Using U46 series with Traktor DJ for iPad

When using with the camera connection adapter from Apple, U46 XL, U46 SE or U46DJ can be used as an audio interface providing 6 output channels (3 times stereo) on the iPad, which is a great feature for users of the Traktor DJ for iPad app. To make this work, the following needs to be checked first:

• you need at least an iPad 2 or an iPad mini (or any later generation of the iPad)
• your iPad needs to use at least iOS version 6
• you need to use the Apple Camera Connection adapter (we only recommend to use the original adapter from Apple)
• you need to use a USB hub with an external power supply
• you need to have Traktor DJ for iPad from Native Instruments which you can get via Apple's App Store

The powered USB hub is required in most setups due to the limitation of the power the iPad provides to USB devices. By connecting a USB hub in between the camera connection adapter and the U46 hardware, the power supply for your U46 hardware is handled via the USB hub and it's power supply. A hub without power supply will not work.

Once this is connected, you can launch the Traktor DJ for iPad app and then go into the settings menu. Have a look at this picture and follow the steps:

1. open the menu section of Traktor DJ for iPad
2. go into the settings menu
3. go to the Audio Setup menu
4. enable External Mixer Mode (more info below)
5. assign the output channels to Deck A Output and Deck B Output (more info below)

To use the U46 hardware in a DJ setup like this, it is strongly recommended to use an external DJ mixer and to enable the External Mixer Mode (as shown on the screen above). Now you can use a DJ mixer with its own channel faders and cross fader connected to the interface. Assign Output 1/2 to Deck A Output and Output 3/4 to Deck B Output. Obviously you need to connect the physical RCA outputs of your U46 device accordingly to your DJ mixer then. This picture shows you how to connect the cables:

The U46 interfaces have built-in headphone amplifiers, however you cannot use that for monitoring in a DJ application as they send out always the mixed signal of all channels (1-6). Because of that your monitoring headphone should be connected to your DJ mixer in this setup.

If you are looking for a product with a separate headphone output for DJ applications you might want to check our UDJ6, GIGAPORT HD+ or MAYA44 USB+.