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Why use Serato with CDJ's

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  • July 28, 2015 at 9:20 am #2230071
    Terry_42
    Keymaster

    1.
    Because they are paid to do so and get a lot of money from Pioneer to show off obsolete technology.

    2.
    The suggestion is always to learn the ropes on a controller “all-in one” gear, as it makes your life A LOT easier.
    However when you reach a certain level you sometimes want to do some stuff. There are the AKAI AMX and AFX controllers that actually can do a lot, but I would not encourage a beginner to use them.

    July 28, 2015 at 3:59 pm #2230371
    Neshh
    Participant

    Thanks Terry for the reply.
    However, I’m surprised they use CDJ’s just for showoff.
    But can you actually tell me do they actually connect and play thru serato ?

    July 28, 2015 at 4:08 pm #2230411
    DJ Vintage
    Moderator

    Yep, they usually do.

    USB cable from the CDJ to a USB hub to the laptop and some settings changed and off you go.

    However … and this is the big one … you can only use the features that are already on the CDJs (or you have to go mouse click or use keyboard shortcuts). So they will use the mixer FX, not Serato’s, they won’t have access to remix decks Flip or sample decks (unless they also hook up an extra controller for that like the Neon).

    So, effectively your Serato becomes a rather overpowered track management system.

    July 29, 2015 at 2:03 am #2230631
    Todd Oddity
    Participant

    lol – tell us what you think of CDJs Terry! 😉

    July 29, 2015 at 9:08 am #2230781
    Terry_42
    Keymaster

    nah been there done that… I have used CDJs for years as there was nothing else, but I got over it and Pioneer did not pay me to continue using them 😛

    July 30, 2015 at 2:58 am #2231021
    Neshh
    Participant

    I was under the same impression that they must be using it for Track Management as there are also KEYS which allows to mix effectively.
    I’m not too sure weather they show up these keys in CDJ’s as well.

    July 31, 2015 at 3:12 am #2231671
    Lamid45G
    Participant

    Keep in mind you dont NEED KEYS at all to mix effectively,

    asked any old school DJ’s in here, Chuck ? Terry ?

    July 31, 2015 at 7:03 am #2231771
    DJ Vintage
    Moderator

    The key only shows up if you ran your tracks through RekordBox software. And then only on RB-compatible CDJs.

    Rizki is right, you can mix without knowing the key. Trusting your ears has been true since forever, as has been know your collection inside out.

    As with many things in the digital realm of DJ-ing, these are tools to make live easier, perhaps introduce you to some options you hadn’t thought of yourself and maybe prevent a train crash here and there. At the end of the day, you the DJ determines what works and what not.

    As Phil is fond of saying: They are tools, not rules.

    August 3, 2015 at 8:41 am #2232791
    Terry_42
    Keymaster

    Indeed you can feel your way around to check if the tracks are keyed up correctly.
    Last week I actually made a playlist for my car (had a 3 hour drive) and put songs in there listening to only about 10-20 seconds of each song then adding them to the playlist… It ended up to be keyed correctly by “mistake” hehe

    Moral of the story: You will develop an ear for it.

    August 3, 2015 at 2:23 pm #2232921
    Ronnie EmJay
    Participant

    The AKAI AMX is one of the cheapest ways to get Serato. You need a Serato approved device for Serato to work, even if you want to plug in CDJs via USB. I plug in CDJs via USB (for Traktor Scratch Pro) when available in the club. It acts like timecode without having to use timecode media. You can either use internal mixing (and effects etc from your software) or have the audio going out from the CDJs to the hardware mixer (eg. Pioneer DJM series).

    Also having jogwheels helps to beatmatch when taking over from a previous DJ or going B2B, but it’s not necessary. Last night I was using the nudge buttons on my Allen & Heath K2 to beatmatch the other DJ using the CDJs with USB drives, and works fine without jogwheels. CDJ readouts with BPMs make it so much easier to match BPMs with your software than when I started out with playing vinyl and had to tap out BPMs at home and label the records 🙂

    August 3, 2015 at 2:31 pm #2232931
    Ronnie EmJay
    Participant

    If you want to have keys listed on your CDJ simply and without needing key enabled on older CDJs, transfer a playlist to your USB stick and then use Tag&Rename (free software for PC only, if you have Mac use a Virtual Machine (eg. Parallels or CrossOver) and install Windows 7 or whichever you like with BootCamp) and prefix each song with the key eg. 10A-Hot Since 82 – Like You
    This will show up with the keys first on the CDJ screen (I’ve used the Camelot notation there).
    There’s a way to do this with KeyFinder, under preferences just prepend the title tag, but as I have these in Key tags for Traktor, I prefer not to do this.

    August 3, 2015 at 2:34 pm #2232941
    Ronnie EmJay
    Participant

    And yes, your laptop is a glorified library but with thousands of songs. I don’t really see why it’s needed in a festival (unless they are paid to do it) as you can easily put 1-2 hours on a USB stick and use link with CDJs. Much easier to go there with just a couple of USB sticks and headphones 😛

    Having said that, in my case, I have never pre-prepared a set (but most festivals are done like that!) and prefer to play 2-4 hours where I play whatever comes to mind, so it’s nice having an overkill of music with me.

    August 4, 2015 at 6:51 pm #2234341
    DJ Vintage
    Moderator

    Trust me that if you see a (festival) gig where the lights just seem to compliment the music perfectly, that the playlist was well known in advanced and has been executed to the second.

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