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.
i’m totally open to what the iPad can bring to the table (no pun intended), and I wish the rest of the tablet market would catch on because i think it’s the “Apple hate” that puts up the biggest wall for most. as primarily a turntable DJ, i don’t expect, nor am i looking for the iPad to replace my beloved gear …but i am keen to see the two working in harmony as long as i’m going to be chained to a digital realm (meaning when i’m not playing strictly vinyl). all day long i see people profess their love for this or that bit of midi gear …but dicers, beatpads, etc. are merely a box full of buttons. you cannot convince me that you need a steel chassis to successfully bang your fingers on, a touch screen works just fine for much of what we need.
the Ipad sucks for the simple fact it doesnt have USB connections, i hate Apple for the fact that their OSX sucks big time, i really hate working on Apple made computers. Everything on Apple products is hidden or gone, on a normal laptop you can see all the connections right on the spot..on an ipad you dont see shit..everything seems gone or hidden..Apple = a bitch
If I just wanted to use the track management features of Traktor DJ, rather than as a performance tool, would an iPad Mini be ok?
(They’re doing them pretty cheap from Tesco Clubcard Rewards currently, otherwise I’d be ignoring it… at my peril.)
There’s a lot to be said for the iPad Mini being better than a regular iPad to be honest. It becomes a different setup when you can hold it in 2 hands.
Excellent.
The 16Gb mini is £175 of clubcard vouchers, £94 less than the RRP.
Pity iPads don’t have a USB port like the Microsoft Surface though, would make sharing the music collection a lot less effort.
this is so obviously fake and edited together in ableton…
DJ videos are shot in numerous takes if that’s what you mean. The actual Traktor DJ performance is real though. It’s not in NI’s interests to fake anything.
do whaaaatt…? speak for yoseff bruv….I do mines in one take, playa…REPSECT to SHIFTEE for being real :) and ummm…anytime dude…Annnnnnyyyyyy….time
I’m talking about NI’s professionally shot multi angled company promos Steve.
i still find this topic unsettling. it was you who debated with me when I claimed that those unkut videos were clearly “edited” “doctored” “fake” whatever you want to call it. now you are saying that “post” work is the norm. and so if it is normal to “edit” then how can someone claim “”The actual Traktor DJ performance is real though””? the very nature of editing precludes that this demo is, in fact, not real, and as looper wrote, “fake”
I find it VERY difficult to believe that cuts to the video that will produce “sounds” that either weren’t there or are better than what was there, aren’t being made. or that, as looper wrote, a second audio file is being created and imposed on the video. the whole point of demos is to show people what “they” could possibly do with dj gear. I see no value in showing what can be done when followed by an army of professional video producers, unless NI plans to include the video team’s services with the app purchase.
you have credibility and influence with them. they trust your judgement. please do something about this fake video nonsense, because it is getting out of hand.
I think what Mark’s implying is that while the audio itself is all real, and done in one take, the video has been shuffled around and re-shot
How do you edit video in ableton :S
It’s not. Definitively not. And good thing is that DVS make it possible for everyone.
Throwing this in as a third deck looks really slick. I’d love to use it as track management, or even use it to control the browser on my laptop so I can hide it away but still use timecode, or full MIDI or something, but not need the whole screen in front of me. Sort of like another controller.
Great video, though, as I wouldn’t expect anything less.
DOPE… http://www.radioflowers.blogspot.it/
And so, the bitch@ng and moaning began pouring in….and 1…and 2…and 3…
Is there any more going on than cue-point juggling? I would like to see something equivalent to an S2 and an F1… meaning two tracks going with an 8 pad sample trigger system. That’d rock. Also, am I the only person who thinks that NI’s innovation of using stacked waveforms is ironic?
yeah. The lack stacked waveforms is one of the main things keeping me away from Traktor Scratch. If NI added that and remix deck support for Maschine I’d gladly jump ship.
freakin awesome display by Shiftee as per usual the man has talent oozing from his multiskilled digits – as another medium of dj this great to see
Any word on whether or not Android tablets will get any love from the industry? These kinds of apps look fantastic, but not enough to convince me an iPad is worth the exorbitant cost apple is asking.
It’s not the likes of NI don’t want to give love to Android. But as I understand it, it’s just not capable of offering the flexibility and quality of audio that iOS and Apple does.
I was afraid of that. It’s easier to deliver a solid product when you know exactly what hardware you’ll be working with; especially when it comes to audio.
I’d settle for a track management app, at least! NI, plz!