-one soon, and maybe there's a chance they'll release a standalone deck controller at the same time, and really market it as both a third deck for their all-in-one, and a controller solution to go with the Z2.

The big issue with NI, if you're a pro-level DJ, is that they are marketing exclusively to newbie DJs, so we know we will never get any new features that aren't flashy enough to make NI money in the short-term. Pretty much unless it's going to sell their cheap marked-up gear by offering exclusive features, it's not going to happen. Things like an FX send/return or better visual feedback are highly unlikely, because they won't sell any more cheap plastic controllers.

They sort of gave up on pro-level when they partnered with Pioneer. Because every gig ever has a DJM-900 and CDJ2000s, and we can just plug three USBs in and go, we're not going to have use for their hardware very often. All they could really release that would be helpful to professionals would be modular controllers like the F1. I'm not sure which side the fucking douchebag was that locked down the controls on the CDJ2000 so you can't map most of the controls, but he was a genius. This both makes I so you can't spin more than one deck on a single CDJ, and it makes it so you can't map important features in Traktor, so you still need supplemental modular controllers. NI could successfully release some awesome new X1 to meet this need they've artificially created, and I have to admit I'd buy it.

[makar1]

^ Sums up everything to do with NI hardware. You can switch decks on the CDJ2000 by pressing the Browse knob for 2 seconds though.

[Polygon]

Because every gig ever has a DJM-900 and CDJ2000s

Yeah... except for the ones that don't...

[makar1]

NI sound cards are decent. Use them if the gig has older gear or turntables.

[Karlos Santos]

They didn't pair up with Pioneer, that was industry bollocks cus people were pissed that they didn't certify the DB4.
AFAIK the relationship between Pio and NI is less than cosy.

As for the "newbie" thing. Traktor is hardly newbies territory. There are loads of features coming to Traktor but regardless there have been many in recent years. Its a simple case that the faster NI release stuff the slower people accuse them of being.

They will NEVER please some people. I never hear this kind of stuff levelled at Serato and their development is like a tortoise in comparison.

They make good shit at a decent price and all you can do is rail on them for making it more accesible to kids. Makes no sense to me at all.

The videos mean jack shit. The equipment is good, that has little to do with how they promote. Why any intelligent adult would get hot under the collar about their videos (which are mainly aimed at the US market) is beyond me. Big deal.

If you dont like the promos, dont watch them. They are company and they need money to develop their product range, which, and this is often lost on this forum, the DJ division is only one and not even the largest or the most profitable.

How anyone can say they are not "pro-level" is beyond me when many Pro's use their kit. I think its pretty amazing that a kid can be using the same gear that their hero uses.

Because every gig ever has a DJM-900 and CDJ2000s

Nonsense. Not in the UK, not at all.