Customer Reviews

Rane Serato Scratch Live DJ Solution with Audio Interface

5 star:		(5)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Ok I'm rating this as compared to other digital vinyl solutions. I'm among the few that have owned and used 3 different DVSs (Final Scratch 2, Serato Scratch Live and Traktor Scratch). I currently own both SSL and TS.

First off, I do use vinyl and none of the DVS can truly compare to actual vinyl. High quality mp3s, they still fall short.

But Serato is the best of all the ones I've used for 2 simple reasons: 1) Customer support (their forums are great and they are always coming out with FREE updates) and 2) user interface (not alot of features but clean and simple; just what I need).

Pros:
Best customer support for DJs
Simple intuitive user interface
Great low latency, great for scratching

Cons:
No recording input on box
ASIO support is not great

Traktor Scratch wins on scratching though. TS sounds better when scratching. The Audio8 DJ that comes with TS is great. The multicore cables are great (I use it with my Serato actually).

Pros:
Great sounding scratches, closest sounding to real vinyl
Beautiful looking and functioning hardware (Audio8DJ & cables)
Software offers many more features than SSL

Cons:
Ugly looking software interface
Customer support has not been great (not just for me; check their forums for proof)

SSL has been around for a while and you can say that the hardware is outdated but it works the way it needs to. I'm a scratch DJ / turntablist and SSL does the job for me. I've shelved Traktor Scratch for now, only using the A8DJ to record my mixes from Serato and the cables.

The first concern about this product is whether there is any lag during scratching, and amazingly, there is absolutely none. It works just as you'd want it to, completely naturally. It's hard to believe that you're actually manipulating a digital file when you scratch or speed up or stop the control record. You can even put the stylus down a little way into the control record and the song will start at whatever point that represents. Plus, you can use your turntable to scroll through your songlists.

The software interface is classy and well-designed, and the actual control box is solid. It's a pretty amazing product - a great idea, so simple, yet so effective. My only concern is that it encourages the move away from vinyl, and frankly, the sound quality hit you take with MP3 is pretty big. But not everybody can lug cases of vinyl around and so, I really wouldn't hesitate about buying one of these.

I use this software everytime i DJ - either at a wedding or a club - Serato will never let you down - Its response to what you do is instant. I HIGHLY reccomend this product to any other DJ out there!

This is a good product and very useful to any type of DJ. I am a battle dj and I have been able to put togeather the perfect compilation mp3 of all my favorite sounds and movie clips so that I can scratch them. This is a great thing. There is absolutely no lag time in scratching which is key. I have not used it yet at a club but the ease factor of not having to lug a crate of records is very nice.

However, there are some probs I would not use this at a club unless you have complete trust in your computer. I have a new Apple Macbook less than a year old and the ram is at minimum requirement, for this product. If you do not have a new computer, I would upgrade that before buying this product. If you take this to a club and your computer crashes or overheats you may be in big trouble with no records on hand. Also, I cannot believe the dip in sound quality that you get using MP3's. MP3's that I have on my computer that sound fine in my car and on my Ipod sound too lound when played through scratch live. I have to run these tracks through the Garageband program on my laptop to turn down the sound acouple db. Obviously that is a long and annoying process. Also you cannot use scratch live with songs downloaded from the Itunes website. There for only mp3's downloaded from free sites can be used. So in some cases I have had to download a track from a free site that I already have paid for from Itunes. Again this is another annoying step to getting togeather your library of Mp3's.

Overall I like the product it will be useful for me, but I would recommend only to people who have very new or very powerful computers.

Update: I should have changed this review earlier but forgot I wrote it. The sound levels problem I had is fixed simple issue, I got the answer on the Scratch Live msg board. Mods are very through about responding to questions. It is def the best msg board for Dj's

Peace,
2one
[...]

As a DJ once your track selection grows beyond 500 + songs in any genre then you will want more versatility in your setup.

1 star: With this product I can use CDJ's or vinyl with a single interface learning curve:

1 star: With vinyl my drop in / que in time is just as easy as with the cortex hdtt 5000 or pioneer CDJ's you just have to know the controls:

1 star: Bpm counter info is taken care of:

1 star: Quality wav form displays:

1 star: Track search selection is fast and slick:

1 star: superior sound quality to the Cortex hdtt 5000

I still can see wanting to map sets with usb flash device tables instead of booting up my laptop every time I practice but as far as playing my sets live or recording I can't imagine going back to flash card devices:

DJ Code RED

[...]

Rane Serato Scratch Live DJ Solution with Audio Interface

As a DJ who used to use strictly vinyl this product is the best technological advancement in the DJing world. I highly recommend it!

the article arrived in perfect condition and i am please to receive this,i will do bussiness with you again if i need to.