Native Instruments Teases New Traktor Controller
We’ve known that Native Instruments has been developing their own Traktor controller for some time now, and it looks like they are about to drop the first product, in what could be a whole series of products, before the holiday season. The German company unleashed a teaser video on YouTube recently of Richie Hawtin using what looks like a production quality unit to control effects parameters in Traktor Pro, replacing the Allen & Heath Xone: 1D that he’s been utilizing in his sets.
Hawtin, who has become the poster-child of using cutting edge digital DJ technology, has honed his mobile rig to consist of mostly Native Instruments gear. The relationship, which has blossomed after Hawtin starting using Traktor, has been a savvy move for both parties, but especially for NI who is benefitting from Hawtin’s credibility and clout.
Hawtin also incorporates NI’s new Maschine into rig to trigger samples and manage Ableton Live, which runs on a separate computer. However, it will be interesting if Hawtin goes for broke and replaces Live with Maschine’s software sequencer.
An official press release should be coming from Native in October; we’ll keep you posted.
