Traktor DJ 1.5 for iOS has arrived, and has its first in-app purchase: SuperSlicer. Think of it as the existing Slicer function on steroids. With the new SuperSlicer, you can “slice up your tracks and rearrange your loops using Scratch, Break, Reverse, Slice or even Pitch-shift effects”.
It is a development of the functionality already included in the Slicer function, that lets you “play” a short section of a tune by dividing it up into beats and letting you touch the beats you want to play, but the addition of turntablism effects, loops and pitch shift among others takes it to a whole new level, making full use of the “touch the waveforms” paradigm: Special effects are applied by touching the waveforms in certain ways, with two fingers causing a reverse effect, and grabbing a “slice” and moving it up causing a loop roll, for instance.
Unlike Serato’s Flip, it appears that you can’t perform, record then recall individual SuperSlice performances; it’s very much a spontaneous performance tool for slicing up very small sections of a beat. However, I can see this being used as a beat creation tool, the output being recorded as audio and loaded into a DAW for extra work.
It’s interesting to see this as an in-app purchase, as it’s the first time we’ve seen this is a Native Instruments DJ product (that I can think of, anyway: Correct me if I’m wrong, readers.)
• SuperSlicer is available now as an in-app purchase for $1.99 with Traktor DJ for iPad ($9.99) and Traktor DJ for iPhone ($1.99). The upgrade from existing version of Traktor DJ to the new version is, of course, free.
So what do you think having watched the video, folks? Something you’d use for beat creation or improvisation? What do you think of NI’s new in-app purchase route? Let us know your thoughts below!
Phil Morse
