Traktor has often felt like the plucky underdog of the DJ software world. Compared to the industry titans of rekordbox and Serato, Native Instruments’ offering has never quite broken beyond its diehard fanbase of electronic producers and DJs to compete as one of the main players in the DJ world. It’s also been quite a while since we’ve had any updates to Traktor, and with its competitors adding more and more powerful features, it was beginning to feel a bit left behind.
Recently, though, Native Instruments started backing Traktor again in a big way. The new version, Traktor Pro 4, promises to bring in a load of new features that should once again make it one of the top software options. But does it deliver on this promise? Let’s dive into what’s new and whether it’s now worth making the switch.
Traktor Pro 4 Review Video
What’s new in Traktor Pro 4?
Stem Separation
Traktor was one of the first to bring stems into DJ software way back in 2015. However, this relied on you already having the stems for your tracks, either from tunes you’d made yourself or from a very limited selection of officially released stems tracks. This may have appealed to a handful of producer DJs, but it never caught on in any meaningful way.
Now that AI-powered stem separation has become the norm in DJ software, Traktor felt left behind with this outdated stems system. That’s why in Traktor Pro 4, they’re catching up to the pack with stem separation that works on the same algorithms as the popular iZotope RX software.
In terms of audio quality, it’s probably about on par with some of the best out there from Serato, rekordbox or djay. It’s not 100% clean, and we noticed one or two artefacts, but for DJing, it should be perfectly fine.
You can adjust the volume, filter and effects of each stem individually.
One of the big drawbacks of Traktor’s stems compared to some of its rivals is that it needs to be pre-prepared. That means you can’t just drop tracks onto a deck and have them automatically analyse the stems. As such, it also won’t work with any streamed tracks. However, Traktor will actually create new files in your library with the stems tracks, which you could then use for other things like producing remixes.
The analysis also takes quite a long time, and you can’t batch analyse tracks; you can only do them one at a time. So, if you want to go through and prepare your whole library to use with stems, it will be a pretty long-winded task.
Flexible Beatgrids
When you’re mixing old genres like disco, the tempo can be all over the place. But previously, Traktor was rigid in its beatgrid, meaning that as the track’s tempo warped, the beat would move out of place, making looping and beatmatching nearly impossible.
Now Traktor lets you manually place grid markers at different points in a track so you can keep accurate beat syncing even across tempo changes. This makes Traktor much more accessible to open-format DJs playing old-school, non-quantised music.
If you’ve got a track with a changing tempo, you can manually add beat markers to set the grid.
Pattern Player
The pattern player has been around since Traktor’s ill-fated Pro Plus subscription model but is now being brought front and centre with some new updates that breathe new life into it. The idea behind the pattern player is to allow you to add your own drum patterns and loops on top of tracks.
You get a selection of drum kits to play around with, including some from well-known producers like Dubfire and Chris Liebing, as well as classics like the 808 or 909. With these, you can create your own new drum parts or select from presets. These patterns automatically sync with the track and even react to Traktor’s flexible grid and tempo changes.
There’s also a handy ducking control, which applies a sidechain compressor to your track to let your drums punch through much more clearly.
iZotope Ozone Maximiser
iZotope is an industry-standard software company for mixing and mastering and also happens to be owned by Native Instruments, the company behind Traktor. So naturally, they’ve integrated some of their tools to make your mixes sound more polished and professional.
The Ozone Maximiser is a limiter and compressor that goes each channel and will make sure your sound is loud and clear without being distorted. You can choose between a fast mode which will tightly control peaks, while the smooth mode will preserve more of a track’s dynamics and transients. It’s a step up from Traktor’s previous limiter and other limiters in that it doesn’t just work to prevent loud parts from clipping, but it also brings quiet parts up to give you a more coherent and balanced mix.
Pricing
One of the most welcome changes is that Native Instruments has scrapped the Traktor Pro Plus subscription model. Instead, Traktor Pro 4 is now just available as a one-time purchase of £129/$149, and existing users can upgrade for £64.50/$74.50. This makes it a very affordable option compared to some of its rivals, such as Serato and rekordbox.
However, most people won’t end up paying anything for Traktor. It’s included free with most new Native Instruments DJ gear, including the S4, S3, X1 and Z1 – but not the budget S2 decks. That makes these bits of gear extra tempting when bundled with the software.
Is Traktor Pro 4 worth it?
If you’re already a Traktor user, upgrading to this latest update is a bit of a no-brainer. Just the addition of stems alone would make it worth the money, as it really opens up loads of creative options and brings Traktor in line with other modern DJ software.
Once you consider all the extra additions like flexible beatgrids and the pattern player, this is much more than a minor software upgrade; it’s a considerable step forward for Traktor.
If you’re still considering what DJ software’s right for you, that’s a much harder question. The latest update has brought Traktor out of the wilderness and into the top spots, but it’s still a highly competitive market. If you do go for Traktor, you’re tied into the whole Native Instruments ecosystem – the software only works with their controllers and vice versa.
A large part of Traktor’s target market is producers and music makers, and this will really appeal to them. The addition of things like stems and the drum machine makes it perfect for hybrid live performances, and lots of the accompanying Traktor hardware backs that up – things like the Maschine and their modular controllers offer a unique setup that’s geared towards performance rather than basic mixing.
Overall, this new major update, along with the new hardware, signals a big step forward for Traktor. Some things still won’t appeal to everyone – the lack of real-time stems separation for example feels like a loss – but generally, there’s more than enough to make this a serious contender for anyone, and the go-to for hybrid producer DJs.
Traktor Pro 4 vs. The Competition
Traktor vs rekordbox
Rekordbox still has the big advantage of being the ‘industry standard’ of professional club DJ gear. That means that if you’re going to play on the gear in pretty much any venue, you’ll need to analyse your tracks in rekordbox beforehand.
The basic version of rekordbox gets hardware unlocked by a lot of controllers and is pretty feature-packed. You get pretty solid stem separation in real-time, unlike Traktor, and integration with Tidal, Beatport, Beatsource, and SoundCloud Go+. Rekordbox’s premium tiers are only available through a subscription, which gives you extra effects and library management tools. That means after just a few months, you’ll end up paying more for rekordbox.
Overall, Traktor is more geared towards creative live performance with things like the pattern player and a better selection of effects, while rekordbox is still more of a traditional DJ mixing software.
Traktor vs Serato
One of Serato’s big plus points and one of the biggest drawbacks of Traktor is compatibility. Serato works with a wide range of controllers and DJ gear, but with Traktor, you’re tied to just specific Traktor controllers. Serato also offers a couple of cool performance features like sampling, great effects, and stem separation, but Traktor probably takes the edge for live creative performance.
You can get Serato DJ Pro for $249 or $9.99/month. However, it’s also unlocked by a lot of gear – either the basic Serato Lite or the full-fat Serato Pro, depending on the controller.
Traktor vs djay
Like a lot of software, djay is also only available as a subscription but it’s a much more reasonable $7/month or $50/year. It’s also got the best range of streaming support, as it works with Apple Music, SoundCloud Go+, Tidal, Beatport and Beatsource.
Djay offers a great range of tools for DJs, whether you’re just starting out or a pro. The automix and gesture controls are really innovative and make DJing fun and easy, while the Neural Mix features are really powerful for individual stem control. It’s also highly customisable and compatible with a wide range of gear, unlike Traktor.
Learn to DJ with Traktor
If you want to get started with Traktor and learn how to use it to perform incredible, creative mixes, we’ve got you covered. Our Traktor courses will take you through everything you need to get to grips with this software, as well as showing you some more advanced tips and tricks to level up your DJing.
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