To facilitate what the team call “face-to-face co-development research,” they began by informing participants of user feedback opportunities through NI’s social media channels. Baur is keen to stress how important the response of every individual is. “The variety of people here is really huge, from wedding DJs to touring pros, and we need to cater to all of them.”

Face-to-face research often involves inviting people into the offices to provide feedback on anything from new versions of products to polystyrene mockups and sketches. Sometimes they don’t show anything new at all, choosing to simply observe how users work with existing products. Through user-focused research sessions, the team noticed that people desire a physical connection to the music they’re making or playing. It was insights like these that confirmed to the teams the Haptic Drive™ technology they’d been developing would be welcomed by users.”Touchscreens have their role, but when you want to interact with a track or a piece of music, running your finger over something hard and lifeless isn’t great,” Crease notes. “When playing with your music and affecting the sound, things like tangibility and muscle memory are really important.”

In a world filled with flat, dead screens, the team understand the importance of bringing back the feeling (quite literally), to music. “The idea to develop the Haptic Drive™ was confirmed by early user research that said people want a haptic interface to interact with the music. They needed to touch the music and to feel it,” explains Baur. Haptics isn’t just a mechanical feedback you feel in your fingertips, but it’s also the turntable mode; the motor using algorithms; its adjustability in the Jog mode. The TRAKTOR teams began experimenting with a motorized jogwheel, but Gansera understood the importance of verifying with users whether it’s something they would actually want. The feedback from target users proved to be overwhelmingly positive – people loved it. But the team also learned that it might not be for everyone, and that different situations call for different approaches. The technology allowed for the inclusion of the Jog mode, a function that most closest resembles the classic feel from previous generation Traktor products and club standard gear – with a digital friction adjust never before seen on an all-in-one controller at this price point.

Speaking of club standards, the teams understood through their customer research that many people buy controllers such as the new S2 and S4 as a means to hone their mixing skills and get club ready on a smaller budget. The closer these controllers are to what you’ll encounter in a club environment, the easier it is for people to make the transition from the bedroom to the booth. This meant ditching the previously symmetrical design of TRAKTOR KONTROL hardware for an asymmetrical approach that closely mirrors the layouts of turntables and mixers found in clubs all over the world.

What’s clear from speaking to the teams is the simple truths that define their work and the future of TRAKTOR. As Crease states, “We built the cutting edge of DJing, and now we want to go back to basics and deliver the core things that people want, and make them as good as possible.”

“Then let’s see what possibilities there are,” says Baur, with a smile.

Find out more about the TRAKTOR KONTROL S4 here.