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Traktor S4 or numark's 4Track?

Home :: Reviews of DJ equipment :: Traktor S4 or numark's 4Track?Reply

Traktor S4 or numark's 4Track? Posted on: 25.07.2012 by Bobbie Tagliabue I've been recently debating whether I am going to buy the S4 or the 4track. Both seem like very good controllers, but I can't seem to figure out which one is better for me. The reason I like the S4 is that it has complete and utter functionality with traktor pro/Its very versatile mapping-wise/ its small but not to small and its audio quality is great. On the other hand the 4trak is also a great contender. It is also a 4 deck controller but the main aspect that sets it apart is that it has a stand-alone mixer that can be used with cdj's and vinyl. Although i do not have any vinyl or cdj's i want the flexibility in the future because i am buying a controller that can easily be replaced. The 4trak also has a ton of outputs and a 24bit audio card. At this point I am stuck on deciding which i am going to go for. Any advice would be much appreciated.
Melinda Wubben 26.07.2012	Originally Posted by Saurus Lawl... Do you have some data to back up the statement that the S4 is better with sync... Or are you just calling props on not using sync....? Also, I lol'd at "if you play by hand". Ha, you took the bait! :P Anyway, no, not really - but with sync you won't really need the big jogs or the full-size pitch faders. And you do get 4+4 cue point buttons on the S4 instead of the 5 on the 4Trak, so for that kind of workflow I'd assume it's better. I'm not saying that's inherently bad, just that there's different requirements for different workflows. Edit: and dedicated controls for the loop recorder, of course.
Eloy Kiepke 26.07.2012	Originally Posted by DJQA To me, it seems pretty simple. If you need DVS functionality, or play EDM with sync, the S4 wins. If you play by hand, play non-quantised music, scratch, want to remap, or need an analogue mixer, or like to have a split cue, the 4Trak wins. I went with the latter, and I have no complaints. Lawl... Do you have some data to back up the statement that the S4 is better with sync... Or are you just calling props on not using sync....? Also, I lol'd at "if you play by hand".
Celine Surico 26.07.2012	Originally Posted by Saurus Even if you refuse to change any mapping, why not just adapt to a better controller and use its factory traktor mapping? There are a lot of other controllers out there with much better build quality, and much better functionality. The 4 Track absolutely leaves the S4 in the dust on both fronts. Trust me, if anyone in the world has a 4 Track and actually wants an S4, I've got one to trade you in a second. I've only taken the S4 to four gigs this last month. Have not seen issues with build quality, exactly. It's not sturdy but sometimes I believe the sturdiness of controllers have gone too far in the minds of users. If someone throws a controller on the floor, even sturdy ones will break. As I said, S4 is 95% of my needs and I like to tweak sets a lot. If I ever need more tweaking, I use add another controller, like my unused UC-33, to the setup. Case solved. The other option is of course to buy a 'sturdy' controller and spend evenings tweaking it to your liking. Anyway, I'm more interested in DJ:ing than tweaking controllers, myself. PS: And with F1 the S4 will be even more fun, close to what Ableton Live could have become if Ableton would have focused on DJ needs.
Eloy Kiepke 26.07.2012	Originally Posted by ksandvik Then again 95% of the HID S4 mapping makes sense. I guess I'm getting old but I don't mind adjusting to a piece of gear and spend more time on the actual DJ side. Even if you refuse to change any mapping, why not just adapt to a better controller and use its factory traktor mapping? There are a lot of other controllers out there with much better build quality, and much better functionality. The 4 Track absolutely leaves the S4 in the dust on both fronts. Trust me, if anyone in the world has a 4 Track and actually wants an S4, I've got one to trade you in a second.
Eloy Kiepke 27.07.2012	Originally Posted by DJ ABU The reason I like the S4 is that it has complete and utter functionality with traktor pro/Its very versatile mapping-wise/ its small but not to small and its audio quality is great. Actually the opposite. It's the only controller that is actively, and intentionally NOT versatile with mapping. In its normal mode, it doesn't send midi at all, it sends HID. Native instruments has failed to create an HID mapping system, so you CANNOT remap it from the factory default except for a few VERY specific tweaks to specific controls. You can switch it into midi mode and map it as a normal 7-bit midi controller, but then you lose ALL of the features that make the S4 worth using at all, including ANY use of the digital loop length readouts, and the HD faders and jogwheels. The S4 is mediocre even if you don't want to ever remap it, as there are better controllers even for that (and the 4track is one of them). The only reason I can picture for buying an S4 would be that its sound card supports the use of control vinyl. Or maybe if you're completely obsessed with its loop length digital readouts.... Those are the only two things I can believe of that the S4 does that some other controllers don't do MUCH better.
Bobbie Tagliabue 25.07.2012	I've been recently debating whether I am going to buy the S4 or the 4track. Both seem like very good controllers, but I can't seem to figure out which one is better for me. The reason I like the S4 is that it has complete and utter functionality with traktor pro/Its very versatile mapping-wise/ its small but not to small and its audio quality is great. On the other hand the 4trak is also a great contender. It is also a 4 deck controller but the main aspect that sets it apart is that it has a stand-alone mixer that can be used with cdj's and vinyl. Although i do not have any vinyl or cdj's i want the flexibility in the future because i am buying a controller that can easily be replaced. The 4trak also has a ton of outputs and a 24bit audio card. At this point I am stuck on deciding which i am going to go for. Any advice would be much appreciated.
Melinda Wubben 26.07.2012	Originally Posted by Saurus Lawl... Do you have some data to back up the statement that the S4 is better with sync... Or are you just calling props on not using sync....? Also, I lol'd at "if you play by hand". Ha, you took the bait! :P Anyway, no, not really - but with sync you won't really need the big jogs or the full-size pitch faders. And you do get 4+4 cue point buttons on the S4 instead of the 5 on the 4Trak, so for that kind of workflow I'd assume it's better. I'm not saying that's inherently bad, just that there's different requirements for different workflows. Edit: and dedicated controls for the loop recorder, of course.
Eloy Kiepke 26.07.2012	Originally Posted by DJQA To me, it seems pretty simple. If you need DVS functionality, or play EDM with sync, the S4 wins. If you play by hand, play non-quantised music, scratch, want to remap, or need an analogue mixer, or like to have a split cue, the 4Trak wins. I went with the latter, and I have no complaints. Lawl... Do you have some data to back up the statement that the S4 is better with sync... Or are you just calling props on not using sync....? Also, I lol'd at "if you play by hand".
Melinda Wubben 26.07.2012	To me, it seems pretty simple. If you need DVS functionality, or play EDM with sync, the S4 wins. If you play by hand, play non-quantised music, scratch, want to remap, or need an analogue mixer, or like to have a split cue, the 4Trak wins. I went with the latter, and I have no complaints. Geek: You can get PFL on the 4Trak with a long push on a channel cue button. Additionally, you can route external sources through Traktor so you get on-screen monitoring for the live input channels - and FX and filters to boot. But with just Traktor, I don't even bother. Auto gain with confirmation by ear works well enough. Edit: ja morot vaan I won't claim the factory map is perfect, the first thing I did was to rearrange the loop section to my liking. It's perfectly workable though if you're not tweak-minded, but I guess for the adapt-to-gear mindset the S4 would be better. Or better yet, an Itch controller!
Celine Surico 26.07.2012	Originally Posted by Saurus Even if you refuse to change any mapping, why not just adapt to a better controller and use its factory traktor mapping? There are a lot of other controllers out there with much better build quality, and much better functionality. The 4 Track absolutely leaves the S4 in the dust on both fronts. Trust me, if anyone in the world has a 4 Track and actually wants an S4, I've got one to trade you in a second. I've only taken the S4 to four gigs this last month. Have not seen issues with build quality, exactly. It's not sturdy but sometimes I believe the sturdiness of controllers have gone too far in the minds of users. If someone throws a controller on the floor, even sturdy ones will break. As I said, S4 is 95% of my needs and I like to tweak sets a lot. If I ever need more tweaking, I use add another controller, like my unused UC-33, to the setup. Case solved. The other option is of course to buy a 'sturdy' controller and spend evenings tweaking it to your liking. Anyway, I'm more interested in DJ:ing than tweaking controllers, myself. PS: And with F1 the S4 will be even more fun, close to what Ableton Live could have become if Ableton would have focused on DJ needs.
Eloy Kiepke 26.07.2012	Originally Posted by ksandvik Then again 95% of the HID S4 mapping makes sense. I guess I'm getting old but I don't mind adjusting to a piece of gear and spend more time on the actual DJ side. Even if you refuse to change any mapping, why not just adapt to a better controller and use its factory traktor mapping? There are a lot of other controllers out there with much better build quality, and much better functionality. The 4 Track absolutely leaves the S4 in the dust on both fronts. Trust me, if anyone in the world has a 4 Track and actually wants an S4, I've got one to trade you in a second.
Celine Surico 26.07.2012	Then again 95% of the HID S4 mapping makes sense. I guess I'm getting old but I don't mind adjusting to a piece of gear and spend more time on the actual DJ side.
Eloy Kiepke 27.07.2012	Originally Posted by DJ ABU The reason I like the S4 is that it has complete and utter functionality with traktor pro/Its very versatile mapping-wise/ its small but not to small and its audio quality is great. Actually the opposite. It's the only controller that is actively, and intentionally NOT versatile with mapping. In its normal mode, it doesn't send midi at all, it sends HID. Native instruments has failed to create an HID mapping system, so you CANNOT remap it from the factory default except for a few VERY specific tweaks to specific controls. You can switch it into midi mode and map it as a normal 7-bit midi controller, but then you lose ALL of the features that make the S4 worth using at all, including ANY use of the digital loop length readouts, and the HD faders and jogwheels. The S4 is mediocre even if you don't want to ever remap it, as there are better controllers even for that (and the 4track is one of them). The only reason I can picture for buying an S4 would be that its sound card supports the use of control vinyl. Or maybe if you're completely obsessed with its loop length digital readouts.... Those are the only two things I can believe of that the S4 does that some other controllers don't do MUCH better.
Syreeta Stockam 26.07.2012	Your not alone with that problem, I'm also suffering from same problem. 4Trak's mixer is a plus, it's bigger size is a plus (for me) but as it looks right now the most important thing is that 4Trak's jogs are bigger. And not to be picky or anything but why is NI making S4 partly in glossy black? Looks like hell with fingerprints? On the 4Trak's downside S4 is made by NI, Traktor is made by NI so 1+1 equals 2... I used to play vinyls for 15 years, then took a 10 year break and this summer i was "born again" to digital stuff, kinda fell in love all over again. But, since I'm old(ish) and most sure I'm oldskool, I just can't see how I could live without LED-bar per channel, and that's a downside again on behalf of S4. (Ok, it's doable in 4Trak with mapping needle-drop bars but anyway) And yes, I'd like to use my vinyls, that's a set-win for 4Trak again. I'm leaning towards 4trak myself, but would love to try a S4 but unfortunately don't know anyone with one.

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