Serato Scratch Live using in a club, would you?

deapoh · Post by **deapoh** » Fri Sep 01, 2006 12:51 pm

Even tho it's digital it's still vinyl. Altho it's mega fucking sensitive unless all my settings are fucked. I tried it at the Red Star twice. It's hard when you got a delay between headphones and speakers and wanna mix quickly. You can lock it just by visuals. it's ok just needs minor adjustments where with vinyls you can lock it straight. it takes a bit longer to get it perfect.

lord_qzuma · Post by **lord_qzuma** » Fri Sep 01, 2006 12:59 pm

I too have seen it die out live b4. My best and only advice, buy a CDJ and get a SD card and have your dubz on CDR just incase. That way your always ready for anything and dont have to worry about your labtop dieing out half way threw the night.

dj $hy · Post by **dj $hy** » Fri Sep 01, 2006 1:01 pm

Walsh I agree which is why I asked the question BUT if you name drop then how come turntablist who are world famous us it? The more I ask the more really famous (house, techno, DnB DJ's who lets be honest here are much bigger in the music scene seem to be ok using this)

Its the root of my issues with it tbh. Quality of it is my main concern.

P.S. I bet all them guys do pay full price to get their dubs cut tho! Plus if I was earning money form DJ'in then I'd deffo just cut but I cant afford to cut just now. If I started to get pay then all that money would go straight to Trans without a question but I cant kill 2 birds with one stone!

And the out come to my questions seem to be its ok to use!

But I take what your saying bro

walsh · Post by **walsh** » Fri Sep 01, 2006 1:04 pm

I think the thing is a wicked idea dont get me wrong....

but I have seen it fuck it up in a club and that was enough
for me...

hatcha,yunx,dmz,loefah,n-type,distance,skream,kode 9, ect ect

only use dubs, and maybe the odd record which makes me think
WHY!! when you can pay a few quid and have ALL your tunes on a
small laptop which is easy to carry round.....

hmmmm

dj $hy · Post by **dj $hy** » Fri Sep 01, 2006 1:07 pm

WALSH wrote:
but I have seen it fuck it up in a club and that was enough
for me...

hmmmm

Thats my worry...

thump rat · Post by **thump rat** » Fri Sep 01, 2006 1:11 pm

I'm a little dim to what serato is

Isn't it like a interface which connects your decks to your computer? Then it comes with a vinyl that you use as you would the same way as a real dub. So does it measure itself across the vinyl, so you could goto certain parts of the tracks. Does it come with two plates so you can mix as normal, and can you mix normal vinyl with serato?

Cheers.

deapoh · Post by **deapoh** » Fri Sep 01, 2006 1:23 pm

Wedge wrote:for a start you need a reasonably good PC laptop, and as most of u know im sure..pc's are about as stable as an ikea wardrobe! what would u do if mid set an error msg popped up 'this program has performed an ilegle opperation and will shut down, sorry for the inconveniance!!) sorry for the inconveniance my arse!!

Never had this happen and I have a 250mb ram and 1ghz processor. It's slow and judderly but has never crashed like that. I've had one problem before where it didn't read the second deck, had to reboot it.

deapoh · Post by **deapoh** » Fri Sep 01, 2006 1:27 pm

WALSH wrote:I think this shit is heavy for home use but......

Yeah I agree, much better for home and radio but the clubs I would prefer to have dubs cut. When I get the money it'll happen.

WALSH wrote:plus you have to set it up ect which from what I have seen
takes a while...

Yeah thats one problem. Disconnecting both decks, putting into the back of the searto box and then both cables fromt he box to the line channels.

WALSH wrote:plus it will kill the record shops who feed the scene
plus they dont sound as good

Don't agree. I buy all my records and then rip it 320 mp3s for searto.
er.

starkey · Post by **starkey** » Fri Sep 01, 2006 1:49 pm

I use Serato. But I always bring a small stack of records to the club as well. There are some tracks I just haven't ripped to mp3 + if something does go wrong, I can still play a set.

There are a lot of variables that could go wrong, but never have I not been able to use Serato.... sometimes its just taken time to set up. (ex. making room for your computer, pulling the mixer out of a rack to get at the cables, etc.)

dopedragon · Post by **dopedragon** » Fri Sep 01, 2006 7:26 pm

if there's software/laptop involved, then of course you are running the risk of a crash...thats why you bring backup vinyl/cds to play while you're rebooting.

it does take some setup time, so showin up early to a gig is a must, less you run the risk of tryin to setup while someone else is spinnin, and i dont even think it can work like that...not easily, at least.

my argument is this, if you're already playin tunes on cdr, then the digital vs analog discussion is moot. id rather be able to play a tune out the same night its made to test the waters, than try to get it mastered and cut, etc. plus if you scratch or beat juggle at all, it is the proverbial dog's bollocks.

i've never messed with cdjs, so my choice is obvious, and if youve ever seen my record collection and my outta shape-ass sweatin whilst movin it, you know im a vinyl addict.

$hy, id recommend readin through those forums i linked and testin it out for yourself. there is a hefty initial investment if money is a concern, so good luck.

tes la rok · Post by **tes la rok** » Fri Sep 01, 2006 7:41 pm

i used to do gigs wih FS coupla years back, but once i had a nightmare experience which drove me right away back to vinyls. i went to dj in big partys, primetime and i didnt have time to do soundcheck before my gig.. well i went to stage and mixer was RANE and it was bolt in to dj-booth and there wasnt any way to get my hands into line-inputs/phone inputs.. damn it was a disaster.

this was that mixer.

anyway besides this i didnt have any major problems.. but i rather stick in to vinyls + some cd-r's..

Sharmaji · Post by **Sharmaji** » Fri Sep 01, 2006 7:49 pm

i got serato early this summer and have played out w/ it about a dozen times or so. it's solid as hell on my comp (a mac)... you jsut gotta keep your system clean. yes, to the hands it feels like playing real vinyl-- shit i still take the vinyl off the turntable after a song is done as a habit.

ways it's better-- it's a hell of a lot easier to scan through songs than, say, 5 crates of records at a gig. type in the title or artist you're looking for, load it on a side, and boom, it's there.

not living in the UK, and not having $ to cut everything on dubplate, any new tracks i get--including my own--are either .wav's or mp3's. it really opens up what's playable (and mixable... and testable) in a club setting. If you're currently paying that kind of $ for dubplates, the system would pay for itself.

and in an instance of the new-school requiring perfection of old-school... your shit has to be set up really well, your decks in good condition, etc. THAT's the only real problem at clubs-- if you've got a 1200 that's not grounded right or has 1 side of the rca's going out, you're fucked w/ serato. however, if everything works right, you've gotta make sure that your records and needles are CLEAN-- the only problems i ever had was when i was lazy and letting grit build up on the needle. next thing i know "anti-war dub" is crashing along at 30bpm...

and yeah... eventually, something will go wrong. you still gotta bring vinyl just incase. but that's part of being a DJ, right?

sound-wise, it's scary how hard it is to tell the difference between what's on serato and what's on vinyl in a well-mixed set. the vinyl's always gonna be mastered a bit louder and with nicer bass, but... eq on the mixer handles that. plus you've got gain controls in serato as well.

so far-- it was the right decision for me. if you're in a position where you can get everything on dub, hell yes-- keep doin' that. if not, and you wanna play out what you've got... go for it.

I don't think this is gonna be the death knell of anything. i still gotta buy my DnB on vinyl since it's never gonna come out on mp3 anyway. and besides... record shopping still kicks ass.

dj wonder · Post by **dj wonder** » Fri Sep 01, 2006 9:19 pm

I used final Scratch with a mac for nearly two years and it never ever crashed or caused me any problems.

The only poblem i had with it was setting up, getting to the back of the mixer and stuff, which is why i now use traktor DJ 3 with a midi controller.
There is no hassle in setting up, just one phono input.

sek [espionage] · Post by **sek [espionage]** » Fri Sep 01, 2006 10:58 pm

I use serato on an ibook
no problems at all, very stable.

JUST MAKE SURE TO STILL BUY RECORDS!

Support those who support you

dj wonder · Post by **dj wonder** » Fri Sep 01, 2006 11:11 pm

sek [espionage] wrote:I use serato on an ibook
no problems at all, very stable.

JUST MAKE SURE TO STILL BUY RECORDS!

Support those who support you

True

Even though i still play mp3s/wavs i still collect and buy records, take them home and ripp them onto my computer.

deapoh · Post by **deapoh** » Sat Sep 02, 2006 1:03 am

DJ Wonder wrote:Even though i still play mp3s/wavs i still collect and buy records, take them home and ripp them onto my computer.

ditto.

darkside · Post by **darkside** » Sat Sep 02, 2006 8:22 am

Deapoh wrote:
DJ Wonder wrote:Even though i still play mp3s/wavs i still collect and buy records, take them home and ripp them onto my computer.
ditto.

Ditto x 2

dj $hy · Post by **dj $hy** » Sat Sep 02, 2006 11:55 am

No question when it comes to buying tunes, you'll never get me off my addiction. I've had many a track on mp3 n bought cos you can beat having the plastic, its like final.

But too keep up with a dubplate scene I'm kinda thinking towards it.

The mixer point was spot on, never thought about FIXED mixers, I guess thats something to be asking b4 the gig but again I still do cut and buy records as they drop so I'd always have records with me!

One question tho, can you switch between real records and the SSL system? In case thats not clear I mean I wouldnt have to re-wire the decks just to slap a dub on?

I cant imagine you would as your not totally removing records from your set if you choose this option.

Thanks to everyone for the advice, gave me alot to think about but I think I've seen enough comments on here to win the vote!

Peace

seckle · Post by **seckle** » Sat Sep 02, 2006 12:23 pm

i'll never forget seeing dj craze do one of his early final scratch sets, just when the thing first came out. the club's backed here in nyc; maybe 350 to 400 hundred people inside, even a queue outside waiting to get in. about 40 minutes into his set, the notebook he's using just pack's it in. complete shut down. lol. craze takes a few minutes to see if he can get it started, while the mc's quick to try and tell some jokes to kill time. after messing around for a minute, he throws up his hands and starts packing up. lol.

product · Post by **product** » Sat Sep 02, 2006 4:25 pm

i have Final Scratch here at the house and it's awesome for home use. the only drawback is that it's such a bitch to setup at the club if they're not already set for it (and i've never seen a club set up with FS already) so you either gotta show up before the night starts, or spend like 15 minutes before your set reaching around the DJ that's playing before you and hope you don't screw up his mixing. but if sound quality is something you're worried about, playing a 320 on Serato isn't going to sound any different than playing a 320 on a cd. but serato should play wavs and flacs (FS does i know) if you're wanting to go the ultra hi quality route.

Serato Scratch Live using in a club, would you?

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