My major complaint is that it doesnt read the settings from Traktor to the nobs. For example, if the volume of Deck A is all the way up on the screen in Traktor but the fader or nob is all the way down on the Zero SL, it will take the position of the Zero SL when you touch that nob/slider. So it will instantly reset from full to zero as soon as you touch the nob or fader on the Zero SL. I think it would be better if it knew the position of the slider on the screen and didnt effect its position until after the hardware was moved past that position on the screen.

My only other issue is that the pressure sensitive settings for the trigger pads on the bottom left side is difficult to get to the right settings. Its either always too high or too low, its hard to get it just right. You either have to slam it hard or barely tap it, its hard to get it to respond like a regular button.

Other than those two things, all and all its a pretty good product. Im still kind of pissed about being decieved about the “Automap” feature. They want you to believe it will work with anything, but thats just not true, its only designed to “Automap” with 4 or 5 software packages, for everything else you have to DIY the old fashioned way. Maybe someday they will fix that, but dont hold your breath.

The deal is this, I have defined this file to use the most common features. This is by no means complete nor will it work for everybody. This simply lays out the most commonly used features in what I feel is an easy to use and instictive layout. There are 12 empty buttons for you to customize with functions that you use. Below is a picture and description of what each nob, slider and button has been programmed to do.

CC Numbers:

0 – FOCUS DECK A
1 – FOCUS DECK B
2 – LOOP SET IN
3 – LOOP ACTIVE
4 – LOOP TYPE 1
5 – LOOP TYPE 2
6 – LOOP TYPE 3
7 – RELOOP

20 – A-FX 1 NOB
21 – A-FX 2 NOB
22 – A-FX 3 NOB
23 – A-FX 4 NOB
24 – B-FX 1 NOB
25 – B-FX 2 NOB
26 – B-FX 3 NOB
27 – B-FX 4 NOB

30 – A-FX 1 BUTTON
31 – A-FX 2 BUTTON
32 – A-FX 3 BUTTON
33 – A-FX 4 BUTTON
34 – B-FX 1 BUTTON
35 – B-FX 2 BUTTON
36 – B-FX 3 BUTTON
37 – B-FX 4 BUTTON

40 – A – EQ LOW
41 – A – EQ MED
42 – A – EQ HIGH
43 – A – EQ BALANCE
44 – B – EQ BALANCE
45 – B – EQ HIGH
46 – B – EQ MED
47 – B – EQ LOW

50 – A – LOW KILL
51 – A – CUE
52 – PAGE 1
53 – PAGE 2
54 – PAGE 3
55 – PAGE 4
56 – B – CUE
57 – B – LOW KILL

60 – DECK A – GAIN
61 – DECK A – VOLUME
62 – CROSS FADER
63 – DECK B – VOLUME
64 – DECK B – GAIN
65 – CUE MIX
66 – CUE VOLUME
67 – MASTER VOLUME

70 – LOOP MOVE BACKWARDS
71 – LOOP MOVE FORWARDS
72 – LOOP SIZE DECREASE
73 – LOOP SIZE INCREASE

80 – A – SYNC
81 – B – SYNC
86 – MASTER FX SELECT
87 – MASTER FX ON

90 – UNLOAD TRACK
91 – LOAD TRACK
92 – STOP/PLAY
93 – CUE PLAY
95 – AUDIO RECORD

How to use:

Download TKS (Save Link As)

Download SYX (Save Link As)

Download Zero SL Template Editor (Mac Version | Windows Version)

1) On your Novation, under the ‘N’ logo your going to select “Play” mode.

2) Press the Data/Select jog-dial until “Template” is selected. Scroll the jog-dial until you hit whatever template number you want to use for your custom template.

3) Open “TRAK-ZERO.syx” in the Template Editor. Press the “Upload” button located beside the Novation logo in the template editor program. Quickly look at your Novation display to check that the template is being received. You should see the custom names for the buttons in the LED spaces if it worked.

4) The template is now temporarily loaded into the Novation’s RAM. If you scroll away from this template, the upload will not be saved. To save it to memory press the “Write” button from the center column of buttons. Press the “Write” button once again to save the template. The template is now saved in the device in the location that you chose.

5) Now we have to load the controls into Traktor. Open Traktor and select the MIDI setup from the preferences page. Click on the “LOAD” button and then select “TRAK-ZERO.tks” and load it into Traktor. Now you will see that the MIDI buttons in the window now reflect the settings that you see in the Novation template editor.

Thats it, your done. Now if you did everything right, you should be able to twist and slide all the major features in Traktor DJ Studio 3.3. If you have any questions or it didnt work for you, leave a comment and Ill do my best to help.

UPDATE #1 (1/28/09):

Ive made a few adjustments to the files to add a few features I forgot and to make the layout easier to use. The picture of the CC buttons has also been updated to reflect the changes.

UPDATE #2 (2/12/09):

Ive made this picture to help make it easier to understand what does what. I found after using this layout for awhile now that at first I was a bit confused about which deck I was controlling. I the image below, the RED is Deck A and the BLUE is Deck B. So as you can see, if you visualize it like that, it makes it much easier to understand which nobs need to be twisted.

Over all the quality if pretty good. Its solidly built, but its made entirely of plastic so Im not sure how long it would last if you actually were kind of rough with it. The buttons and faders are of decent quality, the large trigger buttons at the bottom of the left side are kind of stiff and dont respond well to being pushed unless you really press hard. Also the end-less rotary nobs are also hard to get working correctly with Traktor. The Zero SL doesnt sit flat on your desk either, it sits up on some legs and at a slight angle. Im not sure I like this, I prefer flat and out of the way.

Using it with Traktor is not as easy at they make it sound. The “Automap” feature that Novation jocks so hard in their advertising and descriptions only works with 4 programs. Yes, thats right, it only works with 4 programs. If you want it to work with anything else, your going to have to manually edit the midi settings for each and every nob and slider via Novations editor program (which is also kind of difficult to use). Then you have to program everything a second time inside traktor to match the settings you just saved in the device. Its a huge pain in the ass. And dont go looking for any help in the various dj and audio forums, nobodys going to share their template with you since they had to spend hours and hours after being lied to by Novation about its “automapping” abilities and they are all very bitter about it.

The device is loaded with “templates” but none of them are for anything thats actually useful to the average person. Unless you own 40 keyboards or a shit load of virtual keyboard software, your not going to get much use from this device from its default settings.

Another thing is that it kind of lags. When you side a fader up, sometimes the software doesnt react right away, it might delay a second or two before it moves on the screen. So say you move the volume up, it will move on the slider but the actual volume wont change for a few seconds after, very annoying. Im not sure if this is because the device sucks or I dont have a fast enough computer or enough ram.

The screen above the nobs and faders is nice. Its bright and displays some basic information about whats going on with the nob or fader that your using. Thats about the best part of the whole thing.

The documentation is also pretty bad. It doesnt really explain anything, you only get about 2 or 3 sentences about each feature and about how to program it and those two sentences arent very informative either.

Overall, I would give it a 3 out of 5. Its a nice toy, but until Novation steps up and makes the Automap work with ALL major software and not just a select few, its really not worth the money that you pay. I would buy this device again for $199 but I wouldnt pay $299 for it again, its not worth that much the way it is now.

UPDATE #1 (1/28/09):

The lag is caused by bad settings. Be careful when you set it up that you assign the right type of nob or button type to each nob or button or youll have funny problems. Once you get it all set up, it works pretty good. I also learned that the trigger pads on the bottom left side are pressure sensitive and that you can adjust the sensitivity in the onboard settings. Once I figured out how to adjust that, its made using them a lot easier.