One for the Booth: Native Instruments Kontrol S4 DJ System

August 24th, 2010 by Markkus Rovito

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Most people are either 1) a DJ, 2) a DJ wannabe, or 3) a DJ hater. Far be it from me to judge; characters from each group have both good and bad reasons for their position. But this winter, Native Instruments (NI) will roll out a new self-contained professional DJ system that should intrigue active DJs, as well inspire some wannabes to take a running leap off the high dive and into the DJ pool.

Native Instruments Kontrol S4

The Kontrol S4 ($999) 4-deck DJ controller and software system goes a long way to ensure that the state of digital DJing will be rooted firmly in musical, improvisational performance. I dare say it will even push some music technologists to go from DJ hatin’ to participatin’.

BRIDGING GAPS

Just like music production, modern DJing is tied to a computer and software, and has been for several years. There’s still a divide, however, between DJs who use control vinyl to spin in a traditional manner with turntables and “controllerist” DJs who have dropped turntables in favor of controller systems.

The Kontrol S4 will cater to both groups, giving them full in-the-box mixing controls over a specially designed version of NI’s Traktor Pro software — Traktor Pro S4 — as well as two external inputs for incorporating control vinyl spun on turntables (future software update required).

A great conundrum in the software + hardware paradigm of music production and DJing is whether to create hardware that is specifically designed for a single piece of software, which often makes the hardware useless or unappealing to use with other software, or to design general-use hardware that can apply to any software but doesn’t necessarily do an ideal job with any program.

Software + Hardware: Traktor Pro & Kontrol S4

Again, NI has attempted to cater to both philosophies with the Kontrol S4. It was designed for total synchronicity with the included Traktor Pro S4 software, so that the hardware controls mirror the software interface as much as possible.

Also, the hardware/software communication happens via NI’s NHL protocol, rather than MIDI, so that the system’s jog wheels, knobs, faders and visual feedback will enjoy a higher resolution than MIDI can provide.

At the same time, the software will be compatible with other MIDI controllers, and the hardware will also function as a MIDI controller and audio interface for other software.

EXCLUSIVE SOFTWARE

To take advantage of the specific marriage between hardware and software, NI has added new and exclusive performance features to the Traktor Pro S4 software, including a new color scheme.

The Kontrol S4 can command four regular decks, or two Sample Decks can stand in for Decks C and D, providing simultaneous playback of eight loops or samples. Each of the eight loop decks syncs to the master clock, so you can have up to 10 pieces of audio playing at a time, and you don’t have to worry about beat-matching them all.

Traktor Pro S4 interface

Also, each of the eight loop decks comes with a filter and its own volume knob.

A new loop recorder lets you capture loop recordings of up to 32 counts on the fly and then overdub subsequent passes. The loop recorder can record from any of the four deck or the master output, giving you endless options for the live remixing of tracks.

All of this adds to the already impressive feature set of Traktor Pro, which in true NI fashion is one of the deepest programs on the market, including studio-quality performance effects and powerful time-stretching and audio syncing.

HARD-HITTING HARDWARE

NI wants to fulfill the needs of professional DJs with the Kontrol S4. The built-in audio interface uses the same components as NI’s respected Audio 4 interface, for low-latency 24-bit/96 kHz audio. Touch-sensitive jog wheels of 5-inch diameter use a special electromagnetic force technology that is supposed to provide natural-feeling braking and resistance.

The mixer section was designed for adequate spacing and ergonomics. The knobs are of the same sturdy quality as NI’s Kontrol X1 and the 60 mm pitch faders give you generous, but not tight, resistance. Each of the four mixer channels as a dedicated filter knob and endless encoders for the gain knobs. The transport controls include buttons for cue point and sample triggers, as well as loop controls.

There are 1/4-inch and RCA main audio outputs, as well as a footswitch jack and MIDI I/O ports. External AC power is recommended, but there is an emergency USB bus power mode that utilizes dimmer LEDs and a lower headphone volume.

Although the Kontrol S4 appears to be solidly built, only real-world tests will be able to confirm that. However, NI is certainly banking on its road-worthiness; the company will also release a dedicated flight case for the Kontrol S4 for $189 that will double as a stand for the controller and a laptop.

All this may sound great, but if the proof is in the pudding, the following video with DJ Shiftee provides a little dessert.

-Markkus Rovito

Markkus Rovito plays drums, DJs and hacks away on the QWERTY in San Francisco. He has written for Gearwire, DJ Tech Tools, Remix, EM, and Mac Life, among others.