You know how Serato rolls — first the public beta, and then the full release. T’was ever thus and verily here is the full release of Serato DJ 1.9.2.
A press release follows:
Serato DJ 1.9.2 is now available with a focus on stability, as well as important interface improvements for ease of use.
- Library changes including updates to search and sorting, visual optimisations and upgraded Smart Crates.
- Significant stability improvements and bug fixes to Serato DJ and Serato Video.
- All Serato DJ trials have been reset. This means if you have trialled Serato DJ in the past, you can give it another try for free.
- We’ve launched subscriptions which gives you all our Expansion Packs from 99 p/month, Serato DJ for USD9.99 p/month or the Serato DJ Suite from USD14.99 p/month.
Michael Redwood (Serato Product Team Manager) says: “We understand that for the majority of DJs, reliability and ease of use in often stressful environments is what matters the most. Serato DJ 1.9.2 is the first in a series of updates focussed on improving this, as well as working on lots of important feedback from our community who help make Serato DJ the very best platform for working DJs.”
Library Changes
- Smart Crates are now able to be Subcrates.
- Secondary library sort. Ctrl/cmd+click a column title to set custom secondary sort order.
- Saved loops are able to be named.
- Key support in Smart Crates
- New option to reset played tracks on exit
More improvements listed in the full release notes.
Stability Improvements & Bug Fixes
- Fixes for various crashes
- Lower CPU performance with Serato Video
- Various library bugs fixed
Plus many more listed in the full release notes
Subscription Plans to Serato DJ
As well as purchasing full Serato software licenses, there is now an option to subscribe to all our Expansion Packs from USD9.99 p/month, Serato DJ for USD9.99 p/month or the Serato DJ Suite from USD14.99 p/month.
BETTER
It would seem that the message has hit home — stop adding new stuff when the existing stuff isn’t working well. In fact, some users were so pissed off at the performance of Serato DJ that they set up a hashtag (#fixserato) and even bought a domain to point to a Facebook page. That’s an angry mob if ever I saw one… well in DJ terms anyway.
And as Michael Redwood says, this is the first in a series of major fixes. Gotta make that code base solid, especially with V2 looming — well at least numerically. We’re convinced that Traktor is going to end up as v2.999.999 and still not be at V3 until long after we’re dead and buried.
MO’ MONEY
And so to subscriptions. As someone who has the full Adobe Creative Suite, I pay the £40+ per month because these are essential tools of my trade. I no longer miss the money going out of my account and know that whatever magic Adobe chooses to unveil, a message will appear telling me it’s available to download.
And that’s how I feel about DJ software subscriptions too. If you’re a working DJ, $14.99 is nothing per month. And even if you’re just a keen enthusiast, it still gets you perma-access to everything that Serato makes now and in the future. You could of course opt for the basics at $9.99, but it really is worth the extra stretch.
It is of course an attempt to stop people from peering into the rekordbox shop window, and to generate some new cash flow to fund the fight. The trials keep getting reset with each new update too.
Here’s hoping that Serato can fix up and look sharp fast enough to keep the threat of rekordbox at bay, and do it while Traktor continues to take an extended nap too.
Great write up sir!! The domain was definitely needed! It’s time we get this software dialed in. I want to see the NZ heads succeed and rule like they once did! Something is definitely holding up these fixes and PC replies.
Personally, I’m of the thought that Serato has been the one napping… Rekordbox DJ has been on the market for about 10 months, even they have a 64 bit client.
That 64-bit client was the nail in Serato’s coffin for me. They fixed everything I had a problem with, and sped up track analysis to the point where it’s as fast as Traktor x64.
The damage is done. Serato will not survive to RB and newcoming Traktor update… Wait! Traktor will never be updated anymore :V
wait, there are people that use RB?!?
Well I was joking :V
The fact is that Serato doesn’t have their own hardware, they always need to work with 3rd parties and so different configurations… (different drivers, different usages like DVS, controller…).
That why Pioneer made their Rekordbox DJ, Native Instruments made their own Hardware for Traktor, and little brands like Hercules DJ owns their DJUCED.
So, will Serato make some Hardware one day ? or maybe someone will buy them ?
These was realm for Rane (now sold to inMusic) but it was the bad strategy with Itch 2/SDJ which make this a problem. Anyways let’s see how will go…
Pioneer originally had Rekordbox coded by Mixvibes as a music preparation software. Having Rekordbox “powered by Mixvibes” was money that they figured that they could keep “in house” if they produced the software themselves.
Speaking of Mixvibes, Serato isn’t the only DJ software out there that depends on 3rd party hardware. Cross and VDJ rely on the same business model. It’s smart, next to no overhead on anything… you are selling an idea at that point. Now to stay competitive, they should probably work a bit on a 64bit client for Win users.
Not sure if they’ve done this yet, but does Serato automatically update your library if you put new files into the folder? I know Traktor does.
I’m just going to predict it. inMusic will buy Serato. It’s the only way that serato doesn’t die. Especially now that inMusic owns all of the hardware brands that work with Serato. Either that, or inMusic is going to make their own software and Serato and NI are going to be left out in the cold.
Torq and Engine.
hahahahaha…..hahahahahah….nor with the two programs does one half good…Torq and Engine…wahahahaha….hahahaha…!!!
Never said they were high end, but they are DJ software that InMusic owns. Revising source code isn’t as expensive as starting from scratch… not like they are limited by funding at this point.
I’m really glad Serato is focusing on stability.
I’d also like to see some really basic things like:
(1) better Touch-Screen compatibility (this is really something that could make the program way better);
(2) support for 4K and other high res screens (right now you have to create a manifest file for the program to even work on a 4K screen); and
(3) the program should really save your screen settings from your last session. If you’re FX windows are open, they should stay open next time you load the program.
I don’t much care about a lot of bells and whistles. It just needs to do the core things really well.