You got my vote. To me it seems like it was better in Version 1.3 and older.

Forgot to add - if there is a beat view, then adding a zoom in/out option will also make the beat matching easier...

Great idea!

while beat matching is a good idea. so is practice

of course practice is good, But if it's already there, why not use it sometimes, when needed? (no monitor/no headphones/bad mixer/while drinking/when drunk) :^)

I've been known to go at it for hours without headphones. SSL makes it so much easier to do. You can beat match, juggle, mix, blend, drop, double up... all that with the help of the displays. It wouldn't hurt to make it better.

Sounds too microwav-ish to me DeezNotes.....takes away from the actual skill in my opinion. I refer to the waveform once in awhile too, but not all the time and I do think it's a bit cluttered.

I think beatmatching is like riding a bike....once u know how to do it, youre set. if the feature is already there, it makes sense to improve it. i mean, you're already payin for it.

A tool like this is best used when you already know how to beat match. You are cheating yourself to have something else do your beatmatching, not only that but your are wasting your time. What good is a dj who can't beatmatch 2 records. What would you do if your computer didn't work, or start, or serato crashed, you would look like an idiot not being able to hold things down the real way.

The best benefit I'v seen from the wave views are very limited, but if you are scratching it is helpfull to see where on the sample you are, especially if trying to train yourself new cuts. The only other benefit I found is at live shows with massive sound systems. Sometimes a few of my shows the systems are so loud and large your headphones can sometimes be hard to hear the very precise timing of your pich, the wave views give you the extra boost that you can't hear.

just my 2 cents worth

When I was learning to beatmatch I had blinky lights on either side of the crossfader and I'd sit there waiting for them to be in sync.. It HINDERED my learning to beatmatch. Electrical tape over the lights and my ears began to work on beatmatching. Having the SSL waveforms there is 'nice' - but those that can use their ears and eyes at the same time are just using the tool to it's fullest potential. No harm done. DJ'ing skills are changing, no way to stop it.

I had that too on an old old mixer....I believe it was a numark gimmick. It didn't help me one bit.

Why does everyone think that being able to beat match quickly using some kind of counter means you can't beatmatch without it?

It's useful to be able to do both, having trouble with headphones? switch over to the visual bpm map... doing a tablist routine with quick cues? use the visual bpm map.

but thats not gonna be perfect for long house style mixes so there you may be better off using your ears, but you can still use the visual bpm map to get you within the correct ball park.

When i got Serato I was using the viaul BPM map to help with beatmatchign within minutes, but i still wouldn't rely completely on it it just heped with quick mixes where i didn't really have the time to perfect the beat sync...

i think it's horses for courses and you use what you use when you need to...

just my opinion though.

I like the idea of making the beat matching displays less cluttered and having a zoom function.

I would like to have the ability to remove this.
Im sorry, i know this has been requested before.

Real DJ's vs DJ's from the era of Onez and Zeros.

Real Dj's can blend while sleeping.

Its a neat tool for someone starting off. But to be honestly Ive been swimming for over 20 years and I think I would look pretty silly jumping in the pool with floaties on my arm. If you really have to stare at a waveform looking for kicks and claps you should'nt be spinning.

Please can we get away to switch off the wave display and beat counter, not make it easier

yea thats a nice though

I agree with DJ Lookout, if you can't feel the music in the first place, don't DJ. DJing is a feeling not a visual! After djing for 25 years and just switching to serato, I think visuals are all great but the sound is where the mixing is :) Have fun with sound.
Visuals are great if you mixing videos. So watch more MTV

In this case, You've got 2 options:
1) get rid of serato, and buy real vinyl/CD's... Then you get all the challenge you wish for. No visuals, no counters, nothing.. Exactly what you seek.
2) If you don't like the waves, and counters... don't look at it. ;-D

There is already many ways to do it... Watchwww.youtube.com

I realise I am joining in a little late but I have 2 things to bring up.

1) I got lazy and forgot to trust my ears due to being hypnotised by the wave displays. But I have just purchased a 10" netbook and as the display is smaller if you have the tracks on screen you can't see the wave display and I have gone back to using my ears!!

2) After saying that however, it would be handy to have a wave display showing the breaks etc in tracks. As you just use the same control records you don't get the visual notification of drops etc in tunes. I know you have an overall track view beside the wave display but it is too narrow to be of any real use.

Just an idea..

Ooo and is there any way you can save the review screen after closing Serato, for posting tracklistings etc?

I Thought that was what cuepoints are for? (among other things - triggering cues ;))

The Pc way: scratchlive.net
The Mac way: www.inklen.com

ears work even better... and they are free and require NO upgrade.


god forbid you end up gigging without serato some night!

yeah, if you could filter the beats,the snares etc would be great!

+1 from me

So sad. If you don't like the waveforms don't look at them. Name one of the top club DJs right now and I'll show you a guy who looks at waveforms. Big deal. You aren't a "Cool guy" because you don't look at waveforms. You aren't a better DJ either. You aren't going to get more gigs, you aren't going to rock a crowd better, and you aren't going to get any more respect from anybody besides another washed up old DJ who thinks like you.

Should you spend the entire night staring at the waveforms and not glance up at the crowd to see what's going on? No, you shouldn't...but to want the Serato Developers to waste time on something like this so you can tell your buddies, "Yeah, look at me, I can mix without the waveforms because I've been DJing with Vinyl for 25 years, I'm so fucking cool." is a bit silly.

I DJ'd with Vinyl. I use vinyl to switch laptops with another DJ and I can beatmatch it just fine. I also look at the waveforms here and there when I mix. They are a useful tool, and I've seen too many shitty DJs say that a DJ who was much better than them was a "wavie" because he was looking at the waveforms during his set.

It's nice to have an opinion and not want to use the waveforms for yourself, but to try and convince the developers to waste time on this when there are much more important things to be done is the height of self righteousness.

I've a blindingly simple suggestion/request on the beat matching waveform display, so simple I am surprised I have been unable to find it in these forums. Would it be possible to reverse the flow of the displays, from traveling upwards to traveling downwards? On most decks I have ever toyed with (Technics, mostly), the pitch controller slows the beat as you push away from your body, and faster towards your body. This is the opposite from what the Scratch L/R waveforms display to the DJ and is so counterintuitive as to lead to panicked moments of confusion at critical times, especially in busy or cluttered sounding tracks where my as still inexperienced beat-matching ear may fail the audience.

So, long story short, can you reverse the flow of the L/R beat-matching waveforms displays?

I've been spinn'n since I was 17... I'm now 40 and love every minute of Serato... Remember us oldies are not all hippie Dj's from the 70's... Serato, The Bridge and Ableton are the future... Bring on the wave forms in big beat form for us old guys.

hard to believe that this is still not changed. had a look at an SL4 lately and in stack mode the different speed/zoom of the Beat Matching Displays in between the main waveforms is terrible.
actually that would prevent me from getting one.

how about having beat grids by default and getting rid of those Beat Matching Displays at all?

R-A-C, I'm pretty sure SSL will get beat grids as a standard option soon.
For now, just install the bridge (the free trial of Ableton will do), and you'll have beat grids....

beatgrids is not the problem but the beat matching displays

Please include an option to completely DISABLE the beat matching display.
I preferred the extended view from 1.3 without this display in between the waves.

I actually heard someone say last weekend while hanging booth-side

"he isnt really DJ'ing... he doesent even look at his computer"

true story.

Lol!