New Compact NI Traktor Controller Exclusive: Photos from WMC 2015 Miami

On 25th March 2015, Native Instruments hosted a special live stream event from the Winter Music Conference in Miami. Featuring Dubfire and Uner, amongst others, the real surprise was that both these DJs were using what looks like a new Traktor controller!

Not to be one to hold back info (we're still waiting for our friends at Native Instruments to confirm name, details, price, etc)… we'd like to show you the shots from yesterday's event that paint a rather informative picture of what the new Traktor Kontrol controller may offer.

Let's break this down from what we've seen. 

It's compact! The new Traktor controller has a full color display that we assume shows panels for track browsing, effect monitoring, live tweaking, etc. As far as we can tell this would suggest doing all the above without needing to reach of your laptop. 

Behind Uner's shoulder. A view of the new Traktor Controller's screen and pads.

There's four faders. We're guessing (after seeing the S8 in action) these will be touch-sensitive and will provide 4-channel control over the remix deck.

Behind Dubfire's shoulder we can clearly see four remix faders and 8 coloured pads... we think!

Clearly, there's eight coloured pads. Again, with S8 as our template, these are likely to trigger samples and loops on the fly and jump to cue points.

Another shot from behind Uner's shoulder shows more again.

We counted 14 knobs and faders … and we think we spotted an LED touch strip (think Komplete Kontrol keyboards) which would probably allow for precise control for pitch bend and other functionality we hope will be user defined.

It's all about the music. Let's not forget the crowd were ultimately enjoying Dubfire and Uner's set!

If this new Traktor controller does the job we hope it does (and we'll let you know more as soon as we get official info through our inbox) we're expecting an FX unit with effects a plenty plus a Macro FX and a rugged construction NI-style for true on-the-road portable DJing needs.

Uner barely glanced at his laptop, which makes us think this new controller will focus the DJ performance on the hardware itself.

Not only was the event itself a great success, but we feel we've managed to get some info on the (probably) upcoming compact Traktor controller. Stay tuned to this space. We'll let you know more info as and when it comes through!

Learn more about Traktor at AskVideo here.

Visit the Native Instruments Traktor site here.