S8 (Supreme Ed. mod) vs S4 MK3 (Supreme Ed. mod or others)

Hi Guys! I'd like to buy used S8 or S4 MK3. Both these gears can be vastly modified by user-made mods, which makes them a lot better than with original mappings (thanks Aleix Jiménez and others for your work in here and concerning S4!).

So I'd like to ask: what make you choose S8 (with mods) over S4 mk3 (with mods)?

Or otherwise: what features of TRAKTOR PRO can be used/accesed with S8 with Supreme Edition Mod which cannot be (in a reasonable way) used/accesed with S4 MK3 with Supreme Edition Mod (or other mods maybe)?

It's obvious there's no sliders/faders for controlling stems and remix decks so it's less comfortable to operate them on S4. And there's no freeze mode on S4 out of the box (it doesn't matter to me). And big screens are better than small ones for sure.
<I'm aware that there's no tempo faders and jog wheels on S8, of course. I'm looking for S8 advantages >

Thank you very much in advance for your help!

 

Hey Davero I would say that the main difference resides on the screens, (lack of) jogwheels and tempo faders, and (lack of) dedicated mixer FX controls.

The screens make a big difference, in my opinion, especially with my mod. It’s true that the S4 MK3 has a screen to, but it’s rather a “complementary” screen, not originally designed to use it to view the Waveform (and Edit it’s Grid) or navigate the browser theough it.

The lack of Jogwheels and tempo faders shouldn’t be a major problem:
-You can use the Touchstrip to nudge (and even Scratch, though not recommended)
-With my mod you can easily use the Browse Encoder as a “digital” tempo fader
Also, you can buy a couple of Rane Twelve MK2 in case you want Jogs, for example!

You can easily swicth between MixerFX on the S8 with my mod. However, it’s way more comfortable the way this is implemented on the S4 MK3.

The main advantages of the S8, in my opinnion, are:
-Screens, obviously
-Bottom performance knobs & buttons

They allow you to have more control over certain things which aren’t as accessible from the S4 MK3 such as:

• Midi Controls
• FX 3&4 control
• Remix/Stem advanced controls (FX Send, Pitch, etc.)

Freeze mode and almost any Traktor function in general can easily be mapped modifying qml files, therefore, you should be more focused on the hardware itself (buttons, screens, etc) rather than what it can do once used with Traktor.

Also note that the S8 is midi mappeable whereas the S4 MK3 isn’t, I believe.

 

Thank you very much Aleix for your extensive sharing your insight! It's invaluable as I don't have access to the gear and cannot just play it with to compare...

 

You’re welcome! I’ll probably have forgetten some important details, but I believe that you can get a first idea of its differences...

If you are trying to get the best laptop-free experience with Traktor, the S8 is your go to. Also, if you are planning to use Remix Decks or Stems, I would highly recommend the S8 or the S4 MK3 with the F1, for example.

If you are more an open format DJ or especially if you are planning to scratch, then I would would highly recommend the S4 MK3 (+ a couple of D2s if you want a laptop free experience), having full mixer FX control + FX Controls. However certain users have reported that the D2s screens can be “laggy” or have certain “delay” when paured with an S4 MK3.
An alternative to this setup would then be using the S8 + Rane Twelve MK2 or Vinyl Players (with TimeCode), as I said on the earlier reply.

I hope that this helps you to decide your next setup, and feel free to ask any other question you may have about any of the mentionned controllers