This week, Serato dropped their DVS add-on bomb to a largely unsuspecting user base. The basic principle is that if you have the right Serato DJ controller, you can plug turntables and media players into the back of it and run Serato DJ as a DVS as well as a controller, but leave the SL-2, 3, or 4 interfaces at home. Rejoice! Huzza!! But we’re left pondering if this is actually a thing that the masses want, so we made a poll to help clear things up.
It’s funny how things come full circle. Controllers are in part to blame for the dwindling popularity of the turntable. Yet here we are seeing turntables as an important part of a controller setup. But what we’re unsure of is just how important. We’ve seen demos from DJs like Rasp who use a Vestax controller as a mixer for Scratch Live. And the Pioneer DDJ-SZ can do it out of the box. But we want a clear picture of how important this is.
WHO ARE THE DVS PLAYERS?
If you look at the market — the companies spearheading the DVS charge are Pioneer, Denon, and Vestax. The DDJ-SZ and just announced DDJ-SX2 are DVS ready, as is the existing Denon MC6000mk2, with Vestax rumoured to be developing the firmware on the VCI-380 and VCI-400 to hand to Serato to implement. Missing from this equation just now are Reloop and Numark. The later has signaled that hooking turntables up to controllers isn’t so important as their new NV has no inputs — it’s meant to be a pure controller. But given that Reloop has two relatively fresh turntables in their lineup, I’m guessing that they’ll be making announcements soon enough.
We mustn’t forget Native Instruments of course. Their S4 units have been DVS-ready for ages. And given that Traktor Scratch Pro is their flagship version, I can’t see that changing in the future. Just don’t be expecting TSP to work with anything but S4s for controller DVS though. If it isn’t clear by now — the days of NI officially supporting third-party controllers are over.
Here’s the poll — please respond as every answer helps us get a better picture of our community, which in turn helps the industry deliver what you actually want.
[polldaddy poll=8234037]