I believe what they are referring to here is the need to have the laptop right in front of you because you needed to use the keyboard to load, cue, browse etc. Having a controller means less taping on the keyboard but the laptop is still important, it can just be put to one side now because you don’t need to fiddle with it as much.
I think people are getting way ahead of themselves thinking that the hardware is gonna get so advanced that the need for a laptop id redundant. This is still quite a long way off in my opinion.
I always think that the next steps discussed on this forum are often the steps after the next steps. I guess thats the nature of a forward thinking forum… no bad thing… just a bit optimistic.
There’s no reason that an all-in-one unit with speedy processor/Ram/Stripped down (non-windows) OS and well coded software/firmware could and should be built at this stage (IMHO).
Same goes for Traktor/Serato …Screw all this swapping/plugging in boxes to laptops bullshit and create an entire ecosystem around it.
In addition to the MIDI thing, you have to consider that :
Cue Bus. No more auditioning samples as you play live (eep!). You can now route to a cue bus. (Sadly, not from the mixer yet, but this is still useful.)
Which is kinda what you need when you do DJ stuff, so, Traktor integration may be not so far away
I don’t think anyone is getting ahead of themselves with wanting all of the hardware in a single box and not needing a laptop, it’s gone full circle, the hardware to do all of this stuff is available, it’s just going to cost some money and needs re-developing. I remember Yamaha 02r and 01v digital mixers from 1995/6, ok they cost a few thousand dollars back then but the technology for doing this stuff has been around for forever. Interestingly both of those mixers are still being bought and sold on ebay, yamaha were also doing soundcards that cost 4-5 hundred pounds each, the ds2416 card they did had 16 channels, 2 effects units, parametric eq on each channel, low/high pass filters etc. It was essentially an 01v on a soundcard. There was room in the market for both
When I said people are getting ahead of themselves I was referring to that previous YouTube video and specifically Traktor dude.
Getting ahead of ourselves is what we do on this forum,I know that but in the case of Traktor we are not on the cusp of a hardware only solution regardless of how possible it is.
Anyhoo this thread is about Maschine, kinda wandered off.
Karlos, that’s twice today, sorry buddy I think it was an interesting discussion about the merits of all of the things that we covet as audio technicians, whether it’s controllerists, djs, cdjs, musicians, artists, producers, we all want an easy time that allows the creativity to flow. And the maschine seems to be closing that gap. 8GB of storage and 2 LCDs tells me that they’re already sticking reasonable quality hardware inside it
That’s what I originally meant. They want the laptop they just don’t want to constantly refer to it. I agree with you Karlos I don’t think laptops will go away anytime soon, I’m just eagerly awaiting the day when Traktor becomes more like Maschine, where all the info you need to know is available on the hardware while the software just hums along on the laptop. Hell even something as simple as the loop indicator saves me from having to look at the laptop as much.
I really think the all-in-one hardware solution is a bad idea, especially for a DJ gear. It only makes the development process more complicated because now they have to factor in additional components for the hardware. What about feature upgrades? While i’m sure you could upgrade the firmware or onboard OS I doubt you’d be getting features like more fx, remix decks, flux mode. What if you decide you like the software but not the hardware? You can’t just switch to a different midi controller.
It would be awesome having those screens built into a midi controller with cdj style jogs for Traktor. Make the pitch fader a high res touch strip and have it switchable between decks. Laptop screens are bigger and better but only when you are in a booth with enough room.
