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What hardware to buy for Serato?

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  • January 29, 2016 at 6:04 am #2348131
    Clifford Anderson
    Participant

    How do you buy Serato? I thought it was only available with licensed hardware. Do you maybe mean the upgrade from Intro was on sale and you bought that?

    January 29, 2016 at 6:18 am #2348151
    Adam Connor
    Participant

    ah sorry for not being clear- Serato had a 50% off sale just before Christmas and I bought a software bundle

    https://store.serato.com/us/software/dj-vj/kits/serato-dj-suite

    January 29, 2016 at 9:19 am #2348191
    DJ Vintage
    Moderator

    That is a fantastically underwhelming set of desired features / stated workflow 😀

    Should work with Serato (pretty much anything not NI these days) and -preferably- offer DVS functionality.

    Clearly I will point you in the direction of one of the -very many- posts on here with our general approach to buying a new controller/gear. Beyond that, it’s hard to advise you on something as we just know too little from the information you provided.

    So if you care to elaborate some more, we can hopefully be of more assistance.

    On a general note, and referring back to the general approach I mentioned, you “should” (free choice, but best practice) pick your software based on your (desired) workflow. And it pays to stick with one software. Why? Because to have your collection in a good place, takes a lot of prep work. And as a whole that kind of prep work does not transfer easily from software to software. There are some tools, but they work with various degrees of succes. Also those tools make sense moving one-time from software A to software B. To keep a collection synced in two softwares is a bit of a task and will effectively cost you twice the time and effort.

    This is relevant, because if you decide to ditch the plan for the Z1 and getting something Serator oriented, using Traktor becomes less of an option. Unless of course you go and say “I am definitely just gonna do DVS”, in which case a certified sound card or a controller with DVS capability would be your ticket.

    Not sure if you have turntables already and if you are aware of the price of using DVS (not buying the gear but monthly upkeep). If you are at all serious about regular practice/playing, this can easily run up to 100 bucks a month, making it an expensive hobby (factoring in the cost for music purchase too).

    January 29, 2016 at 10:15 am #2348211
    Adam Connor
    Participant

    cheers, that actually was very helpful despite the ‘omigod not this question again’. Yes, I apologise for bringing up something that’s been covered millions of times before- if that’s the case I’m happy for a simple link, and you can groan if you like.

    I wanted to be able to play with both. I feel more comfortable with Traktor, and for the time being if I play out that will be my choice.

    You’ve stated that pretty much any hardware that I buy will be one or the other. This means I will be buying the Z1 for professional reasons. Pity, I’d like to learn Serato.

    I suppose if there was a cheap decent Serato equivalent of the Z1 I’d buy that too, despite being a bit miffed at buying 2 basically equivalent bits of HW to satisfy the SW.

    What I’d really like is for the DJM900NXS2 and XDJ-1000 to support both, because that’s probably what I will get eventually. If that ain’t happening, I guess I just spent $150 on SW I won’t use. Sad face.

    As to the cost of keeping up a music habit- well, back in my day sonny we used to spend up to $300 per week on rekkids. But we also had acid wash jeans and I’m glad they are gone.

    But thanks for pointing me in the right direction. Now it’s past my bedtime and I’ve got to yell at some kids to get off my lawn.

    Cheers

    January 29, 2016 at 10:38 am #2348221
    Clifford Anderson
    Participant

    For what it’s worth, at this point in time, you can still use non-Native Instruments hardware with Traktor. I own a Reloop Terminal Mix 8, which comes with Serato, but I also use it with Traktor (as well as my own DJ software), and I’m quite happy with it.

    That said, Native Instruments in more interested in selling you hardware to go with their software, so expect support from NI for non-NI gear to continue to flag as time goes on.

    January 29, 2016 at 1:55 pm #2348271
    Clayton Mack
    Participant

    If you already have turntables and a mixer get a denon ds-1 or a Serato SL-2. Or an AKAI Pro MX if you don’t have a mixer. If you prefer controllers, then a Pioneer DDJ-SX2 will work on its own or with the DVS upgrade.

    January 30, 2016 at 11:58 pm #2348811
    Adam Connor
    Participant

    ah, thank you. The Reloop looks nice but I’m kind of looking for something cheap so I can get used to the Serato interface and decide which software to use in future.

    The Akai AMX look like the Serato equivalent of the Traktor Z1, so that could be a consideration. Looks like it comes with Serato so maybe I shouldn’t have bought the software already!

    The Rane SL interfaces appear to be similar to the NI Audio-x series. I already have an Audio 8 so I could use something similar with my old mixer. Wow, they are pretty expensive!

    Bottom line- I think I will get the Z1 so I can get started, then either buy something like the Akai or if funds permit I’ll ditch that and build the ultimate system that I wanted all along- the DJM-900NXS and a couple of XDJ-1000s. That setup appears to be compatible with both.

    Thanks for your help- that really does explain it well for me.

    January 31, 2016 at 1:09 am #2348821
    DJ Vintage
    Moderator

    I don’t think the Audio 8 will work with Serato.

    January 31, 2016 at 1:28 am #2348831
    Adam Connor
    Participant

    I wasn’t intending to use it that way but cheers for the suggestion- it would have been nice!

    And to answer the question- a quick search shows that it does not work.

    January 31, 2016 at 1:07 pm #2348871
    DJ Vintage
    Moderator

    I was just creating “deniability” (I never said it DID not work, just that I THOUGHT it did not work) LOL.

    Never know, someone might have just gotten it to work through some back door hack.

    January 31, 2016 at 8:00 pm #2348901
    Clifford Anderson
    Participant

    Especially with the gang that hangs around here.

    February 1, 2016 at 12:35 am #2348991
    Adam Connor
    Participant

    true, 2 possible routes would be

    1. install the NI driver and hope that NI has published the method of accessing each function of the Audio 8 (unlikely)
    2. treat it like a generic USB audio device and just get basic functions

    Unfortunately I don’t know enough about either of these approaches to predict likelihood of success.

    But I think you guys are saying that Serato ONLY works with certain audio devices so that’s where the effort would stop- there’s no way that Serato would ‘recognise’ the device and no way they’d allow someone into their secret handshake.

    The Denon Dj DS1 looks like it is pretty cheap and can do the job, but I think at that point I’b be keen to put the money towards the Pioneer mixer which has native support for both systems

    https://serato.com/hardware/denon-dj-ds1

    thanks again gents.

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