Cable for Kontrol S4MK2 & Traktor DJ/iPad

I just gotten an iPad Pro, a couple of months ago. I wanted to try using it with my Kontrol S4MK2; it's the first time I'm doing it, but I can find uses for that.

When I plugged in a USB cable to the S4, and connect the other end to Apple USB-to-Lightning adapter attached to the iPad Pro, all I see is the USB amber light on the S4 and no other light. I have the power supply that came with the unit in place.

I have the latest firmware for the S4. Can I not use any USB cable, or does it have to be an NI cable? It seems that NI is out of stock on its site, and Amazon doesn't seem to have it. I have not checked other sites, but I'm hoping for a solution that won't require me to get another cable.

Thanks!

 

Don't use the Apple USB-to-Lightning adapter (different handshake protocol), using any adapter will not work.
Use the native (proprietary) S4 to iOS cable from NI:
https://www.native-instruments.com/...dia/pricing-usb-lightning-cable-for-z1-s2-s4/

 

Thanks for the heads up. So the NI cable is special, then. I have searched around for that cable and I can't find it. Not sure when NI USA will carry it again; the NI web site currently does not have the cable in stock. I am asking around, but I guess there is no alternate cable that I can use other than the NI one?

Thank you.

 

yes, i think there is no alternative, maybe use a store from other country ?
The original cable works great with my S4mk2, I will never go back to any laptops with TPro

 

Argh! I'm jealous. I was hoping that this is what I'd be doing today, but I had no idea that I was gonna end up short due to cable type! I only remember the cable that I use to attach to my laptop. Do you remember if there were two separate cables, or if there's an attached adapter to pull off to reveal the lightning connector? I'm now curious.

 

I broke down and ordered the NI cable. I tried a number of online music stores, and none in the US that I've been to, even Amazon, has it in stock. All referrals were for Europe.

Meanwhile, I did stumble upon a workaround. I have a product that I've barely used called the iConnectMIDI, which is a MIDI interface made for iOS products. The interface included a 30-pin adapter that plugged into the old 30-pin iPad ports. The Lightning port was introduced a few months before I bought the product, so I needed to order an Apple lightning-to-30-pin adapter. When you mentioned about handshake protocol, I was curious to know whether the iConnect cable would work with the iPad Pro and the S4. Sure enough, it did!

Now that being said, I'm looking forward to the NI replacement. The lightning-to-30 pin adapter that I have is a small one and requires that there be no case, because the hole on my iPad case was just small enough for the male port. The adapter has to be flushed against the metal of the iPad, which requires me to remove the case. I rather remove the case as little as possible, because attached to it (it's actually a cover) is the Smart Keyboard. I'm sure that it could say on, but when I remove the cover sometimes it also might remove the keyboard too.

In any event, at least I can now play around and proceed with experimenting using the iPad with the S4. I can see why it's all kinds of great to use it instead of a laptop. I have an iPad Air, and if I were to play out with the controller then I'd probably use that so that my iPad Pro is safe.

I appreciate the help!
V.

 

Velanche! Good work finding that iconnectivity cable. I had bought an S2 Mk2 used a few years ago and wanted to use it with my new iPad Pro but it didn’t come with the cable. Seems like nearly every used S2/S4/Z1 on the market is missing this cable. The official Native Instruments cable seems near impossible to find. So I took a chance. I bought Iconnectivity’s USB B to LIGHTNING cable and it works great! I’m so happy I don’t need that damn adapter. Unfortunately iconnectivity’s costs $40 while NI’s costs $25. I figured that even if I could find an official NI cable in a European store, id be paying $40 with shipping anyway. One question remains. Wtf is this “handshake protocol” and how do you find out more about it for iOS. How is it that iconnnectivity’s cable can work with Native Instruments’ equipment? It proves it’s not proprietary. Does this open the door to any other solution that bypasses the need for either company’s cable? I have an experiment to perform with an adapter that no one has mentioned yet. I will confirm in a few days. If I’m right... then I have a $3 solution.

The next thing I’d like to discuss is how I also needed the 15v 1.2amp/18w power supply to use it with iPad and wouldn’t you know it? .. this is currently also not available on NI’s US website. (What’s going on NI?) And for some damn reason it is really difficult to find anywhere else (please prove me wrong if you know where to get it). WARNING! Beware of 3rd party manufacturers selling on amazon and eBay. I ordered what was said to be a compatible adapter. It was 12v, not 15v. The box said it was for S2/S4. I suspect many sold online are under voltage. You will possibly break your gear. Ok so I still couldn’t find the official 18w adapter anywhere online. My solution was to buy a 40w adapter for the S8/D2. As long as it’s 15v it’s totally fine to have a higher wattage power supply. I got it and it works great. I actually think there’s a benefit to having this higher wattage power supply when using iPad,

 

nice catch so does the cable work, did you test ?

handshake: i am not a pro on this, but you see .. but you can see the bulge in the cable, right? ... the handshake i meant: there is quite sure an integrated circuit inside with a certificate given from Apple, much more then an pin adapter only, thats why it could work. And i assume the NI cable a/o controller have something similar, as said not sure about .. but thet what i meant with ‚handshake‘ a ID key exchange to enable

also great to see your adapter comment, and you are right, a well know issue (confusion), there seem to be sold some 15 volt models around, instead 18 (even more strange: found same in NI UK store, in Germany always 18 volt, which work best) .. beside this: some user asked already (in other threads) what they can do with their IPad „Pro“ .. seems they get not charged with NI cable with both (S2/S4) supplies .. need too much power (watt). And in this threads we discussed to use the higher D5 powers supply. Never a risk for the power adapter having too much wattage (as voltage counts) .. but it could be a (theoretical) risk for the S2,4 as they have to rout thru their circuit boardto iPad, right?. So officially we can not recomment for all user, it’s all on own risk, not NI approved.

In any case, let us know you experience, good luck

 

Ok so I tried using a little usb B male to usb A female adapter with an Apple usb to lighting cable and it didn’t work. So our options are the official NI cable or the iconnectivity cable. I’m disappointed that I had to pay $15 more for the iconnectivity cable but at least it works and so far no problems.

The D2/S8 power supply works great and I have no worries about it being harmful to the iPad because the USB port only puts out 5v and probably no more than 1amp. I haven’t noticed it charging any faster.

I have yet to play on a club PA to see if there’s any difference in sound output. I will update the next time I do.

 

i do not worry too about using D2/S8 power supply, i like your idea .. but be aware a iPad during charging needs more than 1 amp, typically about 2A .. an iPad Pro with an 29 Watt power adapter USB-C Applle supply (from Mac) comes close 6A .. this tells us that an iPad could be critical for a charging enabled usb port on a S4. Anyhow, let us know your follow ups

 

Ok I understand now that a usb 2.0 port can supply max 500mA at 5v. It doesn’t matter then if I use a higher wattage power supply, the USB port will always supply the same power. That 500mA may be just enough to keep your iPad at the same battery percentage level for the duration of a session but not to “charge it up”. I am now wondering if you could use an Apple lightning splitter that was designed for iPhone 7 to have one port for charging with a 12watt or 29watt charger, and the other port for the data from the S2.

Funny that I hadn’t thought about this before. In fact now that I think about it... how is it safe to plug an iPad into any usb 2.0 or 3.0 port, even a computer. I thought that if a power source is under the required wattage for a device plugged into it, there is a risk of damage to the power supply or device. Perhaps there are some protections in place for that. Gee I’d love it if someone could explain all this to me