I finally got my hands on a used Roland DJ-202 to try it out in Serato Studio. Gotta say, I definitely like the workflow with the hardware added.

For one, having the jog wheel to scroll and chop a sample, is how I wish I could always chop as a DJ! Almost fun! But moving the wheel slow, the sample gets really choppy, so you can't really chop by sound, and I haven't figured out how to adjust a pads end point from the controller, it'd be nice to add that to the workflow.

Having the scene buttons always on the right side makes it easy to check out transitions and arrangements on the go. And I love having an up-fader to control volumes, and being able to record fades and cuts on it, sooooo good!! 😁

The physical pads on the controller aren't bad, but they have a click built in, and aren't really the most responsive, so it's a built of challenge to finger drum some times. If you're just recording drum sequences, should be fine.

But are we ever going to be able to customize and MIDI map our own control layouts eventually? That would be a great addition.

And I may be having wishful thinking, but can Serato hint at maybe coming up with some dedicated hardware exclusively built for Serato Studio? Would love to be a part of that beta project. 😁

Anyways, that's what I think, nicely Serato and Roland.