Feature Request : Midi Passthrough on S8

FloydianSound · 2025-02-07T08:11:26+00:00

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hey all !
this is something i could not make work properly first-party, and i think would be very useful for many people and their multimedia projects. let's talk about MIDI
we know the recommended "midi mode" method. however, it prevents us from using traktor natively, leaving us to remap every midi controls through Midi manager. not the ideal elegant solution

i'd like to see a midi passthrough from the s8 while traktor pro 4 runs, and give us the option to wire it to, let's say, resolume arena, or touch designer, or ableton…. i personnally used the s8 to mix in Resolume and it was pretty fun, all the faders and buttons makes it a decent deck for that purpose (with a launchpad for clips and FX)

i think it would be great if this was implemented in Traktor 4, just a tickbox to allow passing through MIDI controls, ideally to a virtual loopback device (Resolume, Touch Designer, ipMIDI or any utility like it). it would give more power to the user for "free" (as in, it costs nothing extra to allow it resource wise)

there was a previous post here, but it was closed for lack of support, which probably happens because most people assume it's not a thing ?
https://community.native-instruments.com/discussion/5213/s8-midi-mode-update?utm_source=community-search&utm_medium=organic-search&utm_term=s8+midi

do people would find that useful ? i know i would, knowing i can DJ and VJ at the same time and remap half of my hotcues that are unused to arena transport, and use my extra C-D decks mixer control as my video channels, for example.

NI, pretty please ? 😊

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Stevan

Check out global midi commands inside Controller Maanger. Therer are very few but those can help you output the signal out of default S8 mapping so you can still use screens.

I had the same idea the minute I put my hands on the S8. Not many DJs will ever use the S8 in that way and that is why we never saw it implemented. My suggestion was to just enable screens in the MIDI mode and I suggested the same for the new X1 Mk3 but NI doesn't look at Traktor at the same eyes us mappers do.

FloydianSound

thanks for the answer. i don't really use the screen on the s8 so it's not an issue in my case

but i do have the volume, eq and pads mapped to resolume, works great in midi-mode. doesnt work when traktor runs (which is the obvious end-goal).

i'll have a look at controller manager, thanks ^^

FloydianSound

maybe i should add that the idea is that when i DJ, those same faders would control the resolume decks they are mapped to.
basically doing two jobs at once. 🤤

FloydianSound

so i'm looking at the global midi stuff, i can see some midi faders, but i can't make out what they represent on the hardware… is there documentation ?

additionally i saw there is this tickbox, but i can't make it what it's supposed to do. it's on just because…. ?

Stevan

If you don't need screens than why not just using the midi mode and the problem is solved?

Maybe I still dn't have a clear idea of what you want to do.

Stevan

I see. you are on Windows. Unlice a mac you cannot assign one controller port across multiple apps. So you will need global midi controls after all.

For each Midi Fader/Knob you want to add output command and assign it to a CC of your choice. That will send the midi out to loopback driver of your choice.

Stevan

You can ignore that setting. We used that to enable the performance section (faders/knobs for remix.stem) before we had global midi options.

FloydianSound

i would like to have first party mapping and workflow, but output certain midi out to other app locally (such as resolume). if for example my USB get yanked out, while in first party mode, things will just reconnect and resstart without a hitch. i can't say the same of MIDI mode, since from what i understand it is simply taking midi mapping and might disregard the screens and other "advanced features" of the S8. i paid for a full featured controller, i intend to use all it's functions first party, otherwise why would i spend so much on this controller… :)

i understand that there are limitations with MIDI, but traktor can easily act as a midi repeater for certain apps, especially the basics like faders and knobs. i don't think people are willing to go and remaps every control in the controller manager just to enable such a basic feature. and as i said, there is no additionnal cost for NI to add this feature as well, and everybody would benefit from it.

FloydianSound

as for your comment on the screens. i have never really needed them, but i try to make use of them since i do have them now. been playing since S2mk1

i guess the ultimate thing is i don't want to sacrifice first-party features just to enable something that should be enabled by default.

does NI gives out the original midi mapping for use with controller manager, or do i have so dit there and map hundreds of midi CCs just to "replicate" whatever is the first-party implementation ?

I already spent coupld of hours mapping the S8 to arena, it feels dumb to repeat the same process for first-party product.

FloydianSound

as for the "what am i trying to achieve"

i try to mirror the mixer/crossfader/eq between Traktor and Resolume, so i can DJ and VJ at the same time.
i have another controller for clip selection and triggering when im not DJing, but it's not really designed to VJ with it (akai launchpad mini and MIDImix). s8 has been a very nice platform to VJ with, has enough buttons for the most useful things i could need. but whenever i start traktor, i lose my control of resolume.

i do have some third party midi loopback app to try (ipMIDI for sharing midi controls over local/network) but it's a little useless if i can't get midi out of the controller.

does the S8 spit out midi from the midi port when traktor takes over it ?
that could be a workaround, but i still would like to see first-party integration

lord-carlos

I'm not 100% sure if this can be done, but would it not be possible to map volume fader + EQ in Traktor as a midi out signal? So whenever the volume changed in Traktor, no matter what controller, it would send a midi signal out, that you can use in Resolume?

Stevan

https://community.native-instruments.com/discussion/comment/210299#Comment_210299

Windows is issue. Hence one need to use virtual midi cables.
I already suggested to use Global MIDI controls. (Add In/Out → Global → MIDI Controls → Buttons,Faders,Knobs)

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