Cdj With Serato (beginner)

I’ll leave the exact answers to the true Serato specialists among our readers.

Is there no option for you to play on your SB? It’s not a big controller and you could easily find place for it in a regular sized booth. Run two RCA into a spare channel on the mixer and off you go.

Tell them that they booked you to do the stuff they like on Facebook and then that you want your own gear in order to bring that performance.

You can always use the comparison that if you are a Formula 1 driver, you can only expect to win races in your own car (which you are familiar with and know inside out) and not when they stick you in someone else’s car, even if it is also a really nice and good car.

To me, but this is a personal opinion of course, today there is no reason to expect young, up and coming DJs to have the necessary experience on what is, in effect, old gear. No matter how much you put into a Nexus (2) and try to make it more like a controller, it is still a media player with no DJ software support (RekordBox is no more than a collection management tool which helps with waveforms and cue points for the CDJs) and if you want DJ software support your are effectively turning your CDJs into controllers, without things like 8 performance pads and good stuff like that that controllers have.

No longer do you need gear like “standard” Pioneer set-ups to perform great sets.

Again, hopefully they true Serato fans here will get you started with your actual question, but this is something to consider: don’t let others dictate what gear you “should” be using. You are the artist here and should have a fair chance of picking your own brushes. After all, it’s your musical pictures they like!

I know there are ways, I just haven’t used Serato (outside) as much as I have Cross, so can’t tell you in detail what to do in this particular case.

With Cross I just hook up both CDJs with a USB cable to my laptop (powered USB-hub) and use them as so-called HID devices. And I obviously have to use the on-board FX on the mixer as there is no integration on either CDJs or DJM for using your DJ software FX.

Agree that the simplest solution is to play off your controller as Vintage suggests. Plan B would be to play off the CDJ in HID mode using serato so you get the benefit of all your cue points and the software you know well. But and its a big but it entirely depends on the CDJs and Mixer they have in the club. Most importantly you will need the Serato Club Kit if you wan to plug your laptop straight in and that costs $$$ and you need to check if the mixer is covered in the club kit. So to avoid problems I would get them to let you use your controller

HID is a feature, not something to be found. CDJs can be used as HID (Human Interface Device) with Serato when you buy the Club Kit as TJSJ said. I would not suggest Traktor. Get free RekordBox, load your tracks, set your cue points and export to usb sticks (take three!). There is no real advantage to going HID at this point. It will give you better collection management/search functionality, but it involves bringing a laptop and a stand.

If you are not bringing your controller and you don’t currently already own the Club Kit, I’d just go for RekordBox USB-sticks and be done with it. Spend time figuring out how the FX work on the DJM mixer they have. After that, it is all pretty straightforward and no reason to worry.

I understand you not wanting to bring your SB into a pack of “pro” colleagues at this point in your career. Somewhere in the future you will be so comfortable and confident that you can rock the place with whatever gear you have that you won’t worry about the “haters”, but just focus on giving the audience the best performance you can. Rocking the house is the best way to shut everyone up.