XONE:K3 Traktor LED feedback issue

Xone DJ
1

Hi everyone,

This is my first post on the forum. After ten years of using the Xone:K2, I switched to the new Xone:K3 yesterday. According to the information provided with the Factory Map, the K2 mapping should work exactly the same on the K3. Unfortunately, in practice, this is not the case — I’m running into issues with the LED feedback.

I’d like to solve them one by one, starting with the simplest one. I’m using the K3 with Traktor Pro 4, and I’ve never had any LED issues with the K2 — everything worked perfectly.

Here’s the specific problem: I have the Layer button mapped to Play/Pause. On the K2 (and in Traktor), it worked exactly as expected — when a track was playing, the button lit up red, and when the deck was stopped, it was green.

On the K3, this no longer works. The button stays red all the time. Occasionally, after powering on the K3, it lights up green for a moment, but then it turns red again and stays that way. I’ve tried all possible settings (Trigger, Toggle, Remote, Linked, etc.), but nothing helps.

This is just one of several LED-related problems I’ve encountered so far — there are quite a few more — but I don’t want to rush through all of them at once. I’d first like to find a proper solution or explanation for this particular issue before moving on to the others.

Could someone from Allen & Heath please explain how to correctly configure this on the K3? It’s really frustrating that something that worked flawlessly for years on the K2 now behaves unpredictably. I’d really appreciate some clear guidance before I lose my patience and send these controllers back to the store.

Thanks in advance for any help!

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Also, I’ve noticed that the LEDs behave very strangely in most of my mappings. For example, when using the Beat Phase output in Traktor, even though both tracks are perfectly synced, the LEDs don’t blink in time. They are slightly off from each other, and sometimes one of them freezes for a moment or stops blinking completely. It feels like the LED feedback is inconsistent or lagging — it doesn’t follow the beat regularly as it should.

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Many of us are in the same boat as you; the forum is filling up with users experiencing this issue, and so far, we haven’t received any answers. I hope the A&H team realizes the seriousness of this problem with Traktor and guides us on how to fix it, or at least updates the firmware. Otherwise, the K3 is useless to Traktor users.

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Great job, A&H… :man_facepalming:t3:

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Hi @lukas1
I’ve just picked up your helpdesk ticket amnd replying to you now with some troubelshooting suggestions that will help identify if your issue relates to anything in your .tsi mapping, or that might be affected by any custom changes you might have made to control elements in the in-Xone:K3’s in-memory map using the Edito. Or if indeed there might be any inherent issue with the Xone:K3 itself which warrants further investigation…:thinking:
Appreciate it can be frustrating, but let’s not jump to conclusions :slight_smile:
Let me know how the troubleshooting goes in reply on your ticket, so we can update the community once we’ve got the crux of matters :nerd_face:
thnx, Al

6

Hi Al,

Yes, I’ve seen your email already. I’ll reply to it later this evening when I’m back home.

However, as you can see on the forum — both in my thread and in similar ones — many people are experiencing exactly the same issue.

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I can provide some information: The LED problem occurs on both Windows and Mac. It is a problem that Traktor Pro users are experiencing when we map two colours to the same button, and it lights up according to the function, for example (Play=Green, Red=Pause). The K3 does not respond as expected to the ‘Send monitor State’ command, which is the function responsible for managing the LEDs in this case. The same mapping works fine on K2, but not on K3. I have tried to configure the Xone software in every possible way and the problem remains unresolved. Regards.

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I have opened a ticket in the support for this question, but I will share my comment here for other people to read. :hugs:

Here is my small observation on how Traktor LED lights not working as it should on K3. This is only my assumptions after some debugging with the midi monitoring via Cantabile application. :smiling_face_with_sunglasses:

Traktor Pro every time sends two MIDI commands to change the colors of LED lights. It disables the active LED which is ON at the moment and afterwards enables the new LED which was OFF. At first goes “MIDI NOTE OFF” for the previous LED color and then “MIDI NOTE ON” for the new LED color. BTW, Traktor knows which LEDs are in ON state and which are in OFF state because it will not send MIDI command to disable already disabled LED lights. But sometimes Traktor sends this MIDI ON/MIDI OFF in a wrong order. At first it enables the new note and then disables the old one. In this case - it just disables the LED on the same button which was enabled with the previous MIDI NOTE ON command. That’s where the flicker comes from on the same button sometimes.

The “wrong” order of the “MIDI NOTE ON/MIDI NOTE OFF” combination works fine if you need to enable LED lights on the different buttons. Because there is no difference at what order You will enable and disable them. But when the changes are made on the same LED button this is where the color change wonkyness comes into play.

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I’ve just sent another detailed message to A&H support, but I’m posting the information here as well.

I recorded a video directly comparing the behavior of the Xone:K2 and Xone:K3 side by side, using the exact same mapping. You can watch it under this link:

Part 1
Play/Stop behavior:
On the K2, the LED correctly switches between green (stopped) and red (playing).
On the K3, the LED either stays permanently green or permanently red, depending on how the controller was restarted — it does not change based on the actual Play/Stop state.

Beat Phase LEDs:
On the K2, the LEDs blink in sync with the beat.
On the K3, one of the LEDs regularly “freezes” and stays lit instead of blinking, even when both decks are synced.

Part 2
FX buttons (A, B, E, F) (C, D, G, H):
On the K2, selecting an FX button turns the previous one off, so only one orange LED is lit at a time.
On the K3, several LEDs stay lit simultaneously and do not turn off correctly.

The mapping is identical on both devices, yet the K2 behaves perfectly while the K3 shows all of these issues.

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Unfortunately I don’t think that this will be sorted until they release an updated firmware. Seems that more and more users report the same issue. Myself, I was very excited to upgrade from the K1 I used for almost 10 years to the K3, but right now I can’t use the K3 and it sits in the box ever since I bought it. Too bad that this happens to an otherwise improved product. It would be for the best if A&H would treat these reported cases as a whole and admit that it’s a general issue instead of requesting TSI mappings from everyone and pretending like it’s an isolated case, even though the forum is filling up with threads on the same issue regarding the K3. Maybe sort out the issue soon A&H? We would really like to use the K3s without these issues. Right now for Traktor users these controllers are unusable.

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I really identify with your messages. I was eagerly awaiting the update for my two K2s, and so far the disappointment has been absolute. Even more so because A&H still doesn’t seem to have realized or admit that this is a widespread error that they need to fix. I hope they react soon and stop giving generic, standard responses. My K3 is also unused.

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From the very beginning, this whole situation looked clearly like a software-side problem, not a user mistake or some mapping issue. And seeing how many people here are reporting the exact same behaviour, it’s obvious this is not an isolated case.

What’s frustrating is that the first assumption always seems to be that the problem must come from the user’s setup. But the reality is simple: these same mappings worked flawlessly on the K2 for years, and they immediately fall apart on the K3. That alone already shows where the real issue is.

It’s honestly surprising that such an experienced company could release a controller that clearly isn’t ready for Traktor users. I’m not trying to attack anyone, but speaking plainly: the K3 firmware does not handle LED feedback correctly, and the sooner A&H acknowledges this openly, the sooner it can be fixed. Ignoring it won’t make the problem disappear — too many users are experiencing the same thing.

Right now, the K3 units are simply unusable in a real Traktor setup. I was genuinely excited to use them at my gig this Saturday, but that’s not going to happen — the LED behavior is far too inconsistent and unreliable to trust in a live situation.

I still have about a week and a half to return my units, and if nothing changes by then, I’ll have no choice. I would prefer to keep them — I actually like the hardware a lot — but only if they work correctly.

I really hope A&H treats this seriously and pushes a firmware update soon. The K3 has a lot of potential, but right now it simply doesn’t perform anywhere near the level of the K2.

Hopefully this post helps bring more attention to the issue.

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again, reach out to support so we can fully investigate the issues you’re experiencing and help find the solutions for you :nerd_face:

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please reach out to support where we can fully evaluate your issues. thnx

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I’m eagerly waiting for your reply to the message I sent last night — hopefully I’ll hear from you soon.

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I understand how frustrating it can be when things don’t work as expected, and assure you that you’re not being ignored — we take every customer’s experience seriously and we’re here to help.

Our hardware is tested across a wide range of popular DJ and music apps to make sure it performs as expected before release, and many DJs — including professionals — are using it successfully in their setups.
That said, every software host offers different ways to configure and assign controls, and each user’s setup can vary. We don’t assume problems are due to ‘user error’ — we simply need full context to investigate properly.
It’s not possible for us to explore every individual mapping or third-party configuration, so detailed feedback is important in enabling us to effectively evaluate specifics of particular setups.

We have established systems in place for technical support outside of user forums.
If you’ve already reached out to support but have not received a response, please post your helpdesk ticket number here so we can follow up directly.
If you have received a reply, we may have asked for additional details. Sending information to support about your setup together with a copy or extract of third-party mapping files, allows us to get the full picture and move things forward much faster to find solutions you need.
Please bear with us as we do, your patience is appreciated.
Our goal is always to make sure you get the best possible experience with our products.

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Here’s my ticket ID: 909949

My TSI Traktor mapping has already been sent your way however in order to assist you in investigating and fixing this issue as soon as possible I can provide any other information that you might request from me.

I want just as everyone else to have this fixed as soon as possible in order to use my new K3, otherwise it’s just a 200 euro metal brick.

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Thank you for the ticket ID. I will follow up with you there asap
please see my last reply to lukas1
same applies
no one is pretending, or assuming issues are isolated
Thank you for your feedback We are trying to help and you will help us look into issues in the same way.

I will report back to this thread again after information is confirmed through established channels for technical support, and answers you’re looking for are available :nerd_face:
your patience is appreciated

thnx, Al

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I’m jumping in here — I’m experiencing the exact same issue as the previous users.

The LED feedback on my Xone:K3 with Traktor behaves exactly as described above.

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please contact A&H support
if you already have, please reply here noting your helpdesk ticket ID

thnx, Al

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