As ever, Serato has released a public beta of what was announced at NAMM. Serato DJ 1.7.4 brings the Club Kit, essentially enabling certain Pioneer and Allen & Heath mixers to be DVS ready (i.e. no Serato box necessary). But there are a few new features, as well as the necessary amount of bug fixes too.
The words from Serato HQ:
Please join the Serato DJ 1.7.4 Public Beta group to download the latest beta update.
With Serato DJ 1.7.4, we’ve introduced support for the Pioneer DJM-900NXS, DJM-850, Allen & Heath Xone:DB2 and DB4 mixers with the purchase of a “Club Kit” license. The Club Kit license is a bundle of the Serato DJ and DVS Expansion Pack licenses.
If you already own both of these licenses then you will be able to connect to Club Kit hardware and use DVS. If you only own a Serato DJ license, you will still be able to connect to Club Kit hardware and use CDJs in HID mode, or MIDI map features for use with Internal mode.
If you don’t own these licenses but wish to test Club Kit hardware, you can either start a free 14 day Serato DJ trial in-app, or purchase the Club Kit for $169.
New Features
- Beat Jump
- Master Video Effects
- MP3+G file support
- EQ Colored Waveforms setup option
- Disable needle search during playback option
- Improvements to scratch response for CDJs in HID mode
- Language support for German/French/Spanish/Chinese/Japanese/Portuguese
Added Serato DJ Hardware Support
- Numark Mixtrack Pro III
- Pioneer DJM-900NXS (Club Kit)
- Pioneer DJM-850 (Club Kit)
- Allen & Heath Xone:DB2 (Club Kit)
- Allen & Heath Xone:DB4 (Club Kit)
Added Serato DJ Accessory Support
- Allen & Heath Xone:K1
- Audio improvement when fast scratching with Pitch ‘n Time DJ
- Improved delay compensation adjustment for Serato Video
- Improved pitch knob resolution for Akai Pro AMX
- Beat Jump mappings for all hardware with grid and parameter buttons
- Multiple colors in HOT CUE mode for Numark NS7II
- Auto loop range always shows selected auto loop
- Parameter knob functionality for SAMPLER mode for Akai Pro AFX
- LED to flash when loop is active for Akai Pro AFX
- Primary Deck select option for other 4 Channel DVS hardware
- MIDI mappable pitch slider available for controllers
- Pressing CUE button while holding the platter will set the temp cue to the current position for CDJ HID mode
Bug Fixes
- Library does not appear in Serato DJ and unable to sort library columns
- CDJs in HID mode cause hang when using USB 3.0 ports on Windows 8
- Absolute data not working for loop size/shift in MIDI panel
- Album Art In FLAC files is not displayed
- Empty Genre tag always reverts to “other”
- CDJ HID platter LED position is glitchy
- Auto Loop Parameter does not work on Vestax VCI-380
- Split Cue does not function correctly with Numark NS6
- Auto loop value LED does not light up unless active on Pioneer DDJ-SR
- Loop On output turns off after adding an active loop to a loop slot
- Vestax VCI-400 MASTER FX mapping gets out of sync with software state
- Tracks are not marked as played correctly for DVS mixers
- Loop Shift not working on Numark NS7II
- Serato Video “SaveFX” button does not light up when clicked
- Delay Compensation does not respect pitched BPM
- Tempo Reset on Pioneer CDJ-2000/CDJ-2000nexus does turn off
- Pioneer CDJ-2000/CDJ-2000nexus reverse switch is mapped to censor
- Touch Mode does not reset value for EQ video effects after touching
- Library tracks not displayed properly
- Only one file in Media Crate does not continue to load when in use
- Loop shift does not shift loop when track is paused
- Deleting tracks in search results may cause tracks to be no longer visible
- Auto Loops are created forwards when track is playing backwards
- MIDI mapping artist/song name causes crash
- Cannot scroll Quantize value drop down menu correctly when midi mapped
- Rane Sixty-Four layer 1 cue points are broken when mapped to other layers
- Crash caused by MIDI mapping artist/track title
- Disabling sync can causes a playhead skip with Numark V7
Additionally, various crashes and hangs were resolved.
If you would like to report any bugs or provide any feedback, please do so in the Serato DJ 1.7.4 Public Beta area.
Wow — look at all those bug fixes. These seem to be isolated functions specific to individual features rather than show stopping crash inducing ones. Serato DJ does appear to have got rid of show stoppers.
And at the same time, a good level of improvements have appeared too. Looking at the list, there are things like Pitch N Time scratching being improved, but it’s small things like multiple colour hot cue buttons on the NS7II that are nice touches.
But it’s the new features that are of most interest. Beat Jump has finally made it to Serato DJ. It is exactly as it sounds — the ability to jump forward or back in a playing track by a predetermined amount, from 1/32 to 32 beats. Not a new feature in the whole scheme of things, but a welcome addition nonetheless.
I guess for most, the Club Kit is most interesting. It does signal that Serato can make pretty much any USB mixer or controller with an audio interface Serato DVS ready if they wish. I suspect that said hardware will have to undergo and pass rigorous testing, but for me it shouts that Serato is opening itself up to a wider partner base than ever, and trying to capture the hearts of as many DJs as possible. I would absolutely love it if NI hardware suddenly became DVS ready.
As ever, using a public beta is entirely at your own risk. Don’t get stroppy if your set breaks mid-performance or if things set on fire OK?
yay for finer pitch control on the Akai AMX.
Now if we could just get some control over the damn filter resonance, it’s just a touch too much
I agree, this needs to happen. I’ve mentioned the same thing in my review:
http://djworx.com/review-akai-professional-amx/
Caught that. Dug the review. I was lucky enough to be able to snag one of the few that made it stateside last year. Love it. Does just what I need it to, but I can’t wait to see how they further improve it with firmware and SDJ updates like this. A different set of EQ crossovers would be my very close second most wanted update.
Beat jump is a feature I live on with Traktor, and one of the final features keeping me there. Can’t wait to try this out with time code cd, mix emergency, club kit, and Akai afx, and see if this will all work.
What I still don’t get; still no direct Hid control for CDJ’s. Still the need for soundcards.
SeratoDj is free software, so it makes sense that the software needs “something” to activate it. I would personally love to be able to purchase a SeratoDJ licence to activate cdj HID control & use the cdj’s internal sound card. Who know’s that might just happen, but I seriously doubt they’ll just open it up for cdj’s without any type of payment for it.
Serato DJ isn’t free. http://store.serato.com/us/software/dj-vj/dj
My bad – it used to be though….. didn’t it?
Scratch Live and Itch were, but they required specific hardware to operate.
It doesn’t really make sense, coz if you were to purchase it without any Serato hardware it will just remain in “offline” mode which is useless as a dj software. If you’ve got the hardware it’s a free download. So what exactly are you buying then? I always thought that SeratoDj was only an upgrade purchase.
It’s a better business model. Serato gets paid directly for every licence of Serato DJ sold. And instead of depending on negotiating a bundle deal with a manufacturer for X number of licences in a lump sum, there’s a constant and steady flow of revenue.
If you have a SDJ intro controller you will be able to upgrade the software once you buy the license. And you are ready for the club install. Lots of hardware now comes Serato DJ ENABLED – http://serato.com/hardware
Even if it were free, I’d pay 150 euro easy if it meant just bringing my laptop and 2 to 4 usb cables to get it to work. But as it has been stated, it isn’t free.
Serato DJ is still free. The only difference is you can buy it to work with hardware that wasn’t exactly designed to work with Serato DJ out the box. Namely any controller that comes with Serato DJ Intro. In those case you buy Serato DJ solely as an upgrade. Now maybe with this whole Club Kit thing who knows we might see that as a way for them to support the CDJs sound card. Just to drive the point I have an SL3 box and a Rane 62 Serato made Serato DJ as a free “upgrade” for ScratchLive users basically by making all the existing USB 2.0 SSL hardware compatible with SDJ so it still works the same way.
“Now if we could just get some control over the damn filter resonance”
AMEN!!
So this is $169, yet you can get Traktor Scratch for $99? Seems a little high?
I recall the review they did with the latest S8 from Traktor. They discussed some of the shortcomings of Traktor 2.7, and I couldn’t help but slowly nod my head. Worth a read.
Might just jump ship!
If NI decided to make the Z2 Club Kit ready, those mixers would be flying of the shelves. I’d definitely get one, do it NI!
No manufacturer will never implement any sort of compatibility with their direct competitor.
Its all to hard bring vinyl back i am tired of this bullshit
Any new technology takes some time getting used to. Nobody forces you to use SDJ – the least you could do is keep an open mind. Most people I know use DVS like they would regular vinyl, skipping the added functionality altogether. Just because a feature is there doesn’t mean you’re required to use it. If you’re comfortable throwing down on vinyl, why not just keep doing that :)