First gig with the S8

First gig tonight in Melbourne (Australia) with the S8 ... Decided to dim the laptop completely to get used to the screens, but I've got a CDJ ready to just in case!

 

Alright Frankie .....how did you get yours so early.

I was told by CMI and Turra music that they would not be in the country until end November.

Ok.... let me guess.

You have had it for a while and under your NDA you haven't been able to discuss.

Nonetheless good luck being one of the first in OZ to get one and please let us know
how it performs with your gig tonight.

Mine was preordered from USA so I will get mine maybe next week sometime.

Cheers

 

I work at Factory Sound and so that's why I have access to one

There there was a very small air-freight shipment land at the start of the week, a few stores received one each for display and demo to take orders from, the major shipment is landing around the 20th of this month. The delay in getting this stuff to stores in Australia certainly sounds like it's hindering local sales, I'll forward this thread to the importer as more proof that we need real stocks at launch date.

Anyhow, enough of my constant pain that is new release stock in Australia ...

So I normally take a DJM850, 2 x X1mk2 and a CDJ2000, and so setup was much easier with the S8 and CDJ2000, no need for USB hub. I have a custom XLR/TRS loom that I use to get into the house PA and foldback so it's good that they've gone with XLR Main and TRS foldback outs. I set audio to my normal 48k/256 samples.

First thing I noticed was that 2.7.0 and the S8 uses more CPU than 2.6.8, and that it actually spreads load over all 4 threads when loading tracks and the wave form takes shape on the S8. Where with 2.6.8 my CPU load sits around 35% (of 1 thread), with the S8 it doubles to around 70% but is spread over 2 threads (which can be seen when you view CPU load bar graph overlay). My take on this is that Traktor is using a single thread as it's always done for audio/processing and it is using another to drive the S8. I did notice the load meter in Traktor spike a number of times but did not affect audio at all.

Workflow with the S8 was a bit different for me. I'm used to having instant access to all 4 decks play/cue/hot cues/nudge with my pair of X1mk2. Changing deck control from A to C and B to D was a bit of an inconvenience and I actually ended up using the CDJ2000 in HID for deck C control so that I didn't have to swap decks ... I think if I had another one for deck D it would have been awesome! If I can find the time to push my track cues and loops into remix decks then I might have a better experience but with the pair of X1 I have faster access to the things I use in the way I play.

Screens are fantastic. Being flat (as opposed to the angle on the CDJ2000) was not an issue because of the quality of screen used. Having coloured cue markers and loop points right there in front of you on the screen, and on the larger (than X1) pads, and that all 8 were always available was probably my favourite feature. Track searching with screens took a bit of getting used to, navigation felt like Rekordbox on the CDJ2000. The only time I needed to go back to the computer was to do a search for tracks because I couldn't remember which folder/playlist they were in. Spending more time on prep would solve this though. Changing track sort was done by the touch knob on the lower left of the screen, handy to change to BPM or key instead of Artist/Title. I'm sure over time there will be different sort and search functions enabled via the touch encoders and buttons around the screen.

Wave form when zooming in, well it looks like the iPad app and I'm not a real big fan of it. I much prefer the way the "wave" form displays when you zoom in on it within Traktor Pro 2, and every DAW out there! I would like a choice how I see the zoomed in wave form. That's it on this topic for me.

Sound quality, well I know there are some quite passionate people out there wanting to know that this unit blows everything else out of the water but it doesn't. I would put it on par with using my TA10 and Xone:92, which sort of makes sense when you think about it. Clean mids/highs, decent low end but lacking what some people find in the CDJ/DJM setup. I'm certainly happy with the sound, and there were no complaints from venue management or punters that it sounds different (good or bad), so there's no need for any bitching about sound quality.

And that's about all I've got time for as I have to go to work ... yes, the day job where I don't take Melbourne Cup Monday as a holiday and get a 4 day weekend! I'll probably add to this later but feel free to ask any questions.

Thanks.

 

Thanks for the reply Frankie.

Good luck getting the distributor CMI to do anything .

They are vague at the best of times.

If you know anyone that wants a S4 and road case for around 500 then let me know.

Cheers

 

Great Review, Thanks!

 

Excellent information.