Messages from TRAKTOR

You can already set up Traktor to show the distance to the next cue in beats and bars. Sadly, it also automatically includes Grid Markers.

🤣🤣🤣

Hello everyone, as always, there are still a lot of questions, but apart from white noise in this thread, I don’t hear anything else.

When is that roadmap coming out? Knowing what's ahead and when (relatively speaking) would maybe tamper the worst desperation.

Last year was extra bad, with seemingly all updates focused on support for 3rd party products, and a couple of dud updates = software was the same, except when it was the same and also broken.

So the expectations are really, really low, and in that climate, you'll get a lot of users balking at the idea of paying for subscriptions.

Subscriptions might work if we knew that we were getting something radically different from day 1. But really, I think that more frequent paid updates would be preferrable. Or even the dreaded in-app purchase.

Here's why:

Many DJs are working all the time. Some of us are not. I'm 42, and not in a big city, I'll drift in and out, depending on mood, and the idea of my S4 gathering dust and also charging me subscriptions, not sexy.

I'd like to buy when I feel like buying.

I expect to pay for what I get, so those forum users that feel that they're entitled to lots of work for free, I hope you don't get the sense that developing for us at a more rapid pace is not gonna pay for itself. (this is really a jab at my fellow forum users, so that's clear).

I've gone for a lot of the subscriptions, for producing. I've had Roland Cloud for a long time, even though I hardly use it. I had Izotope's Producer thing, but since their software sucked on M1, I canceled it and I'm not going back. That's the danger in the subscription model. If you turn off the user, they're more likely to just switch to other products. But a dud update doesn't invalidate your software, you just wait for the next one and see.

But obviously, NI needs to invest first, however this goes. Traktor clearly has a funding problem. That's a corporate problem, NI's performance has been affected severely by misplaced frugality. I'm confident that Traktor can be better user-funded, but you don't want to pay first and then (maybe) get product later. I've only paid twice for traktor, in 11 years, and I think the total was like 100$. Not including hardware, of course. And the hardware is always very cheap, relative to the competition. I'd be much happier if I'd have paid more and Traktor were better. I've upgraded Komplete wayyy more.

I feel that Traktor could rule the software world (and sell more hardware) if it would invest more, scale up. Chose to be the dominant software in the way Pioneer is the dominant hardware. I can envision such a product, I hope you could too. I mean, VirtualDJ has every feature in the world, but they don't have NI's design capability, which is the reason why Traktor is still the best basic DJ software. And I think NI's sound processing still dominates. Even if it hasn't changed at all for years and years.

So the basic ingredients of traktor, but with funding that assumes much, much more income, that would make it grow in the marketplace.

But you have to invest first. Create the superior product, because we're not paying for software that doesn't exist.

Here's my wishlist:

• Something like Maschine+ in hardware, a stand-alone S4+, but with the upgrade capabilities too? New effects, and so on. That would bring in both hardware and software income streams. And Maschine+ proves you can do it.
• "Elastic beat grids" are cool. Importing Ableton warp markers is cooler.
• Stem separation is everywhere except in the stem-based controllers only NI has. Making stems for Traktor is a huuuuge hassle.
• NFTs. (joking)
• Replacing iTunes. This means a library with all the features that iTunes should have added in the last years, plus a method to use cloud software like Dropbox to sync to iOS. I currently use the Music App's cloud feature which mirrors my promos and purchases to my phone, so I can listen to and rate new tracks. There are much, much better ways of working with tags and smart playlists, and there could be ways to make browsing tracks much more natural feeling and visual, kind of like working with 12"s in crates. And Apple's offerings are really, really not made for professionals. The ideas I have are big and complicated, but probably less complicated to actually create, I'd love to talk to someone at Traktor about this.
• Collaboration with other DJ software/hardware companies on an open library standard to replace iTunes/Music App's central, neglected role. Nobody's making money off this, it's just something that might make your users hate you less. Since it's just an XML file, it shouldn't be hard either. The hard part might be to share standards with "propriatary" features like Cue points. And committing to creating a system so any additions to the spec would be shareable too. This would also open up a market for a 3rd party library program, a new iTunes, all about the type of tagging and organization DJs do. Unless Traktor would put focus there too. And it would not hurt if this would work with multiple cloud vendors like Dropbox and Google Drive so you could use this on your phone too, and also between software there. There could be profits in selling tracks or upselling streamers here too. There are angles.
• New effects. Or even effect editing. NI has all the tech, imagine if users could build effects from NI blocks and share between each other. Or sell. And you could do in-app purchases here. If it's a closed system, it should be stable.
• Some way to use your iPad as the track browser, with a more visual design, to stack up possible next tracks. You know, like that 12" crate, where you turn the album on its side so it sticks out. Getting a visceral feel for what you have ready. Honestly, I'd like to spend a few months in a lab with a programmer re-inventing browsing and flagging. Is this turning into a job application. My current job is quite nice though. But still, Berlin in the summer... *sigh*
• I had some ideas about looping to but I forgot them.

I've gotten tons of other ideas. I don't write them down anymore since I've not been optimistic about Traktor or DJ software in general.

I hope we'll see the wheels start turning, anyway.

GREAT NEWS ! THANKS 😍

Oh man, that sounds fantastic.

I just switched to traktor (s4 + F1) and use the remix decks a bit. But though about it would be cool to have an easy to use drum machine. I know it's already possible with remap + own sample. But something that "just works" would be cool. I don't want to search for sample to download etc.

And yes, please please please work on the collection browser. See Rekordbox or the open source tool "OneTagger" for inspiration.

To be honest this actually makes me less interested, because I won't use the feature🤣

I use Traktor with a Xone 96 and a TR8 on one of the return channels, because I don't want to use one of the Traktor decks for drum samples.

Sorry if that's burst your bubble, but like I said previously it really feels like the Traktor team are just tinkering around the edges of their pet projects and not focusing time and energy on improvements that people have been asking for, for yeaaaars.