No midi mode added for S4 MK3 today ?

I see midi mode added for S3 and S2 MK3 but none for S4 MK3 why not ?

 

I was wondering the same thing.

 

I thought it was a bit weird that the S4 MK3 was missing a midi din socket.

 

Now that S2 MK3 is supported with MIDi mode, can anyone test and confirm that Jog Wheels are mappable?

Asking because they are not available in Default mapping...

 

why u need midi with s4 ?
do u want to use it with another software ?
You can remap any button .

 

Default mapping is limited to only 8 modifiers. And Jog wheels are not mappable which us huge PITA.

 

Is midi mode planned for the S4 mk3? While being the flagship traktor device, it's crippled in this field in comparison to the S2 and S3.

 

The Joe Easton hack is good for most of what I needed on the Mk3. I get that some want to do things with jogs. My MK1 had some cool jog stuff I added.
I wonder if the motorized data feedback might be why they are not bothering with the midi?

 

This is pretty much exactly why. Although some inputs are MIDI-mappable, jog wheel functionality is married to the haptic drive components which are driven by HID. What I've taken from my research is that Native Instruments developed a proprietary HID implementation called "Native Hardware Language" (NHL) that is dependent on communicating with Traktor. Like most proprietary implementations, NHL sacrifices accessibility/openness to optimize for performance (higher packet resolution) and plug-n-play functionality (absence of drivers).

At first, I thought reverse engineering this protocol (a laborious but rewarding process) would lead to a solution. Mind you, my intention was to use the S4 MK3 with Rekordbox/VDJ. But further research and brainstorming leads me to believe that there is still a wide gap to bridge, specifically between the NHL/HID map and one's software of choice. Although it's a long shot, VDJ and Mixx may still be candidates, but the prospect of using any other software is grim.

Here's a link that I dug up quickly as a reference for this post.
https://forum.juce.com/t/hid-input-support/8464

If anyone has more information on this, or would like to collaborate on this, please DM me. I have a degree in computer science that's getting stale, I could use a pet project for my portfolio. Coding skills are rusty but I specialize in lower-level languages like C (and I can trudge through assembly code if needed).

 

Yep if you watch any update the drivers do not include the S4Mk3, so all the data is within the main install. not the typical midi mapping program. I am no expert but that is a good clue as how it all works.

 

Hello guys. Yesterday I got a S4 Mk3 after contacting NI by email, where they told me that "S4 Mk3 should send MIDI messages like many controllers".

Seems it doesn't and reading this post I start to assume they gave me the wrong information.

I don't want to use S4 Mk3 in another DJ software, but I need MIDI messages (or at least something!) from it because I'm preparing a Max patch for generative visuals based on the movements of the controller knobs and faders and an audio Feed.

I need to find a solution in a few days before the time for returning it runs out.

Any news about MIDI implementation ?
If not, do you know a way to get those raw data it sends in Max/MSP?
Forward MIDI / data from Traktor itself?
Any other idea?

That's really sad and frustrating since I love this machine hardware-side.

 

The information that you received from the NI support is not correct. You can use Global MIDI controls as a work around but they are limited.

 

Hello Stevan!
I found a workaround that's perfect for me. I basically forwarded (control manager -> add out) Traktor values with "virtual MIDI cables", basically creating a "virtual MIDI device" that mimics the actual hardware copying Traktor parameters changes. This way I can "map" the S4 Mk3 in Ableton or Max passing through Traktor (that's fair enough since I wanted to use Traktor along with Ableton anyway!)

However thanks for your reply

 

Using Global MIDI controls is the same thing. You only create dedicated controls instead of outputting original controller functions.

Good to know you made it!