which Hercules controller do u have?
so your only issue is lights not turning on on your controller?
probably because you plugged into the USB ports and your controller needs a power adapter
so all the other lights come on,

usb ports only output 5v and using minimal amount of power for your controller.

It's the Hercules DJ Control Starlight and no it does not come with an adapter:
www.hercules.com

does everything else work?

I only found the issue a couple of hours ago, this controller needed to work with the latest version of DJ Lite [1.1], I had 1.0 on both machines.

Seems their ad and manual is very misleading as it very clearly shows no driver is needed but yes, I also needed to install the driver. Another issue is their ad shows the "Beat Flash" feature which is the only reason why I bought it

Beat Flash: Lights flash red for downbeats and flash blue for non-downbeats

I had thought since I don't like using Headphones then this would be the answer to my problems. I had thought there be some flashing light in Serato itself but it looks like it's referring to the light at the bottom of the base of the controller which makes no sense. Why would someone need to take their eyes off the screen to focus on the light in the base of the controller? Just called up their support on this but the tech guy too was baffled, go figure.

He said he will need to confirm with some other person but I think I am correct on this, what a waste, the Numark DJ2GO2 is a much better unit being the same size.

What's wrong with the display in Serato for beatmatching without headphones?

I need the headphones to get the 1st downbeat. I'm not a pro DJ. I only play the warm up pre-party music for the guys until the real DJ's turn up but still I don't want to play the incoming track across the speakers until I find that first kickdrum.

Anyway Hercules senior tech confirmed the beat flash they advertise in this controller is only for the lighting display under the base of the unit sorta like when a DJ light flashes on the beat.

That's exactly how I'd have read the marketing material you posted.

But again... The waveforms in Serato are color coded, for most structured tracks it's easy to find the downbeat from that- or set a cue point on it so you can always jump straight to it

I understand the purpose of the cue points but I use the guy's laptop, music and equipment where we play the music so I play on the fly whatever comes to mind.

In the beginning of using Serato I had tried using the waveform's view to recognize the downbeat before but for some tracks was very difficult but good point, thank you. Now that I have a better handle on serato, I will do some experimenting to see if I can recognize the downbeat from the waveform, will let you know know how this goes in the next couple weeks.

Until then you pro DJ's be safe and light up the gig tonight!

downbeat will usually be coded red in the waveform

correct but not always it could be a acapella start or even just silence at the beginning or a snare drum all depends. but as a dj you will be able to determine where the down beat is.

i just hear it and set cue

Right, I looked at some random tracks again, no way to tell just by looking at the waveform. I thinks it's only tracks with well defined beats which will allow one to visually see the downbeats.

u must be using youtube rips

sorry I am not understanding what you wrote, can you clarify please about "youtube rips"?

you get your music from youtube?

Oh no, I purchase mp3's from Amazon and most of my classic collections are from CD's

ah the cds would explain why your waveforms are small

Hmnn, I had always thought files ripped from original CD's would be the best quality but I had also always wondered why why some waveforms show in such a small view.

whats your email?

fonzhende1@yahoo.com

did you get it?

Yes, thanks but can only look into it in the morning.

have a look and read what it says.

Wow, now if all files like those looked like that then there would be zero issues identifying the 1st downbeat but in reality I can't see that most files will have such well defined beats no matter which source it comes from or am I mistaken?

i.postimg.cc

Also, those are "club" tunes so when playing average "pop" music, I don;t see that the waveforms will be as defined.

My pop music waveforms look like that too lol. cant send you those because theyre from my collection and downloaded from my acount. under the tos you cant share music other djs take that risk but i dont.

basically, any file that is 320kbs and mastered properly will look like that. I suggest getting a license to a record pool. or get on some djs mailing list. Dj od from crooklynclan has a good mailing list. also serato and xtendamix have a 3 month trial to there record pool only downside is there tracks are video only so they take up more space but i found some oldies I've been looking for a minute on there. I can help you reach out to dj od if you're interested.

I very much appreciate all of your help with everything, thank you!

Thing is, I have no need to join a record pool as I am not a commercial DJ and already have a very large collection pre-2014 which is when I had stopped updating new music. Since then I play mainly oldies at my buds house and pre-gigs so no need for new music. Whenever I hear a new tune I like I purchase from Amazon but that's only a few tunes per year.

I think you might have nailed this being a bitrate issue as most of my tracks will be 128. What about pop tunes with intros, can you maybe send me a screenshot of what one looks like please?

imgur.com

I can't download the Latest (64-bit) version of Serato Dj Lite because my laptop has 32-bit...what can i do to connect my hercules djcontrol starlight to serato?

What laptop are you using? Is there any reason you're still running 32bit?

Hi there,

The last version of Serato DJ Lite that supports 32-bit operating systems is SDJ Lite 1.0.2

If you wish to use newer versions of the software, will you need to upgrade to a 64-bit operating system.