when will we see new features in TRAKTOR

That's a great question. I've been here for a very, very long time and while I do love Traktor (and especially the S4--I've owned every version and it's always been an awesome tool), it's always been very frustrating watching the development of Traktor.

First, let me say that I'm a pretty firm believer that the limiting factor for 99.9% of DJs out there (myself included) isn't what the software can do, but what they can do with the software. I can already do so much with Traktor and while I could do a little more with some fancy new features, I could also just get better at using the tools I have at my disposal.

That said, for me the most frustrating thing about Traktor development is the constant development of features that no one is asking for while features that people have requested for years languish "in development." Flexible beat grids are a PRIME example. I had over 1,000 posts on the old Traktor forum and I can tell you that people have been asking for this for no less than 10 years. I have absolutely zero confidence that we will see flexible beatgrids "soon." Though I hope it happens, I will be SHOCKED if it ever does. Keep in mind that support for Retina displays is still "on the roadmap" despite the fact that the first MacBook with a Retina display was released TWELVE YEARS AGO.

Yet NI is over here going on about stuff like Pattern Player. As far as I am concerned, this is next to useless. Don't get me wrong, I'm sure SOME people will use it. But, even if you do, there are a hundred other ways you could already do the same thing but far, far better--even using NI's own software (i.e. Machine). And of course we got this dumb royalty sharing thing (that I can't remember the name of and am not even going to bother looking up since no one cares). What about Stems? Not the automatic stem separation that everyone wants mind you, I'm talking about the multi-track file format that I'm sure all of 10 people ever used. Oh, did I mention the iOS version of Traktor? I can only imagine how much development time that took...

From a business standpoint, I get it. You want to roll out new features--unique ones if possible--to differentiate your offering. But I think this is where NI really lacks an understanding of its core users. NI makes pretty serious tools for music production and I don't think the DJs that use Traktor are all that different. For example, if there's a market for something like pattern player, I don't think it's some super simplistic drum machine that feels like an after thought, I think it would be far better to offer a well thought out integration with Machine. That would be an actual game changer (and sell more of their hardware in all likelihood).

Every couple of years NI gets on this "we're going to really focus on making big changes and being transparent and blah, blah, blah..." kick just like they were with the roadmap. Then slowly it will be forgotten just like what is happening now "oops, sorry, no roadmap THIS month..."

Ultimately, however little sense it makes, I think it's very unlikely to change. This is literally been the course of development at Native Instruments for probably 15 years now. Every once in a while something useful sees the light of day which is nice, but I wouldn't hold your breath. If the software doesn't do what you want it to do now, you'd best move along. Personally, I'm invested. I pay my $5 a month (for essentially nothing) just to support the development in hopes that it will keep them from abandoning the DJ market all together.