This is a video introduction to Native Instruments’ Traktor Kontrol X1, a new DJ controller designed by the team behind Traktor DJ.

Native Instruments today announced Traktor Kontrol X1, a performance controller designed by the team behind Traktor DJ.

Description:

Traktor Kontrol X1 provides DJs of all styles and genres with a way to control loop, cue, effect, track selection and transport functions of their system. The unit accommodates the two most common digital DJing paradigms – it complements a typical timecode-controlled Traktor Scratch setup consisting of a hardware mixer, turntables or CD decks, and also works as a self-contained controller for DJs who play beat-gridded tracks with Traktor software and mix externally.

Two X1 units can also be combined into a four-deck setup that controls all decks and effect units of Traktor Pro or Traktor Scratch Pro simultaneously.

Traktor Kontrol X1 is equipped with precise buttons, knobs and encoders, complemented by dynamic colored backlighting for additional visual feedback. The X1 integrates with the Traktor software through a dedicated high-resolution protocol, resulting in a level of precision and responsiveness beyond what regular MIDI-based controllers can provide, and allowing for true plug-and-play operation with no setup or specific configuration required.

Traktor Kontrol X1 has been specifically designed for usage in performance environments. Its compact casing is both robust and lightweight for high portability, and the special vertical form factor makes the unit fit seamlessly within a typical club setup. The optional carrying bag for the X1 doubles as a stand that raises the controller surface to match the height of typical DJ mixers.

Traktor Kontrol X1 can be used to control any MIDI-compatible DVS, DJ software or music performance application. The optional MIDI mode of the controller can be engaged on the fly via a dedicated button on the unit.

The X1 also comes with a carefully designed set of parameter assignments for the Serato Scratch Live system, matching the relevant features of the software to the controller without any setup effort. A special Serato Scratch Live overlay for the X1 is also available.

Traktor Kontrol X1 also ships with Traktor LE, software that provides two decks with essential looping, effects and mixing features, turning X1 into an entry-level solution for digital DJing.

Traktor Kontrol X1 will be available in February 2010 for a suggested price of $229 / 199 EUR. The carrying bag / stand for Traktor Kontrol X1 will be available for $49 / 39 EUR.

DJTechTools’ Ean Golden discusses the steps he uses to important digital music and prepare it for DJing.

via eangolden:

How do I bring new music into my dj collection? Here are the important steps that will take a file from newly purchased to ready to play in just a few minutes.

Native Instruments

Traktor 1.2 Features:

• Users of TRAKTOR PRO and TRAKTOR SCRATCH PRO are treated to three extra effects in 1.2. Taking the total to 24, this update adds a Beat Slicer, Formant Filter and a Peak Filter.
• The TRAKTOR effects section just got twice as nice. With the addition of two more effects units (in PRO versions only) the potential for warping and twisting your tracks has been vastly increased.
• TRAKTOR now supports the HID (Human Interface Device) protocol for the Pioneer CDJ-400 and display support for the Denon DN-HC4500. HID is an alternative to MIDI control that boasts a much improved sensitivity, meaning even more precise control over pitch control and effects parameters etc. HID also utilizes the product displays to show TRAKTOR info such as track name, remaining time etc, directly on the hardware.
• The new advanced Élastique time stretching algorithm delivers a new level in time-stretching quality at an amazing workload efficiency. The algorithm has been developed to detect tonal and transient components in your tracks with high accuracy, making the Keylock function in TRAKTOR 1.2 sound pristine. The new algorithm also ensures exceptional efficiency in CPU usage.

Other Updates In Traktor 1.2

• Drag and Drop from decks to playlist
• Two additional favorite playlist slots
• New Progressive Sensitivity option for Pitch Bend
• Customizable Cue Play button behaviour (Instant On Release)
• Additional Preparation List features with diamond icons, Append/add next menu functions
• Adjustable minimum playtime filter for play count and history functions timecode
• Internal EQs enabled for external mixer mode
• New track caching technology with reduced memory footprint
• Improved Tap Tempo function
• Direct tag editing in Explorer node
• Pitch Bend controller assignable to jog wheels
• One-Click setting of hotcues

Traktor Version 1.2 is a free update.

This tutorial, via DJTechTool’s eangolden, looks at how to record your own voice and create some very cool effects using only a built in mic and the software Traktor Pro.

Richie Hawtin & Ambivalent “On Performance”

During the NYC stop of the DubSpot Live 8 U.S. Sessions Tour, Richie Hawtin and Ambivalent talked with attendees about a variety of career issues, such as production and performance strategies, finding new motivation, advice for learning, and even “that twitter thing.”

via DubSpot

How to Create Dynamic Buildups In Traktor Pro

via eangolden:

This is a technique we have used in our VCI-100SE mappings that combine 3 effects to make dynamic buildups on the fly. more information can be found here: http://www.djtechtools.com/2009/08/13/how-to-create-exciting-build-ups-in-traktor/Download the TSI file here: http://www.djtechtools.com/midi-map/

Tonetable (App Store link) is a $7.99 application for DJs who want to control their digital vinyl system from their iPhone or iPod Touch.

It produces a control tone that is compatible with most digital vinyl systems such as Serato’s Scratch Live, Native Instruments’ Traktor Scratch, M-Audio’s Torq, Image-Line’s Deckadance and many more.

via inklen

“Slip” – Sebastien Leger Remix (”MASCHINE” vs “TRAKTOR”) LIVE

This is a live remix/re-tweak, via massivebeatzz, of Sebastian Leger’s SLIP.

Massivebeatz mixes on Native Instruments’ TRAKTOR, Native Instruments MASCHINE as well as Jomox’s xBase 09 and the Roland MC09.

This video offers DJ tips from GearWire’s Bill Holland. Holland explains how you can get by with one controller if you arrive at a gig with spotty equipment:

Our own Bill Holland has braved many a seedy club, arriving set for work only to find that he did not have a full set of turntables at his disposal.

Enter Native Instruments Traktor Scratch Pro, which lets you get all MacGyver up in the booth, and never let them see you sweat.

via gearwire

This tutorial covers the mapping designed by Ean Golden for the Vestax VCi-100 and Traktor Pro.

You can download and try the mapping for free here.

Techno DJ Carl Cox talks about Traktor at the Winter Music Conference 2009.

Native Instruments has published a series of interviews with DJs from this year’s Winter Music Conference, focusing on NI’s Traktor.

Techno DJ Richie Hawtin is putting social media site Twitter to use in a unique way – automatically Twittering his sets:

Twitter DJ is the latest brainwave from Richie Hawtin.

The new application, developed in-house by Bryan McDade at Hawtin’s Minus label, works as a conduit between Traktor and the online messaging utility Twitter. Minus and Native Instruments worked closely together to optimize the Traktor software for this special use.

The Twitter DJ application utilizes feeds from an updated version of Traktor’s standard broadcasting technology to send 30 second updates during Hawtin’s set of what’s currently playing to a designated Twitter account, allowing anyone following the Twitter group to obtain a unique insight into how a DJ builds the atmosphere and dynamics of a set, track by track, and in real time. The track information is freely accessible from any Twitter configured personal mobile devices (even from the dance floor) and archived online on the Twitter page.

This concept is also a significant step towards helping smaller independent record companies and artists to gain further recognition and free promotion when their releases are played as digital files.

Twitter DJ is an interesting idea,  but – sorry, Richie – it makes for a pretty boring Twitter stream:

is now playing: Pfirter – X. Una Vez Pele Una Papa (Digital Only)about 9 hours ago from web

is now playing: Pfirter – A1. Mi Chicaabout 9 hours ago from web

is now playing: – M 74_JPLS Ambivalent Creep_A_45_12about 9 hours ago from web

is now playing: jpls – duckets RMX plus8about 9 hours ago from web

Hawtin has more in mind, though, than just spamming twitter with a stream of details about what he’s playing:

The real potential comes to light when considering the benefits for performing rights societies:

“By providing the necessary information to track what is really being played in clubs, the Twitter DJ application would not only drag the likes of GEMA, PRS and SOCAN kicking and screaming into the 21st century, but make sure the real artists get paid instead of performance payments simply being carved up between the Madonnas and U2s of the world.

If record sales are slowing down and performance is now the key area where artists can achieve financial stability, better solutions need to be found and a workable structure put in place as soon as possible.

We hope that our Twitter DJ application is a step forward in the development of these types of systems.“

Hawtin’s right: there’s no reason technically why DJ’s and bars can’t accurately track, in real time, what’s getting played, so that the real artists get credit.

While this makes for a boring Twitter stream, it opens up a lot of possibilities.

• If this became common with DJ’s, you could have real-time ranking of the hottest tracks in clubs.
• You could track the viral spread of hot tracks from one DJ to another.
• You could have an iPhone app that used proximity to identify the club you were in and display the track that was currently being played.
• Labels could track which DJs are most successful at blowing up new tracks, making it possible to market to DJs more intelligently.
• DJs could sort through all the music being played to find out what’s trending upward.

So, while Hawtin’s robo-tweets are a snoozefest, they’re still a great idea.

There are a few things that Hawtin and Native Instruments need to consider to make Twitter DJ useful:

• Track tweets need to include a global unique identifier for each track, not just the track title. This could be used to identify specific versions of a song and also let you look up other information about the song.
• Twitter DJ should include meta information about how the song is being played. Modern DJ apps let you easily change the speed and pitch of a track, and this can change how people respond to it.
• Twitter DJ should “sessionize” the tweets, including a session identifier or a session open and close so that you’d know that Hawtin was starting a session at The Watt, in Rotterdam. This meta information would let other DJ’s know what tracks have been played at specific clubs, and let you know what people are listening to at these clubs.
• Native Instruments could start a global DJ registry, based on Traktor registrations, and aggregate track tweets. When you register, they could have an option to share track tweets or not. Then you could browse DJ’s online and see the tracks that they are playing.
• It would be great if track tweets could include some meta information that indicated crowd response. Maybe this could be done automatically using a webcam, or maybe the DJ would have to rank response from 1-10. The information could then be used to understand how crowds responded to songs over time, by club type or even by individual club.

In other words, the track info needs to be in a concise, machine-readable format – which would make for a Twitter stream even more soporific than Hawtin’s current tweets.

Hawtin should split his tweets into two streams: one for Hawtin’s personal messages and one for his robo-tweets. This avoid twitter-spamming fans, but provide the track details for people and applications, that can use it.

Hawtin is testing the beta version of the software on his tour, which started on Wednesday 4/29/2009. You can follow Hawtin’s tweets at www.twitter.com/rhawtin.

Let me know what you think. Are Hawtin’s robo-tweets Twitter spam, or do you think its got potential?

And if you’re on Twitter, make sure you’re following me.

Image via awesome club/concert photographer Caesar Sebastian

This is an official Native Instruments overview of its new Audio 4 DJ, 4-channel DJ soundcard.

Here are some performance clips from a couple of leaders in the controllerism movement, Dj Moldover and Ean Golden.

They each demonstrated some new performance ideas at the Albeton Live and Vestax booths at the 2008 NAMM show. 

via eangolden

Native Instruments has announced that the Audio Kontrol 1 audio interface is now bundled with an extended software package at no further cost. All purchases of the interface now include a download of either ABSYNTH 4, FM8, MASSIVE, or PRO-53 depending on the user’s choice.

Audio Kontrol 1 combines a 2-in/4-out USB 2.0 audio interface with assignable control surface elements in a rugged, compact aluminium enclosure. Emphasis has been placed on high-quality audio conversion and low-latency driver technology.

Other software bundled with AUDIO KONTROL 1 includes the GUITAR RIG 3 LE amp emulation suite, the TRAKTOR LE DJ software, the KORE PLAYER software instrument and the Cubase LE 4 sequencer.

This video shows how you can connect Ableton Live and Traktor Pro on your Mac.

It uses Soundflower from Cycling74 and Mac OS’ integrated IAC Driver.

via Zettt

If you’ve used pOSCa, leave a comment below and let us know what you think of it!

Description:

pOSCa is an Open Sound Control compliant controller for audio and multimedia software such as Ableton Live, Reaktor, Plogue Bidule, Traktor, Max/MSP/Jitter, Pure Data and OSCulator.

Using the controller from the iPhone allows the electronics music performer to get up from behind the laptop and interact with his audience. pOSCa sports a nice dial, up/down and left/right buttons and ten programmable buttons. Programming the buttons is easy: just select a button and set a value with the dial, then you can set another button to another value. When you hit the first button again, the dial will spin in place and give the desired value. This allows for easy pre-programming up to the performance and quick interactivity.

In order to have no surprises in concert, the settings are kept in the iPhone/iPod’s Settings area. Be sure to set the settings to interact with your audio software.

Here you can set your computers IP address and what UDP port your software is listening to. You can also set a name for the device so that you can have multiple devices controlling the same synth without causing confusion. Also you can set default min and max values. These are by default set to max and min for MIDI as many of the synth come from a MIDI heritage, but they can be set to anything you want.

pOSCa works best using WiFi and works equally well on the iPhone and iPod touch, although when using it in concert you might want to turn off the phone functionality first.

This video, via eangolden, shows the steps required to use the Beatmasher in Traktor to record live loops of performance on the fly.

2009 NAMM Show: Native Instruments introduced AUDIO 4 DJ, a USB 2.0 audio interface specifically designed for TRAKTOR and other DJ software.

Based on the AUDIO 8 DJ interface that is also at the heart of Native Instruments’ TRAKTOR SCRATCH DJ system, the AUDIO 4 DJ offers a 4-in/4-out configuration with the same audio quality, but with a smaller footprint and a more affordable price.

Two stereo inputs with software-switchable phono preamps allow DJs to connect turntables, CD decks and music production gear for various live performance and recording purposes. Two stereo outputs provide the necessary connectivity for routing two decks into an external DJ mixer, or outputting a separate master and cue signal when mixing in software. All audio connections are in RCA format for straightforward interfacing with DJ equipment.

AUDIO 4 DJ is equipped with studio-quality 24bit/96 kHz audio converters from Cirrus Logic that provide crystal-clear treble and rich bass response, and features special high-gain output stages that deliver a powerful +10dBu signal with additional headroom. Low-latency operation down to less than 4ms enables the high degree of precision and responsiveness that professional DJ performances rely on. AUDIO 4 DJ also features a ground point for turntables and an adjustable headphone output, as well as signal level LEDs for all inputs and outputs. The interface is completely bus-powered, making a cumbersome AC adapter unnecessary.

AUDIO 4 DJ comes as a full-featured DJ system due to the inclusion of TRAKTOR LE, a compact version of Native Instruments’ TRAKTOR software that offers two decks with high-quality time-stretching, an integrated mixer, performance effects, loop and cueing functions, and a powerful track database. All owners of AUDIO 4 DJ can also take advantage of a discounted upgrade to the full-featured TRAKTOR PRO software at any time.

AUDIO 4 DJ is available now for purchase in the NI Online Shop for a suggested retail price of $249 / €229 .