![]() ![]() This is a really smart addition, conserving precious USB real estate for anyone who opts to use a pair of D2s, or use one alongside an existing set-up of controllers and DJ interfaces. Instead, connections are limited to power input, a main USB port for connection with a computer, and a pair of USB hub connections, which allow more Traktor controllers or an interface to be daisy chained from the unit. Naturally, with the interface and mixer gone, there's no audio ins or outs around the back this time. New for D2ĭesign wise, the D2's top panel is largely indistinguishable from that of the matching section of the S8, other than four small FX Select buttons in the top right corner. It appears to be aimed squarely at DJs who want to slot the creative elements of the S8's feature set into their existing DJ set-up, allowing them to continue using their existing interface or mixer. The D2 is effectively a single deck from the S8 - doing away with the mixer and interface elements, and offering a single set of the S8's track control, performance, effect and browsing features. I still miss it a bit, it was a lot of fun!Īnyway, enough rambling, just though I’d pass on my experience.As such, the arrival of NI's new D2 controller makes a lot of sense. Ultimately, I sold because it was taking up too much space in my fairly small setup. It’s pretty much down to personal taste and your style though. Some MIDI mapping of the Stems controls is possible, but most controls can’t be reassigned. I naively thought that NI would allow customisation of the S8 in a Traktor update, but it never came (I haven’t checked for a while - it may be possible now).įor example I wanted to map the EQ controls on the mixer to control the Xone 92 filter effect, to set the mixer up in similar style to a Xone DB4, but that wasn’t possible.Īlso, the 4 band Xone EQ mode coudn’t be mapped across the EQ and filter controls on the mixer - a definite oversight. I thought the whole point of using a computer to DJ was be the ability to customise your controllers to your personal style. The lack of customisation options was the one thing that really annoyed me about the S8. It really is a machine designed for mixing 4/4 techno. Obviously NI expect everyone to use beat sync, but if you want to do a bit of manual mixing or mix into a vinyl record it’s a bit clunky. ![]() You have to go into a menu for manual tempo control - very odd. No dedicated tempo control was very strange for a dj controller. On the downside, apart from the huge size of the unit, I found a few strange design choices Really the only things you need to refer to Traktor for is searching for tunes outwith your playlists and hitting record to record your mix. The screens were great - good enough to switch the computer screen off, as long as your music is nicely organised into playlists. It’s pretty great for that type of setup. ![]() I tended to use 3 normal track decks and one external input for a synth or drum machine. I never really got into using the stems side of things that much and found using the sampling decks for capturing loops a bit fiddly to be honest, so I was probably under utilising it a lot. It is a really good bit of kit, total luxury for doing a bit of simple mixing at home but as phelios said, really big for carting around for gigs. There may be a load of them up for sale afterwards if they announce their next big thing, who knows. It’s probably worth waiting to see what NI announce about Traktor. I sold mine for about £550 after having it for about a year (I bought it in a NI sale for £650 a few months after it was released). The second hand price has been pretty stable here (UK) for a good couple of years. ![]()
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