Pro Tips on Flips

Serato Flip lets you use cue points and the censor function in Serato DJ to create custom edits of your tracks, extend and re-imagine your music. It's a tool that reflects something DJs have always done to make songs more DJ friendly - either by externally editing songs in other applications or actually using the cue points to jump between sections in the mix on the fly. It's also how a lot of producers have used the Offline Player to chop up samples with cue points, and have a quick beat sketch pad for ideas. We hope this opens the door to some exciting new experimentation and performance for all DJs.

Read a full blog post on what Serato Flip is.

We thought we'd show you some examples of Flip in action and give you some insider tips on making the most from this feature and personalising the music in your library - just how you want to play it!

Skipping a Verse / Section of a Track.

No Drake version? ALL Drake version? No problem...

What we are doing here is a basic verse skip. This is as simple of setting a cue point at the part of the song we would like to jump TO, and then record a Flip where we perform this cue jump. You can do this offline and don't even have to have the track playing as Flip only records and recognises the points in the song where you jump between cues, not the actual movement of the playhead.

  1. Firstly, set a cue point at the point you would like to jump TO.
  2. Hit record in the Flip panel to arm recording.
  3. Move the playhead over the part of the track you would like to jump FROM
  4. Hit the cue point where you would like to jump TO
  5. Now, turn LOOP off in the Flip panel and hit Record again to end the Flip recording.
  6. Click Save (this should add this Flip to an open Flip slot in the Flip panel).
  7. Now when you load this track, if you have it turned ON, it will always play back that action. If you turn it OFF, it won't play on track load, you'll have to manually turn it ON again.

Make a New Intro / Mix Section

Do you have tracks which drop straight away? Tracks with vocals in the intro that makes it a no-go to mix over hooks? Flip makes it easy to make a looped mix section which will then jump to the start of the track when you like - just how you would use cue points to do this previously.

You can also use this on the first line of a hot track, to loop it up a few times and then jump back to the start of the track for a re-load effect. 

Using #SeratoFlip to create quick mix sections for tracks without an intro.

A video posted by @serato onAug 31, 2014 at 7:50pm PDT

  • Find a section in the track that's got a clean section of 4 - 8 bars and set a cue point at the beginning of this (could be an outro, breakdown, hook etc.)
  • Now add a cue point at the part of the track you'd like to jump to from your intro. 
  • Hit Flip record to arm Flip recording.
  • Navigate to the start of your mix section and hit play, then use your cue point to loop in this section until you are ready to jump to the drop (depending on how long you want your mix section to be you could loop 4 - 8 times).
  • Hit the cue point for the start of the track.
  • Turn LOOP off and click Save (this should add this Flip to an open Flip slot in the Flip panel).
  • Now when you load this track, if you have it turned ON, it will always play back those actions when you begin to mix from your outro / breakdown section. If you turn it OFF, it won't play on track load, you'll have to manually turn it ON again.  

Half Time / Double Time

You can also use Flip to make half or double time sections in tracks for going up or down tempo when mixing. You can also use the quantise cue point feature to make sure you really get your beats on time.This is handy for making cool little loops to mix with or just in breakdowns for something a little different.

#SeratoFlip with the Akai AMX coming soooooooon

A video posted by @serato onAug 11, 2014 at 3:34pm PDT

  • Set your cue points on some open drums, say a kick, snare and high hat or even an interesting sound or sample.
  • Turn quantise on, and make sure Loop and Loop Snap are turned on in the Flip panel (you will need accurate Beatgrids). Choose your quantise setting depending on the timing you are wanting to use.
  • Hit Flip record to arm Flip recording
  • When you get to a section in your track you want the Flip to begin, start drumming out your Flip. This isn't going to be easy for everyone and it's definitely a "practise makes perfect" situation :)
  • When you get to the end of your Flip pattern, hit Record again in time to end the loop in time.
  • This will now continue to loop what you just did. You can jump out of this by hitting cue points outside of the Flip or by turning it off using the Flip panel controls or your hardware.
  • Click Save (this should add this Flip to an open Flip slot in the Flip panel).
  • Now when you load this track, if you have it turned ON, it will always play back that action when you get to the part of your track where you performed this. If you turn it OFF, it won't play on track load, you'll have to manually turn it ON again.

Serato Flip is a really open format feature and we suggest you experiment and try find out what works best for you.

Get Serato Flip and other Serato DJ Expansion Packs.