While Iĭon’t really see the purpose of having a DJ controller that can also act a flightdeck for plugging in everything from decks and CD players to the washing machine and next door’s house alarm, I do think having an emergency-through is a good idea. Not so good, though, is the immediately obvious omission of any external inputs bar the microphone. So no XLRs, but I’d say this is enough for a small DJ controller. The booth out works by letting you switch the RCA-outs to either booth or main (the 1/4″ TRS outputs always being main), and there’s a booth out volume on the back too. While it ditches many of the controls of the S4 (at first glance: no default filters per channel, no loop recorder, no snap / quantise / master buttons, no loop-length readout) it actually adds a few new functions: Pitch reset and mic on/off may appear minor, but a booth out is a major improvement. The smaller size, while only a few inches, really does make a big difference. If you ever looked at the Kontrol S4 and frankly felt a bit scared by how complicated the thing looked, this may well appeal to you more. The high-tech plastic construction makes more sense at this size, and while it’s only a few inches narrower and shorter than the S4, those inches make all the difference. Unlike the borderline-portable Kontrol S4, then, this is easily small enough to tuck in a backpack or flight bag and move around. It basically looks good, while retaining what I have always seen as the main advantage of DJ controllers over modular or installation equipment: a small footprint. It’s big and austere enough to look like the real deal, but small enough to be properly portable. The unit itself is, on first impressions, a great little controller. This may come back to bite me later down the line when keyboard shortcuts don’t do what they are meant to, but as the whole point of a controller is to avoid using the keyboard as much as possible, I’m not going to lose any sleep over this at the moment. The only thing that wasn’t particularly intuitive was that the software told me I had chosen to use an “English keyboard”, when my keyboard is actually Spanish I had never selected such an option, and clicking “back” gave me no option to change this. From there, actually getting the unit working is really easy Native Instruments has made sure that – at least when Traktor is used with its own controllers, such as here – everything “just works”. If you’ve never installed Traktor before, installation involves getting your drivers up and running (for Windows users), then installing the software and registering it by setting up an account at Native Instruments. There will be a power supply too – it’s not essential although it is advisable to use this (not least because there was a high-pitched hum I couldn’t get rid of when using just USB power on the test unit provided to us, that disappeared as soon as I plugged the power unit in). We had a pre-release unit so it didn’t come in the retail packaging, but judging by the S4, you’ll get a printed, two-sided colour feature map to visually help you learn the unit’s controls, alongside a USB cord and a Traktor 2.1 CD. But will you end up wanting one? And is it really good value? Let’s find out… First impressions/setting up It is therefore probably the most important DJ controller Native Instruments has launched today. In part because of this, as well as because of its reduced price and size, the Kontrol S2 squares itself up for a battle where most of the business happens in pro DJ controller land – the mainstream mid-market. On the surface, the new Traktor Kontrol S2 DJ controller strips away a lot of the features of the company’s all-singing, all-dancing Kontrol S4, leaving a leaner and more conventional controller.
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