Serato DJ Pro General Discussion

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 Serato DJ Pro General Discussion
Itch Bible?
Talk about Serato DJ Pro, expansion packs and supported hardware

Itch Bible?

Calzone 6:34 AM - 21 July, 2010
I'm new to Itch and I have tons of questions that the documentation didn't really answer for me. I can't seem to figure out where to find the answers I seek. I've looked through these forums for about 5-10 pages but everyone seems to already know what they're talking about and they're just seeking something specific and more advanced.

I had hoped there would be a stickied thread that deals with all these things, but alas, there isn't.

Is there an Itch for Dummies or an Itch Bible anywhere?

--

Without further ado, here's my list of noob questions:

Is there a detailed explanation of what the virtual deck is supposed to show? The spinning line corresponds to what position or characteristic of the song? What does the changing line length mean? What does the colored circumference segment mean and why does it keep getting longer when I repeatedly hit the same cue point on beat?

Is there a way to manage all your loops from the hardware itself (VS7)? I have trouble understanding how to change a loop permanently vs creating a temporary loop vs recalling a saved loop vs not overwriting a saved loop -- how to turn a loop on or off (never seems to really work for me in an intuitive way) -- how can I instantly jump to a saved loop from anywhere in the song or must I always wait until I get to it and how could I set up a loop before I get to it if I must wait until I get to it? -- how many loops can I save and can I browse them or somehow see them listed to know which ones to invoke when I need them? Is there a way to edit, delete, saved loops from VS7 or must I use Itch in standalone/disconnected mode? Is there a way to slide/nudge a loop left or right with the mouse when I'm trying to set it up without changing the duration? Can I have loops snap to transients/beats when I'm setting them up or sliding them left or right?

Why can you hit sync on both decks? What does this accomplish (or not)?

Is there any decent way to see where bars/measures start so songs can be bar matched above and beyond beat matching? When the waveform is scrolling by so fast it's hard to keep track.

Is there any way to easily convert iTunes playlists to crates? Vice Versa? What practical difference is there between a playlist and a crate (other than crates can be nested in other crates)?

Should we avoid updating iTunes in general? Itch 1.5 seems to be compatible with iTunes 9+ but serato.com and release notes on the software CD warn Itch is not compatible with iTunes > 6. How would I know what versions work or not when I update Itch or iTunes?

Why don't my BPM's show up in iTunes? I tried doing select all -> get info -> click ok and the bpm info doesn't show up.

Where to find itch 1.6? I see 1.7 beta is out there and I'm guessing 1.6 is stable?

Why does the song keep playing (silence) and the virtual deck keep spinning even after the song has run out? Should it not just stop?

How do I enable continuous play? How does continuous play work on two decks or is it only a single deck thing?

Where is the auto-gain setting? Apparently it's supposed to be on by default but my tracks don't seem to be auto-gained (still big differences in overall volume from one track to another).

What are the color dots for in the music listings? Why should I select colors for my songs and what does this mean for the colors Itch automatically assigns? What does a song listed in dark gray mean (as opposed to light gray)

Is there any way to control or alter the waveform display? (I would like to enhance transients somehow by exaggerating the scale, like I can do in Logic)

How do I quickly get back to the absolute start of a song (and pause) without using cue points? This continues to mystify me. The only thing I can see is to use the touch sensitive strip but that is not accurate and it does not pause the song. Something so basic must be fundamental and elementary, no?

What does center on selected song do? I enabled and disabled this setting but nothing changed that I noticed.

Why do the requirements mention 64 bit on os x? The app does not have an option to make it run in 64 bit mode.
czar 10:34 PM - 21 July, 2010
READ THE MANUAL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Calzone 10:42 PM - 21 July, 2010
Read my post where I said I read the manual. Unless there is some other manual out there I'm unaware of?

That's why I asked if there is a bible or other exhaustive and authoritative documentation.

If you happen to know the answers to my questions are addressed by the included documentation then direct me to it please. I certainly haven't found these answers within.

Yelling in all caps doesn't really help further any cause in any case. Better to have just ignored the thread no?
czar 10:58 PM - 21 July, 2010
I dont take capitals as screaming but because that's what the site says before hitting post I am sure that is the reason why u might think I was yelling which I was not. I have enough info with the manual and just doing research around threads a little (minimal) so Im sorry i cant help u and if u take peoples comments and tell them to "Better to have just ignored the thread no?" that is what people might do. and might be doing...
djcerla 7:27 AM - 22 July, 2010
What's a "VS7"?
Calzone 3:47 PM - 22 July, 2010
^^ it's a typo
magz 7:46 PM - 22 July, 2010
Yo is there any way i can trigger my samples in itch?.........
Awesome steve 8:51 PM - 22 July, 2010
When I get home from work I'll start tackling your questions.

The color dots are just so you can color code your music.
If a track is white/lt grey, that means it's not been played
dark grey is a missing file I think,
red is a damaged file, yellow is a file you've already played.
You'll want to remove/replace/repair red files.

I'll answer more when I get home Later.
Calzone 9:19 PM - 22 July, 2010
Awesome Steve living up to his name!

Thanks Steve.

I knew about the yellow vs other colors, but the rest of the colors were throwing me for a loop.

Also noticed the loop management features are more or less visible in Serato when you're using the NS7 but I had really hoped for something a bit more "visible" and more "random accessy" than having to press select to cycle through your loops. Also had hoped for some way to instantly jump to a loop and start playing it (without having to waste a cue point)... seems like something you should be able to do.

Also figured out you can use previous track to get to the beginning of the current track but it's not very reliable since you will often go to the previous track (also doesn't go to beginning and stop, which is what I was looking for and which you lose the moment you use your temporary cue point).

Some new questions I was pondering is if it's at all possible to make the area dedicated to waveform display (and tempo syncing and transient syncing) any bigger. I have 3/4 of my screen devoted to showing my library. Not the best use of space imo. I'd rather shrink that part down to just 1/4 and have nice huge waveforms etc taking up the other 3/4. Even the virtual deck is too small for me and I can hardly read some stuff (like messages and loop controls) from 3.5 feet away which is how far a laptop screen sits on the NS7.

Anyway, thanks again.
Awesome steve 10:06 PM - 22 July, 2010
I have the vci so he cuing works a bit different, so maybe someoneelse can help you there.

What I do to start over the track is pause, and previous track.
Also there is something in the playback section of the setup to make the track stop at the end.
The loop features work great on the vci, they have several dedicated buttons on each deck. I'm gonna have to go to guitar center and check out the ns7 and see if it's different.
You can zoom in the waveform display with + and - on your keyboard, but it won't make them actually take up more room on the screen.

As for the screen distance from your eyes, get a laptop stand. It will move it about 10" closer.
Awesome steve 10:42 PM - 22 July, 2010
Ok the spinning line on the virtual deck is just an arbitrary rotation that just indicates the track is playing AFAIK.
The line filling up with a different color means it is approaching a cue point, or leaving it. The background of the virtual deck will change color if you color code your musi with the color dots.

As for your loops, I'll just describe how the vci ones work. Play a track, hit the cue button, count 8(or whatever) bars, hit the button to the right of the cue button that you hit and it will start looping.
Hold the loop button and spin the platter to fine-tune the loop end point. Do the same with the start point by holding the cue button and spinning platter.
Shift(on the controller) + loop button you set, will delete just the loop.
Shift+cue will delete loop and cue point.

Itch 1.6 is only for a certain controller, I can't remember which one. 1.7 has only crashed on me once, whereas 1.5 did it several times a week, so I went against advice and use 1.7 at gigs.

Also, protip: hold ctrl and click analyze files (with bpm analyzer turned off) about once a week. My 7000 song collection takes several hours so do it before bed. You have todo this in offline mode. This will find any new corrupt files for you soyou can repair or remove them. You don't want corrupt files in your library.

As far as auto matching your beats and bars, that's a touchy subject aroun here but itch doesn't do it. It will just sync the tempo and you have to line up the tracks. 1.7 does have a beatgrid, though, I don't care for how it works. It is nice for getting *real* bpm, beause sometimes mine are way off.

Let me know ifyou have more questions.
Calzone 10:56 PM - 22 July, 2010
Thanks again.

I never meant for itch to auto sync to bars... but now that you mention it, I guess if it had the ability to detect bars it would have made that an option. So I can deduce it can't detect or highlight bars.

For new music, it's really easy to see the beats and nail the bars just listening to it. But if you like working with old classics (like 70s stuff) then the waveforms are really far less "sharp" looking and the songs are more amorphous so it's a bit more challenging to really get that first downbeat sometimes. When I work with Logic, increasing the vertical scale while leaving the horizontal scale alone does wonders for "seeing" the beat points and transitions clearly.

I know, I know... real DJs use their ears not their eyes. Well, I'll admit I'm not a real DJ -- but Serato must be on to something by showing us waveforms to help us out visually. I sure like the concept. It's just so small on the screen. They made it so I can magnify my music library but not the critical working display. I tried changing the waveform size but that only makes it go by slower with less precision or more precise and fast. Neither helps me really see the waveform better or larger.

For loops, I've resigned myself to mostly managing them in offline mode and locking them so I don't mess them up live. I still feel like I'm missing a clue though.

I'm going to try out 1.7 then and see if that feels better.

Thanks again! I'll be sure to ask more with time.
Calzone 12:36 AM - 23 July, 2010
I'm curious why you recommend holding control when running analyze (as well as why you recommend running it without bpm analyzer)?

Do you recommend doing this once a week even if you haven't added any new music to your library that week?
Awesome steve 7:13 AM - 23 July, 2010
control+analyze forces it to analyze all files. the purpose of not re-analyzing bpm is so that if you've manually changed bpm (they're not always spot on) it won't reset it to what it was before you changed it.

i do it once a week because sometimes your OS can just randomly corrupt files. (on pc anyway, but in theory, it could happen on mac, too). i add, and re-arrange music a lot.

you never know when you go to play that hot song, and you load it up, and when you hit play, it freezes up itch. it doesn't happen too often, and it might be something only i do, but it couldn't hurt.
Calzone 5:58 PM - 24 July, 2010
Thanks to Awesome Steve, I now understand what the virtual deck is attempting to show:

The changing color along the length of the revolving radial tells you you're approaching a cue point or leaving it behind. The closer you get the longer it gets colored with the matching color for that cue point, and the further you leave it behind the shorter it gets. I don't find that terribly useful personally. I don't normally care when I'm about to get to a cue point or have passed it as much as I care about just jumping to them on demand. I would prefer to see some animation that helps me understand loop status.

What still mystifies me is that if I repeatedly press a cue point, over time, the colored portion of the border along the outer circumference of the circle gets steadily longer. That would imply the song is also getting longer, which it isn't.

Also what mystifies me is that the actual position of the rotating radial line doesn't mean anything intuitive to me. It obviously starts at the top when the song starts and apparently ends at the top when the song ends. Aside from that it seems to be totally arbitrary. Worse, it's terribly distracting when trying to evaluate the "synciness" of two decks.

Why not make that line do one complete revolution for every bar of the song? If you don't know the bpm, fall back on the default speed. Otherwise, start at the top when the bar begins and end at the top for the next bar. That way if two songs are in sync, they will both have their lines at the top together (or if you've matched them offbeat one will be at the top and the other at the bottom). I'll post this to the suggestions thread too.
kraal 8:14 PM - 24 July, 2010
the spinning dial is more cosmetic than function when it relates to spinning.... there is really no need to rely on it for reference
Awesome steve 8:19 PM - 24 July, 2010
Well I'm glad I could help with what I could, but my vci doesn't show a colored border in the software no matter how many times I mash on the cue buttons.

Maybe upload a screenshot?
CBSDJDAVE 6:07 PM - 6 February, 2012
Is there a keyboard command or button on the NS6 to remove loops on tracks that
were made in the past, I want to remove some loop rolls on some tracks and sometimes when playing these tracks I see the loop is still there that I use before but no longer want .
Papa Midnight 10:50 PM - 6 February, 2012
Quote:
Is there a keyboard command or button on the NS6 to remove loops on tracks that
were made in the past, I want to remove some loop rolls on some tracks and sometimes when playing these tracks I see the loop is still there that I use before but no longer want .

It has to be removed in the offline player, one by one, as far as I know...
CBSDJDAVE 11:23 PM - 6 February, 2012
Anybody know the offline player command for removing loops