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‘NODE15 – Forum for Digital Arts’ is gathering designers, creative coders and digital artists for creative explorations of technologies. With the Leitmotif ‘Wrapped in Code – the Future of the Informed Body’, NODE15 is devoted to the negotiation of the body and its fusion with technology. It’s a week long rush with hands-on vvvv workshops, exhibition, symposium, performances and artist talks.
We're looking at people's craziest, coolest, and sloppiest Reaktor ensembles over at kore.noisepages.com -- messy, hacked-together patches included. Part of createdigitalmusic.com's mission to document software performance rigs...
Call for Reaktor shots here:
kore.noisepages.com/2008/07/17/show-us-your-reaktor-ensem...
‘NODE15 – Forum for Digital Arts’ is gathering designers, creative coders and digital artists for creative explorations of technologies. With the Leitmotif ‘Wrapped in Code – the Future of the Informed Body’, NODE15 is devoted to the negotiation of the body and its fusion with technology. It’s a week long rush with hands-on vvvv workshops, exhibition, symposium, performances and artist talks.
So we definately have a special beast on our hands here.
At first glance 3 things about this controller stand out.
A. It's big
B Its's sexy
C ...And something's missing. Or should i say no more jog wheels.
Indeed removing the jog wheels is a bold step in a different direction that will not please all. Instantly I think of the #REALDJING campain launched recently by allstar DJs such as A-Trak, DJ Craze, Shifty and friends... who aim to bring back value to battle DJ techniques. Think scratching, mary go rounds, back spins, etc... paired with a modern flare of cue point juggling, finger drumming and manual beatmatching. In a nutshell the #REALDJING crew really seems to be promoting the idea of turntable gymnasts with rugged attitudes. Which means that removing the jogwheels from the flagship NI S8 controller places them at odds with practically all of the above.
So who is the Kontrol S8 for?
Although one could make the point that the S8 is a solid and very capable machine that will inevitably be used to play all types of music. It's energy is more closely alligned with the style of house, minimal, techno, and electronic music. This controller pratically begs it's users to start layering songs, samples, loops and effects together. As if each sound is a different brush strokes on canvass adding richness, character, and depth, the S8 will excell in the details, seemlessness, modulations, and the combination of individual instrument lines. This is great news for producers, as they will be able to deconstruct their original songs by seperating all the instruments to re-arrange and/or enhance them into brand new compostions and remixes LIVE. Not suprisingly this live aspect of creativity and performance is the direction Native Instruments have been pushing towards for many years now as they chant their battle cry: #FUTUREOFDJING.
Many will say that ideally you would want a controller that could progress in both worlds. Like Jack Nicholson said, "Why can't we just all ...get along?". But as of now, it seems that lines have been drawn in the sand #REALDJING on one side and #FUTUREOFDJING on the other.
But let's move past they hype and the hashtag wars. Here's my Traktor Kontrol S8 Pros & Cons Breakdown:
Pros:
1. DESIGN
Visually it's a killer straight out of the box and even more so once all the lights are on.
2. BUILD QUALITY
Superior build quality then all their previous controlers with full metal facing, glossy displays, and improved knobs and faders.
3. LESS "COMPUTER FACE" TIME
This is due largly to the addition of the two beautiful, clear, and vivid screens. It's not very exciting to watch an artist with his nose constantly tucked in his laptop screen. (something I'm also guilty of doing). But that's the good news. This feature will lead you into minimizing that time to concentrate on performing the instrument in a similar way that the the CDJs do.
4. EXTRA FX PLAYABILITY
Forge your singnature style with FX.
With the the extra knobs and buttons placed on the S8 will finally be able to take advantage of the 4 assignable FX units (with 3 fx in each). So theoretically you could have 12 fx at your fingertips routed to Deck A! But I know for me assigning 6 FX to Deck A and 6 FX to deck B will probably be more suiting and practical for a healthy workflow.
5. EXTRA HEADPHONE VOLUME
It's loud & Clear. For those who struggled with the S2's and the S4's headphone gain for cueing mixes in loud bars & clubs, struggle no more!
6. REMIX DECK CONTROL
Unleash your creative remix potential it's like having two F1s incorporated directly in your main controller.
7. EXTRA CONNECTIVITY
The most notable is the full 4 track mixer's
4 Ins (1 Line / Phono input corresponding to each deck)
Pairing it with turntables, CDJs, Effects Processors, Synths etc.. is simpler than ever.
2 Microphone inputs (XLR & 1/4" jack)
2 Headphone Inputs (1/8" and 1/4" jack)
2 Main Outs (RCA, XLR)
1 Booth Out (1/4" jack)
1 Midi In and 1 Midi Out
CONS:
1. NOT MIDI CUSTOMIZABLE.. YET.
So this seems to be the #1 concern as of now. I'm sure this will be fixed with software / firmware updates in the future but for now you must use the default settings. If you were one of those who liked to swap out the filter to get a Xone 4 band EQ you'll just have to shine it on for a little bit longer.
2. TOO BIG?
Depending on what you're used to, it might be too big to fit comfortably in many of todays small dj booths.
3. LESS SENSITIVE PADS
I've noticed the main pads are less sensitive than the S2 & S4 making them less conviniant for cue point juggling or finger drumming with out using more force (simply touching the pads is not enough they have to click)
4. NO MORE SCRATCHING AND BACK SPINS
As i write this the only scratching you can do with this controller is if the track is stoped using the touch strip. Awkward. So guess what, if you want to scratch, you'll have to hook up a turntable. Yet you know they could have added just a small button to switch from scratch mode to needle droop mode for the touch strip, but why didn't they do this? Which brings us to our next point.
5. QUESTIONABLE USE OF REAL-ESTATE
I feel like this 30% percent larger controller than the S4 could have easily packed in more functions. For instance they took away 1 of the 2 encoders previously used to loop, navigate songs in beatgrid increments, and beatmashing (in flux mode). These tasks become more demanding with a single encoder where where you constantly use your second hand to press the SHIFT botton. So if i want to simultaneously throw in a filter or another stylistic effect at that moment it becomes complicated. Again they could have easily kept the second encoder. Or they could have pusitioned the SHIFT key so it was close enough to the encoder to do both with one hand. Maybe the S16 will solve this problem. Next I can think of the assignement of the fx pannels to decks. They could have placed 4 buttons on the mixer one for each fx pannel. But yet again you have to use the evil SHIFT button to do the proper routing to fx pannel 3 and 4.
And i could go on about the use of the space things lacking and things awkwardly placed... But obviously it's probably not a deal breaker. It's just me thinking of how this could have been a better more perfect controller for my purposes.
In conclusion NI have made an impressive new DJing tool that will surely inspire producers and DJs alike to blur the lines between DJ sets and a Live sets. Is it perfect? No. Is it the best DJ controller by N.I. yet? Without a doubt! When it's all said and done the S8 will go down in history as the first serious DJ controller to lose the jog wheels marking a paragdim shift in Djing. Where DJs without vinyl and turntables will stop pretending to be mixing on turntables and allow themselves to sync tracks in order to concentrate more energy and creativity into their DJ sets. So keep mixing in the free world and doot-dola doot doo... doot doot.
13 Nov 2014