Serato DJ Pro General Discussion

Talk about Serato DJ Pro, expansion packs and supported hardware

with or without using iTunes to dj with serato dj pro

Ivan velez 10:01 PM - 1 January, 2020
I wanted to know which is better when djing with serato dj pro. Is having to use iTunes library with serato dj pro better than using without having iTunes library?
Quan da chef 11:14 PM - 1 January, 2020
since i 2008 i havent used itunes to manage my library.
Laz219 5:01 AM - 2 January, 2020
I'd stay away from iTunes, it's just adding another link that can cause problems and is basically becoming a dead software anyway.
DJ Unique 6:52 AM - 2 January, 2020
I've never used iTunes
Logisticalstyles 3:34 PM - 2 January, 2020
I still use iTunes but I'm starting to think about an alternative means of organizing my music. They are slowly removing features that have been useful to me in the past and as mentioned above, it's a dying software. I liked using itunes because all of the other software is able to read the itunes library which made it easy for me to go from Serato to VDJ, Rkordbox or even Traktor. I haven't abandoned it yet but the end is coming.
BBN 10:16 PM - 2 January, 2020
I'm a iTunes poweruser since 2003.
I tag all my music and organize playlists and intelligent playlists there.

Switched to a new MacBook Pro with Catalina and the new music app three days ago.

The only thing that sucks is Serato DJ is still not reading the library and not showing the playlists at the moment. There are two workarounds for me, but they shouldn't be a long term solution.

Workarounds:
1.) Open music app and play some Songs. Then open SeratoDJ.
or
2.) Open SeratoDJ go to setup deactivate and activate "Show iTunes library" untill all playlists show up
Ivan velez 2:45 AM - 3 January, 2020
ok for those that responded that they don't use iTunes with serato.


Im thinking of getting rid of iTunes well, just not use iTunes with serato anymore and I want to get all my music files out of iTunes folder.

cause I recently lost a bunch of my music files out of iTunes and the files are showing in red or orange in serato, and I'm like what the hell. so Im saying its time for me to get rid of iTunes for good.

can someone help me on how to properly take all my music files out iTunes and store it elsewhere where serato can see it and not have to mirror off of iTunes?

or better yet, can someone send me a link of videos to do this?

thanks in advance,
Ivan Velez
deejdave 2:20 AM - 5 January, 2020
Serato themselves have suggested to avoid iTunes over the years. History itself will also teach you to avoid it in regard to Serato as well though as it has broke and/or malfunctioned multiple times.
deejdave 2:24 AM - 5 January, 2020
FYI this is direct from Serato support:

"When using Serato DJ, third-party programs such as iTunes are not the best and most reliable way to organize your Library. For the best way to organize your library we recommend using Crates inside the Serato software."

Do yourself a favor and do things because it is the best way to do them not just because it is easier.............. for now.


support.serato.com
Dre3000 11:16 PM - 20 January, 2020
sorry i'm late to this discussion and i hope i can get a reply, i'm a iTunes user for my music library and did get see the notice of the upcoming change but totally forgot, anyway so i notice after downloading some of the newest hits or what ever from a few pools like franchise and BPM the songs would go to my downloads folder but wouldn't show up in iTunes library. i tag them and organized them still nothing. so one of guys mentioned to just add the songs into the serato music crate and i did try that and i still see it and it does play, will that be fine with no issues?i take it that even though the iTunes logo is not showing up next to the song it is still in my crate and its good.
DJ JulioYEG 11:29 PM - 20 January, 2020
nevr used itunes but instead will organize my files on my hardrive by genre years etc
deejdave 1:55 AM - 21 January, 2020
Quote:
sorry i'm late to this discussion and i hope i can get a reply, i'm a iTunes user for my music library and did get see the notice of the upcoming change but totally forgot, anyway so i notice after downloading some of the newest hits or what ever from a few pools like franchise and BPM the songs would go to my downloads folder but wouldn't show up in iTunes library. i tag them and organized them still nothing. so one of guys mentioned to just add the songs into the serato music crate and i did try that and i still see it and it does play, will that be fine with no issues?i take it that even though the iTunes logo is not showing up next to the song it is still in my crate and its good.

Yes. As a matter of fact you should get all your music out of iTunes and have Serato read the folders/files directly......
dj_soo 8:06 PM - 21 January, 2020
Yea, still on iTunes but figuring out a way to transition out. It’s still the most robust management software I’ve found even if the software is bloated as all hell.

No one’s smart playlists comes even remotely close to what iTunes offers and I haven’t found a truly acceptable way to find workarounds for what’s missing yet.

I just hope that serato improves its smart crates and also offers some of the more advanced tagging options found in something like rekordbox.
DJ dVO 9:10 PM - 21 January, 2020
As much as I hate relying on iTunes, it is one of the better music organizers out there: buy music, add to library, categorize/sort, add to playlist, etc., open SDJ, play music. Can't get any easier than this.

Anything else requires labour intensive to set up / organize your music library they way you haven gotten used to over the years. I am struggling with this and have contemplated for over a year now but nothing is done.

I, too, am looking for workable solution transposing all my music by genre into folders of similar or like genre. If you have a software to do just this, I would love to hear about it.

I have even acquired Jaikoz (www.jthink.net) to start but the learning curve to use the app is quite steep so I stopped.
dj_soo 10:37 PM - 21 January, 2020
I find folders useless for genres. There's just too much overlap these days so you're either going to have to painstakingly try to decide what belongs where in a world where songs can hit 3 or 4 genre classifications simultaneously, or you're going to be copying a bunch of shit unnecessarily.

Searchable databases based on tags is the way to go - it's just a shame that most dj software haven't caught up to iTunes in terms of robustness. Rekordbox is probably the closest, but it's still got a shit ton of quirks and missing features compared to iTunes.
deejdave 1:03 AM - 22 January, 2020
iTunes on its own is a great solution BUT its history with Serato (as well as other DJ SW) has been rocky and one thing is for sure........... there WILL be more issues down the road. For me the easiest way to fix a problem is to avoid it to begin with and the juice just is not worth the squeeze here. I started with PC and iTunes was an absolute terror with Windows in the early days so I had the "luxury" of a very shaky start which made me steer clear of iTunes from day one THANK GOD!!
Quote:
I find folders useless for genres. There's just too much overlap these days so you're either going to have to painstakingly try to decide what belongs where in a world where songs can hit 3 or 4 genre classifications simultaneously, or you're going to be copying a bunch of shit unnecessarily.

Searchable databases based on tags is the way to go - it's just a shame that most dj software haven't caught up to iTunes in terms of robustness. Rekordbox is probably the closest, but it's still got a shit ton of quirks and missing features compared to iTunes.

I agree BUT one of these tags happen to be genre/sub-genre as well.......... I initially used wondershare TidyMyMusic to initially clean up my tags etc. but then quickly learned to tag using new systems and methods not provided by ANY automated processes including iTunes such as color coding and "keyword tags" (as I call them such as BTZ, LTNZ, and other letter combinations not used in the English language and are for my searching purposes only) which MUST be done by hand anyways. TBH this and cue points (FLIPs, Loops, etc) are the reason/s I am so close to my library. It is basically an extension of myself at this point.
DJ JulioYEG 1:16 AM - 22 January, 2020
Quote:
iTunes on its own is a great solution BUT its history with Serato (as well as other DJ SW) has been rocky and one thing is for sure........... there WILL be more issues down the road. For me the easiest way to fix a problem is to avoid it to begin with and the juice just is not worth the squeeze here. I started with PC and iTunes was an absolute terror with Windows in the early days so I had the "luxury" of a very shaky start which made me steer clear of iTunes from day one THANK GOD!!
Quote:
I find folders useless for genres. There's just too much overlap these days so you're either going to have to painstakingly try to decide what belongs where in a world where songs can hit 3 or 4 genre classifications simultaneously, or you're going to be copying a bunch of shit unnecessarily.

Searchable databases based on tags is the way to go - it's just a shame that most dj software haven't caught up to iTunes in terms of robustness. Rekordbox is probably the closest, but it's still got a shit ton of quirks and missing features compared to iTunes.

I agree BUT one of these tags happen to be genre/sub-genre as well.......... I initially used wondershare TidyMyMusic to initially clean up my tags etc. but then quickly learned to tag using new systems and methods not provided by ANY automated processes including iTunes such as color coding and "keyword tags" (as I call them such as BTZ, LTNZ, and other letter combinations not used in the English language and are for my searching purposes only) which MUST be done by hand anyways. TBH this and cue points (FLIPs, Loops, etc) are the reason/s I am so close to my library. It is basically an extension of myself at this point.

apple made this way easier when they added color coding of folders!!
deejdave 1:21 AM - 22 January, 2020
Quote:
Quote:
iTunes on its own is a great solution BUT its history with Serato (as well as other DJ SW) has been rocky and one thing is for sure........... there WILL be more issues down the road. For me the easiest way to fix a problem is to avoid it to begin with and the juice just is not worth the squeeze here. I started with PC and iTunes was an absolute terror with Windows in the early days so I had the "luxury" of a very shaky start which made me steer clear of iTunes from day one THANK GOD!!
Quote:
I find folders useless for genres. There's just too much overlap these days so you're either going to have to painstakingly try to decide what belongs where in a world where songs can hit 3 or 4 genre classifications simultaneously, or you're going to be copying a bunch of shit unnecessarily.

Searchable databases based on tags is the way to go - it's just a shame that most dj software haven't caught up to iTunes in terms of robustness. Rekordbox is probably the closest, but it's still got a shit ton of quirks and missing features compared to iTunes.

I agree BUT one of these tags happen to be genre/sub-genre as well.......... I initially used wondershare TidyMyMusic to initially clean up my tags etc. but then quickly learned to tag using new systems and methods not provided by ANY automated processes including iTunes such as color coding and "keyword tags" (as I call them such as BTZ, LTNZ, and other letter combinations not used in the English language and are for my searching purposes only) which MUST be done by hand anyways. TBH this and cue points (FLIPs, Loops, etc) are the reason/s I am so close to my library. It is basically an extension of myself at this point.

apple made this way easier when they added color coding of folders!!

Yes but again this would be by folder, tag, or some sort of criteria. Not really anything that could be automated for me. Many aspects can and are but not this one.
DJ dVO 2:41 PM - 22 January, 2020
I am a Latin DJ first and foremost and others when needed. In the Latin World, there are a gazillion sub-genres and sub-sub-genres. Imagine a folder structure as such would be chaos!

I am not very good at tags so far my workaround is creating genre down to the science, to the sub-sub-genre (mood), and mirroring that to the "Grouping" column. I create smart playlists based on this grouping, not genre column because freaking Apple defaults them to whatever what entered by the artists in the Apple Music Catalogue.

For music I purchase outside of Apple sphere, this is where I find iTunes is useful, allowing me to edit the track info and all that is done automatically. Working outside of this automation would mean I have to use a Software to read/write IDv3 tags and place the track into folder, most likely by artist name and then genre.

Anyway, I just wish SDJ has a decent library management function to do this given that iTunes/Music is really distancing itself.
david07 8:03 PM - 22 January, 2020
It can be organized in a thousand different ways, from the serato itself using create or add folders outside of serato per year, gender ... as desired, and have a copy on an external disk
DJ Art Pumpin Payne 12:44 AM - 23 January, 2020
Quote:
Searchable databases based on tags is the way to go - it's just a shame that most dj software haven't caught up to iTunes in terms of robustness. Rekordbox is probably the closest, but it's still got a shit ton of quirks and missing features compared to iTunes.


^^^This I started with iTunes and Serato about 13 years ago and it is very hard to get out of iTunes once you start. I not gigging as much as I used to back in my heyday but started using specific Tagging before the tunes hits my gig Macbook pro. Looking forward - it may help ween me out of iTunes years down the road maybe?

I download all my stuff from various pools and put it on a music archive Hard drive via my desktop iMac (keep iTunes library organized is UNCHECKED on that one). When selected stuff is to be added to my MacBook - I go in clean up file names, add artwork, and use genre specific tags like [Rap] [Hot radio] [R&B] [House] etc plus other criteria - Classic [House] -Disco [House] - [Rap] {Old School] - [Hip Hop] [Old School].

On my gig MacBook Pro - I have smart creates and itunes smart playlists to read those tags. Recently started working with Star Ratings too to weed out disposable [Hot Radio] tunes that will only be hot for a minute.

Can't see MANUALLY doing everything into various folders and sub folders - that's crazy. Tag the files properly ONCE and let smart crates/smart playlists do all the work FOREVER.
deejdave 2:51 AM - 23 January, 2020
Quote:
Quote:
Searchable databases based on tags is the way to go - it's just a shame that most dj software haven't caught up to iTunes in terms of robustness. Rekordbox is probably the closest, but it's still got a shit ton of quirks and missing features compared to iTunes.


^^^This I started with iTunes and Serato about 13 years ago and it is very hard to get out of iTunes once you start. I not gigging as much as I used to back in my heyday but started using specific Tagging before the tunes hits my gig Macbook pro. Looking forward - it may help ween me out of iTunes years down the road maybe?

I download all my stuff from various pools and put it on a music archive Hard drive via my desktop iMac (keep iTunes library organized is UNCHECKED on that one). When selected stuff is to be added to my MacBook - I go in clean up file names, add artwork, and use genre specific tags like [Rap] [Hot radio] [R&B] [House] etc plus other criteria - Classic [House] -Disco [House] - [Rap] {Old School] - [Hip Hop] [Old School].

On my gig MacBook Pro - I have smart creates and itunes smart playlists to read those tags. Recently started working with Star Ratings too to weed out disposable [Hot Radio] tunes that will only be hot for a minute.

Can't see MANUALLY doing everything into various folders and sub folders - that's crazy. Tag the files properly ONCE and let smart crates/smart playlists do all the work FOREVER.

Somewhat true but properly tagging is actually more time consuming than my organizing as this is also one and done forever due to how I organize. I start by Genre then year (then sub genre if needed) then month of release and this is rooted 7 times (Country, Carribean, Latin, Hip Hop, Dance, Mainstream, Rock) which are ever expanding folders. The rest are pretty much done forever unless some new 80's music or 60's will be releasing anytime soon........ LOL. Obviously there are some one off folders that expand accordingly as well such as holiday, new years & DJ tools etc........
YZ 8:43 PM - 23 January, 2020
Personally don't like relying on a software other than SDJ to manage my library, plus it's an extra step for me. I organized my physical folders exactly how I have my SDJ crates. If you can do that you won't have any dependencies going forward plus it's easier to start over since the integrity of your files and folders is static on the hard drive. My 2c.
DJ JulioYEG 9:52 PM - 23 January, 2020
Quote:
Personally don't like relying on a software other than SDJ to manage my library, plus it's an extra step for me. I organized my physical folders exactly how I have my SDJ crates. If you can do that you won't have any dependencies going forward plus it's easier to start over since the integrity of your files and folders is static on the hard drive. My 2c.

+1
DJ Unique 3:35 AM - 24 January, 2020
Quote:
Quote:
Personally don't like relying on a software other than SDJ to manage my library, plus it's an extra step for me. I organized my physical folders exactly how I have my SDJ crates. If you can do that you won't have any dependencies going forward plus it's easier to start over since the integrity of your files and folders is static on the hard drive. My 2c.

+1

+ 2
DJ Art Pumpin Payne 2:28 AM - 25 January, 2020
Quote:
I start by Genre then year (then sub genre if needed) then month of release and this is rooted 7 times (Country, Carribean, Latin, Hip Hop, Dance, Mainstream, Rock) which are ever expanding folders.


I never understood why some DJs organize by (specific} YEAR or DATE. I understand "90's Hip Hop" or "80s RnB" but why bother putting Snoop Dogg "Gin and Juice" in a 1993 folder or DJ Class in a 2009 folder (Yes I googled the release years - damn DJ class came out 10 years ago - pre MUMBLE RAP).

My archive drive for Pool Music is sorted by Year and Month downloaded but can't see doing that on my gig computer as organization tool.

Do you guys just search for song names via the whole library or actually drill down and navigate to the 1993 crate to play Snoop Dogg????
DJ Unique 6:15 AM - 25 January, 2020
Quote:
Quote:
I start by Genre then year (then sub genre if needed) then month of release and this is rooted 7 times (Country, Carribean, Latin, Hip Hop, Dance, Mainstream, Rock) which are ever expanding folders.


I never understood why some DJs organize by (specific} YEAR or DATE. I understand "90's Hip Hop" or "80s RnB" but why bother putting Snoop Dogg "Gin and Juice" in a 1993 folder or DJ Class in a 2009 folder (Yes I googled the release years - damn DJ class came out 10 years ago - pre MUMBLE RAP).

My archive drive for Pool Music is sorted by Year and Month downloaded but can't see doing that on my gig computer as organization tool.

Do you guys just search for song names via the whole library or actually drill down and navigate to the 1993 crate to play Snoop Dogg????

Obviously you can't play a song from 1993 together with a song from 1994 so you have to keep them in separate crates.
BuaHaHaHa

I have all old Hip Hop in one crate, tagged as:
Old Hip Hop - 80's
Old Hip Hop - 90's
Old Hip Hop - 00's

This way I can be in one crate and search as needed.
deejdave 12:55 AM - 26 January, 2020
Quote:
Quote:
Quote:
I start by Genre then year (then sub genre if needed) then month of release and this is rooted 7 times (Country, Carribean, Latin, Hip Hop, Dance, Mainstream, Rock) which are ever expanding folders.


I never understood why some DJs organize by (specific} YEAR or DATE. I understand "90's Hip Hop" or "80s RnB" but why bother putting Snoop Dogg "Gin and Juice" in a 1993 folder or DJ Class in a 2009 folder (Yes I googled the release years - damn DJ class came out 10 years ago - pre MUMBLE RAP).

My archive drive for Pool Music is sorted by Year and Month downloaded but can't see doing that on my gig computer as organization tool.

Do you guys just search for song names via the whole library or actually drill down and navigate to the 1993 crate to play Snoop Dogg????

Obviously you can't play a song from 1993 together with a song from 1994 so you have to keep them in separate crates.
BuaHaHaHa

I have all old Hip Hop in one crate, tagged as:
Old Hip Hop - 80's
Old Hip Hop - 90's
Old Hip Hop - 00's

This way I can be in one crate and search as needed.

Thing is the way I do it can be searched by hip hop, hip hop 2017 (as an example) or even hip hop November 2017 but I do have the option to search as wide or as narrow as I wish within the Hip Hop crate.......

FWIW the reason I started this way is it is a.) expandable without EVER having to go backwards and b.) I am able to pin point or "think of" certain songs by what I was doing or a period in my life LOL.
Logisticalstyles 3:56 PM - 26 January, 2020
Quote:
I am able to pin point or "think of" certain songs by what I was doing or a period in my life


I'm that way as well. I can remember what songs were hot when I was in high school, when I worked at certain clubs or when my daughter was born.
deejdave 10:46 PM - 27 January, 2020
Quote:
Quote:
I am able to pin point or "think of" certain songs by what I was doing or a period in my life


I'm that way as well. I can remember what songs were hot when I was in high school, when I worked at certain clubs or when my daughter was born.

Exactly and THIS is how I really get in the zone............. especially when people around my age etc.
TheMasterOfCeremony 11:48 PM - 28 January, 2020
Anyone else struggling with how the search function of the Music app (new iTunes) works?

It’s really pissing me off that I can’t just see all different versions of a song under each other by typing it’s name in the search bar because I first have to click on the song, it will then open the album where this version of the song is located...

I have loads of duplicate songs from different sources and am actively working on getting my library cleaned out to a maximum, only keeping the version(s) or the song I want to keep.

This new way of filtering in Music is driving me crazy.

The one workaround I found is to create a smart folder with the criteria I’m looking for.

So instead of searching for “Snoop Dogg” and iTunes showing me all songs where this name is in either the song name (when it’s a featuring) or in artist name (or commente sometimes), I have to create a smart folder with specific rules that say “artist contains snoop dogg or song name contains snoop dogg or comment contains snoop dogg”

It’s driving me nuts.

Seriously thinking about moving everything out of iTunes (Music) and just doing all this in SDJ itself.

Did anyone move away from iTunes recently? Anything in particular I should watch out for?

What do I do with songs I download from iTunes? Move them from the iTunes folder to the other location I will now use for SDJ? Or still keep everything in the folders created by iTunes and just using SDJ for the tagging of songs?
Logisticalstyles 4:15 AM - 29 January, 2020
I never updated my OS so I don't have experience with the new Music app, but I am in the beginning phases of leaving iTunes. First I need to clean up what is in iTunes and then start sorting music on a file level. Then I am going to exclusively organize my music using Serato.
DJ dVO 8:43 PM - 29 January, 2020
Quote:
I never updated my OS so I don't have experience with the new Music app, but I am in the beginning phases of leaving iTunes. First I need to clean up what is in iTunes and then start sorting music on a file level. Then I am going to exclusively organize my music using Serato.


Please let us know how will this go.

My trouble is the fact that iTunes music library created folders by artist name and then placing the track in that folder in a sub-folder by album. My playlists in iTunes are created by genres. Unless there is a script to move all the tracks in those playlists into new folders, you will have a hard time (or need a lot of time) to transfer everything manually.

Now supposed you mirror every single playlist in iTunes in SDJ and continue to keep the root folders as they are but what will you do with new music? Put them in a new folder and manually go through the process you would in iTunes to categorize your music in SDJ?

I am struggling to go about this....
Logisticalstyles 5:21 PM - 30 January, 2020
Quote:
My trouble is the fact that iTunes music library created folders by artist name

Yeah, that is going to be an issue for me as well. This will not be a quick or easy task.
DJ STRETCH - NYC 6:49 PM - 1 February, 2020
I see people are say Serato manages your library. For me, managing my library means organizing the files with in (on the HD). I wish Serato would replicate how Itunes manages, but allow us to say create folders by xyz,abc,123,llmnop,....
I use Itunes to manage/organize the files on the HD. If serato could do that then I would love to drop Itunes (it makes serato load slower :'(.....

Serato should.....
Manage/Organize = Put files based on your pref. on the drive/folders
Show the library = crates, smart crates,.....
Logisticalstyles 8:30 PM - 1 February, 2020
True, I should say instead that I'm going to be using Serato to manage my crates. The file management will still be done by me, manually, which sucks but it's the most accurate way I know to do it once I get rid of iTunes. I heard Record Box was a good library management tool but I'm not sure if it organizes on the folder level.
Dre3000 9:47 PM - 2 February, 2020
when you say Serato to manage my crates for ex I have my crates built in Serato and when I import new or Old School Music I put them in the crates that are listed, is that what you mean?
Dre3000 9:50 PM - 2 February, 2020
The Issue that I'm having also is that Serato is not reading the music in my iTunes. when I click on the word all music in the left Payne all the music shows up but when you click on iTunes nothing shows up, is it the same for you guys?
dj_soo 10:12 PM - 2 February, 2020
no problems with serato reading my itunes playlists.

What version of itunes and what os?
Dre3000 10:19 PM - 2 February, 2020
Sugar foot sorry I explained wrong so when I open up Serato the music loads then I click on iTunes in the Payne and I see nothing nada zilch it when I click on the all music I see all my music.
Its not called iTunes it’s called music and the version is version 1.0.3.1 and I’m running Catalina.
dj_soo 1:22 AM - 3 February, 2020
I think you need to export your Music XML everytime you make changes?
Dre3000 1:50 AM - 3 February, 2020
Hey man thanks as they may be on point and I got off the phone with Apple and found out what the deal is. So as I found out my iTunes library.itL folder is the older file from Mojave and when I updated to the current iOS version the new music folder is located in a different folder if that makes since.
Ekijazzy 11:48 AM - 8 February, 2020
I often recommend www.studioloaded.com or www.mp3cape.com for music download.