Nex Media • TECH
S
o, do you remember the days when you would
watch your favourite Rock band blasting audi-
ences away with their guitar driven music and
all you would ever see behind them were stacks
and stacks of speakers. These were not just any old
speakers - these were Marshall Speakers. The amp
that changed the world of live music as we know it.
Well, I felt that little bit of nostalgia coarse through
my veins as I opened this rather big Apple Accessory
that was given to me by the cool crew from the Core
Group.
The first thing you see is the vintage style knobs
and switches, which made me feel like a child on
Christmas day.
I hooked it up and that was simply plugging the
device into a wall socket. The manual has been laid
out in such a brilliant manner that whatever device
you wish to connect the Stanmore to is listed on the
front cover, you have a choice of Bluetooth, Optical
in, Stereo in (cool electric guitar style cable included)
or RCA in.
So, as one does, I decided to hook up the Bluetooth
option first – modern technology is easiest. It was
so simple and so fast that within a few seconds
the device was found and paired by pressing the on
button on the main control section. Done and there I
was jamming tunes on the Stanmore.
The first thing that made an impression on me was
the clarity and booming bass from such a small
speaker system and it was loud - the louder it got the
better the sound became.
The only issue was the Bluetooth range it started to
cut out not even 10 metres away.
I then hooked it up to my Mac via Bluetooth followed
by the stereo out cable, the sound in both cases was
incredible.
The last test was out my DJ controller and it passed
with flying colours.
All round, this is one of the nicest looking and best
sounding free-standing speaker systems I have ever
used, well done Marshall!
Available from: iStores nationwide
RRP: R4299
T
his 4 channel master piece is the Flagship DJ
Kit from Native instruments. After the release
of the original Traktor DJ Software in 2008
Native Instruments continues to impress with its
ground-breaking applications and hardware. The
Traktor S4 the the big brother to the S2 and boasts
some exciting features that would make any DJ
quiver with excitement.
Besides the fact that all it takes is the push of a
button and your tracks sync-up perfectly, this
monster has some other amazing features.
Once hooked up, the S4 instantly maps to Traktor,
without any preset loading or setups. You have two
ways to load tracks via the controller, either by using
the Browse knob in the centre to scroll through your
tracks and Load buttons beside each jog to cue
them up, or by pressing the Browser button, which
instantly switches the view to ‘Browse View’, which
makes your library full-screen.
Use the jog wheels to select tracks and load them
into a suitable deck using the ‘Cue’ buttons.
The S4 has a three-band EQ and one-knob filter per
channel, plus an endless Gain knob. The Filter knob
works as expected - turn it left for low-pass and right
for high-pass. Without an on-off switch though, it
can be difficult to reset it in time for the drop, as the
only reference for zero is a notch at 0 degrees.
Same goes for the EQ, as there is no ‘kill’ for any of
the bands. However, you can use an effects slot for
a filter and the FX assign or on/off buttons to cut it
right on the money.
One section that will be new to veterans is the
Loop Recording section. It’s straightforward with
controls for Record, Undo, Size and Play. Record a
four-, eight-, sixteen- or thirty-two-bar loop from the
master, cue or aux outputs - nice for returning to
sections and as the recording replays after the set
length, it’s a one-button affair.
This is true mouse-less control and you’ll find
yourself forgetting completely about the laptop
screen.
The S4 is, without doubt the best-implemented
solution for Traktor we’ve seen to-date. However,
that’s almost a given. As a 20-year DJ veteran I can
truly say that this piece of DJ Kit and software is
worth it.
Priced at R12999.99
Turnkey Music - Johannesburg
Tel: +27 (11) 792 8272
Old-school sound
The Traktor Kontrol S4 DJ kit
www.
nexmedia
.co.za
All reviews in this issue have been done by Jon-Jon Pietersen.
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