With so many functions available to you in Traktor, you may find, like me, that there are a bunch of functions you don’t even use. Much of the time it’s because the various functions just don’t fit into your workflow, but often, it’s simply because you don’t know  they exist. A quick google search for ‘Tempo Offset Buttons‘ doesn’t really turn up too many answers, so I thought it was time I explained what the Tempo Offset Buttons actually do.

Tempo Offset Buttons

The Tempo Offset buttons are situated on the Traktor Kontrol S4 above each of the two tempo sliders. Using my default template for the Kontrol S4 the buttons physically do nothing except for visual feedback and this maybe the same for you.

It appears however, that for some, these buttons have either acted as:

• Tempo bend buttons – Allowing you to temporarily speed up or slow down a deck, similar to a ‘nudge‘ to re-adjust in order to beat match.

OR

• Tempo Range Selector –  for changing the pitch adjustment percentage value from 6% to 100%.

These buttons do however have much more functional uses and relate more to the feedback of the lights themselves.

Soft Takeover

You may have come across this term before within Traktor software, but are unsure of it’s meaning. Some physical controls have multiple functions, such as the tempo slider on the Kontrol S4. The Tempo slider controls Deck A ,when in Deck A mode, but the very same tempo slider also controls Deck C, when in Deck C mode.

Because the Kontrol S4 controls are not motorised, when you switch modes,  the physical location of the hardware control, may not accurately represent the location of the software control. This is also true when switching effects.
Moving a slider that is not set to take over the control softly, means that the software setting will jump to wherever your hardware control is when you next touch or move it. This causes a sudden change of setting which can be a bad idea in live production.
This becomes more evident in regards to the tempo of a track. Moving from one deck to another may cause the tempo sliders to be in completely different places on the hardware to that of the software. This is where your tempo offset buttons come in.

Two functions for Tempo Offset Buttons

It is much easier to explain in a video how the tempo offset buttons can be used in a real life situation. I have certainly come across the need to use this function whilst DJ’ing out at various events.