Native Instruments MK Future of DJing
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NI and MK ponder the Future of DJing, and give X1s away too

[youtube id=”ZE2PXpZwpak”]

Native Instruments place in the evolution and digital revolution of DJing and music production is well established in internet lore. And they’ve created a series of videos to remind you of the role they’ve played in allowing VIP performers to deliver amazing music and performances. The purpose of these videos is to stimulate conversation about where DJing is going, and to get you started, NI travelled to Glasgow to hang with MK and to chat with him about how NI helped him become the DJ he is today. There’s also a competition to win one of five signed Traktor Kontrol X1s.

As ever, a press release:

Native Instruments launches THE FUTURE OF DJING video series

This summer, Native Instruments will run a series of videos featuring renowned TRAKTOR artists illustrating innovation in DJing

Berlin, May 30, 2014 – Native Instruments today kicked off THE FUTURE OF DJING – a new video series featuring acclaimed international artists and how new technologies found on TRAKTOR products inspires creativity. Throughout the summer of 2014, THE FUTURE OF DJING series will highlight the artist, and how technological innovation plays a role in their performance.

The first video features house icon Marc Kinchen aka MK, who’s musical career has given rise to some of dance music’s most iconic tunes. In this video, Marc talks about how technology has always inspired his DJing and fuels his concept of the ideal live DJ performance – creating a track from start to finish live while DJing. MK also shares his vision where a future generation of talented DJ/producers will be setting the new standards of DJ culture without ever touching vinyl or playing an instrument.

Shot on location in Glasgow, Scotland on Record Store Day, the video shows Native Instruments spending the day around town with Marc as he talks about the evolution of the DJ/producer, makes an in-store appearance, and performs at the Lovelife Festival held at The Arches club. Marc is seen using the KONTROL X1’s multi-purpose touch strip to control effects, loop, and beat-jumping.

The FUTURE OF DJING video series aims to kick-start discussions with artists, labels, and the media about the future of DJing. As an added bonus, Native Instruments is giving away five of the TRAKTOR KONTROL X1 controllers signed by Marc in the video. To win, people must leave a comment on the video’s Facebook post. Five winners will be selected at random.

#futureofdjing to follow the story online

Further product information and press material

The first video of THE FUTURE OF DJING series featuring MK is available at:

http://youtu.be/ZE2PXpZwpak

To enter the X1 draw, comments can be left on this Facebook post:

https://www.facebook.com/traktorpro/posts/10152446586967528

Native Instruments MK Future of DJing

What is the future of DJing then?

Obviously, we could write dissertations on this subject, and often touch on many of the issues in the content we do offer. For me though, the industry is in a state of “what do we do next?”, hence NI asking questions about the future. All too often, you can read strong opinions about what should happen, and it’s easy to take a handful of passionate people’s voices as the only ones, especially if their needs are very niche.

So what is the future of DJing? It’s an incredibly open-ended question without any kind of criteria. Is DJing becoming a job that can be made easier to the point of automation? Is the future in the hands of the audience and what they need? Does the emergence of DJs as VIPs a natural progression or truly awful? Do you want your DJ gear to do more wacky niche stuff, or just have gear that does the essentials and is still relevant in 5-10 years?

Native Instruments are asking — now tell them. And us too.

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Mark Settle
The Old Owner
I was the editor around these parts for the first two decades of the DJWORX journey. I’m on a creative journey at The Worxlab, and drop in occasionally here. Expect the odd article from me every now and again.
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32 Comments

  1. I think this is the future of producing / performing music… There is the aspect of turntablism, digging in the crates, and manual mixing that is being lost… Those aspects I feel are just as fun…

    I realize that the roles between DJ / Producer / Musician are being greyed but will the DJ part eventually die out?

    1. The first part of this alludes to the culture of the DJ, something that I feel doesn’t really exist in the truest sense of the word anymore, unless tweeting moans from airport lounges counts as culture. ;)

      I feel that the producer element is being overstated in the DJ scene. Granted, to become famous and to start making real money, having your name on a track is where it’s at. But for the majority of DJs, playing music in a club isn’t contingent on having made music first.

  2. While so many others seen to think the furture should mean a complete departure, I believe the true future of DJing will always be an evolution of the traditional form. Of course there will always be those who think of ways to “revolutionize” the art of the DJ, just as there have always been people who try to think of entirely new approaches to painting or sculpture. I welcome any effort to push the envelope, but at the same time I believe people will always hold the same basic expectation from the DJ …to deliver music they want to hear, but with a twist they cannot get elsewhere (i.e. on the radio, off a music player).

    Yes, I fully realize that “producer DJs” are wildly popular right now, but that’s a trend that isn’t guaranteed to last (how many music trends have veteran DJs seen come and go over the past few decades?). More and more people are realizing that a lot of these producers aren’t proper “entertainers” and I doubt we’ll ever find the majority of people accepting the idea that DJs play pre-recorded sets… eventually people will demand their money’s worth (I’ll pay to see a producer like Jeremy Ellis perform before I’ll be convinced to pay 5x as much to see someone like Deadmau5).

    1. There has to be a mix of envelope pushers alongside the A to B and back again DJs to make a whole scene. Most of the time, the crowd doesn’t want fancy tricks – they just want good music and don’t give a crap about the technology. But to enable evolution of technique and gear, you need the guys who look at two turntables and a mixer and wonder if more can be done.

  3. I feel the future of DJing lies within live arranging. There is a middle ground between controllerism and straight mixing that I feel isn’t being explored. Something between destroying a song and letting it play from start to finish. Something that isn’t prepped in advance like a routine, maybe auto gridded.
    Songs that ‘branch’

  4. I have no clue where Djing is going or what the future of DJing will be like,
    BUT I do have a product, which I hope N.I. will produce soon:
    Their own equivalent of the Numark V7.
    => A single deck controller (perhaps with controls for cue points, loops and 1 or 2 efx units) with a SPINNING PLATTER built for Traktor!
    That’s what I have been wishing for ever since the Numark
    first released the NS7 mk1 controller!

    1. Like the stanton scs.1d which they left out off the road with they deliberated 14 midi sysex over platter control (early traktor) drop?
      Maybe but instead of this which is more or less doable with regular turntable why not to integrate the groovebox and step sequencing concept into the remix (and scratchable) decks? Something like the Bridge should be but in the shape of a turntable with step sequencing plus drumpads.

      Like V7mk2. Standalone from Elektron will be a great product too.

  5. I applaud NI for considering the future of DJing, but I kind of wish they would focus on updating their software and hardware.

    For instance, I would realy like to see a far more robust library system than what currently sits in Traktor (I think its dumb that I have to use itunes or beatport pro for library management). I

    would also like to see them offer some higher quality / more expensive gear. The S4 is great, but 6 months of abuse has taken it’s toll on it. I would like to pay 2-3x more and get something that will last years and I can really use as my professional public hardware.

    1. You don’t have to use iTunes or Beatport pro for library management. I have never once used either of those things. Traktor alone is good enough.

  6. The future of DJing is companies like NI, Numark, Pioneer and co selling subscription music services.

    A CDJ2000 streaming device, with access to the entire Beatport/Juno library….charge £50 a month.

    That’s how I see it going (especially after DJay did that tie in with Spotify).

    1. no, i’m pretty sure that they are talking about the company that collaborated with stanton to coin the term “DVS” or digital vinyl system.

        1. In the last couple years? The new X1 (the most useful controller for DJ purposes I have ever seen/used), the Traktor Audio 2 (mk2), the Traktor Audio 6, Maschine/Maschine Mikro MK2, Maschine Studio, and Kontrol Z2, to name a few.

          Native Instruments is a software company first and foremost. And even though they have stepped into the hardware world lately just because they are not releasing what you want or think they should don’t mean anything close to what you said (that they haven’t released any decent hardware in YEARS). They make hardware for their software and what they believe their customers want.

              1. Then what are you talking about then? What have they released for DJ’s besides the Z2 a 2 channel mixer…that’s nowhere near Pioneer quality

    1. Giving Maschine the cappability of record Traktor mixes (including the internal vector position, direction, speed of timecode) plus reaktor integration (via reaktor players) could be the right answer to The Bridge+maxforlive.

      Only will need video in some way…

  9. The future of NI should be a partnership with Allen & Heath. If they want to get into the club and compete with Pioneer, get the DB2/4 Traktor Scratch certified! A&H already have a great track record with European DJs, as does NI, but there is no Traktor hardware currently that you’d see in a club installation. Even if they brought out a Kontrol club mixer, it would never replace installed Pioneer gear because it just isn’t sturdy enough. Make the DB line plug n play and you’re laughing.

  10. The immediate future is a DDJ-SZ / NS7Mk2-quality controller for Traktor. If someone brought something like that out, with everything mapped to a dedicated button/knob/whatever – and absolutely no ‘Shift’ key functions whatsoever, I’d pay in gold. Hell, I’d pay in *blood*!