Learn to use the FX, filters, loops, library and more on Traktor DJ by following this series of free training videos from Native Instruments.
Native Instruments has uploaded a whole playlist of Traktor DJ training videos to its YouTube channel, to help new users of the iPad DJ app get to grips with their software.
The videos start at the very basics and work through all the main features, from loops and FX to library and the slicer-like “Freeze” mode. They’re clearly presented, talking slowly through each feature and showing you a demo of each function as well.
In this quirky product video, watch DJ Shiftee as he flies in to Berlin with Traktor DJ on the iPad and a boombox on wheels, and performs a mashup, before moving in to the club… and ending up busking!
The method behind the madness is to show multi-touch FX, freeze mode, a live mashup, using the software almost as a Maschine-style touchscreen pad controller, and potentially the most interesting use case: As a third deck for Traktor in a club.
The Numark M101USB is a traditional two-channel mixer, but the USB means you can also run two digital sources through it.
Digital DJ Tips reader Brad writes: “I’ve been in the market for a new set up to replace my current budget kit (Mixtrack). I stumbled upon this Numark M101USB two-channel mixer for cheap!
Can I use this mixer in combination with the Traktor Kontrol X1 (as I have no use for jogs) for a better yet cheaper alternative to my Mixtrack? Does USB mean that it can map to Traktor? And will I need a sound card?”
The Traktor Kontrol stand is designed to raise your X1 or F1 to the height of a standard DJ mixer, to make it fit perfectly next to the Traktor Kontrol Z2 mixer, and also to act as a hard protective case.
With the announcement yesterday by Native Instruments of the Traktor Kontrol Stand – a rather nifty, but not exactly cheap, die-cast aluminium raiser to lift the Traktor Kontrol X1 and Traktor Kontrol F1 controllers up to standard mixer height – we thought we’d scout around and see what else you can buy for US$60 (the Traktor Kontrol Stand will retail at US$59 from March 2013).
Because while the Traktor Kontrol Stand will no doubt be the answer to some DJs’ prayer (especially as it “converts” into a hard case for the X1/F1 when not in use), it turns out that from speakers to DJ controllers, headphones to gig bags, US$60 can go a long way in these frugal times…
With Traktor DJ, Native Instruments has finally brought to market its vision of how DJing should be done on tablets.
Traktor has long been a firm favourite with digital DJs, including with about three-quarters of Digital DJ Tips readers. The desktop software offers a wealth of functionality and pushes the boundaries with things like its extensive effects and Remix Decks. Now, Traktor DJ has joined its bigger brother, bringing the world of Traktor to the iPad.
So what does the newest DJ app for the iPad (iPad 2 and upwards with iOS6, to be precise) look like, and what does it do differently from other iPad DJ apps in order to stand out from the crowd? Let’s find out in our full Traktor DJ For iPad review and video talkthrough…
Native Instruments’s teaser photo on its Facebook Page says absolutely nothing about the product, but the words sway it all: An iPad Traktor app is coming.
Is Traktor for iPad coming? If so, one of our DJing Predictions for 2013 will come true barely three weeks into the new year.
There are no details at all about the app yet, save for a picture of Richie Hawtin using an Pad on a yacht or something, posted on the Traktor Facebook Page alongside the words “Richie Hawtin (official page) gets first touch on the upcoming Native Instruments iPad app.”
Cash in before the end of Monday to get your 50% off Traktor 2.
If you’re one of our US readers, you’re already well aware it’s Thanksgiving this weekend. To celebrate, Native Instruments is offering Traktor Pro 2 for half price until November 26.
Luckily for us Europeans and other non-US citizens, this offer is good wherever you are in the world. So for four days only, you can bag a copy of Traktor for 50% off – that’s just $44.50 / €39.50.
The Traktor Kontrol F1 is a cool way of incorporating samples into your DJ set, but it goes deeper than that – and if you’re not quite ready for its “Remix Decks” workflow, there are cheaper ways to get going.
Digital DJ Tips reader Dave writes: “I’ve recently been looking at controllers like the Traktor Kontrol F1 and other similar controllers hoping to understand how they all work. The reason being is that I want to start using drum samples etc in my mixing to make it sound a bit more personalised, but as I’m sure you know they’re not cheap!
“I was wondering if you knew of any alternatives to the F1 or even if I can use my current set up (Mixtrack Pro) just to get a feel of how to incorporate sample an loops into my mixing.”
The Traktor Kontrol Z2 will be available as of Nov 1, and will come with Traktor control vinyl and CDs.
As comprehensively outed a few weeks back here on Digital DJ Tips, Native Instruments has a new product in its range: the Kontrol Z2 pro DJ mixer, which was officially launched today.
Heading straight into Pioneer and Allen & Heath territory, the Kontrol Z2 is designed for the DJ booth, with a high-quality sound card, Innofaders, aluminium construction and standard profile sizing to fit flush with other pro gear..
The new Traktor mixer from Native Instruments marks a new turn in Traktor hardware, and from what we can glean from today’s teaser video, will provide competition to mixers from Pioneer, Rane and Allen & Heath for Traktor DJs.
Native Instruments is to launch its first DJ mixer, the Kontrol Z2. It will be both a Traktor Scratch certified mixer, and a Midi controller for the company’s own Traktor software.
As such it will be a rival to Pioneer’s Traktor-certified mixers (especially the DJM-T1 and the DJM-900), and Rane’s Serato Scratch Live mixers, the Sixty-One and Sixty-Two.
You can win this package and many more Traktor prizes by entering today’s reader survey.
Want to win a fantastic Traktor Kontrol S4 and Traktor Kontrol F1 package? It’s the first prize in a draw we’re holding for all of our readers worldwide. To enter, all you have to do is enter the reader survey we link to below.
Held in conjunction with Native Instruments, the survey is designed to help Digital DJ Tips to produce better articles and DJ training, and to help Native Instruments to deliver better DJ products. Here is the full prize list:
Traktor users who were patiently waiting for Traktor 2.5 to drop along with the new Traktor Kontrol F1 on May 30 as previously announced got a bonus today, when Native Instruments unexpectedly released the new software into its Service Centre, 6 days early, along with the video above.
When Midi controllers and DJing first met, nobody knew what to call the emerging scene. “Mapping buttons to software in order to control recorded music” didn’t really cut it. Just as well, then, that Moldover – one of the scene’s earliest champions and now one of its brightest lights – was around to invent the term “controllerism”.
In the last week Native Instruments debuted Moldover’s performance video of its new Kontrol F1 hardware (see below watch it), and we managed to catch up with the man himself for this exclusive interview. So if you’re wanting to forge a name for yourself in controllerism, if you’re interested in knowing the skills that really matter in today’s electronic music culture, or you just want to know more about one of EDM’s nicest and most original characters, read on…
Native Instruments Traktor Kontrol F1 and Traktor Pro 2.5: Ushering in the next wave of Traktor as of May 30.
The latest Traktor hardware and software from Native Instruments – namely the Kontrol F1 Ableton-style clip controller and Traktor Pro 2.5, the software whose new functionality it has been designed to harness – will hit stores at the end of May 2012, it was announced today.
The software features “Remix Decks”, a development of the sample deck concept first included in the Traktor S4 then Traktor Pro 2 software. Remix decks are directly controlled by the keys on the F1, allowing the triggering of up to 64 one-shots, loops or even full tracks on up to four separate “Remix Decks”.
NAMM was chock-a-block with controllers, decks, software, headphones, speakers, mixers and all the rest. Here are the five things that we think deserve special attention this year.
Digital DJ Tips has been closed for the last week. In Europe, that is. The whole office debunked to Los Angeles to set up shop in an Anaheim hotel that hastily became press room, video room, studio and office for a whole week, as we brought you our daily coverage of NAMM 2012.
We’re now back on our side of The Pond, and having had a transatlantic flight to think through all the stuff we saw, filmed, wrote about and played with on the NAMM floor, here are out top five things that we think every DJ needs to know about from NAMM 2012:
The Traktor Kontrol F1: We saw DJ Shiftee perform on this, showing off its possibilities for blending turntablism and controllerism.
Digital DJ Tips has seen the latest version of Traktor, Traktor Pro 2.5, as well as the hardware controller Native Instruments has built to work with it, the Traktor Kontrol F1. Native Instruments is calling it “Ableton in a DJ way”.
The control surface (widely but incorrectly outed elsewhere as the Kontrol X2) is a Kontrol X1-shaped and is dominated by a four-by-four multi-backlit pad surface for launching sample clips, in a similar way to Ableton Live.
So the new hardware (X2)? is definitely as we've all guessed - but what of the new software? Can you see any clues? (Full video after the jump).
Traktor will get a revamp to coincide with the launch of its new control hardware, according to the wording underneath a new teaser video just put live by Native Instruments.
The video, which shows the new hardware being used with Traktor Scratch, gives little away software-wise: the more revealing is the text that accompanies it, which offers “a sneak peek at the new Traktor software and controller – and the birth of a groundbreaking new workflow”.
Smaller, lighter, more streamlined... the Traktor Kontrol S2 is the little brother to the popular Kontrol S2. Does it offer better value, though?
On the surface, the new Traktor Kontrol S2 DJ controller strips away a lot of the features of the company’s all-singing, all-dancing Kontrol S4, leaving a leaner and more conventional controller.
In part because of this, as well as because of its reduced price and size, the Kontrol S2 squares itself up for battle where most of the business happens in pro DJ controller land – the mainstream mid-market. It is therefore probably the most important DJ controller Native Instruments has launched to day. But will you end up wanting one? And is it really good value? Let’s find out…
