DJ Shiftee knows his way around Native Instruments gear. Having demoed pretty much every DJ product in front of a camera, it was just a matter of time before he applied his considerable skills to NI’s Traktor DJ for iOS. But… but… Shiftee’s a turntablist right? How is he going to scratch and cut and juggle and all that other deck based stuff? Watch and learn.
We’ve already established in our review that Traktor DJ, even at V1 is very powerful, slick and perhaps a little too easy to use. Even with some obvious omissions, Traktor DJ is already becoming a serious player in the iOS DJ market. It’s interesting to see how the iPad can be used entirely standalone, but also in addition to an existing setup as well. Looking at apps like Audiobus shows that as a platform, the iPad is an ideal compliment to a regular setup, as well as developing itself in its own right. I keep saying this and have been since iPads first came out, that iPads are here to stay. Ignore them at your peril because they are impacting just as much as laptops in our beloved scene.
This video shows me 2 things:
1. When you’re a good DJ, you can use any gear that’s put in front of you. Techniques are soon adapted and adjusted to the technology you have before you.
2. While obviously very capable of pulling off some neat tricks, an iPad DJ needs more of a show around them. Heads down focussing on an area the size of a magazine sucks every element of stage presence out of the DJ set.
Of course, I expect a lot of negativity to be expressed at this video, something I’m sure Shiftee wrestled with himself before agreeing to do the set. But you cannot get away from the fact that once you look past the staging and story of the video, Shiftee nails a great set on an iPad, and one that you cannot hope to achieve on vinyl. Because it’s not vinyl and doesn’t try to be vinyl either. It’s digital DJing and it’s here to stay.