Big news today from Serato, Serato DJ 4 has been released. Serato 3 was released over 2 years ago, so it’s fair to say we were quite excited when we first heard about this. We’ve been using it for a number of weeks now, and stand out updates are the redesigned library with new right-click options, crate filtering and rating tools, and enhanced track analysis capabilities. The public beta can be downloaded from HERE now.
New features in Serato DJ 4 include:
- Create management has been overhauled: Advanced crate searching and filtering tools let you search for and sort your crates, as well as show what crates a particular track is in. – In particular this last point is really useful, it’s long been a feature in Rekordbox. Note crate search is not available in the Lite version.
- Shortcuts: You can now create a shortcut to your favourite or most used crates at the top of your crate list for easy access. Again a simple but useful update.
- Colour coding for crates: You can now assign colours to crates in your library for increased visual organisation. Can we suggest Purple for Hip Hop, and Red for anything over 140 bpm?
- Is this crate big or small?: Essential crate information is now located at the bottom of the library interface. We’ve all got crates with too much or too little in them, so this has been helping us to sort through the clutter
- Emjoi’s are here: Whether you think this is good or a bridge too far, emoji’s have taken over the world and now they are in Serato. Assign a customisable rating scale of emojis for a fun, personalised touch. In the image below there is a baby chick alongside the beautifully named “Baby Making Anthems” crate. We are not sure anyone is going to be able to top this, we’ve spent way too much time messing about with this.
- Right click gets a power up: Integration of right-click features allows quick and easy access to crate actions and options. This haas instantly becoem a feature we can’t understand how we coped without.
- Tracks can now be analysed while keeping your hardware connected: Tracks can now continue to analyse BPM, key, and length while staying connected to hardware. An annoyance in previous versions.
- Automatic track analysis: Track DNA is now automatically analysed upon import for faster identification and organisation. As long as you have enough RAM this will prevent you forgetting to do it.
- Mix local files and streaming tracks in the same crate: Serato DJ Pro 4.0 users can now add both local library and streaming tracks in the same crate which was previously a surprising omission. The line between file ownership and rental continues to blur, but we’ve already found this useful.
Serato DJ 4 release summary
At DJWORX we love this release. Mainly simple updated done well. No half baked ideas poorly implemented. if you were hoping for a significant look and feel overhaul you are going to be disappointed, but that has never been the Serato way. Most Serato users have a learned workflow from thousands of hours of use, so incremental updates that enhance the workflow will be better received. Serato are at pains to point out that a lot of the updates in Serato DJ 4 are community driven, you asked and they delivered.