S4 going to updated soon?

Thanks for all your comments…

Once I caught on that I could get around the midi problem, my support for the S4 kinda crumbled, and I just ordered a VCI-400, particularly as a found it bundled with a NI F1 for the price of the S4…

So in order not to turn this into another VCI-400 vs S4 debate and stay a bit more on-topic, here is what would have made me hold out for an S4 if there was an upgrade soon:

S4 MKII:
– less plasticy, especially lose the shiny plastic on the part of the mixer where my greasy fingers are going to be most of the time.
– better and easily changeable faders (actually included an innofader in my cost analysis, as I figured I’d break/get annoyed by the s4 one in a few months, but then was irritated that doing so would void the warranty on the rest of the box)
– better mapability – debatable I guess if steelo finds the mapping spot on – but its an issue that’s come up a few times in my research, especially with the change to midi-mode needed, negating other good points.
– maybe same as the previous point, but would like a few more buttons, basically some “free” buttons to avoid “shifting” or having to compromise on existing mappings.
– jogwheels… not sure how to fix these, or what I don’t like about them really, just that as Terry42 says, they seem rather lacking for being the “best” for traktor… don’t know if I’d really want them to spin, so maybe its just a size thing. Although its been done, they aren’t really scratchable, so unless they aim to do that properly, they might actually be too big… then again for manual beat-matching I prefer them to spin (or on CDJs I actually prefer jog-mode to vinyl-mode where size and absolute prefect tracking are less an issue anyway). Maybe its also something I shouldn’t comment on without being able to really compare, but they strike me as overkill, for such a major part of the interface where I would probably just map them to effects anyway, and use them as basic pinch-benders for mixing.
– booth out (yes vci problem too)
– standalone mixing mode (nice timing for me from vestax)

Was trying to avoid VCI talk, but can’t resist:
My major annoyance is not having built-in turntable pre-amps – even when not even wanting to use it for timecode, just turntable audio, its a bit of a pain. Getting pre-amps and Scratch certification for it would completely kill though! So even if it got pre-amps, don’t think NI could certify it if they were wanting any DVS types left on S4. Also think the S4 has the better layout, with jogs higher up on the controller – my ideal VCI layout would actually bring everything (including effects knobs) below the jogs, but maybe that’s just personal. Two mic-inputs seems a waste too, and would rather have a booth/record out instead…. actually don’t mic-inputs also have pre-amps? aaargh! waste! Also with stand-alone functionality, having gain knobs on all inputs seem a bit of a waste, although guess it allows for flexibility for the few that might want to try the full 6-deck thing. Oh, and included software with the VCI is ridiculous, I was pretty lucky to find it bundled with the F1 to solve the software side.

Anyway, excited for my new toys and even though I’m sure I’m going to run into more dislikes or hassles, don’t feel like I’m going to be wondering as much about whether I made the right decision as I would have with the S4.