Expect A New An Improved Scratch Live by 2015. The Official Word From Serato’s CEO

The news today of Serato DJ having DVS finally integrated into it has big repercussions for users of the company’s software, most of all of course for Serato Scratch Live users, who will obviously now be wanting to know where this shift of emphasis leaves them.
No doubt pre-guessing the number of concerned existing Serato Scratch Live users who are going to want quick answers, Serato’s CEO Sam Gribben has recorded a video message explaining today’s news, which you can see here.

The bottom line is that no users will be left in the cold, nearly all hardware will still be supported, and the public beta will iron out any issues as the company migrates everyone across – but of course, you’ll still be best advised to get used to the new platform eventually, as from 2015 onwards it’ll be receiving reduced support and no upgrades.


Credit : Dj Digital Tips

DJ Tech : Serato DJ Screenshots

Serato has just released screenshots of their never-before-seen Serato DJ software, due to launch on November 1st to replace the aging Serato ITCH application. The screenshots show almost every aspect and view of the software’s new loop, including the new loop and cue point arrangement, the deck layouts, the new FX grid, and more. Check inside for all the pictures and Serato’s official press release!


Serato has completely redesigned the entire visual aspects of the visual interface when launching the new Serato DJ software – including the additional cue points, expanded loop sections and new track information-laden deck layouts, as seen above. They’ve also added the brand new Izotope effects, which we’re getting an exclusive first look at here in the below screenshot:

The effects units have deck assignment, and spread across the entire screen – with rotary controls and dropdowns that change specific to each individual effect – and while these screenshots only show off reverb and distortion, we’re already impressed at the amount of control it seems like each effect will have – definitely a big improvement over ITCH, as is most of the interface in our opinion!

The SP-6 sample player is largely the same, but is now switchable between the full controls and a simple mode with a large play button, gain control, loop/sync controls.

OUR FIRST THOUGHTS

While we’re still waiting to see what the new MIDI mapping interface is like, so far this new interface seems to be significantly more complex than any other Serato software we’ve seen so far – a point that will perhaps be a detractor for more traditional Serato users who love the simplicity of the layouts, but one that will make a Traktor, Virtual DJ, or Torq user feel more like there is quick access to a comparable feature set.
We’re really interested to hear from Serato ITCH users as to their feedback on the direction that the new design of DJ offers – and interested to hear thoughts on the speculation by some of our peers that Serato is on the roadmap to combine all of their software (including Scratch Live) into one master program.
Serato DJ is set to launch on November 1st in conjunction with their first Serato DJ Certified controller, the Pioneer DDJ-SX. It will be a free upgrade for current ITCH users with a supported controller, or a $199 one-time upgrade for users with a Serato DJ Intro controller.  

Credit : DJ Tech Tools

DJ Tech : Check Out The All New Serato DJ

Serato’s rolling out a brand new piece of DJ software today – Serato DJ. Fresh on the heels of updates to ITCH and SSL last week, the introduction of Serato DJ is designed to fill a professional controllerist DJ gap in the Serato software lineup. With a feature set that includes real MIDI mapping utilities, iZotope-developed effects, additional cue points, and a brand new Pioneer DDJ-SX controller for the software, is Serato DJ ready to win the hearts of digital DJs?

SERATO DJ FEATURES

The new software is built on top of a familiar set of features that users have experienced in ITCH and to a lesser extent in DJ Intro – including recording, syncing, SP-6 sampler, colored waveforms, but Serato is wrapping in a number of new features to Serato DJ that might make it a better fit for a professional controllerist. Many of the below features have been requested by Serato users for quite some time, but it will be great to finally see them in DJ:

• Great New FX Powered by iZotope: Load your choice of high quality FX including: Delay, Echo, Ping Pong Delay, Reverb, Phaser, Flanger, Distortion, High Pass Filter (HPF), Low Pass Filter (LPF), Combo HP/LP Filter.
• MIDI Mapping: Take full advantage of Serato DJ’s features. MIDI mapping opens up the software to be mapped with a secondary MIDI controller.
• More Cue Points: Set and trigger up to 8 cue points in Serato DJ to quickly jump to different sections in your track.
• Brand New User Interface: A greatly improved software layout that looks amazing and is simple to use. The new interface also offers two and four deck view modes for four deck controllers.
• Four Deck Mixing: Mix with four decks on supported four deck controllers.

The press release from Serato also notes that there will be additional features released “throughout the winter”. So far, there are no videos or screenshots of the software in use – but keep your eyes peeled as we’re entering BPM week!

PIONEER DDJ-SX

The DDJ-SX is yet another Pioneer/Serato collaboration – a four deck controller designed to be the ultimate controller for Serato’s new software. The major features of the SX include a completely standalone hardware mixer, slip mode, velocity-sensitive performance pads for samples, channel fader starts, dedicated filters, and touch platters that can be switched into a dual deck mode that allows for control of two decks concurrently.

No word yet on cost – but the unit is set to launch November 1st concurrent with the initial launch of Serato DJ.

HARDWARE COMPATIBILITY AND COST

Continuing Serato’s well-known hardware-paired business model, the new software will roll out in stages for specific controllers:

Serato DJ can be downloaded directly from serato.com and will be available in a series of release dates specific to individual controllers this coming winter.
Serato DJ is a free upgrade for current ITCH customers and is fully compatible with their supported existing controller (Numark NS6, Numark NS7, Numark V7, Vestax VCI-300, Vestax VCI-380, Novation Twitch & Pioneer DDJ-S1). Upgrades for ITCH controllers will rollout gradually this coming winter.
Serato DJ Intro users can upgrade to Serato DJ for a one-off cost of $199USD – and for a limited time this includes a license for the powerful Serato Video plug-in. The software is fully compatible with their existing controller. Customers with a Numark Mix Track Pro controller will be the first to upgrade, followed by others such as: Numark N4, Numark MixDeck Numark MixDeck Express, Numark MixDeck Quad, Vestax VCI-400, Vestax Typhoon, Vestax VCI-100 Mk2, Pioneer DDJ-ERGO, Reloop TM4, Reloop TM 2 and Denon MC2000 in a gradual rollout.
NB: Customers with discontinued hardware will be unable to upgrade to Serato DJ, however these controllers will continue to be supported by ITCH 2.2.2.

There’s something a bit odd about this entire release process – if you’ve been following closely, you’ll notice that the entire feature set of ITCH is wrapped in Serato DJ, it will be a free upgrade for ITCH users, and all ITCH controllers will be supported. It seems like ITCH could very much be undergoing a rebranding process to be taken more seriously – especially if the feature set delivers. Perhaps this is really a completely new version of ITCH with a name change (although a bit less ambiguous of a name would have been nice)? (Editor’s note: We asked Serato and they confirmed that last week’s 2.2.2 will be the last release of ITCH) 
The software will continue to be locked down to just Serato DJ certified controllers, just as Scratch Live is. While you can use MIDI mapping to get functionality on secondary controllers, you’ll have to have a primary one plugged in to get the software behaving properly.

Credit : DJ Tech Tools