Native Instruments managed to shoehorn a good section of Traktor Pro into the iPad and iPhone, and in doing so also brought some special sauce of its own. Now Traktor DJ 1.5 is here, and while the core functional hasn’t changed much, the new hotness is SuperSlicer.
There’s no PR, but this short list from the App Store details what is new:
- New SuperSlicer feature available for in-app purchase
- History Playlists remember what you play so you don’t have to
- Beat Grid improvements with pinch-to-zoom and magnetic snapping
- Some bugfixes for the browser
- Enhanced performance on latest generation devices
First, SuperSlicer
Slicer is already a part of Traktor DJ. But SuperSlicer takes things a few steps further, and in conjunction with freeze mode, the frozen section is not only sliced up into eight beats, but also into top, middle and bottom sections. You get three types of effects:
Turntablism: The top part applies a brake, the middle a baby scratch (yes auto-scratching), and the bottom is reverse.
Pitch: Top part speeds up, middle remains the same, and the bottom part slows down.
Loop: Top part is 1/2 beat, middle bar is half beat, and bottom bat is a single beat loop.
This is also multi-touch, and works from the first finger to the next. So you can for example press beat 1 to beat 8 and using the turntablism fx, apply the brake to the full bar, or scratch every beat in the whole bar sequentially. It’s very clever.
And then in-app purchases
It’s easy to only see the wow factor in the glossy demo, but the obvious new big thing is the enabling of in-app purchases. They don’t need explaining and show the way that software (and not just Traktor) is going. I love that for the price of a coffee, you can add some very cool functionality. Conversely, if the new hotness doesn’t appeal, you can save your money and wait for something that does float your DJ boat.
From a business perspective, these in-app purchases are not to be taken lightly. Traktor DJ has sold in the millions, and if even a fraction of the user base stumps up the 69p/£1.49, the development is paid for many MANY times over. The user gets great features and heaps of profit for NI to develop even more.
Such a cool feature! They’d better figure out a way to get it into the full size version.
It is very cool indeed. But it will need hardware to really make it work on the desktop version. It’s a highly tactile feature, and given that it is very suited to the touch screen, there’s part of me that thinks that a remote type app would be a really good move.
I made a couple requests for remote apps for Traktor, this would also be a good one,
They need an editor in general, it’s nice to be able to set up with Traktor but there is so much more.
Realistically all of these features exist already. It is no different than a combo effect with Beatmasher and Turntable effects, all tuned to specific values, and the key knob. With a little work you could program any MIDI controller to do this very thing in Traktor Pro.
I guess I should be more specific. I would like a track editor specific for Traktor. That has flexible grids and other preparation tools.
Many people may say use Ableton or any DAW
But to be able to work with tracks and have key lock , slicing, and especially any oneshots or loops set to Traktor ‘s grid and work instantly would be amazing.
Just try dragging and dropping a oneshot to a remix cell that is not a 4 count loop, or try any track more than a 10 bpm change. Yes many say just beatmatch. But point is an outside preparation software specific to Traktor would lighten the cpu load and make it all sound great. For those who just mix track to track and rarely use remix decks or effects. Things like this are moot.
This is in no way a rant, and I am no expert.
I do work with Ableton and other software to get what I want.
As well Traktor is able to get results as Jared points out. But a Traktor Editor might make it all easier for a more instant result when mixing.
Oh yes, no arguments from me. Traktor DEFINITELY needs an internal flex grid engine. No question. I’m giving them credit, waiting for Traktor 3 to come out, before I jump ship, but if they can’t get to that pretty necessary feature at this point then I’m out.
I was only speaking to the features in this app they showed. The other stuff you’re talking about is 100% necessary and needed.
The ipad app looks really cool and usable. i wonder when these features will come to the full size version. I also wonder when Traktor will add touchscreen functionality, considering that almost all new window’s laptops feature touch screens
“Hairy Crushed Nuts”?
-Oh, and no more metadata sync?
niiiiiiiiice
I didn’t see it in there but it’d be really cool to be able to sequence your actions across the loop.
Maybe save them?
Maybe call it the NML recorder?
NML flip?
I’m a tad bit envious that Traktor doesn’t have flip mode, I’d love to see automation recorder become standard in dj software.
Back in the day Traktor had an “action” recorder which was more geared toward recording and editing a whole mix, but the premise is the same, and I’m pretty sure it could do what Flips could do.
Serato has it, my guess is Traktor will soon.
I love Traktor DJ and it’s what I use now as my main DJ’ing tool, i’d love a slightly more enhanced z1 now as I don’t tend to care for Jog Wheels (see previous discussion)
Now if only it told me what I had played as I go instead of looking at a history afterwards and i’d be happy as anything
Can’t help but notice there’s another update since the super slicer update – last feature noted is enhanced performance with controllers. I’m guessing that soon enough we’re going to see a controller built for the app (not like the s2 and s4 mk2’s that included compatability but we’re not made for the app). I’d love to see jog wheels gone and some controller that can handle the slicer feature. I’d rather not try to use the function on my iphone.