Serato DJ Pro General Discussion

Talk about Serato DJ Pro, expansion packs and supported hardware

Serato DJ & Pioneer DDJ-SX. which sound card?

Shplot 3:24 PM - 27 August, 2015
Hey all, I've been using Serato DJ & a DDJ-SX to record my sets directly with Serato DJ. I"m finding the sound quality is quite poor. Getting muddy, lower volume playback with some popping, distortion. My levels are good so not really sure what the issue is...anyway I'm wondering if an external sound card would be a better option.

Will there be a dramatic increase in sound quality if i use an external USB card card compared to my Macbook Pro's built in sound card?
DJ Tecniq 5:06 PM - 27 August, 2015
Quote:
Hey all, I've been using Serato DJ & a DDJ-SX to record my sets directly with Serato DJ. I"m finding the sound quality is quite poor. Getting muddy, lower volume playback with some popping, distortion. My levels are good so not really sure what the issue is...anyway I'm wondering if an external sound card would be a better option.

Will there be a dramatic increase in sound quality if i use an external USB card card compared to my Macbook Pro's built in sound card?
Have you checked to make sure your controller has the latest firmware? I have heard of Pioneer controllers doing this esp the ddjsr which I tested myself and had this result. Either there is a serious issue with recording in SDJ or it's the Pioneer hardware.
Shplot 6:24 PM - 27 August, 2015
I have not looked into the firmware update on my DDJ-SX, but i will do this when i get home. Thanks for the tip!
Johnny H 12:17 PM - 28 August, 2015
Hello

For the record, I have just purchased SX2 and think when it is linked with searto DJ it is one of the worst sounding sound card I have ever DJayed with.

Im so disappointed it's unreal, for pioneer i was expecting much more quality, your right! its a muddy horrid sound that comes out of searto when using the sx sound card.

Still not sure if its the sx, searto or a bit of both,

regards
Shplot 4:24 PM - 28 August, 2015
Hey Johnny, thanks for the feedback. In my case I'm mainly referring to actually recording a set through SDJ software. The recorded sets sound like crap and i have to have my levels way down or it distorts. Playback is lower quality, muddy, etc.

When i play my mp3's on the system live through my monitors it actually sounds quite good. I have not tested the quality of sound playback vs SSL, so there could certainly be a difference there.
Johnny H 4:48 PM - 28 August, 2015
Well I can confirm also when using the sx2 and serato there is way too much gain both decks, I'm constantly backing off the deck gains trying to keep out of the red LEDs.

Not sure if this hindering your record quality, but I don't even like the output quality! To me compared to my cdj decks its dull sounding, no real sweetness at the top and a real muddybottom end, overall dull sounding, no sweetness or stereo dynamics

Pleople tell me its because its a mid range controller! I don't think the entry level controllers will sound much worse lol
DJ Tecniq 8:24 PM - 28 August, 2015
Quote:
Well I can confirm also when using the sx2 and serato there is way too much gain both decks, I'm constantly backing off the deck gains trying to keep out of the red LEDs.

Not sure if this hindering your record quality, but I don't even like the output quality! To me compared to my cdj decks its dull sounding, no real sweetness at the top and a real muddybottom end, overall dull sounding, no sweetness or stereo dynamics

Pleople tell me its because its a mid range controller! I don't think the entry level controllers will sound much worse lol
And this is the #1 reason why I hate SDJ there is no master gain like SSL at least for the SL3 there isn't. But I believe there is a master gain for controllers. Have you tried turning this down and the checking your gains for your tracks?
DJ Tecniq 8:27 PM - 28 August, 2015
I have to turn off auto gain just to stay out of clipping. While it doesn't sound like its clipping it's def reaching red levels. It is the worst compared to SSL cause with master gain lower all my tracks are fine and every track seems level. Whatever they are doing opposite of SSL I couldn't see how it benefits the software. Why have master gain for controllers but not the Rane interfaces? Makes no damn sense to me.