yo mat, is it happening with the same files every time? I've had issues with some files (mainly ones I had ripped at 96 khz a while back) that weren't loading, but restarting serato would usually work.

Might want to re-rip the files or re-encode the mp3s.

As for as the dropouts - is your usb droplight indicator going on at all? You might want to ease back on some of the process-heavy features like the buffer or the screen updates and that might help also. I know you'd probably want to keep your USB buffer really low since you scratch a lot but try fiddling with lowering the screen updates or the audio cache and it might solve your sound dropouts. There's been some complaints about 1.8 increasing dropouts with Macs too so maybe that's what you're experiencing.

yeaah it was strange
i had a few tracks that wouldnt load , all the tracks are 320 or 192
i restarted and was getting small audio drop outs , the turntables signals were fine and no usb drop outs
it was weird ,
played last night and had no problems so im going to keep an eye on it

dont think its the settings for the buffer or cache ?screen updates as ive had them set the same for a long time and had no problems

the 57s amazing though im really enjoying doing shows with it
just need a good light as it gets a bit tricky in the darker clubs

maybe nab a usb-powered light like this? www.thinkgeek.com

If it's happening consistently maybe tag the tracks that are causing problems and see if there's something strange about the encoding...

I think I may have seen what you're talking about - does the track load and no waveform appear? I've seen that a few times but it almost seems random and a quick reboot of the program seems to solve it.

I'm fully in love with my new 57 - nicest mixer I've ever owned and the integration with serato is amazing.

Btw, when are you playing next locally? It's been a while since I've seen you play.

ive been wandering if it was ok to use a usb light while running serato
im in vegas so ill be keeping an eye on the tracks that wouldnt load
not sure when ill be in vancouver next ive been away from home since dec 18th

Should be no problem. If serato can run fine with a USB harddrive on the other port, I don't think a USB light would cause any problems.

Yeesh - that's a long time to be on the road... No doubt you've been killing it wherever you've played tho :).

This has happened with a few tracks, I think it has something to do with the encoding. The easiest thing to do is to re-encode the tracks. I would throw it in the trash if it happened while I'm playing and grab it out later to re-encode it. Also a few of the tracks played fine in other versions and started to act like this in the last few versions.