S4 Durability
S4 Durability Posted on: 14.04.2011 by Fady Soliman Having played with an S4 on display I really feel it is well constructed.I'm debating whether to get an S4 or Denon MC6000. Owning Denon's over the last 5 or so years they have been well built and I've never had hardware problems with them. For all you S4 owners how are your units regarding durability/reliability? Have you had hardware issues with them? I'm reading the FX buttons are giving problems sticking/not responding and some other issues with lights and fader's. From a scale of 1 to 5, 1 being very bad and 5 being excellent, what would you rate the S4 regarding durability/reliability? | |
| Random X 16.04.2011 | I know, but it's only sorta-ditched for DJing... Stilll use it for ableton. |
| Nedra Fresneda 16.04.2011 |
Originally Posted by Tekki
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| Margurite Mcnamar 15.04.2011 |
Originally Posted by DOWN|3E4T
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| Francina Decosse 15.04.2011 |
Originally Posted by sebastiannz
It's a simple two step process: 1. It asks you to slide them all (2x Tempo + 4 Volume) down and press an "OK" 2. then it asks to slide them all up and press an "OK". as it sounds, the chances are pretty high that your issue would be solvable. If not, it might be possible for NI to eventually implement a soft fix for that ... |
| Peggy Gabrielson 15.04.2011 | hmm i was happy with the build quality until i noticed a problem with my 'c' channel fader. it leaks when at 0 volume so you have to use the cross fader to silence the channel. annoying but not a gamebreaker. like the other poster, i would prefer to pay more and get high build quality (like a macbook pro standard quality). |
| Random X 15.04.2011 | I used the BCR+MIDIfighter as a complete solution before the S4 arrived. Now I have more or less ditched the BCR, and gone with the S4 and MIDIfighter. |
| Francina Decosse 15.04.2011 | Do you use the BCR for the sample decks & FX3&4? ... it is probably one of the greatest complementing controllers for KS4/TP2. |
| Random X 15.04.2011 | Here's me endorsing the S4. Build quality is cool, than again I have been carrying the BCR2000 & MIDIfighter with me to gigs for a long time. |
| Francina Decosse 15.04.2011 | i've never heard a bad thing about the NS7, hardware wise ... |
| Fady Soliman 15.04.2011 | Humm I've had very bad experiences with Numark, don't believe I can ever go back. |
| Francina Decosse 15.04.2011 | dude, the S4 is really great - if you like the layout and features and the capabilities, go for it. You won't regret it for sure. i'm like 95% sure that it'll make you happy for quite some time. The denon has great built quality (it feels so, so nice), but I just don't like the layout. I knew that it's not my controller right from the start. I don't care what a great build it has. My S4 feels great too and I don't actually have any issues with my unit. Just believe that you'll probably get a unit from the 5th month of manufacturing, which will presumably have most of the early production defects solved. If you still hesitate, take a look at NS6. It's the only one, which probably has higher potential than the S4. |
| Fady Soliman 15.04.2011 | CRAP! I'm really liking the S4!! But this is all bringing back memories of when I was looking into the Korg!! Maybe I should hang on to my EVO5 and Denon for a while and wait till the next NI controller comes out? My Denon HS5500 is plastic and metal but I'm very happy with it. Very solid. I've owned other Denon's so I might just keep with what I know is good, for me Denon is the best in the market even though Pioneer is what most top Dj's use. |
| Marya Romaine 15.04.2011 | MC6000 owner here. I've played with the S4 only for a few minutes but the MC6000 is built like a tank in comparison. I love it but yes the knobs and controls are a little close together. |
| Karma Lucha 15.04.2011 | Ive got one unusable channel (A) which makes it almost useless to use unless I pull 4 deck mode up on the screen and forego the large track list for the small one. Having to use 4 deck mode with a tiny track list is frustrating but I can work around it. I've got about 6 buttons that stick down and dont click like the others, sometimes they stay down when I press them, causing unwanted software reactions. I wasnt happy that the fader died after 3 weeks of use (probably used a total of 5 times for half an hour each before it broke). I dont like the hastle of sending hardware back if I can work around it, I just wont buy another hardware product made by Native Instruments ever again. 0/10 - Support (Non existant, NI have completely ignored both cases I opened months ago, not one single email reply, not even in my spam folder) 0/10 - Hardware Quality (This ones a no-brainer) 6/10 - price (8/10 if it wasnt shit quality) 8/10 - Software (when I dont have to disable the network driver to get it stable I'll give it 10/10) My review total: 33% Before flaming me for flaming NI and the S4, just keep in mind that first impressions mean NOTHING and that noone in the world can truly comment on the S4's quality. The thing hasn't been out for long enough to stand the test of time. |
| Gertha Coprich 15.04.2011 |
Originally Posted by Blair
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| Fady Soliman 15.04.2011 |
I'm serious about my gear and I would have happily paid a higher price for a higher built quality.
I've never had a problem with Denon hardware the only thing is the S4 has more buttons and encoders to play and customize Traktor with. I also don't like how the MC is set up but reading these community s and Denon's I'm getting a feeling the S4 is not as well built which is a shame. I've had a Korg Zero 4 and I read all the reviews and like an idiot I bought one cuz nothing at the time matched it's features except Ecler. Wasn't happy with it so I sold it and got my Ecler EVO5. You do pay what you get for. |
| Kecia Wnukowski 15.04.2011 | Hmm, I may like the S4 however I must admit that between the plastic built, the soft buttons that may get stuck on occasions (how's that's supposed to be performance orientated??? very practical....) and the buttons that may or may not respond (that started only a few weeks after I got the unit), I'm not that quite happy about the built quality. So I put average, not even above average. I had in the old old past Gemini and Behringer products that were better built than that... I'm serious about my gear and I would have happily paid a higher price for a higher built quality. |
| Francina Decosse 15.04.2011 | I have the S4 and am happy with it. Though it's light and plastic and the durability expectation is not very high. There are reports of X1s wearing down after an year of heavy use. Not that they stop, but the feel of the plastic pots is changing. S4 is using the same components. Still better than average is my vote. I've also played with an MC6000 and believe that it'll last longer. It feels solid and great for sure. Still the Denon won't be my choice, due to the layout being more busy and tight for me. Also, I don't actually need it's mixer features (which are great, btw). the NS6 looks great |
| Fady Soliman 14.04.2011 |
The weight is a bit of an issue, but that's probably only because I carry it around in my super heavy Odyssey flight case.
Actually, I own an Ecler EVO 5. That's a beast! So the S4 to me is not that big and heavy at all. I saw the Pioneer controller last weekend also and man is that big! I don't see it as a portable controller at all. |
| Margurite Mcnamar 14.04.2011 |
Originally Posted by Yep.
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| Gloria Lemmel 14.04.2011 |
Originally Posted by Blair
On the topic of the FX buttons being a little iffy, they are. I've had mine for shy of 4 months and it's worked fine up until about 2 weeks ago when the button I normally map the beatmasher to decided that it wouldn't always respond or would occasionally deactivate itself while I was drumming with the beatmasher. All other buttons work fine, but that second button to the left is just a bit off every now and again. It's fine, now I map the transpose stretch there because I really never use that on the fly. The build of the unit is phenomenal, really couldn't ask for a better build controller shy of the NS7. The weight is a bit of an issue, but that's probably only because I carry it around in my super heavy Odyssey flight case. |
| Fady Soliman 14.04.2011 | Great thx for all your responses, keep them coming. |
| Margurite Mcnamar 14.04.2011 | The headphone jack has crappy connections. The plug needs to be in a sweet spot to play cleanly in stereo. It's a big sweet spot though. I also find the browse and deck buttons to be touchy. Sometimes it's like they don't fully click on if you press and release too fast causing for example deck "a" to switch to "c" then back to "a" immediately. Also not a big deal but used to screw me up a little more. Other than that I haven't had much issue with my s4. So far no problems with FX buttons or faders on mine. |
| Hailey Westen 14.04.2011 | my left shift key is stuck stiff, it still works fine, just very stiff, it dont click like the other buttons do. other than that, mines great |
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