S4: Road tested + Reviews

Hello all,


Saturday marked my official switch from Serato Scratch Live to Traktor when I brought my new S4 out to the club for my show.

As some of you might have read, I was experiencing some pretty fightening issues with my S4 each time I used it after unboxing. I had submitted a ticket for technical support twice with Native Instruments, and both times recieved completely inadequate/lazy/half-ass/useless resonses, so I have now deemed Native Instruments staff incompetent. In an act of desperation, I reinstalled Traktor Pro S4 as well as the most updated drives, and and happy to report that none of the issues I previously encountered occured over the last week, and the S4 worked solidly. This is still a nagative issue for me, as the cause of the issue is still unknown, it is still unknown if the issue has actually been fixed or not, and it seems as I will never know due to the complete incompentency of NI Tech Support. Before I get back on topic from my digression (sorry!) I will say one last thing. With Serato, you are able to phone their Tech support guys, their actual names and numbers are given on the site so you know who you are actually talking to, and they are super nice and helpful. Native Instruments seems to be hiding behind their corporate mask, and they are cowards for not admitting to their fault and not helping their customers. If anyone cares to hear how they chose to answer my tickets for tech support, I am happy to post my correspondence.

Now for the review:

ROCK SOLID! The S4 did exactly what I expected of it, and I was able to put on an insane show due to this. The things that Traktor and the S4 provide over Serato are just so nice from a performaces standpoint. Beatgridding/Syncing is heaven. I love that I can cue up tracks and drop them in instinctively without having to recheck the beatmatching. I was able to have some very quick but very important conversations that I probably wouldn't have able to have otherwise, as I am considerably busier when using Serato. In a sense, that can also be a con as some people might find themselves bored, but as you'll see in the pics in the link below, boredom was impossible on Sat.

Since the performance of it was so good (in the sense that I was so easily able to transfer my workflow from DJM800 + CDJs to controller), I won't say much more (because I can't). The S4 is FANTASTIC. I highly highly recommend it to any DJ who is serious about consistent performance (as long as the known issues get forever fixed).

On the flip side, I want to point out where I found the S4 to fall short, where some improvements can be made, and what to look out for if you're a potential buyer.

1. The filter knobs are either too loose, too physically close to the EQs, or a combination of the both. I say this because I found that when doing a bass switch or pull out on the fly, I would knock a filter and it would go all the way from 12:00 to either 9:00 or 3:00. I don't normally have stubbyfinger syndrome, but I very well may have on Sat. Of course, that will go away more and more as I get use to the layout more, but I wish the filter knobs were a little more spaced from the Low-EQ.

2. Difficult to see in the dark. Ok, so the S4 is a lot better than a LOT of mixers because things like the cue buttons light up, which is awesome for finding those cue points in the last second. Of course, there are simple solutions like a lamp or flashlight in the booth to combat lighting issues, but I still like a dark booth. Mixers like the DJM800 have those blue filter buttons that do a decent job of lighting up the EQs enough to see them last second. I found myself having to put my nose right to the S4 to see the EQs at points. I see that DJTT store sells neon knobs for the VCI controller. Would it be possible to make knobs like this to fit the S4? That would be INCREDIBLE! I personally really want to do this. It would save me when I have to make milliseccond decisions.

3. If you don't believe you can fit the S4 can safely fit in the DJ booths you will most likely be playing in, go for the X1 (or 2) instead. I encountered some serious resiliance to shifting things around in the booth to make room for the S4. And luckily is was a big enough booth. X1 is extremely ideal for fitting in anywhere.

Here are the pics from the evening , in this link:

http://setinstyle.ca/albums/?album=1&gallery=158

I'm the guy in the multi-colour plaid shirt.

Let me know what ya believe!

-PL>Y