Playing Out With Serato Scratch Live

thedjnifty

thedjnifty

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Jan 14, 2009
Anybody regularly play out with Serato?

I've seen plenty of big names play out in clubs with it, Shy FX, Marky, Roni Size to name a few ...

But I just wanted to know if anybody's ever had any issues with setting up, i.e. things just not workin as they should for some reason?!, promoters not happy with you asking to use it etc.? ...

I've had it for about a year now but never played out with it, just thought I'd try and get a heads up for any problems to watch out for in the future!

Safe!
 
was using it the other day actually as my mate had it and we were b2b.. anyways all of a sudden (not responding) popped up!! couldn't believe it!! luckily at the time we were playing a record and loading a tune on there so wasn't a problem..

As for promoters not liking it.. many a time the system has fucked up after djs using some kinda laptop software!! when i had Fresh down at my night he was using final scratch and once he'd come off the decks and unplugged everything.. after about 20 mins the left deck channel fader stopped working.. wouldn't fade down so had 2 turn bass and mid right down and drop it with just the high over the whole system!! was a right nightmare!! similar thing happened with Danny Bird as well!!

so as for highlighting problems theres a couple 2 worry about lol but generally its fine when ur using it its just not always the case for the next DJ for some reason!
 
yeah that the probs init with software!!! was playing at dj comp the other week and the one of the djs couldnt get it to work,, he didnt bring any vinly so he had to miss his set,, gutted.
 
lol i recon im just gonna flog my serato on ebay as i hardly ever use it and could do with money towards a car..
is 250 a sensible price?
 
I had such high hopes for Traktor Scratch after my mate lent me his lap top and all the wires and box I needed and I tried it out at home and it was fine, took it to the club I was playing at and I let me down after the first tune, I just could not get it to recognise the timecoded vinyl, i had back up records just in case this happened so it wasn't to bad, I thought that it must be a 1 off so I took it out with me the next time I was playing out and same thing happened again. I would not give it a 3rd chance, people might have different opinions on this but I just don't think it is stable enough.

Vinyl or CDs, the only way forward IMO.
 
If you know how to set it up and take it out properly, then it is not an issue. First time I did while I was out I was terified i was going to fuck something up...but I didn't. Just never do anything to the table that is playing the vinyl. It only takes two seconds to pull out the turntable cords from the magic box and serto cord from the mixer and plug the turntable cord back into the mixer. Then once the mix is over, do it again for the other table.

One thing I have seen happen is if you fuck up the colour of the wires while hooking up Serato, it play backwards on your computer. It is essential that you hook the appropriate colours into the corresponding slots to avoid any technical issues.

Hope that helps.
 
Kool guys cheers for the feedback, I think it's just a case of making sure you set up things properly, and that you keep the laptop your running serato on nice and virus free and always running smoothly
 
A lot of it is to do with the clubs set up.
I have played out with traktor scratch and it didn't work because the sound engineers didn't have a fucking clue what they were doing and had the mixer hooked up all wrong. That was the least of our worries though as they had only bothered getting us one CDj. I was like cheers for that we can become famous as the 1 deck dj's.
 
Have seen it used tons and never went an entire night without some sort of issue(s).

Saw two haedliners who shall remain nameless at the same party and they both had to cut the music multiple times for set up and probs during their sets. Technology is great just make sure you know how to set it up and use it.
 
I used it when I dj'd weekly at revolution. never had a problem with it. just keep calm when you're setting it up.

if you can, get down to the event early and set it up with a power supply so you don't look like a gimp 5 minutes before you go on.
 
Fortune^ said:
I used it when I dj'd weekly at revolution. never had a problem with it. just keep calm when you're setting it up.

if you can, get down to the event early and set it up with a power supply so you don't look like a gimp 5 minutes before you go on.
Click to expand...

I like this idea

I always like to turn up early at events anyway just to make sure certain tunes I plan on dropping in my set havent already been rinsed by every dj before me lol
 
in the states more clubs are getting the rane mixer with serato built in to it (no box neccessary, so maybe thats the way forward if Alen & Heath wasnt the flav of the month

serato ftw
 
I've been using serato a lot recently, admittedly i'm not using it to play out, but i've never had any major issues with it.
It's a solid and reliable program. I'm finding that the more familiar I am with it, the more I like using it. I think a lot is to do with organising my tunes properly using crates (makes life so much easier!!). Also functions like the sample players, que points and auto gain are great !!!
 
was watching GetDarker Live earlier, a live DJ/Mc webcame dubstep broadcast, and the DJ was using Serato live, it look pretty good to me actually, didnt look like he had any problems. I suppose some DJ's are not tech-savy enough to get it to work or to use it!
 
Seen it used plenty of times without problems but quite a few where it hasn't worked and sets have really been fucked up.

Also not good when the DJ before you has used it and pulled all the fucking wires out the mixer and not plugged any back in so you've got nothing connected when you start.
 
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