Just when the faithful were proclaiming that Serato had forgotten its loyal grass roots users, they pop out an incremental bug fix release that squishes some long standing issues as well as optimising the install process. Scratch Live 2.4.4. beta is ready for you guinea pigs today.
The full breakdown of what’s what from the Serato beta forum area:
Hello everybody, and welcome to the Scratch Live 2.4.4 Public Beta :)
With this release we have focused primarily on fixing bugs and improving stability. In particular issues that have been reported widely on our forum, most significantly the CD drive crash and kernel panics seen with the SL4, Sixty-One and Sixty-Two. The other significant change is that the Scratch Live installer no longer installs the Rane Core Audio drivers on Mac. However, these Core Audio drivers are still included in the Scratch Live 2.4.4 .dmg for users to install manually. This was a necessary step towards 10.8 support – more info below.
Please note: 2.4.4 does not officially support OS X 10.8. However you will now be able to install 2.4.4 on OS X 10.8. We hope to provide official OS X 10.8 support soon. Until then, we would like to hear about any OS X 10.8 specific issues if you are already on this platform.
Scratch Live 2.4.4 (changes since 2.4.3)
Bug Fixes
• Fixed an issue where playing files from the CD drive or ejecting a CD caused a crash.
• Fixed Kernel Panic when hotplugging SL4.
• Improved hot plugging stability for all devices for both Mac and Win (resolving Kernal Panics with the Sixty-One and Sixty-Two).
• Fixed a bug where video files without audio were labelled as corrupt.
• Fixed an issue where you couldn’t save cue points, loops or autogain values to .mov or .flv files.
• Fixed a bug where m4a files displayed ‘unsupported file type’ message if QuickTime not installed.
• Fixed a bug where BPM field was locking up focus when the value was un-changed.
• Fixed an issue where the Next Transition (Video) button could be MIDI mapped, but would not save to the MIDI XML.
• Fixed an issue where you could get distortion when recording with the Sixty-Two.
• Fixed an issue where no audio was being recorded in Mixtape when using the Sixty-Eight.
• Fixed a bug with the Serato Video auto crossfader whereby it couldn’t reach far left or right when set to a fast speed.Other Changes
Changed the following default preferences on first installation :
• DJ-FX on by default
• Playback Keys Use Shift off by default
• Read iTunes Library on by default
• Added BPM to default Library View (previously was song, artist, album, length & comment)
• Added Artist to default History View (previously was name, start time, end time, playtime, deck & notes)New Driver Installation routine for Mac
The Rane Core Audio drivers are no longer automatically installed when using the Scratch Live installer. Instead, they are now located in the Rane Device Drivers folder within the .dmg file.
Rane Core Audio Device Driver Updates
• OS X 10.8 support for the Rane Core Audio Drivers for the SL2, SL3, SL4, Sixty-One, Sixty-Two and Sixty-Eight.
• Fixed issue on OS X 10.8 where the Control Panel failed to open.
• Fixed SL3 issue on 10.7.x and 10.8.x where iTunes would play an incorrect sample rate after setting the sample rate to 48kHz then reconnecting the device.Known issue (all Core Audio on 10.8 only): If the buffer size is changed via the control panel while an audio application is open, the actual round trip latency jumps to approximately 350ms. Re-selecting the Rane device as the audio device within the application’s Preferences restores the correct latency.
Rane is working with Apple to resolve this known issue. Note that the ASIO drivers are unchanged.
Backing up your Data
Please make sure you have read and understood the instructions for backing up your data here -> serato.com (click link)
Running more than one version of Scratch Live
Please make sure you have read and understood the instructions for running more than one version of Scratch Live here -> serato.com (click link).
Remember, this is a pre-release software version, so use it at your own risk!
Before using the beta, please ensure that you have backed up your data!
Mac: serato.com
Win: serato.com
Given my job, I spend more time with Serato DJ and DJ Intro these days. But I am very happy to see that my Apple system preferences won’t be cluttered with a load of Rane drivers that I don’t need. I try to keep my audio chain as tidy as possible, thus I remove the preference panes I don’t need. Now I don’t have to delete them after installation.