What's up people? The first question is DJ oriented. If there are any DJ's in this forum that use Serato and/or traktor scratch, I would like to know which you prefer and why. I have traktor dj Studio 3. It's not bad. I was thinking on upgrading to Scratch, Mainly because of the audio 8 dj interface, but am hesitant because of their community/ customer relations (paying for updates, never fixing known bugs in the software before releasing a new version, etc). Serato is rock solid and has just teamed up with ableton (never used but always curious). I don't agree with a lot of NI's decisions and marketing strategy, so I am leaning towards serato and eventually shelling out the extra cash for the audio 8. I feel that NI has a great idea, but no delivery. It's like the apple that adam ate, Looks good but really not worth it in the end. I basically want to know if I am making a wrong decision ( not that serato is wrong, but looking down upon scratch is a bad thing).


Now for a regular audio question. I archived most of my music using itunes LAME in the highest possible setting (dj purposes). I want to know if AIFF (or apple lossless) can store info about each track. I know the info stays in itunes, but if moved the info is gone (this is what happens in WAV, I have heard two different things about AIFF). Thanks in advance.



Music is Love

I had serato one or two years ago, but I had to sell it, I liked it a lot and I think it's still the best on the market... (latency, software ...)
If I just had the money I would get it back at any time. Can't help you with your decision but maybe this can: www.skratchworx.com

All you non dj's might think that it's fake to use this kinda systems but let me tell you it's just awesome... jugglin your on beats, having your own sounds to scratch, having every track in the world on your turntable (twice!)... Of course you can fake around on this but you don't need to... Damn, I miss it so much...Dope system; everybody should have one!


If you really want to buy one, make sure you can take look at the vinyls before buying cause many of them serato control vinyls are bendend.

Thanks wax. I was a vinyl only guy, but having access to thousands of songs compared to maybe hundreds at a gig totally expands possibilities.

stupid Noo-B ?uestion here, i feel dumb asking this but what's the science behind Serato, Tracktor etc... the vinyl that comes with it is the controller for the songs on the laptop??? how is this all done??? educate me, thanks in advance...

hi . the way they do it is, they use time coded records . on the record is a code that controls the music on the computer sort of like midi. so there is no music on the record. ive never used serato so im shure there is more to it.
maybe someone can explain it better then me .

here we go . from google

Concept

Special vinyl records pressed with a digital timecode are played on normal turntables. The timecode signal is interpreted by a computer, connected to the turntables through an interface called the ScratchAmp. The signal represents where the stylus is on the record, in which direction it is traveling, and at what speed. This information is interpreted by the computer and used to play back a digital audio file which has been 'mapped' to the turntable.

In practical terms, this means that any audio file can be manipulated as though it were pressed on vinyl. This has a great many advantages for DJs, not least that a laptop computer can often hold tens of thousands of audio files, whilst a record box has a decidedly smaller capacity and is much heavier.

thanks dope cuts for the 411, sorry i've should of google...

A quick note. Serato started of Scratch live in the development stage as a plug in for pro tools, then realized that if they make it stand alone, it would be that much better. Traktor started off Makeing the software for Final Crash... I mean Final Scratch. Then broke off their partnership due to Both off their shitty developments. Then went on their own to produce traktor, just the dj software. Then came out with the timecode counterpart, called Traktor Scratch. Just some background info for you people.

I have decided to go with Serato. Instead of doing endless research online, I decided to call the companies directly and ask what makes them better than the other. I called the Serato support first (they only have a New Zealand office, None in America. Crazy Long distance charges). The guy was very helpful and gave me a strait answer. He said "One word. Reliability." He went on to say that Traktor is a very good program, but their support is just not there. I totally agreed. He was very down to earth and honest. Then I called NI and asked the same question. The guy seemed as if he had down syndrome. He reply was, "Well if you take a look at our website, you will notice the specs and realize we are superior." In a round about way he said don't waste my time and do the research for yourself. Total time on the phone with Serato: 23 min. 17 sec. Total time NI: 2 min. 3 Sec. (Not including wait time. Serato didn't have any wait time. NI had about a 3 min wait.) I am a sucker for a good user community and great tech support, the reason why I have a 404 and got rid of my MPC. Both fields of NI SUCK. Seriously. In their forums, they have a group of people that downgrade you for asking questions about the system. REALLY???? I don't use those forums anymore (I am not downgrading there product). In terms of support, they focus on developing new software before the fix any bugs in the older versions. Many people state that they are still using version 2.6 (I believe) because it is the most stable platform, but still has many bugs. Not to mention that NI charges for their updates. I guess the real reason I was hanging on to Traktor was The Audio 8 DJ. I still want that, but it isn't worth the hassle. Sorry for the long post.


Music is Love