+1!
been using my vci for a couple of years now. was thinking about buying the s2 but, i wouldn´t really use it a lot since i´m an absolute lover of mixers and external mixing.
i don’t understand how anyone could think the ni stuff is low build quality. i got the masch, f1 and s4 and they are all very sturdy bits of gear, i expect they will continue to last a long time.
what are you doing to these things? if i took a hammer to an s4 i reckon i’d have a hard time getting it to break - i may not even be able to crack it open unless i had a chisel. maybe if i had a sledge hammer…
what is wrong with things made out of plastic? lots of things are made from plastic. like… cars, boats, furniture, most modern technology, jackie stallone’s face. why are you all so racist towards plastic? 
I enjoy my S4 and Maschine. Yeah they are made of plastic, but do you not protect your gear and just throw it around when you’re not using it? Everyone has their different perspective, and alot of people don’t agree with one another. I enoy NI’s products personally.
True!
I think comparing the S4 with the VCI 400 (EGE) and the Numark 4Trak in this thread is a bit unfair due to their release dates. But if you want to buy a controller today there will be some controllers offering more here or there than the S4. But as Tommi Bass said this doesn’t mean you will automatically be better than all the S4 users out there.
As an owner of the S4 I must say: It’s alright. The controller works perfectly, it’s the right choice for me but I will respect anyone using some other gear that works better for them. I think there’s no use in bashing some people’s opinion.
One final thing that really made me angry is that owners of the S4 do have to buy the F1 to really use the remix decks like anyone else out there. As an owner of the major NI DJ product I would definitely have expected to get at least a minor plus of features that users of non-NI hardware don’t have. The S4 uses the same protocoll like the F1 so there is no excuse for NI! Very much disappointed… (btw: didn’t buy - and don’t plan to - the F1).
If you are a newbie… you are not so gentile with the equipment… learning can take its toll on the equipment… no matter what build.
I have in my long dj career gone through 2 pairs of Technics, one pair of Vestax… and about 10 diff mixers.
Now I look after my equipmewnt and it is not taken out to raves in fields … so its always looking like new.
I like NI stuff… its just to big for me to take out and use in the clubs…
Yea I feel you on the F1. I never had a problem with NI until they did that. I never really planned on getting one, but I was syncing ableton through traktor a lot at home and wanted an easy way to use loops and one shots at gigs, so it did interest me. Once I saw a clean one on the buy/sell I hopped on it. If im not satisfied, I could probably make most of my money back on resale. Im pretty sure Ill like it though
OP is right on the build quality, I had mine for 8 months home use only until the faders started acting up and I had to call NI support. They gave me a brand new one which is just sitting around now waiting to be sold so I can buy a DJM700 or something similiar that’s built like a tank and has replacement parts.
totally untrue. a device driver has to poll a hid device and pretty much gets a packet containing the current status of all controls of the device. with midi the device driver also polls for messages but just gets short packets containing an update for one control at a time (some drivers may also do blocking reads which only makes it even better)
the midi code only has to process this short packet while for hid it first has to work out exactly what has changed - whether this happens in some device driver or application logic - it’s still a lot more work.
there are advantages in using hid, it’s basically just more flexible, but the advantages have nothing to do with latency at all.
a hid driver may well poll the device less often than it changes and so lose status packets, which probably doesn’t matter - while midi data tends to get buffered. if you were really flooding the system with data (that isn’t going to happen from a dj type controller) then maybe there’d then be an advantage there to use hid, since with midi you can’t ignore any packets as they’re all just delta’s.
Tell me moar about these one direction flow cables 
@OP, they are popular because they get the job done and they are inexpensive. If you don’t like them, recommend something you do like instead of getting all butt hurt and writing a god damn diatribe about it. Did someone at NI poke your significant other or something?
+1 Seems like an NI bash thread. tbh I almost hate how much I like NI stuff
I don’t usually recommend the S2 to anyone… if you want a two channel mixer, you probably want it even cheaper and may even be fine with the software bundled with it. I do recommend the S4 to people that are on the fence about how far they are going to expand later. The appeal of timecode and raw features in a four channel controller out of the box is too great. I like the VCI-400, and would recommend it, but if someone has no software, no controller the S4 is the better deal for the aspiring bedroom dj that will last them a long time and grow with them. Given that most of the people asking what controller to buy are going to spend most of their time playing to stuffed animals, the S4 seems like a great choice as there is little they will have to do but plug it in and rock out.
Personally I’m on the fence between VCI-400 and S4 in my recommendation to myself, if I can pick up an used one of either I am going to give it a go.
TBH my first controller was all plastic and ffelt cheap, works fine to this day even though I moved on. It’s been dropped and thrashed around ect. still in 1 piece. My S2 is still in perfect condition as well, Are you just buying them to see if they will surive Lenovo torturer tests?
if you use traktor the S2/S4 make sense, if you use DVS a X1, F1 or maschine would help out alot. Traktor used to be my cup of tea and it gets the job done, if you dont like NI products many other companies want ur business
Lol okay guys, he get’s the picture… He’s wrong about HID vs midi. Poor guy made a simple mistake and we all jumped on him haha,
…
Also, several people are talking on both sides about build quality. It’s not just how long it lasts, it’s also how it feels while you use it. My S4’s broken SEVERAL times in SEVERAL different ways because of the terrible build quality… but just as importantly, it’s also felt like a stupid little toy the entire time. It’s also caused me tons of “fuck ups” when mixing, because of the shitty buttons not pressing like they should, the fader caps flying off mid-throw, and the “touch” system for the jogwheels being a complete joke.
Also, what is this “being careful” crap some of you are talking about? If something is of a good build quality, you shouldn’t have to be more careful with it than you would a pioneer mixer or a TT1200.
I did recommend several controllers. Twice now you’ve failed at reading my posts and thrown a useless, personally-targetted argument out there with no data to support your silliness, and made an ass out of yourself. Could you please post-stalk me and disagree with everything i say so I look better? 
Well true, but the focus of this post was asking why people STILL suggest the S4 to people. And yeah, of course you won’t automatically be better than someone else based on your gear… But:
A, it’s a lot more fun to play on good gear
B, it sucks when gear breaks
C, you won’t have as many screw-ups due to inferior gear… So that definitely gives you the leg up, if you’re keeping score.
+1 on external mixing. i like to see the young guys get some experience on an analogue mixer, hence the modular setup.
If you want good quality, well built, durable DJ gear. Don’t buy an all in one. Its pretty fucking simple.
gotta agree with you there.
btw 666 posts \m/
i stand by my VCI-300 its a freaking tank.
mind if I sig this?
I felt the same way about the toyish feel of the S4 when I tried it out. There was something about it that I just didn’t like. I ended up with a Xone DX. It has since been discontinued, not because of build quality or there being anything wrong with the controller except maybe the jog wheels not being touch sensitive or too small for some people but because of pricing. It was priced a little high at $1200 when it first came out and it was touted as a 4 deck controller for Itch when Itch first came out. I got it about a year ago for $600 and it works and intergrates perfectly with Traktor. You can probably still buy a new one or get it used for $600 or less. Built like a tank, 20 channel soundcard, can’t go wrong.
I do also own maschine andI think its a great piece of gear and I also own an audio 6 and think its great as well. So NI isn’t all that bad.