- Native Instruments introduced
their first iOS DJ app,
Traktor DJ, over half a decade ago.
And after what feels like an eternity,
they finally updated the app
to a completely new version
that they're calling Traktor DJ 2.
And this new version isn't just for iOS,
Native Instruments has
decided to make Traktor DJ
cross platformed and have
developed a macOS version
and a Windows version as well.
And these new versions of
Traktor DJ continued legacy
of Traktor DJ being a low budget
but fully featured DJ software
with beginners in mind
and they've even added more new features.
Now before we dig any deeper
into the new version of Traktor DJ,
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Now let's get into the
review of Traktor DJ 2.
Although some might scoff at Traktor DJ
as it has its beginnings
as just an iOS app,
be assured that this is
a fully featured piece of DJ software
that rides the lines of
being accessible to beginners
while maintaining the kind of features
that even seasoned DJs look for.
So now, let's take a
deeper look at Traktor DJ 2
and all of its features.
So now let's start with the
iOS version of Traktor DJ 2.
So we'll go ahead and open the app,
and here we have what they
call the jog wheel view
where you have your two stacked
wave forms here at the top
and then below that,
we have our two deck
sections and a mixer section.
So let's start with the deck section.
So to the left and right, we
have a jog wheel right here,
as well as your tempo fader.
And then if we switch to the hot cue view,
we have our eight pads for
our different eight hot cues.
Which is nice that it's
really easy to switch between,
and then that's mirrored on both sides.
Then here in the middle,
we have our mixer section,
so we have a three band EQ
that's really easy to use,
just touch it and then if
you double tap on each one,
it'll go ahead and reset
to zero, which is nice.
Then, above that, we have
you'll see it says delay,
if I click on that, I can click on that
and click on those four little boxes
and then you can switch through
the four different effects
that you can use on each channel.
So for instance, I can turn the filter on
and then it becomes kind
of like a touch pad,
where if I scroll up, it
becomes a high pass filter,
if I go ahead and move down,
it becomes a low pass filter.
So if I switch to another
effect, if I go up,
it becomes a delay with a high pass
and then if I scroll down,
it's a delay with a low pass.
Now below that, you'll see
this kind of dash circle
where there's two different kind of modes
for this touch pad.
So right now, you'll see if
I just go ahead and let go,
it returns to zero where
it says dash circle,
if I tap on that, you'll
see that it switches modes
and now if I scroll up and I
let go, it stays right there.
So, if I double tap,
it'll go back to zero,
just like the EQ, which is nice,
so if you want to keep the effect on
and you don't want to have to touch it
or you need to move your
fingers around somewhere else,
you can leave the effect on.
I like using it in this
mode where once I let go,
the effect turns off.
Just so I don't forget to
turn the effect on and off,
really simple, really easy
and I'm glad that they
give you the option.
Then below that, you have your cross fader
that has a nice mixing curve,
you're not going to be
doing any quick scratches
with the curve on this cross fader.
And unfortunately, Traktor
didn't give us the option
to change the curve of the
cross fader in this software.
I really wish they did but
maybe that's something that
they can add in an update.
So, now that we've gone through that,
let's go ahead and switch views.
So we can go to the
waveform view right here
and this is your classic Traktor DJ view
that we saw in the first
version of Traktor DJ.
But let's go ahead and load
some music to this real fast.
This is the library view
but we will talk about that in a second.
Let's go back to the deck.
So now that we have some music loaded,
you'll see that you have
some nice big wave forms
and it's really easy to pinch to zoom.
We can use the overview
waveform to kind of jump around
by tapping on it just like this.
Of course, this is available
in our jog wheel view as well
where I can just kind of tap
around overview waveform.
I can still pinch to
zoom and it's really nice
that Traktor gives you two different views
in this new version.
What's nice too is that
switching between them,
yes, you can do this
but what's really cool is that
I can just take this little
line right here below the waveforms
and I can switch really
quickly between the two.
So it's even faster to switch
and it's really seamless
to go between this view
and the waveform view.
Let's start by talking about how the tempo
and the sync works, so
let's switch back to this.
Notice I do have sync on
both, so it's a smart sync
so if I move one fader, both
of them will move together
which is really nice.
Now if I turn sync off, I
can do this independently
and then you can see the BPM
either to the left or the right,
depending on the deck and
you can see it moving.
Again, if I turn sync on,
it would jump right back to the right BPM.
And what's nice too it's
that it's a smart sync,
meaning that it'll wait
and it would be quantised
to make sure that when
it you hit the cue point,
it would be right on time.
So, let me give you an example of that,
it's easier to show you than
it is to kind of explain it.
So, we'll start the song on the left deck.
(slow hiphop music)
Notice, there's a little white space
'cause it's waiting for
it to let go on beat.
So if I hit play,
there you go.
♪ Yo ♪
And I can mix between the two.
Really simple, really easy.
The sync works really well, really tight
as long as the beat
grids are really tight.
So let's go through how to
adjust those beat grids.
So let's switch down
into this waveform view.
Now, all I have to do is go ahead
and tap on the tempo right there.
And then I have the option to either half
or double the beat grid, set the beat grid
or reset it to the original settings
when you imported the song into Traktor.
So for example, this beat grid is on point
but let's just kind of
mess it up on purpose.
So I just hit down beat,
notice the beat grid shifted
and if I wanted to set it right,
can move that back to the
right spot, set downbeat again
and it's right back locked in.
Really simple, really easy
to get your beat grids nice and tight
and on point to make sure that sync works
as well as time based
effects like the delay.
So, this is pretty much all
the features that you get
in the the deck views.
So let's go over the library view again.
Now, that we have the library view open,
we can go through everything
from left to right.
So, here at the top, we
have all of the tracks that
we've imported into Traktor,
then we have some playlists right here.
And then if I tap on the button below it,
we have the music that's
stored locally on your iPad.
Currently, I don't have
any music on this iPad.
Now below this is a really exciting one.
So if you click on that,
this is the SoundCloud Go+ integration.
So, if you have a SoundCloud Go+ account,
you can access all of your
music that you have saved
or liked in all the
playlists that you have saved
and it'll automatically load
directly into this DJ software.
So, what's nice is that once
you download Traktor DJ 2,
it comes with a free 30 day trial account.
So if you don't have one,
you have 30 days to try it
out to see if you like it
and there's thousands
of songs on SoundCloud
so I'm sure you can find at least
a couple tracks that you like.
So here, you can see that
I have a bunch of tracks
that I've liked on my SoundCloud account
and then I can go through
all my different
playlists that I've saved.
Now I'll go ahead and load one.
I can just click on it
and hit tap to load.
Now notice it takes a
little bit of time to load
because this is actually
live downloading the song
to the iPad and it needs an
internet connection to go ahead
and access the song.
So, there is no offline mode
and you can't access this music
unless you have an internet connection.
So that means either WiFi
or if you're using an iPad,
an iOS device, it needs to have 4G
or some type of cellular connection
to access all this music.
So, it's not like some other
DJ apps with streaming services
where you can actually save them locally
or kind of like how Spotify
works on your phone.
You need an internet connection
to access this music,
so definitely keep that in
mind if you intend to DJ
with SoundCloud Go+.
Okay, now let's go and load some tracks
that have some cue points and
a little more stuff to them.
Bang bang, and now let's
go through other features
of the library section.
So, right here on the right
side, if I have a song playing,
(orchestral music)
I can tap on this light bulb,
it'll give me track suggestions.
So Traktor is actually
going through my library
and seeing what tracks it thinks
it might be able to mix together
and you can actually
see that it's giving me
four different options
of songs that it thinks
that'll mix well with the song
that is currently playing.
So that's really cool,
then again if I stop that,
if I start playing the other one.
(upbeat music)
Right there, it shows me
four different choices.
So it's really cool,
especially for beginner DJs
that are just kind of
getting the hang of things
and are kind of curious like,
oh man, what song do I mix with this?
Having some tracks
suggestions can be helpful.
Now you can switch over to this right here
and this is cool, this
is what they're calling
the prepare playlist or queue.
And this is nice because it's kind of like
the prepare crate in Serato DJ Pro
where I can just load a whole
bunch of songs like that,
and just have them ready.
Songs that I want to play
later and as I load them,
they disappear from this
playlist which is really nice.
So I don't have to worry about
did I play this song already?
Did I not?
I know that once I've loaded
in, it's gone from that list
and I can just keep going
through whatever's left.
And it's a really nice way of working
and making sure you have
a couple more tracks ready
and locked and loaded, ready to go.
And not having to worry about
if you've played them or not.
All right, so now let's jump
back into the actual deck view
and just kind of go through,
kind of mixing a couple songs.
So again, we'll just
use these as an example.
Have that turned up,
have the song playing.
(orchestral music)
Really simple and easy to
use, hit play, it's quantised.
So we go up and it loads up.
(hiphop music)
You can use that.
Now, let's try adding some effects.
So, here's some delay.
Maybe some reverb.
That's nice, I can hear the reverb.
Switch.
Filter, same thing.
Oh, the one I didn't go
through yet, the gater.
Classic Traktor effect.
Let's try it on this song.
There, you can hear it
a little better there.
Really simple and really easy to use.
I love this app,
I love what Native
Instruments has done with it.
The changes that they've
made, really nice.
And really makes it feel like more of
a fully featured DJ app
especially on the iPad.
Now that we've gone
through the iPad version,
let's switch over to the
desktop to see what's different.
Now a lot of this is going to be the same
but there are some slight differences.
Especially because you get all
that extra screen real estate
on your desktop or laptop.
And here we have the desktop
version of Traktor DJ 2
and this one looks a lot
more like Traktor Pro 3.
And that's mainly because
you have a little bit more
screen real estate and you
can add the library section
and the deck section
at the exact same time.
So, we have this view right here.
So it's the stacked waveform view.
Very similar to the iPad version,
you just kind of click and drag the songs
and then you have them here at the top
in the stacked waveform view.
Then you have your classic
Traktor deck section
with mixing section in the middle
and then you have your
library section here below
and you'll see you still
have the same functionality
of the prepare, suggestions
and then you have the tracks
that you've loaded to Traktor.
And then you have your
SoundCloud integration
and notice it's the same
as what I had on the iPad
because it's connected
to the same account.
So here's the big difference
is that you now have three
views instead of just the two.
You don't just get the jog
wheel or the waveform view.
Now you have the addition
of the classic Traktor view.
So this right here, now
this really reminds me
of Traktor Pro 3 or even
other versions of Traktor Pro.
All the way to Traktor Pro 1
where you have these two
very distinct deck sections
that have the waveform in the middle
and you don't get the stacked waveforms.
And then the mixer section
rather than middle.
Now, one other smaller difference here
is that the way that
the effects are handled.
So on the previous version,
it was kind of like a touch trip here,
it's just like a knob like you
would find on a controller,
so I can switch it just by
going through this list right here.
And this is much like the mixer effects
that you find in Traktor Pro 3,
so I'm glad that they kept the
kind of same design mentality
between these two pieces of software
and I really like how this is integrated.
And I can see why they decided to go
with the kind of touch
trip on the iOS version
'cause that makes a lot of more sense
and it just was a little more flexible
when using a touchscreen.
But on the desktop version,
especially if you were
going to have a controller
connected to this, this makes more sense
having it just like you
would find on Traktor Pro 3.
The last few that I did
show is the waveform view
and this one is just
like what you would find
on the iOS version, so really easy to see
the two big stacked waveforms.
Now, I could see myself using this
if I have a controller connected
but if I'm actually just
mixing, just using my computer,
I really can't see myself using that.
This one, really usable, this one as well.
But I'm glad that they gave
that extra kind of classic
Traktor view to the desktop
version, just makes sense.
You have the extra room,
it gives you even more room
for the library in this view,
so it's really nice.
I like the fact that both
versions are really similar,
so if you're using one and
you're switching to the other,
I think they're designed really
well and really easy to use
and really fun to DJ on.
Overall, Traktor DJ 2 is great package,
especially considering that it's free.
It's the perfect way for anybody
that's interested in DJing to get started.
It has all the features that
a beginner DJ would need
in a digital DJ software
and makes a great second
or backup option for all
the seasoned DJs out there.
And with what's provided
at this price point,
there's no reason that a DJ
shouldn't at least give
Traktor DJ 2 a try.
So, we hope that you liked this review
and if you did, be sure to
like and comment on this video.
And if you haven't already,
be sure to subscribe to
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Now, get good, get out
there and make the moments.
