Bulletin Board Archive

Topic: SERATO: Now obsolete......

  1. May 9, 2007 12:59am by dublow - http://KCMusicScene.com www.myspace.com/dublowseven www.myspace.com/barbaricmerits http://barbaricmerits.com
    Ok, maybe not obsolete, but the new Traktor Scratch by Native Instruments sure gives it a run for its money. Mine just came in the mail today, and this thing is pretty freaking sweet. I've used Final Scratch since '03 and pretty much every digital vinyl combination since then. I know a ton of people are getting Serato now, so let me give a quick little review since I'm probably the only one in KC with Traktor Scratch now. Ok, my quick comparison: SERATO: Personally, i've never really been a fan. I love Rane as far as mixers go, but I despise that neon early 90's interface on Serato. But Rane is solid as hell, so they've beat out everyone in reliability for laptops, and lucky for them, became the standard in digital vinyl. NI TRAKTOR SCRATCH: Damn. I just got this thing today, so I can't speak for its longevity, but um, damn....this thing is a beast. It tracks better than my Final Scratch 2 and Serato. It's very very hard to tell that I'm not scratching on pressed vinyl. It has twice as much timecode with 2KHz, instead of the 1KHz on FS and Serato. It's also usb 2.0 instead of 1.1. It has midi in/out to use controllers with. It has a very clean, crisp, graphic interface which has always been my personal preference over Serato. It also uses quick connect XLR y-cables to set up....which is pretty slick so you don't have to worry about that big mess first setting up. The box also has a built in low latency 24/96 sound card. Blah Blah Blah...... Basically I was on the fence whether this was going to be as badass as it sounded, or if it was just a bunch of hype....and I can say I'm very impressed. Personally, I think this beats out everything on the market. Native Instruments has always made solid software, like Rane has made solid hardware, but I think they've definitely caught up to everyone on hardware now. Of course they're trying to get all current FS and Serato users to switch over, so during the month of May, you can buy the crossgrade for $400 if you already own Serato, and you get to keep your hardware to sell or whatever. After May, Traktor Scratch goes back up to $600. Check out all the details at: www.native-instruments.com Anway, if any of you Serato users want to come over and try Traktor Scratch to see if you want to switch and get it for $400 this first month it's out, let me know. I really think they've just raised the bar quite a bit.
  2. May 9, 2007 01:40am by mythik - www.myspace.com/mythillogical www.myspace.com/barbaricmerits www.barbaricmerits.com Location: Kansas City
    SHIT'S ABOUT TO BE ON!!!!!!!!!!
  3. May 9, 2007 01:44am by Ben_Fuller
    I know a couple other people in KC with this and I took a good hard look at it at work the other day....here is my opinion... The interface looks really nice. The manual sucks. With a product like this, if I can't take 5 minutes and scan the manual and figure out whats what, then I'm not interested. I work in the musical instrument biz, and it confused me. The cables are insane, and that is a prime reason I wouldn't fuck with it. Lose one of those babies and you are gonna be FUCKED for a while b/c you can't pick those up at Radio Shack. Its some crazy 7 pin XLR to multiple RCA monstrosity. Hooking it up and general opeation seems way to complex for what I prefer when djing. Serato is enough of a pain in the ass sometimes....Traktor looks even worse. If I was drunk trying to hook that thing up I would be sooooo screwed. Like Torq, it does a bunch of stuff I don't care about...I'm not fuckin with VST effects when I'm djing...I'm focused enough on not trainwreckin! 😆 Every new product recently (Torq, Traktor Scratch, Cue) have all be touted as the Serato Killer and I think thats all bullshit thus far. As far as tracking goes, Serato has been perfect thus far and honestly, I don't scratch enough to really care about the 1k vs 2k difference.
  4. May 9, 2007 02:10am by dublow - http://KCMusicScene.com www.myspace.com/dublowseven www.myspace.com/barbaricmerits http://barbaricmerits.com
    I hear you......it just all boils down to preference. I didn't find it confusing, had it set up in a couple minutes, but I've used NI software for a long time. The main thing I noticed was how nice it sounded....the tracking is superb, and I scratch a whole hell of a lot, so that was a big issue for me. And man, I just think Serato is ugly and messy as fuck. Like I said, I know everyone is jumping on the digital bandwagon now, and I hadn't heard of anyone down here with Traktor yet, so I was just offering for people to come and try it to see if they like while it's cheap this month. Everyone is making little Serato clones, but this was the first thing I've seen that does everything is does, and then surpasses it. I'm such a new gear whore =(.
  5. May 9, 2007 02:07pm by BenSmoif
    I think the interface for serato is simple and great. The first party I used it at, 2 days after I got it, I was drunk as hell and able to search/organize/cue without a problem. I tinkered with the demo of Traktor for a while and just got bugged by how much of those VST/effects things were getting in my way. I'm a big fan of outboard effects for live performance anyway, if I need delay or anything like that, I'd much rather trust myself twistin nobs or tapping time on a real box. Serato could improve the tracking by upgrading the software and making new controller vinyl... and Rane is known in the audio industry for having the best pitch/time shift technology.
  6. May 9, 2007 04:51pm by dublow - http://KCMusicScene.com www.myspace.com/dublowseven www.myspace.com/barbaricmerits http://barbaricmerits.com
    Yeah, I've been drunk pretty much every time I've used NI FS since '03, before serato existed, and never had a problem or crash. Traktor Scratch is a slimmed down version of Traktor 3. If you don't want to use any of the built in effects, you can just remove them from the screen, you can take everything off except 2 waveforms, and a big list of songs...doesn't get much cleaner than that. And I use an outboard effects processor anyway. Yeah, serato could improve on a few things...they haven't updated SSL for the most part in 3 years, lol. Serato, is eventually going to let you mix video, but you have to buy the $1500 ttm-57 and then additional software, and I can't think of any time I would ever need that. Personally, I wouldn't trust a software company that has made one good time stretching plugin, over a german software engineering company that has made pretty much the best virtual instruments and engines over the last decade. Once again, it just goes down to preference. When it comes down to technology, I think most people get stuck on whatever they first start out on. I doubt many Serato users will switch. But most dj's don't use it for more than pressing play on a record and then switching to another one. If the dj plans on doing anything more skillful than that, I think it's pretty obsolete. All I know is I can scratch harder on this than anything else out and it sounds and tracks better than anything else out I've used. And that was the most important thing for me...besides gagging at that Serato interface =). Only time, marketing, and getting the superstars to use the interface so everyone jumps on its jock, will tell I guess. Now I just hope it doesn't crash when I pop the cherry on it tonight at the Peanut 😀
  7. May 9, 2007 05:03pm by Ben_Fuller
    [quote:f7a0686575="dublow"] Personally, I wouldn't trust a software company that has made one good time stretching plugin, over a german software engineering company that has made pretty much the best virtual instruments and engines over the last decade.[/quote:f7a0686575] Rane doesn't actually make SSL...it was created by a company based in New Zealand. Rane licenses it and handles distro. Rane knows they aren't software developers and Serato knew it didn't have the weight in the dj market. They make a bunch of sick products other than Scratch Live... http://www.serato.com On the flipside of your NI argument (their plugs are OK...far from the best. Massive is the only one I use on the reg)...I trust my djing in the hands of a company that produces some of the finest dj mixers in the world (sure A&H, Urei, Bozak..all good as well)..rather than a bunch of software developers who don't really know much about djing. Just sayin 😉
  8. May 9, 2007 05:23pm by dublow - http://KCMusicScene.com www.myspace.com/dublowseven www.myspace.com/barbaricmerits http://barbaricmerits.com
    Yeah, I didn't say Rane, I said Serato (the software company that makes "Pitch n Time"). So like you said, you're actually putting all your dj'ing into the hands of Serato, a software company with one time stretching plugin, not quite the track record of NI as far as software goes. That's why I'm choosing to trust Rane for my ttm-56, and let the software companies stick to making the software. Obviously only time will tell if Traktor Scratch holds up. And in all fairness to your argument about them not knowing anything about dj'ing....Native Instruments pioneered the whole digital vinyl thing back in '02-'03 with Final Scratch 1.0, then a year or two later Serato came out with theirs, you know, kind of copying their shit 😉
  9. May 10, 2007 06:29pm by Sku - I knocked up the turntables and gave birth to phat stylez! http://www.myspace.com/djsku Location: KC
    I'm gonna have to look into this. I bought Serato a couple of weeks ago and so far I'm pretty happy with it.
  10. May 12, 2007 02:28am by DEMENCHA
    ^^^are you using it at sake on thursdays?