Looks good, wonder how well it will perform with ssl?

It was my first thought. Having a 11.6" Macbook Air for use with SSL sounds awesome. Ultraportable setup.

Seems like it meets SSL's system requirements. Should have no problem with it. I've tested SSL on a 1.6ghz Atom CPU (Hackintosh Dell Mini 9) with 1gb of RAM and it ran pretty good.

I think the 11.6"/128gig version would be absolutely perfect for scratch live. The screen real estate may be a little on the small side, but I think when it comes to doing gigs, portability reigns supreme. I'd go with the 11.6" over the 13.3. -- I've been waiting for apple to release something comparable to the old 12" PowerBook, which at the time was a great little machine for mobile djing.

I'm a little bummed that it only comes with 2 gigs of ram by default, but I bet the move to flash memory remedies a lot of that. In my opinion, apple has just crafted the perfect scratch live machine, and the price ain't bad, either.

Cool, but looking at the specs, I wouldn't recommend it.

Why is that?

Core 2 duo, 2gb of ram seems ok to me for audio, no?

I saw either a 1.4 or a 1.6ghz processor. Why buy a new computer that is below minimum specs?

is an 11" laptop really that much more portable than a 17"??

Yes. Maybe not relative to a 13" or 15", but definitely a 17" homie.

The 13" has a 2.13ghz processor,
I still think the airs are just an overpriced gimmick.

well, homie, i've never had to make an extra trip for my 17" MBP. it fits in the same spot in my backpack that a 11" would. except i don't need a magnifying glass to see the text, homie.

i now know my girlfriends christmas present my macbook is finally free lol

Exactly. Each DJ booth is different, and I'm lucky to get my 15" positioned well in some setups. And that comes from starting off with 12" laptops years ago, and that kinda spoiled me.

For the record, a 15" Macbook Pro weighs 5.6 lbs, a 13" Macbook pro weighs 4.5 lbs, and an 11" Macbook air is only 2.3 lbs.

i think its sweet with USB now? dope!! last air macs didnt have any connections right?

should work fine with this no?

I love a 17 inch laptop while going to gigs...... Why???? Because its FRIGGIN HUGE!!!!!!! And I love watchin porn or playing Call of Duty in HD while I let the other DJ play his part for the night.

Plus.... I am already lugging around two 35 pound turntables in Fight Cases and a 20 Pound 4 Channel Mixer....... A 17 inch laptop makes little difference to me.

But if you are truly a "light" DJ with a VCI300 and nothing else.... then yes I can see where the 17 inch may be too big.

Man, I'm sorry to hear you have to lug your decks and mixer out to gigs. That sucks! Hopefully the club you play will eventually get their own in-house equipment. I hated gigging with my 17" Macbook Pro. It took up too much table space in the booth and never fit in my gig back very well. I can remember playing a couple gigs with it awkwardly balanced on a CDJ when there wasn't enough room to sit it anywhere. I didn't like that so I put an ad on craigslist, traded it for a 13" Macbook Air, and I've never looked back. The Macbook Air is the ideal laptop for Serato gigging in my opinion and experience. It's kinda funny. For some reason I still get occasional "oohs" and "ahs" from other DJ's I play with when they see it and how portable it is. And as far as screen real estate is concerned, it works just fine. I could see that maybe being a problem if one has bad vision though. And once the newer version of Serato came out with optional screen views I was in heaven. I'm ready to trade in for an 11" Macbook Air ASAP if I can verify that the hardware will support Serato reliably!

get the 9" next!!!

Hehe...I would if I could! Hell, I'd play Serato on an iPad if I could!

no misquote necesary

off topic, i feel like watching pineapple express tonight.

But on a Mac, the minimum spec for SSL is still a 1gHz G4.

Even the 1.4gHz 11-inch model would have quite a lot more CPU horsepower (and much faster subsystems and bus speed) than a PowerBook with a 1gHz G4.

Leaving that question aside, the new Airs look a hell of a lot more viable for ScratchLive use than the previous generation. I imagine for quite a few people, the second USB port will make all the difference. Also nice that the prices are a little less ridiculous than they were for the previous-generation Air.

The standard 2gb RAM sounds paltry, and it's really too bad that the only way to get a 4gb Air (or an Air with a larger internal SSD drive) is by buying it that way (non-upgradable RAM and SSD).

BUT: consider that any pagefile use is going to be to the internal SSD, not a regular hard drive. Even when RAM use is maxxed, the OS hitting the pagefile will suck a LOT less than would be the case with a regular hard drive.

They look good to me.

+1 on the porn will spinning.

the 13" macbook air w/ 4 gigs of ram should be good for serato right?!

I just tested Serato with the baseline 11.6" Macbook Air and it ran flawlessly. I normally use a 15" Macbook pro 2.53, but I'm considering just using my Macbook Air from now on. I'll test it at a few gigs and make my final decision.

I'm still wondering if a MBP 13" or 15" is comfortable with the bridge running. I mean, when I have the effects or sample player displayed, AND my prepare window (shrunk to 5 lines too) I feel I have too little real estate on my 13". At least now we have diff views to minimize waveforms/stacked. But I figure with the bridge (which I haven't seen if you can view Bridge/Preview/EFX at the same time), 13" might get tight... which means 11" would be ridiculous. Baller? Yeah, 11" air would be THE ultimate backup. The rest of us? prob not.

--and I used to use a 15" mbp and will be buying a new one (or 17"...???) once I have the cash to pony up for that AND Ableton...

Thank you! I've been dying to hear if anybody had tried the new 11" with Serato yet! That's really encouraging to hear it worked. I can't think of a better laptop for gigging with Serato. I'm not confident that it would actually work with the Bridge also but that would probably be asking too much. Can you please post a follow-up on how well it continues to work with Serato? I currently run a first-generation 1.66ghz Macbook Air with Serato and it has worked flawlessly with Serato up until the most recent update (2.1.1) where it started glitching during playback. I had to uninstall Serato and re-install the previous version of Serato (2.1.0) to get it running smooth again. I found this to be odd considering the fact that one of the primary items listed in the "what's new for 2.1.1" specs was "Performance and stability improvements" as well as "Reduced overall CPU usage when using Scratch Live." Keep me posted please...

Anyone try Video on a new Air?


Looking at one to use as a backup / coffeshop / travel machine.

I have a 17" MBP for the gig machine and an Alienware as my backup. Would love to leave the Alien Anchor at home.

What you guys think about this?
Watchwww.youtube.com

1 Thing holds me back from buying the new MacBook Air... No backlight keyboard.. Once ur used to it, it sucks not having one anymore

agreed. it would be nice to have someone report cpu/memory usage on the new MBAs while using using video-sl

true

I just copped the 11" MacBook Air 4gb RAM/ 128gb flash memory and use it with ITCH and 1st gen VCI-300. No problems! The high res/ low profile screen is perfect. 2 USBs help. Not missing the backlit keyboard because I use kbcovers.com overlay so the light never shines thru plus I have kbcovers.com KB Lite and it's perfect. I watch movies on the iPad ;) A 17" is waaaay too big. Plus at the end of the night, the Air/ iPad/ VCI all fit in the backpack and I'm out! If ipadmixr.com works as a controller for my Air then I'll ditch the VCI. I'm just sayin. And yes I've been djing since '84. Not new...

what setting do you have your usb buffer?

It's in serato not your mac, it's in the setup screen.

Found it in ITCH. My bad. 512/ 10ms. I'm gonna drop it down tonite to 5ms. We shall see. Ill post tomorrow...

www.algoriddim.com

let us know

I'm currently using the new 11" MacAir for video-SL... for over a month since. No lag, no dropout, nothing! I'm very pleased with the performance, sold my Macbook Pro 13" after that.

My 11" MacAir is souped up max with 1.6GHz processor, 4GB ram and 128SSD.

Take note my entire iTunes library & videos reside externally via a 1TB USB 2.5" HDD... and I haven't had an issue since!

Very pleased!:)

Good to know D-Jan. thanks for the info!

Yeah awesome dude, those macbook air's are soo sleek. I'd love one but I'm very pleased with my 15" macbook pro

what is your usb buffer set at?

I left it in the middle as per 'stock' settings, never changed that part.

Thax for the info

Do you guys use your Mac''s other than for VSL?
May I ask what other, if any, programs or softwares do you have installed other than SSL?



what's the word? did you see any "major" difference in performance between the two buffer settings?

any info would be great.. thanks in advance!

I've been using the 11" MacBook Air (1.6/4gb/128gb) for a couple weeks now. 3x a week using Itch and VCI-300. I set the buffer on the 1024/20mb for the least amount of impact on the CPU. I play hard! No issues. I launch Safari and download music on the fly the drag-n-drop into Itch. No issues. Now as soon as there's an App to use my iPad to control Itch I'm all in! -M-

Up until last week, I had a 13" Macbook Pro 2009 2.53 Intel Core 2 Duo with maxed out Ram and an SSD. It was incredible.

Unfortunately, it dropped, the screen cracked.

Assuming (according to tech specs/ benchmarks) the new 2010 Macbook Air would be a comparable replacement, I copped the MAXED out 2010 2.13ghz Intel Core 2 Duo with 4 gigs of Ram and a 256 gig SSD. At that price, this should be a Ferrari. But it's not.

Let me preface by saying I cut and scratch a lot. I don't know what the style is of the other Macbook Air owners who claim that they run without glitches, or if you're using Midi, but I rock Technic 12s and Serato.

The 2010 Macbook Air DOES NOT cut it.

Before you jump in with questions: yes. I've adjusted the USB buffer and every Serato setting possible. No I don't have music working off an external drive. Yes I've turned off Bluetooth, turned off Airport, adjusted Energy Saver to disengage putting the hard drive to sleep, and nixed screen savers. Swapped USB ports. Checked the activity monitor to see what's drawing power and could be interrupting Serato....

Did trial and error like this for days. There's a very bad lag and a terrible overall performance. If you're at all on TTs -

The lag is bad. Really bad.

If you're considering the Macbook Air cause its light and portable (at this moment) I say DEFINITELY stick to the MBP.

If you're an Air owner, and you've found the magic combo of no lag and smooth Serato use, hit me up with your settings please.

I will repost if the issue resolves.

Does it lag the same if the music isnt on the internal SSD drive?

DJ Shin,

I bought the same Macbook Air. It's purpose is to backup my 17" Pro should it fail midgig. I ran a 3 hour teen video dance with no issues just to put it through it's paces. Noticed no lag on the video. Stock Settings. All Media Internal. Here's a Clip:


youtu.be

great demo of the computer but terrible fashion (specially the glasses)

Mastermind

I challenge you to fashion battle. Name the time and place.

lol .... just giving you a hard time home!!!! it's all good (NH,NM)

I've used a macbook air, with a 2GHz Intel processor and it ran SSL fine. I could have 60 fps waveform updating, Latency at minimum, and the best options for audio cache. The Macbook for $999 also works great on SSL

Toad.

Thanks for the vid.

Nixon.

If you can post answers as well, it would be a huge help. Few questions:

I've got dicers too.

What USB port is your SSL plugged into (L or R) and which ones are the dicers in? It almost looks like you've got a powered USB hub.

I'm wondering if that will affect things?

Shin,

I plugged the 57 directly in to one of the USB Ports on the Air. The Dicers & USB Power from the Grandtec were run through a small unpowered hub going in to the 2nd USB Port.

I'm guessing I had the 57 plugged in to the left USB.


Are you using a 57 or a Box?

Box.

But just downloaded the Mac 10.6.6 update, and it resolved the issue. It was definitely a Mac issue, not an SL one.

Thanks so much for your help, T.

It does run flawlessly.

Hey Shin,

Im in the same boat you were in based on the quote above. I see your latest post that you have rectified the issue with the 10.6.6 update.

I just got my Macbook Air, same topline specs as your own running 10.6.7 and having some mad frag issues with CDJs.

I ran the set-up on my radio show today using turntables and experienced no drop outs or lags but here on my home set-up with CDJs and Pioneer mixer is spluttering and fragging which is weird as i would have expected turntables to put more strain on a system that seems to be having issues coping?

The USB light however never shows, the music just frags and drops out which is not good at all.

After playing around with the settings and parameters i cant seem to get it to fix.

Anyone with any helpful advice?

Cheers

what kinda mixer were u using during the show? if it was a 57, maybe thats why it wasnt lagging.

It's really odd to learn that you guys are experiencing glitches with your souped up new Airs. I'm currently running Serato (latest version) on my 1st generation 1.66 MacBook air and it hangs in there just fine as long as I'm not running any other apps at the same time as Serato. I have had glitching problems on previous versions of Serato but it seems thats been worked out now. I imagine ive got my settings set conservative as you guys. I only use vinyl for control. I've been considering upgrading to the new 11" Air and it seems that some people are successfully running them so I'm really confused why it's problematic on some Airs.

Hey Karnhall -

Have you run any Mac OSX updates on your 10.6.7? If not, you may need to.

Also, I've had issues on another machine (a macbook pro + a 57). Ultimately, it was a 64 bit vs 32 bit issue. Not sure if this is relevant, but give it a shot: restart and hold down the "3" and the "2" buttons while you startup. Then go into Scratch Live and test the difference. That (may) fix it temporarily.

If it's the setup and the Pioneer mixer, try switching USBs?

Karnhall

I know this might seem obvious but just out of curiosity, what is the audio input level in serato set to? line for cdj's and phono for turntables. hope this information is usefull

glad i found this thread.

my main laptop is a 13" 2.4Ghz Macbook Pro with 4Gb of RAM but I generally don't use it for DJing - it's my backup.

my DJ laptop is a 9" XP machine that i've been rocking for 7yrs.
It's still running fine but i've tweaked it to the max so i don't think it will handle many more updates! i've now got my eye on a macbook air as the replacement when the time comes so it's good to know that they can handle it.

the only problem i've had recently was when i accidentally tried to run 3 MIDI controllers (TTM57SL, plus dicers and an X1). that was asking a bit much i reckon!

i know that XP is different to OSX but i think the best general tweaks are:-

1. only use your DJ laptop for DJ-ing (i.e. no internet use)
2. store your music externally and keep it well organised
3. keep all other programs closed while DJing
4. turn off bluetooth, wifi etc.

people often ask why i use such a tiny laptop and i see a few people here think 17" should be the norm, but basically, i often don't know what the booth is going to look like until i get there so there may be very little space.
i don't like my laptop off to the side anyway, but sometimes you don't even get that option so it's nice to have a laptop that you can just balance on the mixer or the cables (or whatever), even when you don't have a stand.

plus, it just doesn't look like a laptop! i started with serato a long time ago and because i didn't have a big screen in my face i never had to go through the whole 'he's just checking his emails' argument.....

Hi guys I might sound retarded but I have had a macbook air 11 for over a year and I cannot get the bpm detected automatically or the actual tune wont show the full wave of the music on the interface. It doesnt show it or takes ages to load why is that? It makes it not really worth having serato compared to vynils as you cannot preview the tune you have loaded on the interface and you cannot evaluate at what BPM it is. Any help would be much appreciated!

RUN DI TRACK : REGGAE MEGAMIX www.mediafire.com

RUN DI TRACK VOL 2 : REGGAE MEGAMIX www.mediafire.com

DOH STOP CYAN STOP : DANCEHALL MEGAMIX www.mediafire.com

BLOW HARD : ELECTRO POP DANCE MIX www.mediafire.com

JONES AND WUK UP : SOCA MEGAMIX 2012 www.mediafire.com

Silly Tang, have you been "analyzing" your files when you add new music to your Scratch Live library? If you start up Scratch Live (without the SL hardware interface connected to your laptop) then you will see a button above your library titled "Analyze Files". Click on that button and Scratch Live will analyze all of the digital music files in your library so that it can display the BPM and waveform automatically whenever you run the program. You'll need to go through this process every single time you add any new music to your digital collection.

Yes I have done this and it still doesnt show most of the tunes or when ever I unplug the external drive it doesnt remember the settings or bpm of the tune. And even tho I have tried to do so the computer should automatically analyse the tracks as they play. Or this is what happened with my previous pc laptop and macbook pro? Any other suggestions?

Sorry, bud...ya' stumped me...

Thesillytang. Question. Your music is stored on an external drive yes? What is the drive formatted to be used on? PC or MAC?

If the drive is not formatted for both use on a PC and MAC what will happen is that you will be able to read the drive (Serato as well) but any changes that you make in Serato will NOT be saved. Not even if you ANAYLYZE them. Your computer will be able to READ the files BUT not WRITE to the files.

Zj Sparks nailed it. This happened to me once when I switched from pc to Mac, my external drive was formatted in windows NTFS which only allows for Read and not Write in UnIX systems such as Mac OS. Once I reformatted the drive to exFAT using the Mac disk utility, the problem went away. So I guess you could try this out hoping you have some place to store your your library when formatting your drive. Try it, worked 100 % for me

Yeh it happened to me so I am thinking that is this is the case.

im rocking clubs with an 11 inch 2012 macbook air I7 8gig ram 2ghz 250 ssd no issues what so ever. the only thing you cant do is spin with videos. but mp3 audio flawless!!!!!!!!!!!! if you are a traveling dj i recommend it.

For what it's worth I use a 2011 11" air.
Runs fine with my external. Played from 11am till 7pm in august for a dance comp. with very few short breaks an it was cool done that type of thing a few times now. I ain't one to look at the screen much so as long as you can deal with the small screen it's all good.