Traktor Pro Subscriptions, really?

Jackpot Slot Machine
Jackpot Slot Machine Member Posts: 18 Helper
edited August 2022 in Traktor Software & Hardware

After all the negative kickback, the name calling and the loss of a couple of top tier DJ's, you went ahead and did it anyway.

You still haven't fixed the gridding, modifiers and a ton of other stuff that's requested every time you pitch a questionnaire to the user base.

It's hard to defend you anymore NI, you've done the very opposite of what the user base requested.

If you want to see unedited feedback and the negativity around subscriptions, check my group I don't delete or censor users, unlike here.

Don't expect to see an increase in users, you can't ask people to pay monthly to get a fully functioning product they've already paid for, adding extras on top of a broken base is asking for trouble. Why not make those "add on's" a buy now package, that's OWNed not rented, that might appease some users, but if you can't fix the underlying program, i don't see anything positive coming from this.

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Comments

  • olafmol
    olafmol Member Posts: 133 Pro

    Did i miss something?

  • olafmol
    olafmol Member Posts: 133 Pro

    Hahaha what a joke. If people were on the fence of leaving Traktor this is probably the last push. Yeah, there is still a perpetual license but people are obviously pushed towards the subscription model. I translate the above “if you want to stay with our current snail slow and flaky release cycle that’s fine, buy your perpetual license, if you want regular updates and new features and improvement, like you get with our competition, then you need the subscription”. Only in nicer wording.

    Ah whatever, NI does what NI does. You all ask for simple improvement X for 10 years? We give you complete new feature nobody has been asking for. I’m the meantime our update breaks core functionality. LOL.

  • k1CKZEN
    k1CKZEN Member Posts: 1 Member
    edited June 2022

    This is such a strange business decision.

    You can pull off this subscription ****** if you are leading the market, not when trying to catch up.

    Clearly signals to me that the intention is to milk the remaining user base on the way out the door with 0% interest in expanding it. Oh well, Traktor, we sure loved you.

  • Matt_NI
    Matt_NI Administrator Posts: 1,106 admin

    The team literally wrote the opposite in the beta thread:

    TRAKTOR PRO Plus is not a separate product but part of the one-and-single TRAKTOR PRO 3 code base. Therefore also non-subscribing users will benefit from our increased release cadence, as every update for PRO Plus is also an update for PRO 3 (base).


  • Jackpot Slot Machine
    Jackpot Slot Machine Member Posts: 18 Helper

    Don't like it and move on?

    What about the people who have invested 1000's in money and hours finetuning workflow? Are these users (core users with more than 5 years use) no longer important?

    The biggest request in my group of 11,500 users over the last ten years has been FIX THE GRIDDING ! AKA ELASTIC GRIDS.

    But we get a paid for limiter instead.

    The step sequencer has been fixed and revamped (to where it should have been on release) ....but we have to pay for that too.

  • olafmol
    olafmol Member Posts: 133 Pro
    edited June 2022

    You’re quoting selectively. I can do the same ;) “In launching the additional TRAKTOR PRO Plus tier, we will be able to release new features more frequently, rather than holding back until the next major version is released. These features will not be mandatory for base functionality, but are intended to improve sound and performance”

    so if you want to stay up to date and have the best sound and performance you need to have a subscription.

    Marketing can spin and frame this all they want, it’s simply not feature parity for non-subscription users.

    I don’t mind as I’m still on a prehistoric 2.x version but just pointing out how I read this.

    btw I’m not against subscription models, that’s not the issue.

  • Mutis
    Mutis Member Posts: 472 Pro

    It was “hinted” in Traktor Dj2 “base app with paid addons”.

    Since NI abandoned Traktor Dj2 to implement it inside Traktor Pro 3 (and eventually 4) it was previsible. All the basic demands from users were delivered there (high resolution, best browser…) but it felt non-pro due strategics and marketing.

    Now we start to see more or less the same with similar approach and the addition of soundwide help which isn’t bas by itself but a change for sure and subscription for addons like Traktor dj2 pointed.

    Serato works the same and since it hasn’t spleeter stems some users are considering Djay Pro now it has dvs support.

    Traktor dj2 worked on iPad and make it run on M1 as universal app should have been easy than porting Traktor Pro3… maybe Pro4 will grow over the Traktor dj2 codebase?

    Is Traktor Pro 3 running natively on M1? I’m curious since I don’t follow their updates…


    Interesting times for sure.

  • Sebastian.G
    Sebastian.G Member Posts: 17 Member
    edited July 2022

    !pay a subscription per year?....but lol no thank you!

  • boysteve
    boysteve Member Posts: 3 Member

    I've used Traktor for literally 20 years. As much as I love it, and as loyal as I've felt toward it, there's not a chance in hell I would ever pay a monthly subscription for it.

    I'm willing to see if NI trickles-down new functionality from subscription to paid upgrades, the way GM debuts new technology in Cadillacs and eventually ploughshares it into mid-list models. I don't need to be the first kid on my block with some new blinkylight tech.

    But the truth is that half the new functions NI introduces are either buggy, or create problems in other areas -- to the extent that I always wait a few months & read user reactions before installing any new Traktor release. The notion that people will get to pay for this privilege is ... dubious.

    So at the moment the most optimism I can muster is "wait and see." And while I'm happy to pay for the occasional software upgrade, I'm adamant that I won't pay a subscription. It's a bad-faith arrangement urged by business management wholly focused on maximizing revenue and not on retaining customer loyalty through product quality.

  • Oxy
    Oxy Member Posts: 88 Helper

    The World Economic Forum slogan; You will own nothing and be happy, strikes again!

  • dj_estrela
    dj_estrela Member Posts: 158 Pro
    edited July 2022

    I will pay for future elastic beatgrids and DDJ support.

    Even with a blank check.

  • DJ Sem
    DJ Sem Member Posts: 1 Member

    Just got the "introducing Traktor pro plus" email (never watched any of those beta threads or releases, so I did not see this coming at all) ... What can I say as a long time user of Traktor S5 and of course the Traktor Pro Software: No way I am going to pay a subscription, not gonna happen.

    I am looking into standalone Dj hardware already since a few months now, and I guess now is a perfect time to switch to one of these, as I am feeling non-subscribers will not be happy around here anymore. So, even if I really really love my S5, this subscription move is yelling at me to "MOVE ON NOW", which I likely will do (and all the fanboys now go like "Well then move on, nobody will miss you anyway" ... )

    All the best!

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