In this quirky product video, watch DJ Shiftee as he flies in to Berlin with Traktor DJ on the iPad and a boombox on wheels, and performs a mashup, before moving in to the club… and ending up busking! The method behind the madness is to show multi-touch FX, freeze mode, a live mashup, using the software almost as a Maschine-style touchscreen pad controller, and potentially the most interesting use case: As a third deck for Traktor in a club.
Coming from a big name like Native Instruments, Traktor DJ has obviously caused a stir arriving on the iOS scene (it’s currently #6 in the app charts at US$19.99, with Algoriddim’s djay at #2 at US$4.99). While Traktor DJ’s lack of compatibility with any external Midi hardware currently sits it behind best-of-breed in the market in this area, and there are questions about the quality of its keylock, the software’s development cycle will likely see improvements in these and other areas.
And as a fresh take on what the iPad is and isn’t good for, as we said in our full Traktor DJ review, it is successfully breaking its own ground.
Looking to the bigger picture, there’s no doubt iOS is becoming more and more a force to be reckoned with in DJing (witness the Pioneer/Algoriddim tie-up we reported on earlier today), yet it’s still suffering from some unfortunate limitations (the need to use the Camera Connection Kit for Midi in all cases so far except the Vestax Spin2 hardware/Algoriddim software partnership, for instance). Nonetheless, with names like Native Instruments now on-board, things are hotting up. I wonder what we’ll find at Musikmesse 2013 next week?
What do you think of the DJ Shiftee video? Have you bought and tried Traktor DJ? What are your opinions of it? What do you like or wish were different? Please let us know your thoughts in the comments.
Phil Morse
