Native Instruments today officially announced its new flagship four-deck digital vinyl system, Traktor Scratch Pro 2, as exclusively revealed last week on Digital DJ Tips.
Combining Traktor Scratch Pro 2 software with the new Audio 10 sound interface, this next-generation DVS system is coming straight at Serato Scratch 2, which itself recently received a boost through the announcement of the Rane SL4 4-deck, 2 USB sound interface.
Among the headline features are:
- Up to four-deck control – via the new Audio 10 sound interface. The four decks can be controlled with any combination of CD, vinyl and compatible DJ controllers
- Full iTunes integration – Long a bugbear with Traktor DJs, now the software gets proper iTunes integration including crate flick cover art
- TruWave frequency-specific coloured waveforms – Borrowing a much-loved Serato feature, although they’re still not parallel like most DJ software
- Sample decks and loop recorder – these features first appeared on the Kontrol S4 software, and have now been ported across to Traktor Scratch Pro 2, allowing for the creation of remixes and edits on the fly
- More studio-quality effects – Now over 30 effects, designed “to be used like an external effects unit”
- Easy syncing with Maschine – Allowing creative DJ/producers to incorporate this popular production hardware into their Traktor Scratch set-ups
- Simplified user interface – Native Instruments seems to have realised that cluttered is not necessarily good, and has cleaned up the interface to bring to the fore what matters and hide away features that aren’t so top priority
- SoftSync improved tempo awareness This promises to make beatmatching easier, by auto beatgridding and phrase matching
The company also promises easier plug and play, easier DJ switching in clubs with the direct thru function on the Audio 10, and “Cirrus Logic® converters for supreme audio quality”, plus an “after party” featuring allowing internal control so you can mix without using control vinyl, CDs etc.
If the iTunes integration is good (we want editable ID3 tags for a start), and the software is indeed simpler to use than its sometimes clunky prececessor, Native Instruments on first look has a real contender here for the top of the DVS market. We just can’t understand why they resist parallel waveforms at every opportunity…
Software updates will be available for current owners of Traktor software.
• Native instruments also announced Traktor Scratch Duo 2, the 2-deck stripped-down version of this software.
We can confirm pricing: Traktor Scratch Pro 2 is US$669 / €599, and Traktor Scratch Duo 2 is US$399 / €349. Full hardware/software upgrade pricing is here.
Video
Here’s the official video for this launch:
Do you think Native Instruments has a Serato Scratch-beating system here? Do you welcome the porting across of sample decks and loop recorder from the Kontrol S4 software? What features excite you the most, or do you feel they’ve missed a trick or two? Let us know in the comments.
Phil Morse
