hi serato owners

[lloydc]

do any of you wish you bought traktor instead?

After copping a lecture from the sales person at DJ warehouse yesterday (all in good humor) he advised me that traktor was a POS and serato was the way forward.

I had my heart set on traktor, as i've used traktor for some time now with my kontrol X1, but it got me thinking that he might possibly be right.

his reasons were:

SL3 is better built... many returns of the audio 8

serato is more stable

serato is less bulky (RAM/ CPU hog)

the bridge is available now

NI updates are late and garbage.

basically i'm confused as to what I should get now. So i'd like to hear thoughts from serato owners on their experiences.

cheers

[eggssell]

i aint a serato owner but i did research both extensively and only went traktor scratch because it was cheaper at the time. and when comparing the two it needs to be tsp vs serato.

anywho from my research the audio 8 is a better quality sound card in terms of its output and input. there may be more returns but for the non faulty ones it is better. of course doesnt mean jack if your stereo/pa not all that. and thats against both sl1 & sl3.

if you are using for nothing more than being a vehicle to carry your crate then to me there is no difference. thats all i needed (ie i never have learnt to use traktor for anything else other than load track) so for me that didnt matter so price was the only differential.

in regards to stability. serato is very stable because they dont chqnge or upgrade it very often. i can confirm traktor upgrades usually come with a lot of bugs that then get fixed in the next version. when you find a good version stick w it for a while. oh and even worse for mac users. NI dont really seem to see them as any priority

[tubby]

serato is well known to be easy on computer power. not that you need a great machine by current standards for traktor, but if your laptop is 3+ years old it might be an issue.

traktor seems stable enough now, they had some pretty poor bugs in the very first releases

to be honest the only time I spoent much time on serato was a friends wedding, we took over bar at a resort in fiji for a week so spent many hours on it. Stable, simple but nothing great. I had my $30 dvs software that I thought was much better.

but if all you want is vinyl emulation and stability it does the job.

[lloydc]

I was comparing TSP and serato, sorry didn't mean to confuse anyone.

currently I have a core2 (NOT duo) 2ghz mac book with 2GB ram and it runs traktor pro alright.

things start to get a little funny when key lock is on and the pitch is out by 5 or 6 %.... other than that, no real dramas.

serato looks like shit IMO, but I am the type to never judge a book by it's cover.

I appreciate your input guys thanks

[eggssell]

oh i also wanted to add it may also depend on who you speak to at the retail stores and what they prefer (or the cynical view what they are trying to sell...).

when i bought mine at dj warehouse about 10 or 11 months ago the dude also spent a good time lecturing me, saying serato was a dinosaur that didnt change dramatically from sl1 to sl3, just a few new features, and how the only reason serato sells is because people who started with it have grown comforatble with it yadda yadda. i.e. convincing me that i had nothing to lose by going TSP.

and surprise surprise the reason why they had a very good price ($690 i think i got it for) was because they had shyte loads of TSP in stock!!!

[lloydc]

unfortunately it's $850 now

[tubby]

tried looking o/s? probably be a fraction of the price from germany or US now

[Skank]

ive been using serato for years now and ive tryed traktor a few times as i was interested in the ability to mashup on the fly and not stress about my tracks moving off beat but serato is much more vibrant interface and you wont be disapointed

[lloydc]

tried looking o/s? probably be a fraction of the price from germany or US now

NI website is $660 USD

[lloydc]

should I consider scratch DUO? anyone used it?

[Gandy]

last time i checked our dollar was at 98c so shouldnt be much difference in price

[eggssell]

98 cents is the forex market rate so unless you trading thousands of dollars you wont get that rate. effective rate on yer c/c will be prob 96 cents. so just depends on how much shipping is as to whether it works cheaper.

cant record your set w/ duo because audi 4 only has outs. here is comparison chart

http://www.native-instruments.com/#/en/ ... /?page=588

[ruggs]

i've never had any problems with my serato but not havin used traktor i can't really say whats better..u can record on serato even sl1 now u just record thru mic input on the box

[DJ_Raptor]

I had a guy from light sounds bag out serato and push trakor. but ive used serato and absolutely loved it. I am purchasing my gear in the next couple of weeks and after research im going with Serato no question.

[defanutley]

They both do pretty much the same thing just depends on which one you like the look of better,

dont get too hung up on the hype of this and that ,

they are both kick arse DVS which both have - & + going for them, just enjoy the one you choose,

just a side note thou library management is key to success for these programs so get your music sortted

[lloydc]

^ yeah, my music is pretty much sorted. itunes integration is absolute key for me.

[DJ_Raptor]

Might also be an idea to see what your local clubs are using (if any). Might come down to simply, whats more commonly used in your area. might be easier if you plan on club djing

[ill_spector]

fuck what other people say, pretty much comes down to what you prefer, YOU'RE the one who has to use it, i bought serato because i prefer the gui, crates etc, but they are both excellent so its up to you, also i think if i got traktor i'de get lazy and start syncing shit haha

[eggssell]

cant use sync w timecode

[lloydc]

cant use sync w timecode

you can't sync with traktor scratch, using time code?

you sure?

[eggssell]

yes. if you check ni forums the number one question is why wont my sync work on my tsp setup.

[lloydc]

kinda makes sense though... you're talkng about sync lock though, yeah?

I'd imagine that pressing sync would get the beat grids in line, but keeping them matched would be entirely up to you?

[eggssell]

im not 100% sure what i mean as i havent really learnt how to use much of the program but i do know for sure that everyone says you cant use the sync button on timecode. which makes sense because it is expectig the pith control to be done externally (be it tt's or cd players).

i havent really used beat grid either but yes you can auto beatgrid in tsp if thats what you mean. but doesnt that just put beat markers where it thinks the kick drum is?

[lloydc]

im not 100% sure what i mean as i havent really learnt how to use much of the program but i do know for sure that everyone says you cant use the sync button on timecode. which makes sense because it is expectig the pith control to be done externally (be it tt's or cd players).

i havent really used beat grid either but yes you can auto beatgrid in tsp if thats what you mean. but doesnt that just put beat markers where it thinks the kick drum is?

beat grid is what traktor uses to sync tracks.... it doesn't really matter so much with time code because you're mixing manually.

anyway, this thread has been quite useful to me. thanks guys.

[tubby]

I've read that about not being able to use sync lock to keep internal tracks aligned with a timecode deck, but never had that be an issue.

mixing on decks b & c on timecode vinyl, I can loop internally on A or another track on D, they stay sync'd just find to the master deck that's on time code.

From what I have read it's supposed to sync to the master deck at the instant you hit sync or start the internal deck, but it doesn't keep rechecking as the time code deck varies slightly, but I've never had to go out of time on me.