No matter what happens in the DJ world, however much musical tastes shift, or technology improves, one constant remains: Carl Cox will always be a legend. He was there in the beginning, spinning all the raves in the Second Summer of Love. He pioneered (no pun intended) playing on four turntables. And despite having the sausage-iest fingers in the business (I’ve seen him live), makes it look effortless. So, when Carl speaks, we listen, even if it’s when partnered up with a manufacturer.
And here we have Mr Cox extolling the virtues of Native Instruments’ new Kontrol S8, the #futureofdjing. With a pinch of salt, what he has to say is quite interesting, and the S8 seems like a natural fit with his needs. It isn’t even the first time Carl’s used Traktor, so this isn’t too crazy a move.
My take
Here’s the thing: Carl Cox is well and truly one of the old guard, but he’s consistently mixed up (again, no pun intended) his gear to meet his needs. Like Hawtin or Deadmau5, he’s embraced whatever new or old thing that’s come up and suited him. There’s no bitterness, no lamenting days gone by. His presence just gets bigger and bigger, much like the other two. Is this a coincidence? Personally, I don’t think so. Whether it’s the music they play, or the gear they use, they look forward as well as backwards, and you very rarely see Carl without his trademark smile. And that’s the thing… we endlessly debate about new vs old, when it doesn’t really matter as long as good music is well mixed.
Having worked with Pioneer throughout 2013 and 2014, the important thing to note is how Carl is using the S8 (with respect to the video): it enhances his setup, it doesn’t replace it all. This is what I believe the S8 is for… the best of both worlds. He uses his CDJs for that tactile feedback, and still benefits from Traktor and what the S8 can do. But, just how well does it do the job? You’ll have to wait for our upcoming review from Jared…
Something makes be think this is going to end up very much like when NI used Dubfire to premier and hype up the S4 before/when it came out. Outside of those gigs over that month or so where he was using it to shoot the promo videos and have the thing seen in the wild before it was announced, Ali was never again seen using the S4 professionally.
same story with a lot of promo vids, you dont see DJs using the same tools when the promoter isnt paying them, its for the kids thinking to believe its the coolest thing since Dr. Pepper
http://youtu.be/nIfGL75Hyg4
This. Is. It.
THIS is what the DJ community needs – embrace the old, embrace the new. Take whichever elements you like, add them to your workflow, adapt, learn, have fun. NOT the endless moaning, bitching and lamenting about formats, sync buttons and whatever mind-numbingly boring and irrelevant the DJ community is fixated on.
Veterans like Carl Cox have seen the industry go through every format and every trend you can image, but you don’t see him getting caught in the BS. Why? Because he’s so f***king good, so he doesn’t have to degrade himself to that level. Simply put, he doesn’t need to prove himself to anyone.
Take note, there’s a lesson to be learned there.
lol@your rant, he was too clumbsy and fat to enter a DMC contest thats why he became a house DJ keeping everthing simple (his own words)
he can play from 2 iphones and still attract crowd because his music is more mainstream oriented, in his case format doesnt matter
Carl Cox’s music is “mainstream oriented”?
of cource mainstream, in pretty much every household someone is into dance music
lol
first comment here that makes sense and doesn’t paint the usual picture of every DJ posting on Dj sites bitching and moaning about everything that isn’t two round platters and a 2-channel mixer
youre raging too, what is it with DJs getting so pissed over other ppl’s opnions? chillout and let every body say what they want, its all good.
that’s essentially what i meant… there was no intended raging, i’m just passionate about the music ;)
This is pretty much what we’ve been saying for the last decade. This and that, not this or that.
When you have a *Name* in the Biz and companies drown you in free gear and pay you money to endorce it, you dont give a shit about anything else. Carl is getting payed, especially now when Vestax went down the drain!
When younger generation are sceptical twards new tech?
Im glad for that, show that people especially younger generations dont fall for all the Hype and Bullcrap that is constantly feeded to them!
Be sceptical, inquisitive and try to find the truth wherever it may be!
The idea that a company like Native Instruments is going to pay Carl, and all the other deejays talking about this gear, enough money to actually switch to using it regularly is absurd. I’m sure they paid him a couple bucks to do the interview and gave him a free S8 but the kind of money it would take to get a guy that plays 2-3 $5,000-$10,000 gigs a week to change his whole setup is a lot more than companies like Native Instruments is going to be able to pay just to get them to switch.
You figured it right: 2-3 gigs a week, this and that amount of money. You can get the idea how much he got paid to promote S8. We figured that ourselves.
So much this. Plus there’s precedent for him using Traktor.
Eeeeh, NO, just look att how popular Carl Cox really are, and with good reason, Native could easily contract CC with a decent amout of money even if it would be peanuts for him, it helps both launch CC even further and Native gets a more polished and reputable approach than they have now with Numark, Pioneer and Denon dropping out of their colabs!
When it comes to money, no man or woamn can ever have to much, thats a fact, what you then do with it is another question.
Im quite certain CC did not do this for free, and we’ll see him endorcing even more NI prods in the future.
Especially now when one of CCs mealtickets tanked (Vestax)
It doesn’t sell as we predicted and NI hired him to try to avoid the disaster? Will we see Carl using it (at least as a mixer) :) in a regular basis? Or just the tipical photo set paid for and move to another thing? Everything can happens! It’s The Great DJ Swindle!
It’s been out a matter of weeks. I told NI that it would take people a while to get their heads round it before it gets any sales traction.
that thing must really suck if they had to pay CC to use it.
“they didn’t hand out fliers for sermon on the mount, people just turned up. they knew it was a good gig”
maybe he just actually likes it??? no conspiracy or massive pay packet
I mean, what’s so bad about the S8 that a Pro DJ couldn’t and will not embrace it? It is a pretty advance piece in my opinion. Jeezzz!! it’s not like the guy is promoting the Pioneer Ergo hahahaha!!!
IMO, the S8 is like those spoilers attached to cars, they don’t add anything to the car except weight. they’re just there for looks. or like those coffee makers that pre-heat the water before making the coffee, and all you get is a light brown tasteless mess. DJing is already working great, people are dancing all over the world. (and in my experience, I’ve heard way more comments asking me to play the original or just let the whole song play than I’ve ever heard for mash-ups and remixes) I read a comment on the other post about the S8, and he said something about all this new dj tech being created in a quiet office at a well lit desk, and how the S8 mixer section is completely dark. too late to make a long story short, but in short, the damn thing is just plain ridiculous.
It is great that you did mentioned right out of the box that it is you OPINION, because that opinion is SUCK in my OPINION. LOLOLOL!!
“DJing is already working great, people are dancing all over the world.” and so what? My 1200’s still work fine, but I can always fancy a different piece of hardware…it’s call CHOICE! This is where this is funny, I’ve heard DJs saying that CD’s will never get to be standard back in the late 90’s, I laughed so hard at them back then. Out of here!!! CD’s got to be standards and are on their way out already; People never stop dancing cause the people are never the one to care as to what the medium being used to make them dance, they just dance according to the sound that they like.
A lot of producers sworn that the last piece of sampler that the world will ever need is a MPC cause, well “Production was already working great, people are dancing all over the world.” Word? But the MPC did come in the market while other samplers were already around right?
I mean, come on, if what you (and others with that same mindset) are saying even come close to make sense then that concept of living and advancement in this world would cover every step of tech development way beyond DJing. from cars to TV’s; from Phones to Hi-Fi equipment, etc…
Man, new models and new ideas will come out, period. What doesn’t make sense or look exciting to you somehow do make sense for someone else. On that note, as long as I live, I expect to see new pieces of hardware come out. Some may vanish quick and some may redefine the DJ landscape; Only time will tell, just like it happened with countless of other piece of gears.
This. 100% this.
I just saw that the original MPCs are gone from the Akai Pro site.
Possibly the original line hasn’t been moving that many units anymore and Akai retired them silently? (just wondering out loud here). I can see some Hip-Hop producers still producing on their 2000XL or 5000, those models were and probably are still super popular.
I understand inMusic Brands (Akai’s parent company) move to showcase only their recent line of MPCs on the site, they see that the market is moving toward digital and portables (the market is also moving at a faster rate); if they don’t too, they will be left behind.
There are enough original MPCs being sold or traded out there to keep that “original” wagon going for years without Akai’s help though :-)
yep Marco Polo makes all his beats on his 14 year old MPC200XL
So don’t buy one then – why does it bother you so much.
People were dancing all over the world before turntables as well mate.
My beef with the s8 (and the s4 to a greater extent) is that the thing is just too damn expensive. I feel like more of my money is going to NI’s marketing and product development than the actual product (especially with the s4, the Gemini slate is The same thing for half the price, the denon mc6000 is the same thing for the same price PLUS a denon mixer)
I this thing was just a midi controller then i’d agree, but as far as i’m aware your essentially getting traktor scratch (minus the timecode) and a standalone mixer built in. This make it seem a very reasonable price to me.
The price seems actually quite low for me. 4 Channel Mixer with Filters, Two high end deckcontrollers. Full Traktor Scratch License (not the serato like “we charge you for everything” scratch kit)
People also need to appreciate the price of good software.
The Gemini Slate is not the same thing as the S4, not if you are a Traktor user. This is not a knock on the Slate, which I’m writing a review for and like.
The S4 is directly integrated into Traktor and provides access to functions that the Slate cannot access as intuitively. They are built differently, and the buttons and controls on the S4 feel a LOT different than the Slate (once again, not a knock on the Slate).
Sorry this is so late, I really should check disqus more often.
Jogwhee support in traktor has been terrible on pretty much every controller except numark’s 4trak. But the original slate worked great in deckadance, cross and VDJ, and the new one works even better with SDJ, which many now consider superior to Traktor.
It’s totally cool. :)
That was my only point, though. If you’re not a Traktor user, then the Slate is a lot more attractive. If you are, though, the S4 is a far superior tool. (and as a note, I’m working on a review of the Slate right now, so I’ve had hands on experience, etc) And yes, non-NI hardware jogwheel support has been atrocious, no arguments from me.
I still don’t think the Slate is the equivalent to the S4 for a lot of reasons, but the Slate definitely can hold its own in its market position, no question.
The fact your still tied to a computer is what sucks the most.
Carl Cox and Paris Hilton are promoting the S8, so it’s got to be good ;)
Hilton. Best DJ ever!!