Review: Native Instruments Traktor Pro DJ Software

Mar 1, 2009 12:00 PM, By Jason Blum

I Feel it takes about 10 years to get really good at anything — music, acting, accounting or any profession. A decade of hard work and dedication builds the repertoire of knowledge and networking needed for success. Therefore, the time is ripe for Native Instruments Traktor to truly come into its own as a professional tool for DJs.

Traktor will turn 10 in less than a year, and with a star-studded roster of dedicated users and a massive marketing blitz aimed at scratch and mix DJs in the bedroom and on the stage, Traktor is making a play to trounce its competitors and become the top platform for digital DJing worldwide. The field is now crowded, and competition is stiff from all sides, with Serato Scratch Live and M-Audio Torq garnering well-deserved followings in the past few years. Traktor continues to hang tough, though, remaining a top player thanks to its stability, refined interface and robust integration with custom-engineered hardware. The latest version maintains the classic Traktor pedigree with usability improvements and new features that make it the most elegant, streamlined and powerful Traktor to date.

THE TOTAL PACKAGE

The newest version of Traktor is available in two flavors, Traktor Pro ($229, retail; $119, upgrade) and Traktor Scratch Pro ($669, retail; $339, upgrade). Traktor Pro is the basic software that works on any Mac or PC computer with any soundcard; Traktor Scratch Pro is a digital vinyl system that includes NI's own Audio 8 DJ 24-bit, 96 kHz USB audio interface, timecode vinyl and CDs and cables. I covered the Audio 8 DJ in depth in my previous review of Traktor 3, and nothing in the hardware has changed. Refer to the August 2007 issue (also available online at http://tinyurl.com/av3ruv) for that review. I've used the trusty Audio 8 DJ at gigs for more than a year, and it's still chugging along with nary a dent or scratch. NI's unique multicore, color-coded RCA cables are a godsend; they make setup and teardown a simple affair even when a dimly lit party is in full swing.

For those who travel frequently and prefer a smaller but equally robust solution, the recently introduced Audio 4 DJ ($249) interface is also compatible with Traktor Pro, bringing the Audio 8's road-ready sensibilities and pristine fidelity to a pint-size, 2-channel package that's even easier to tote to gigs.

Note that Traktor Pro will work using any low-latency ASIO interface, not just the Audio 8 or Audio 4. However, if you plan to control Traktor with timecode vinyl or CDs — the “Scratch” part of Traktor Scratch Pro — you must use one of the two Native Instruments interfaces or a Traktor Scratch Certified mixer. At press time, six certified mixers were listed on NI's Website.

FIT AND FINISH

NI claims that Traktor Pro's new user interface culminated from intensive usability research and feedback from Traktor users. But current users shouldn't be confused, because Traktor Pro's GUI is similar to, but clearly an aesthetic improvement upon, the old Traktor DJ Studio. It subtly increases the size of important readouts such as waveform displays, track information, knobs and buttons while removing or reorienting less commonly used features. Fonts are scalable for easy reading at any screen resolution, and the contrast between elements is much better. Overall, the interface feels more “iconic” than before; large lit buttons and markings make it easier to decipher what's happening with a quick glance, and the bigger buttons and knobs also mean more accurate clicking and less fumbling with the mouse. I was particularly happy to see larger waveforms and clear, high-contrast indications of enabled effects — something previous versions lacked.

The global strip above the decks has been updated and streamlined into a tabbed interface to condense effects, recording and master controls into less onscreen real estate while upsizing controls for improved ease of use. Internal mixer controls and EQs are still located snugly between the playback decks, but like the global strip, knobs and faders are larger and easier to “grip” with a mouse.

PURTY PICTURES

Traktor Pro now displays album art — one of the most noticeable and welcome additions. Adding graphic icons for each track might not seem like a big deal, but anyone with fond memories of flipping through a crate of vinyl will immediately recognize the value of identifying a tune by its associated artwork rather than a long string of artist, title and label text. Cover art is visible in the deck area, in a dedicated cover-art window beneath the Browser's explorer tree, as well as in the browser itself, so you have visual cues about your music everywhere in the program. You can adjust the browser lines to display larger cover art, getting you as close to that flipping-through-the-crate feel as possible. Clicking on the magnifying glass icon in the top right-hand corner of Traktor Pro opens a full-screen browser.

All this isn't quite as satisfying or visceral as browsing music with Apple iTunes Cover Flow, but it's still a great, professional addition to the program. I'm happy that NI realizes that music needs to be seen as more than just a string of text in a database.

DECKED OUT

Four-deck playback — something that was previously available only on Studio versions of Traktor — is now a standard feature in Traktor Pro, which is a major improvement. Decks are paired together as A/B and C/D groups, and each group can be viewed full-size, with scrolling waveform and detailed track information, or in Mini mode, which saves screen room by showing just the track title and overview waveform. Four-deck mixing is perfect for live remixing and layering in loops and samples, and when you're using the Audio 8 interface, you can connect as many as four CD players or turntables for hands-on control of each deck.

As with earlier versions, looping facilities are located directly beneath each deck's waveform display, but in Traktor Pro, they're much more intuitive. Eleven length buttons (eighth note, one beat, 16 beats and so on) are accessible for immediate auto-looping, and default auto-loops range from a 32nd note for stutter-edit effects to a maximum of 32 beats to assist in on-the-fly remixing or to squeeze out a few extra bars at the end of a long mix. Of course, you can still create odd-size loops with the In/Out buttons. Traktor Pro's auto-looping seemed even more accurate than it was before — chalk that up to improved beat-gridding during track analysis — and I was able to loop tracks for minutes during long mix-outs without any unpleasant train wrecks.

CAUSE AND EFFECT

Native Instruments majorly overhauled the Effects in this revision: Traktor Pro now sports a whopping 25 top-notch signal processors that far outstrip the limited effects sections built into many DJ mixers. A standard repertoire of reverb, flange, phase and delay effects join additional unique effects such as Beatmasher, LoFi, Turntable FX and grain synthesis effects that sound like they're straight out of NI Reaktor synths. Traktor 3 users will be pleased to see all of the old Traktor 3 effects, including the Xone filters and equalizers.

An effects panel located in the global pane controls the effects in two modes: Chained and Advanced. Chained mode lets you stack three effects in serial sequence on each deck — with the signal passing from the top effect down through the bottom effect — which offers fast access to each effect and enables unique and complex combinations of all three. The three knobs in Chained mode adjust the primary characteristics of each individual effect, providing simplified control and producing great results with minimal effort.

Advanced mode limits each deck to one effect but opens up more creative possibilities by mapping each of the three knobs to different parameters. For example, Beatmasher offers adjustable gate, rotation and length parameters while Reverb provides control of highpass frequency, lowpass frequency and size. I appreciate the flexibility of Advanced mode, but in practice, I preferred Chained mode while mixing; tweaking three aspects of a single effect on the fly is harder than it sounds — especially if using a mouse — and Chained mode provides fast access to a wider range of effects. Still, Advanced mode is a welcome alternative; use a MIDI control surface for an easier time in Advanced mode.

Now on its fourth major revision, Traktor has evolved into a stable and flexible platform for DJs of every stripe, bridging the gap between traditional hands-on vinyl control and the limitless creative potential of digital music. Initially, I thought the differences between Traktor 3 and Traktor Pro were minimal, but after using Traktor Pro for a month, rolling back to Traktor 3 felt like slipping on ill-fitting shoes. The changes in Traktor Pro are critical to the application's evolution. NI focused on polishing the work flow and overall user experience to a professional luster. After becoming accustomed to Pro's new conveniences, I wouldn't want to work any other way. Stability remains rock-solid, and although I did encounter some trouble with Traktor crashing after loading certain WMA files, the Native Instruments support team analyzed the problem and delivered a patch that cleared it up right away.

With standard four-deck mixing, album art display, vastly upgraded effects and a streamlined interface that improves live usability, NI Traktor Po has cemented its leadership position in the digital DJ scene.

$229 (RETAIL)
$119 (UPGRADE)

Pros: Vastly improved user interface. Album art display. New effects processors. Standard four-deck mixing. Native integration with popular MIDI controllers.

Cons: Timecode vinyl/CDs supported only with Native Instruments audio hardware or approved third-party interfaces. Still no support for VST or Audio Units plug-ins.
www.native-instruments.com

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