About Serato

The Serato Story

Serato makes premier audio software for music lovers around the world. Since launching our first product in 1999, our users have grown into a community of millions of DJs, producers, engineers and musicians across 190 countries. From bedroom studios to festival stages. From the unknown to the greatest. Our mission is to deliver the best possible experience for creating, playing and sharing music, wherever you are.


Serato’s story begins with Pitch ‘n Time - still the world’s foremost studio plugin for time-stretching and pitch-shifting technology.

In 1997, co-founder Steve West was a University of Auckland student learning to play bass guitar on the side. Steve wanted to slow down complicated bass solos without altering the pitch. Frustrated with the sub-par tools available at the time, Steve set out to write an algorithm that would do just that. And so, Serato Pitch ‘n Time was born in 1999.


In 2000 Steve and AJ Bertenshaw began experimenting with the idea of controlling digital audio using vinyl. AJ had a working prototype of software that allowed you to scratch audio off a CD with a mouse. After a bit of feedback Serato took this idea further and soon developed the Serato Noisemap™: a control tone pressed into vinyl records for controlling digital audio playback.


Serato also created Scratch Studio Edition during 2000. This Pro Tools plug-in allowed studio engineers, producers and DJs to scratch any digital sample or sound file on their computer using their existing turntables or mouse as the controller.


Serato partners up with Rane to launch Serato Scratch Live in 2004 with the Rane SL1. DJs could now access and perform with their entire digital music collection using specially designed control records, control CDs, or MIDI controllers. Scratch Live went on to revolutionize the DJ industry.


In 2008 Serato launched Whitelabel.net: a unique system for putting digital, promo-only releases directly into the hands of DJs. Files were uniquely coded solely for use in Serato software and available free of charge. This meant DJs could play out exclusive tracks within moments of downloading them, bringing new meaning to the term “For Club Use Only”. Whitelabel.net was decommissioned in 2018.


While Serato Scratch Live had taken off, there were still inherent problems with your every-day DJ setup, like the declining quality of in-house turntables. Serato turned to developing an all-in-one DJ compact controller system where you could plug in and start DJing straight out of the box.

In January 2008 Serato ITCH launched with its first supported hardware controller, the Vestax VCI-300.


Serato launches its very first VJing software, Serato Video-SL in 2008 - soon to become Serato Video. Now DJs had a simple, user-friendly way to play digital video files just as they would their digital music collections.


As professional digital DJing grew, so too did the demand for entry level software. In September 2011, Serato DJ Intro was born.


In 2012 Serato launched Serato DJ - the evolution to Serato Scratch Live and ITCH - in conjunction with the Pioneer DJ DDJ-SX. This was Serato’s first step to an unified piece of software across the whole product range and introduced a new interface to Serato users.


2013 also saw Serato launch its first official App for iPad - Serato Remote - an accessory allowing DJs to control certain Serato DJ features without touching a laptop.


In 2016 Serato harnessed the power of Pitch ‘n Time for its first foray into the consumer market - Serato Pyro. A free iOS app that mixes any two songs together, without skipping a beat.


2017 saw Serato come full circle and return to the diverse world of music production with Serato Sample. A high-quality sampling plugin allowing producers to find, chop, time-stretch and key shift their samples while retaining studio-grade sound. All using the power of Pitch ‘n Time.


In 2018 Serato’s flagship products, Serato DJ and Serato DJ Intro, became Serato DJ Pro and Serato DJ Lite. DJs can now mix two tracks together with just their laptop, have a limitless music library, and a crisp, high-resolution interface.


June 2019 saw the release of Serato Studio. This intuitive beat making software packs advanced production functionality into a familiar, DJ-friendly workflow so you can transition seamlessly into beat making.