Well it’s certainly the immediate future of DJing anyway, but the leaked, teased, and announced Traktor Kontrol S8 can now be classed as available and should be languishing in your local DJ boutique today.
Promoting the S8 is Davide Squillace, who probably played an amazing set at Fabric in London populated by beautiful young people all transfixed by his tech house stylings. But for the rest of us reading this i.e. DJs with ready money who are being told that this is the future of DJing, it’s time for NI to show us why.
This is a glossy promo, filled with Minority Report style imagery, but doesn’t show us enough about what the Kontrol S8 can do. This was the problem the first time round with the Remix Decks workflow — we were never really shown what it was all about, thus uptake wasn’t and still isn’t really that high.
So my message to NI is this — the S8 may well be the #futureofdjing, and will certainly form part of it. But NI really needs to show us what’s so great about the S8 and the Remix Decks in general. Show us a full demo, and then tear it apart step by step so that we can all finally get it. NI is after all asking us to try out DJ gear without wheels or pitch, and that isn’t going to happen just by telling us ad infinitum that this is the #futureofdjing.
Anyway, if your gear acquisition syndrome is out of control and you absolutely have to own an S8, why don’t you push your credit card through the letter box of your favourite gear purveyor today, and then report back as to if you like it or not. We’ll be finding out soon as Jared will be putting it through his usual harsh test regime.
So the s8 lets me read the crowd’s heartbeat?
LOL! People will be buying the S8 expecting to get a Crowd Level meter in Traktor, and wanting a refund when they don’t get it.
The video should come with a disclaimer like games promos – “functions shown are not available in the software”.
“S8 does not actually project video in front of your face. S8 does not actually allow you to read the crowd’s heartbeat. S8 does not make anyone like techno, no matter how awesome it is. S8 does not actually DJ for you.”
“Does not include Davide Squillace”
Damn
Traktor Pro 2.7 has CrowdReader™ built right in. There’s an app that takes readings and beams the information to the S8. Those aren’t audio waveforms on the screens – they’re heartbeats.
So I can drum loops made out of heartbeats?
This is starting to sound like the future.
I like the changes they have made to 2.7, but they really need to fix the new stability issues.
When you get one Mark, can you set it up with DVS and then test the vinyl through function? This is the bit I am most interested in, If it’s a seamless switchover without clicking/popping I’m sold …So it would be DVS to Vinyl and back … cheers.
I’m getting one in next week. First test is with DVS and real vinyl. :)
Oh the irony.
The future is the past is the future.
Class comment Jared comment class
This is not the future of Djing.
this is a crappy gimmick.
think about it like this you can plug in your cdj’s or turntables if you want to
i see it as remixes on the fly :)
I completly agree with you. I think its a nice peace of equimpment. I am now using 2 X1s, 1 F1 and a machine besides my CDJ900, DJM 2000 and 2 SL1210mk2. Taking a lot of USB connection on my USB hub. Maybe selling me DJM 2000 buy and buy this.
what i would like to see is everyone start making gear like this.
if we want jog wheels we can get them
now if they had a video plug in that would be great .if i got something like this it would also be nice to see it open to other softwares like mixvibes as i plan to do promos for the youtube network with some video mixes :)
honestly… if it was 2′ thicker to stand at standard mixer height, with a 4 port usb hub and I’d be sold on it.
not a bad idea ….usb hub in this
side note i wonder when there going to support usb 3.0 as we or now up to usb 3.1 . better power options with it
Agreed, considering I purchased an Avid C-400 about 3 years ago to be forward thinking when I upgraded my laptop and desktop to USB 3. Native Instruments leads in innovative thinking in a lot of areas, but seems to fall sightly behind in forward thinking hardware.
very true and from what i understand the load is less on your cpu then usb 2.0
Are you talking about turntablism? I get lost…
Irony: off
Could you see the infinite loop that you created with these statement?
What about it is a crappy gimmick?
The screens?
The pads?
The onboard mixer with built in DVS functionality?
Something else I’m missing?
The actual use. Step down, you ain’t a salesman.
I’m not trying to sell anything. I get absolutely nothing from anyone buying an S8.
You are making statements on the internet, and I am asking questions about them.
The screens are gimmick
I can’t necessarily argue with that. I like the idea of them, but I don’t think they are going to let me really, truly “close the laptop” or whatever.
Perhaps this will be the showcase video we’re hoping for…
Doh! >.<
yes, they most certainly are
Paris Hilton “Oooooh look, they got rid of those big round things, what were those anyway?? who the hell needs big round things, its just taking up valuable pushy button space”
i would love to see it
Did you know Paris Hilton’s DJ’ing “style” is a perfect anagram of her own name?
Paris Hilton = Plain, or shit.
Every scene has his DJ Nike. The DJ/Turntablist scene had DJ Nike and the CunTROLLerist scene has Paris Hilton…oh the irony
Paris gets a lot of badmouthing, but just the fact that she has now went with the s8 and is still djing and seems enjoy it makes me wonder if she has put some legitimate time into learning and deserves some respect. Also you don’t see her in the press promoting “lifestyle of the rich” so much. Instead she is doing what all us nerds like. As far as I can tell no promo for NI either, just her having fun. We can all be jealous that she didn’t have to start from the bottom and beg clubs to let her in. But she hasn’t given up and treated it like a pair of shoes. So I say good going Paris. Plus it’s kind of a cool dj name too if you really think about it.
Other than the mixer section, what’s the big difference between this and maschine studio? Now, if they Made it completely compatible with maschine Software, I’m Sold.
I’m kinda on the fence about this….is this really for djing or is NI making the move towards more loop based, live performance products?
i my self would love this remixes on the fly is alwas something i wanted to do
Answer: Yes!
Answer: Yes
What about the demo that DJtechtools did of it? That was pretty good
I don’t really see the point of lcd screens on dj controllers or production controllers. why because your computer screen is quite capable of providing this same information. Are people using this equipment really that disconnected because of a lcd screen on a laptop? get a smaller laptop. I have a 13in macbook I can see my crowd perfectly well over it and any information i may need about what I am doing. It seems to me people are disconnected because they are worried about what people are going to think of them. those people are on the other side of the decks. Who are they to really judge what they are seeing when they should be judging what they are hearing? OH NO THEY ARE GOING TO THINK IM NOT REAL… well are you? thats a question you gotta ask yourself. Put all the lcd screens you want on equipment you are still chained to a computer regardless. People are so worried about image and if their photo shoot photos will get them a spot at EDC this year. #getreal #realdjing
I think the LCD’s are pretty useless as well, since you still have to connect the controller to a laptop for them to work….now if it were “completely” stand alone…I could see a need for the screens…but it’s not.
I’m interested in a 4 channel Twitch MK2 that’s laptop powered. Come on Novation.
S8 concept reminds me of the novation controller.
Don’t hold your breath. No DJ gear on the horizon for Novation.
I pick one up today. Curiousity got the best of me, after seeing in depth videos on youtube. I got 30 days return to try it out and 18 months to pay for it. I have serato and my ns7ii for mixing and scratching hiphop and old school tracks. I use the S8 for tracks over 120bpm. If I like it and decide to keep it. I might pull my tech 1200s or the vestax pdx 2300 mkii pro out the closet, to mix hiphop and old school stuff. Still got the timecode records from when I purchased the traktor audio10 and the S4 mk1.
You lucky bugger! Enjoy.