Introduction
Serato's Scratch Live DJing software has ruled the vinyl-emulating digital DJing market since day one despite the fact that its competitors have added features at a much more rapid pace. While SSL has been the 'toirtoise' to its competitors 'hare', its users have remained content due to it's rock-solid stability, ease of use, and outstanding support. As its competitors software has evolved into increasingly interesting performance tools that offer a ton of bang-for-your-buck it seems like SSL is one of the last options that is still rooted firmly in emulating the essence of djing, i.e.: simply rocking two turntables and a mixer.
The buzz emanating from Serato's booth at NAMM 09 was due to the announcement that the v1.9 software update was upon us. This buzz was for two things: 1) 1.9 was packed with more features then your typical SSL update and 2) it meant version 2.0, which many have thought may be an overhaul of the product which has gotten a bit long in the tooth was inching ever nearer. After hearing the news for myself I downloaded 1.9, for free of course, and have been using it ever since.
So, What's new to 1.9?
SP-6 Sample Player
The SP-6 consists of 6 stereo sample playback devices that can be utilized a number of ways. They can play shorter samples (such as airhorns and drops), loops or whole songs. These devices can be triggered by your keyboard or a midi controller such as a drum pad.
Similar to how the virtual decks have different modes of playback, so do the SP-6. In 'Trigger' mode the file plays when you press the play button for that file. Pressing play repeatedly makes the sample re-trigger from it's start point. In 'Hold' mode the file plays as long as you hold the button down. In 'One Shot' mode the file plays from start to end when you hit play. Pressing play a second time makes it stop. There is also a loop button to make the file repeat. This can be used in conjunction with any of the three different play-back modes.
Keyboard Shortcuts:
Z, X, C, V, B, N - Trigger sample 1 - 6.
Alt/Option - Z, X, C, V, B, N - Stop sample 1 - 6
You can choose the destination of the output signal on the SP-6 from either the left or right deck channel or both (called mix) via L, M, and R buttons on the far right side of the device. Users of the SL-3 have an extra aux out that can handle this signal, a nice touch if you happen to have a third input channel or an aux in on your mixer.
It's the SP-6, it's for your health.
Pioneer MEP-7000 Support
This CD deck now joins the CDJ-400 as a plug-and-play control surface for SSL. Not only will all your song info show up right onto the MEP's display screen but you can leave the control CD's at home as they aren't necessary for this deck. Nice for MEP-7000 owners.
Live Feed
This is perhaps the most intriguing feature in the update. Previously, Scratch Live facilitated the recording of audio which could be imported and used pretty quickly, although this involved a few steps. Now it's possible to just play any audio feed through serato and be able to utilize all the features you are used to such as looping, placing and triggering cue-points, scratching, backcueing, etc. The source could be anything outputting audio and this can all be done on the fly.
Once 1.9 is installed and your hardware is connected you will notice you now have livefeed tracks in your library called "Livefeed - Rane SL 1" or "Livefeed - Rane TTM 57SL" as well as a "gated -24db" version of this track. Loading one of these tracks is all that's needed to
make your incoming audio feed "live" and ready for your manipulation. The gated track should be used if you want Live Feed to start once the -24 db threshold has been breached. All in all, easy-peasy.
Loop Roll
This is a tweaking of the Autoloop feature, the difference being that when you disengage the loop roll key the song jumps to the point where it should've been as if you never began looping. Basically you get to loop and stutter that track to oblivion but it stays in perfect time.
For this to work the track needs to have a BPM value assigned to it.
To trigger the different loop roll lengths on your keyboard use: Alt + Ctrl + 1 through 0.
While the keyboard works perfectly fine this feature becomes much easier to harness when utilizing a midi controller that has plenty of buttons and knobs. This is possible because of new auto loop controls that have become assignable to MIDI, new to 1.9.
This is really useful for adding stutter and glitchy effects to your tracks.
History
"History" generates a playlist of every set you perform with 1.9 and contains them within the program. All the tracks in the playlist can be imported into a new crate by simply dragging the playlist over to the area underneath the last crate in the crate browser. As well, the playlists can be saved as .txt, .csv, or .m3u files. No more headaches for you radio DJs - a couple clicks and your playlist is made for you.
Another bit of value-add here is that the .m3u file can be dragged into iTunes which creates a playlist with all the songs of your set. Oh, and once you have 1.9 you can go back to ANY set-list performed using 1.9 and later. 2 years from now you want to know what you played at that after-party for Cat Fancy magazine you can do it no problem. You may want to ask yourself why you're DJing an after-party for Cat Fancy, but that's neither here nor there....
Video-SL 1.1 Support
Also in 1.9 is support for the forthcoming Video-SL 1.1 update which will be a free upgrade for owners of Video-SL 1.0. The 1.1 update brings support for all Rane Scratch Live hardware, Midi mapping, and an offline player in Scratch Live. That's right, you don't have to plunk down all that extra dough on a TTM 57SL just to DJ with videos.
iTunes Library Changes
The iTunes library is now collapsible in the crate selector window which saves a lot of space. This is a simple, yet time saving feature for those of us who don't use the iTunes playlists and find they just get in the way when you are trying to move from your crates to the "All.." button.
• Unchecking 'read iTunes library' removes all tracks marked with the iTunes icon from you library except if the track is in one of your virtual crates.
• Tracks that are in both the iTunes library and the SSL library are no longer marked with the iTunes icon.
• Dragging tracks from an iTunes playlist or the iTunes llibrary onto the "All..." crate makes it a permanent in the SSL Library. You can also drag these files into the 'iTunes Library' playlist to mark it as an iTunes track.
• iTunes icons are now blue instead of green.
Minor Changes
• The 'build overviews' button has been replaced by 'analyze files' to reflect that this button does more then just build overviews.
• Enabling 'show album art' now shows album art for the tracks loaded onto the virtual decks. The artwork now displays next to the the track info near the top of the screen.
• There is now a new 'key' column in the library for all you trance DJs out there ;)
• You can now open the 'column chooser' menu by right clicking on a column in the track list.
• The offline player now supports Video-SL with effects management. You can now set cue points, loops and manage your crates without the need of hardware being connected.
• 1.9 contains an update for the TTM 57SL Firmware v3.11 which enables clickless FlexFx routing, and allows the AUX input to be muted while using the new "Live Feed" feature.
• 'Import' has been renamed 'Files'.
• The 'rescan ID3 tags' and 'relocate lost files' buttons have been moved to the 'Files (import)' panel. You can now drag a folder from 'files' onto 'relocate lost files' to search through the folder.
• You can now drop individual tracks onto the 'rescan ID3 tags' button to scan those tracks.
• You can now cancel 'rescan ID3 tags' by turning off the button while it is scanning.
Bugs and Fixes
• Before 1.9, if you merely cued a record for a few seconds SSL considered it "played" and marked it green in your library. Thankfully this is no more as a track only turns green once you load a song on the other virtual deck. This may not sound like it's a big deal but this is a really dope fix.
• Excessively loud track gains, such as those set by iTunes, now get ignored.
• Video track associations now get stored in the tag of the audio track, enabling the association to persist trough a track database rebuild.
• Dragging tracks from SSL onto Windows Explorer or OS X Finder now copies the files instead of moving them.
Thoughts
Leading up to 2.0, I sort of figured that updates would be minor, dealing with bug fixes and simple improvements more then anything else. Instead, with 1.9 we get a few serious tools to go along with the other more subtle changes. And since the download has been available in beta form I have used 1.9 exclusively for all my gigs and it's never been a problem. Solid as a rock.
The SP-6 has been getting steady use as a song player as much as a sample/ loop player and it has also afforded me to leave my hardware sampler at home now that it's become redundant. Nice. It has taken me some time to get my head around using it as you need to think ahead in regards to how you should route the SP-6's output (makes me want that SL-3 box). Beyond that it has added many more creative possibilities to my sets and I am enjoying all my new options. It's dope.
I thought it would be interesting to use a source not normally associated with DJing as my input for Live Feed so I turned to my TV. This was a lot of fun and resulted in creating some interesting samples for a couple tracks I'm working on. The process really was seamless. I can see myself using this in a multitude of ways. I think the Rhodes is going to get played through it next.
As much as I love those features I am most appreciative for all the little things that have made using SSL more efficient such as the collapsable iTunes library, the history feature, the ignored excessive gain volume, et al. New tools kick ass but doesn't it seem like it's the minor features like these that seem to make life a bit easier? Good stuff.
After I take stock of all that is involved with the 1.9 update a couple of interesting things stand out from the improvements and fixes on offer.
For one SSL has steadfastly remained a two source digital mixing system since its inception despite most of its competitors traversing into the realms of 2+ sources a good deal of time ago. While it may seem simple enough to me or you for Serato to merely add more sources (which they finally did in the SP-6) we all should note that doing so marks a conceptual change in the product, and therefore the way it will be used. The SP-6 is fairly simple at first glance, but in combination with a creative mind and a MIDI controller it can lead to drastically different results then previous versions of the software. If it sounds like I am making a mound out of a mole hill then consider this: Scratch Live had previously allowed you to play 2 digital files
simultaneously but now you can play 8! When I mull over the possibilities of what this affords a DJ to do - got any multi-track sessions anyone? I begin to see the SP-6 as a possible segue towards what could come from the Serato/Ableton collaboration we are eagerly awaiting. We'll see.
Another point of interest in this update is the Live Feed feature. This is a "blue-sky" feature in my book - a high-potential feature that is sort of open ended and up for interpretation of use. While I am sure you will start seeing this utilized in obvious, yet really killer ways by DJs mucking about with their MC's vocal output, I am also expecting to hear of people using this in completely unexpected ways. Like I said earlier, I had a fun time playing around with the audio from my TV. I would also be interesting in hearing someone use SSL as a realtime effects unit for a live band. Once again my thoughts go towards the future collaboration between Serato and Ableton as this feature sort of creates a bridge between the two companies realms of expertise.
Despite all of this Scratch Live has a ways to go until it is on the same level of features as some of the other guys, and particularly Traktor. For example, there are either limited (TTM 57SL) or no internal effects and still no VST support. Even with the increased capability of the SL-3, Scratch Live still cannot support files of the fidelity that other programs can. On paper, Scratch Lives feature-set continues to come up way short.
Conclusion
The 1.9 update introduces many improvements. Among them are some new features that bring Scratch Live a tad bit closer to the feature sets of its contemporaries, including some things the other applications can't do just yet. While SSL may not have as many capabilities as the other options on the market it still provides more then ample tools to rock the hell out of a crowd and this update nicely adds to it's present set of features. One of the main selling points to the product is that what it does it does extremely well, and I can say this update holds true to form.
If you use Serato Scratch Live, I highly recommend downloading this FREE update (but yo, use that Loop Roll sparingly kids!).
