Serato...

[martin]

Am at the point of buying me digi set up, been saving for a while and we all know how tight cash is nowadays so i really want to make sure i get the right deal, i was looking to buy a second hand Serato set up, my budget is up to £350, i started searching today contacting a few shops to see if they had any ex display models, i was told this by 1 shop "up until about three years ago Serato was considered the most stable of the Digital Vinyl system but these days Trkator and Serato are both neck in neck in terms of features, stability etc", the fella told me i could get a brand new system for bout £300/350.................. Can anybody tell me what the best set up is ?????? ave got my Technics and a new lap top so am just wanting a digi set up that is compliment the quality of the Technics, i thought the Serato was the best option but any advice would be most welcome...............

 

[Lozzie]

Aw I can't believe no one has replied to you yet! I'm really interested in this also, as I shall be spending my summer off uni working my li'l butt off to buy some sort of set up. Not sure if I'm gonna buy CDJs (which are already becoming out dated tbh) or 1200s and something on my comp...

I just have this notion, that the more parts something has, the more likely it is to break...so, I'd have my mac, serato (etc) and my decks...that's a lot of bits isn't it? Just seems like faffing to me...but I could be wrong? Can anyone help us out on the deets?


xxx

 

[Jiglo]

The only time i've seen a direct comparison between the 2 was when QBert tested them out side by side. He said he doesn't use either one of them, but if he did he'd be happy to use either

I'd look at the specs and interface then and see if there's one that catches your eye, otherwise maybe go with the cheapest, or industry standard if there is one

I'm no expert though.

 

[martin]

Think it maybe a touchy subject Lozzie, more and more things are turning digi, i love vinyl as much as anybody on here so thats why am going down the vinyl/digital route, dont know jack shit about it and was checking out the Serato set ups and it seemed like there was loads of different options, think it maybe a trip into the shop and see what the guys are saying but i would appreciate some OSA opinions, £350 is a lot of money to spend so i want to make the right choice, Cheers Jiglo

 

[siman91]

Hi Martin & Lozzie...

..I also wanted to see any opinions on this subject. My only suggestion would be to go to an equipment shop and give each a spin. I have a Vestix VCI300 with Serato Itch and its a great bit of kit but not for me as there is a very slight delay in sound (despite using a powerful Win 7 x64 laptop) so I keep going back to vinyl.

S

 

[Shooms]

I've got traktor scratch pro & I'm not a heavy user I do like the ability to play timecoded AND normal vinyl & use Traktors FX for both.

The timecoded / digi only interface works for me, quite simple, the drag & drop library is OK too... the only concern I have is the latency and/or the drop outs... & sometimes for some reason the files play backwards

It could be my lappy (Vista / 3gb RAM / Sony Vaio VGN FW21L)

 

[U31]

Dual boot with XP exclusively for Traktor/ VDJ has cured my woes Shoomington...

 

[BlackburnRaver]

I've used Traktor Scratch, not extensively but I've had a good do with it. It seems good to me, didn't notice any issues with lag to be honest. As Shooms says, its dead easy to use, just drag and drop... It even tells you the BPM, quite accurately IIRC. I'd recommend it if you are in the market for that kind of thing

 

[Shooms]

Dual boot with XP exclusively for Traktor/ VDJ has cured my woes Shoomington...

How much size did you give the partition Dave ? And does that mean I'd have to play & have tunes & the browser in XP (ie for shouty chat n that) ?

I'm a simpleton

 

[U31]

Reet, top of me head, the main hd on this lappy is 320gb, the bulk choona is on an external drive.

Drive C -Windows 7 (Vista in your case) is the main browsing / photos/ downloading and casual winamp listening OS, i allowed 120gb for this. Its plenty enough space and any music thats ripped gets located straight to drive D.
There is Traktor and VDJ on this OS for tweaking ideas when they come to me, it saves a reboot

Drive D gets the rest for XP

It is only used for Traktor and VDJ, with all the correct drivers for the Omni control. It could in theory browse the net but ive even disabled this.
Less resources used on anything other then the DJ software.

The main everyday choons are kept on this drive, directly on D in a folder called my music ( your choice call it what you want) and not in any windows sub folder, this makes it easier for Traktor and VDJ to file. Its right at the top of the tree.

I then went back in to windows 7, selected library and my music, then added Drive D My Music. this then shortcuts your music library to your main operating system without duplicating the files.

If you need a talk through on how to dual boot, gimme a shout, its long winded but idiot proof

 

[Biskit]

Rane Serato Scratch Live SL3 + M447 Shure Cartridge & Stylus + Decent Lappy = Tip Top

 

[U31]

Oh yeah click on windows start icon, right click My computer, click Manage, select Storage then Disk management and then right click on your hardrive icon, you will see shrink volume, there will be some figures on there that will automatically select a good size that it can still operate with, or you can select your own values

 

[martin]

Cheers guys, some good points and am fancying the Traktor Scratch Duo 2 package, sound simple to use and that's exactly what am after, have to say all that computer talk has me lost which is a bit worrying but am sure i'll get it, cheers again guys....

 

[Silky]

Rane Serato Scratch Live SL3 + M447 Shure Cartridge & Stylus + Decent Lappy = Tip Top

This ^^

Although I have Serato SL1, Technics 1200's, Silver Ortofons & a Vestax PCV 275,

All my tunes are on an External HD, using a Acer M464 Quad Core PC to use it all with and had no probs what so ever.

I did come across one thing tho, Don't use an External USB Hub to plug your Serato box in as it messes with the Timecodes, Plug it straight into your PC and if you have a lot of other things USB like plug them into the Hub instead.

Serato is the Mutz Nutz!

 

[U31]

At the begining of last year i was totally clueless too Martin..
DJ software can run quite happily in Vista or 7, my monster desktop is on 7 and is the main thing i mix on at home for hours on end with no latency or drop out issues, even with utorrent soulseek Mp3Gain and google chrome running in the background.

The laptop would dj happily for hours on end in windows7 with all except vital programmes and processes turned off, until i plugged the midi controller in, then after an hour id get drop outs. Other laptops ran quite happily with the midi.
Rather then buy a second laptop i just made a dual boot, as ALL music software tends to run better in XP

if you want an evaluation copy of the latest Traktor Scratch Pro 2 drop me a pm

 

[U31]

Oh yeah, what Silky said is also true, ALL your usb DJ equipment MUST go in to a usb built in to the machine, no hubs
And experiment with witch usb port you get the best results with, all usb ports are not created equal... the Midi and external drive have to go in to the right hand usb ports on this compaq laptop or they dont play nicely together at all