thinking about a traktor kontrol !s2-any suggestions?

@Rigo:well,the reloop is just a toy in my opinion..don`t know about the new jockey but the DJ2 is something to keep in the bedroom at best,i would never rely on that live..

the buttons aren`t good,you must switch them for some decent arcade buttons(like sanwa,just like the ones in the arcade sticks) if you want them to live longer than half a year,the traktor integration/provided mappings are really crappy,so you end up spending hours reassigning,even fx on/off deck 1+2 does not work with their mappings..drivers are bad for the interface edition,support off reloop is awful,products is at best beginner gear..my first mixer in 1999 was a reloop battlemixer,lasted a good year till it was completely broken..i do not trust this company .-)

i bought a traktor kontrol s2,was delivered yesterday.for 399euro i couldnt stand to order one..and i spent the last night with it, testing everything..i must really admit that i`m not completely sold on it yet. As i play Progressive Psytrance i am not into doing some fancy stuff like skipping through 8 cue points and other stuff,i prefer it oldschool with 2 decks,2 efx and nothing special,just the music,good tracks and atmosphere..i wanted a rather simple controller First after “unboxing” it looked all well,quality knobs(way better knobs than on the reloop DJ2),clean interface,keeping it simple…but its really not a small controller,the s4 is a monster,this one is portable but not “small” due to the large jogs..

From that point the S2 is really well,you don`t feel like in an Airplane Cockpit looking at all the buttons or like in a autoscooter with flashy lights.. But after spending a few hours with it i think thw whole unit is a bit too “elegant”.. i want ruff gear not something that looks like its made for some sort of Dj who want “stylish” equipment..who came up with the idead of the “mirrored” middle part,thats plain stupid,you see every fingerprint on it or you can look at yourself in the middlepart of the mixer,maybe it is meant to sniff some lines directly off the controller..worse design decision and that was i meant with this stylish approach..nonetheless the VU meters are nicely coloured and it doesn`t look so toyish than other controllers,but they are useless anyways,the meters in traktor are much more precise than on the controller…

really BIG letdown is for me no EQ kill switches,i`m so used to it that maybe that could be the deal breaker for me on this one,its killing me to have no kill switches..

Sounds Quality is clear,crispy,although its not so “punchy” as i have expected,great quality audiowise..

The Jog Wheels are feeling like on a CDDJ,they are plastic but they feel very good,but they are a little too hard to spin fast in my opinion.with scratch function enabled it really “feels” good..scratching works fine for a controller solution but its also not the real deal..if someone want to seriously scratch,DVS is the only solution..

The Integration with Traktor Pro2 is very neat,thats in my opinion the greatest + for this Controller,especially for people who don`t want to fiddle with mappings like me,its self explanatory..also the latency and reaction time is just great,best i`ve seen so far,everything is on point,every little movement on a knob is instantly done by traktor,huge plus! i had different controllers hooked up to my macbook in the last months and not one was so fast in reaction like the s2-

although there is a bummer:there is NO cup button(cue+play)..and if you press cue and hold cue it plays the track as long as you hold,than it skips back to the cue beginning..for me that was annoying,i reassigned the play button to the CUP function as i like to slam in new tunes via CUP and i really do not understand why there is no shift function or any function at all in the default mapping that provides CUP functionality or some tickbox to revert the play button to a cup button..with the default mapping you have the big “CUP” button grinning into your face but you just can`t use it..

the gain encoder is…meh..not for me..

Sample Decks is nice,but i really don`t know if its sooo essential..hell i remember times where i`ve done “sampling” from the second deck by hand..and that would be the next point:do i really need those controls for the sample decks? i see a lot of fun with those decks,triggering stuff and so on but in live situations i just would use them not so often and i don`t know if that`s something i really would look into,its for a special kind of dj who want to look or sound creative but often up this ends not so well for the listener.although its fun for the dj.otherwise the mixing feel is good,but not for the aggressive mixing styles,its suited for house and stuff with the default mapping..and i dont really like the knobs size i prefer bigger rounder ones than those on the s2…

I will do some mixing later and as is said its a good product but i do not know if its really what im looking for,otherwise it goes back and i`ll definately end up with the denon mc3000..it is 150euro more than the s2 but its rougher,it looks like oldschool dj gear,line ins,i could hook up some cd djs,emergency line in for live gigs,great sound quality,XLR connectionsand i trust in denon,thats high quality gear! although i see also no kill eqs there..my denon amplifier is 18 years old,still runs perfect .-)

Will make my decision if i keep the S2 or go for the MC3000…the big thing is the price point,as someone who has traktor already,you could sell the license that is included for around 100euros,than the traktor kontrol s2 is half the price than a denon mc3000 at the moment..and its the build quality indeed of the s2,it has something that leaves me like:doesn`t look reliable..the denon looks “rock stable”