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A New Generation

On NAMM week Native Instruments released a teaser video of the new Traktor software and hardware, the world immediately dissected the video in slow motion and frame grabs to extract as much info as possible. Last friday Native Instruments finally unveiled the Traktor 2 family, but don’t get too excited yet, you’ll have to wait till April 1st to enjoy it.

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The year of the controller


For almost 30 years vinyl records and the traditional turntable dominated the Dj booth, it wasn’t until the very late 90’s that CDs were accepted by pro spinners, mostly because of Pioneer’s CDJ line of players. Then came the DJ computer software but for years those who decided to go the computer way still stuck with either CD players or turntables as control mediums ’cause MIDI controllers were not up to par. During the past year the software controller market has literally exploded and it has become evident that CD players will not enjoy as many years in the throne as the turntable.

With just a few days left before winter NAMM pictures leaked out yesterday about Pioneer’s new Serato and Traktor controllers and that means all the big names are accounted for. The new Pioneer controllers (DDJ-T1 and DDJ-S1) will compete with recently released units like the Denon DN-MC6000, with machines that already have a few months out like Native Instruments’ Traktor S4 and also against brand new ones like the Numark S6.

Pioneer’s pictures after the break, Continue reading…

Traktor's Own

When rumors leaked of Native Instruments’ all in one Traktor controller most people expected it to be the end all be all of Traktor controllers and with good reasons: if someone knew Traktor and it’s users well enough it should be Native Instruments plus they had the expertise acquired from the building of the X1 and Maschine. When the S4 controller finally came out it met the expectations of some but fell short on the hopes of others. In my opinion they came very close to taking the top controller spot had they not failed in some minor details. Our pictures and review after the break.
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Free Traktor Upgrades

For a limited time Native Instruments is upgrading the software that comes with their DJ soundcards. Instead of the usual Traktor LE the Audio 2 and Audio 4 cards will now come with Traktor Duo and the flagship Audio 8 will include a copy of Traktor Pro. It’s a great opportunity to grab a new soundcard as the upgrades would normally cost the user $79 and $139 respectively. Offer ends June 30th, for more info here