Serato DJ Pro General Discussion

Talk about Serato DJ Pro, expansion packs and supported hardware

What happened to "Quality Control" in the DJ industry??

Chino 12:34 AM - 7 February, 2019
It seems like the days of solidly built DJ hardware are long gone. Instead we have products released with built in obsoleteness and recalls are becoming the "norm"?! Releasing DJ/music production software with known issues and addressing those issues later has also become the "norm" these days?? Really??!!

I try not to make blanket statements but IMHO this seems to be a growing issue affecting the DJ/tech industry as a whole. What happened? What can I do as a consumer to help encourage companies to raise quality control standards?

Unfortunately, the only thing that most companies respect is money. I can choose to not buy anymore DJ products but that to me is 'like cutting off your nose to spite your face'.

The excuse of "out of the 1000s of product X that were sold, only a very small percentage are defective" is NOT acceptable!!
DJ Tecniq 3:47 AM - 7 February, 2019
InMusic is still around...that’s what happened
deejdave 3:55 AM - 7 February, 2019
I think you are comparing apples to oranges. And nobody eats apples anymore!!!
DJ Tecniq 4:56 AM - 7 February, 2019
Quote:
And nobody eats apples anymore!!!
I happen to like them still😊
Chino 11:15 AM - 7 February, 2019
Quote:
InMusic is still around...that’s what happened


It's not only inMusic Brand that has poor quality control. I didn't buy a Pioneer SX3 because of the recall. Even Roland has had quality issues with the DJ 505. The left side Play/Pause button on my DJ-808 has now become loose too.

I'm all for companies releasing new DJ products. I just need those products to work well.
CMOS 2:22 PM - 7 February, 2019
People wont ditch a brand after a bad experience, instead they double down and buy the newer model that fixed the issues with the first model.

People see something on the web and before ever touching it claim it to be the greatest thing ever and send money before its actually released.

Electronics used to be sold as durable easy to maintain items, they came with or had easy to find service manuals, parts were available, you could take most items to a repair place and get it fixed up for minor stuff.

Now they want you to replace it every 3 years, no service manuals, good luck finding parts, and repair places are suing for the "right to repair".

Its not just the DJ sector but production as a whole, Its no longer acceptable to make a great product that makes profit, if that profit does not grow every year, somehow you have failed.
Comrade Tulayev 4:20 PM - 7 February, 2019
It's called capitalism.
Chino 4:40 PM - 7 February, 2019
Quote:
People wont ditch a brand after a bad experience, instead they double down and buy the newer model that fixed the issues with the first model.


^ Funny that you mention this. I was all set to buy the new Denon DJ Prime 4 controller but then I remembered my horrible experience with the Denon MCx8000. I've learned my lesson!!

Quote:
People wont ditch a brand after a bad experience, instead they double down and buy the newer model that fixed the issues with the first model.

People see something on the web and before ever touching it claim it to be the greatest thing ever and send money before its actually released.

Electronics used to be sold as durable easy to maintain items, they came with or had easy to find service manuals, parts were available, you could take most items to a repair place and get it fixed up for minor stuff.

Now they want you to replace it every 3 years, no service manuals, good luck finding parts, and repair places are suing for the "right to repair".

Its not just the DJ sector but production as a whole, Its no longer acceptable to make a great product that makes profit, if that profit does not grow every year, somehow you have failed.


I'm co-signing ALL of this!! It's the current sad state of manufacturing. ; (
Chino 4:47 PM - 7 February, 2019
Quote:
It's called capitalism.


Capitalism doesn't have to be so wasteful. Solidly built, easily repairable products are a win for consumers, repair shops & the environment. Disposable products with built-in obsoleteness really only benefits the greedy corporations that are selling those products!
Comrade Tulayev 4:54 PM - 7 February, 2019
Exactly, it's capitalism. Profit is all that matters.
YZ 5:34 PM - 7 February, 2019
Shit today has to have buttons and knobs, colored lights and glow sticks integrated into the hardware for the fandango boys to DJ with, thus spawning a wide opportunity for shit to to fail. I saw this on my Rane 62. Must of replaced the buttons on that thing 100 times along with the fader carriers. My Rane 56, 54, 52... never had a problem, not once. Mo features, mo problems.
deejdave 5:50 PM - 7 February, 2019
Quote:
People wont ditch a brand after a bad experience, instead they double down and buy the newer model that fixed the issues with the first model.

People see something on the web and before ever touching it claim it to be the greatest thing ever and send money before its actually released.

Electronics used to be sold as durable easy to maintain items, they came with or had easy to find service manuals, parts were available, you could take most items to a repair place and get it fixed up for minor stuff.

Now they want you to replace it every 3 years, no service manuals, good luck finding parts, and repair places are suing for the "right to repair".

Its not just the DJ sector but production as a whole, Its no longer acceptable to make a great product that makes profit, if that profit does not grow every year, somehow you have failed.

I actually disagree entirely as well. I won't go with Denon or Numark for these reasons personally BUT I will still go with Pioneer. I did have the original SZ that had issues and I had the original SX that had issues and I disagree with your second point too in that I still have both of these units (without owning the SX2 or SX3 or SZ2) and BOTH have been completely fixed at the cost of the manufacturer and to further solidify this it was how they (Pioneer) handled said issues that kept my business. Make no mistake I continue to purchase Pio gear (most currently NXS2 setup) and hopelessly await a DDJ-1000 type unit and they have their customer support and policies to thank for this. Should they have been caught prior to being sent out? yes. Would I have preferred to have no issues to begin with? YES but this is not our reality and I don't think they could have done a better job on such a mass scale. The SZ issue alone was enough to put most other manufacturers out of business if they even tried to address it as Pio did.
Quote:
I'm co-signing ALL of this!! It's the current sad state of manufacturing. ; (

Funny you say that when you completely negate the initial point LOL.
DJ Tecniq 6:18 PM - 7 February, 2019
Quote:
Shit today has to have buttons and knobs, colored lights and glow sticks integrated into the hardware for the fandango boys to DJ with
But don’t you have the 72🤔
Chino 7:35 PM - 7 February, 2019
Quote:
Funny you say that when you completely negate the initial point LOL.


I'm just venting...lol. I had to send my Denon MC6000MKII for a tack switch repair. That $10 part ended up costing $211 because of shipping/labor & 3 weeks to get back. Now the PLAY/CUE button on my DJ-808 needs repair/replaced. Who knows how much that repair will end up costing. All this right before the start of my busy season. Oh well, hopefully my Rane 72/SLDZ MKII combo will remain solid.
17tr2 9:50 PM - 7 February, 2019
A big part of the problem is that no one makes anything anymore. Instead of making products in house, they put orders in to Chinese companies. Its not just DJ gear. Its happening everywhere.
YZ 10:18 PM - 7 February, 2019
Quote:
Quote:
Shit today has to have buttons and knobs, colored lights and glow sticks integrated into the hardware for the fandango boys to DJ with
But don’t you have the 72🤔


Yea, but it's the best and only option for me (vinyl DJ) to use at this time. I have other normal 2 channel mixers when I want to do vinyl only but 90% it's serato. All these new mixers have issues, luckily the 72 has been good to me so far.
deejdave 10:46 PM - 7 February, 2019
Quote:
I think you are comparing apples to oranges. And nobody eats apples anymore!!!

BTW the reason I say this is everyone here is completely forgetting one HUGE aspect. There was no SW to consider years ago. Do you even need hardware that will last 20 years when it will be obsolete (SW-wise) in five? I tend to take care of my HW and I'll be honest I have had zero issues regarding quality control aside from maybe the back sticker coming off of my SZ and/or some cosmetic issue here and there. Oh yeah fader caps falling off my SX which was fixed by P-Lok caps but this was more of an end user cost issue as adding them initially would/could have raised the initial cost of unit.
DJ Marv the Maverick 6:43 PM - 8 February, 2019
Quote:
Now the PLAY/CUE button on my DJ-808 needs repair/replaced. Who knows how much that repair will end up costing.


Roland has 3 year warranty in Europe.

It only cost me shipping out to have my Cue/Play button replaced.

Remember we both had similar experience with the MCX8000. I didn't lose faith in Denon though..I bought the 6000MK2, SC5000, SC5000M, X1800 after.

I've sold the 6000MK2 btw. It was an emergency buy when the 8000 was not reliable.

I'm happy with the SC5000M and the X1800.

The modern DJ gear has to do more than just play music...could this be a reason.

I don't think I will be buying the Prime 4 though. I feel they squeezed too much into it. Is it one processor running everything? 4 layers, elastique Time stretching, sound processing etc. I have seen laptops tap out under the stress of PNT.
Chino 7:34 PM - 8 February, 2019
Quote:
I don't think I will be buying the Prime 4 though. I feel they squeezed too much into it. Is it one processor running everything? 4 layers, elastique Time stretching, sound processing etc. I have seen laptops tap out under the stress of PNT.


Thats a really good point! I know the Prime 4 is running a multi-core processor but is it powerful enough?

Quote:
The modern DJ gear has to do more than just play music...could this be a reason.


True. Maybe the technology needs time to catch up? I haven't lost complete faith in Denon just yet but I will prob sit this one out. The early adopters can beta test the Prime 4 for me this time around. ; )
dj_soo 12:55 AM - 11 February, 2019
Keep in mind that the denons aren’t running anything but the engine software on it tho a no additional os’s, no background processes, no internet or anything else so that should be way more streamlined for playing music than the average laptop.

Wouldn’t be surprised if they put a pair of the sc5000 multi core processors in it working in conjunction.
Chino 3:21 AM - 11 February, 2019
Quote:
Wouldn’t be surprised if they put a pair of the sc5000 multi core processors in it working in conjunction.


That would be ideal but I dont know how cost effective that would be. Denon still needs to make a profit.

Im very tempted to buy the Prime 4 to do a comprehensive review. I would like to take it apart to see what processor is used, RAM, build quality etc.
hersh20 8:18 PM - 11 February, 2019
the problems is also that the hardware is built for these new people to get into djn, who a lot of the time dont care to stick it out, or dont care to further themselves, learn, and grow.

its a throw away society, it's too hard, quit, it's not working right quit, this music's old after 3 mos gimme new, and so on and so forth.

nothing is made to last anymore. the high end stuff sure, but the market is so small for that now.
AKIEM 9:39 PM - 11 February, 2019
...the known secrete bugs.... smgdh
Gio Alex 10:11 PM - 12 February, 2019
Quote:
the problems is also that the hardware is built for these new people to get into djn, who a lot of the time dont care to stick it out, or dont care to further themselves, learn, and grow.


this is true.
dj_soo 11:28 PM - 12 February, 2019
The problem is that people are cheap. If the pro stuff sold even half as well as the cheap stuff, you'd see more pro stuff out there.
DJ Reflex 4:55 AM - 13 February, 2019
Saw a dude at Guitar Center the other day looking at speakers... The only number he was looking at was the price tag!
MeeHow 3:44 PM - 13 February, 2019
@hersh20

well said my man !
I totally agree..
DJ Val-BKNY11203 7:14 PM - 13 February, 2019
Quote:
Shit today has to have buttons and knobs, colored lights and glow sticks integrated into the hardware for the fandango boys to DJ with, thus spawning a wide opportunity for shit to to fail. I saw this on my Rane 62. Must of replaced the buttons on that thing 100 times along with the fader carriers. My Rane 56, 54, 52... never had a problem, not once. Mo features, mo problems.


^^^^
What he said.

I mean you guys want everything with your software & gear right away. Companies don't have time time to properly build and test it all to please ya'll AND stay ahead of the competition.
YZ 8:04 PM - 13 February, 2019
I buy the top of the line everything. Don't get the A4, get the S4. Don't get the regular V8, get the SRT, don't get the Rane 61, get the 62, etc... in the hopes that these products are 1st in line to receive updates and attention. In most cases with high tag items comes vip treatment of sorts. Best advice I can give you when shopping for DJ gear is do your research and stay away from the cheap shit.
deejdave 8:39 PM - 13 February, 2019
Quote:
I buy the top of the line everything. Don't get the A4, get the S4. Don't get the regular V8, get the SRT, don't get the Rane 61, get the 62, etc... in the hopes that these products are 1st in line to receive updates and attention. In most cases with high tag items comes vip treatment of sorts. Best advice I can give you when shopping for DJ gear is do your research and stay away from the cheap shit.

S8, SRT & NXS2 as well as Rane 64 myself ............. does this put me in front of you on your VIP line? :)

And let's clarify one thing here. Vets hold onto their money even tighter LOL. I've see a million DJMe2's buying the top tech for ridiculous prices expecting said tech to do the DJing for them. On the contrary vets finding the Numark DJ Pro 60000 (made up name LOL) on craigslist for $45 and expect the thing to be the next Technics deck............ it goes both ways to be fair.
YZ 9:03 PM - 13 February, 2019
Quote:
Quote:
I buy the top of the line everything. Don't get the A4, get the S4. Don't get the regular V8, get the SRT, don't get the Rane 61, get the 62, etc... in the hopes that these products are 1st in line to receive updates and attention. In most cases with high tag items comes vip treatment of sorts. Best advice I can give you when shopping for DJ gear is do your research and stay away from the cheap shit.

S8, SRT & NXS2 as well as Rane 64 myself ............. does this put me in front of you on your VIP line? :)

And let's clarify one thing here. Vets hold onto their money even tighter LOL. I've see a million DJMe2's buying the top tech for ridiculous prices expecting said tech to do the DJing for them. On the contrary vets finding the Numark DJ Pro 60000 (made up name LOL) on craigslist for $45 and expect the thing to be the next Technics deck............ it goes both ways to be fair.


Good point, it's tough to throw shit out. I keep all my crap, the only thing I recycle these days are my DJ Mixers (every 4yrs or so).
05spoof 3:18 AM - 14 February, 2019
Quality Testing has gone down across the board. Corporate is budgeting less for quality checking. Just look at the stickers that say how many times a product had been QC before being boxed up. It use to be a high double to triple digit number.....now in some cases it's down to a single digit number.
deejdave 4:36 AM - 14 February, 2019
Those QC numbers are who checked them not how many times........... at least this is my understanding. This way if there is a batch that passed they know who passed it.
05spoof 4:54 AM - 14 February, 2019
always thought it was the number of times... if the number coresponds with who checked it... then I guess QC 10-1XX are no longer employed by the company.
deejdave 3:34 PM - 14 February, 2019
That would be quality control cutback yes but ultimately they are only checked once regardless so as long as it has a sticker it has been checked. It's actually a good thing if the number is lower as this will by default lead to an agent experienced with said item/s they are checking.
Logisticalstyles 4:18 PM - 14 February, 2019
Quote:
I guess QC 10-1XX are no longer employed by the company.

They worked for the temp agency and decided to be DJs instead of Quality Control.
deejdave 6:07 PM - 14 February, 2019
LOL OR they saw the stuff coming through and figured they could do a better job themselves! LOL
05spoof 1:30 AM - 15 February, 2019
PHASE....I kid.
deejdave 2:26 AM - 15 February, 2019
HAHA Yeah they would have to actually be at a warehouse for that to happen LOL. Still on a drawing board somewhere :)
sKo0k 2:34 PM - 12 October, 2023
Quote:
People wont ditch a brand after a bad experience


Thats because they don't even know the brand ditched them long ago. Like you here