Dust on the needle is a problem for anyone using turntables. I think that Serato should really address this common hurdle in dj'ing by putting in some kind of fail-safe into the software.

When I see the tracking meter in SSL go from thick grey to red I know that I will need to quickly switch to internal mode and dust off the needle. This is the only way round the problem but it is by no means a solution; doing so will often be a fatal mistake... The problem here, with Serato, is that bad tracking can often make the pitch fluctuate. If the pitch is fluctuating when I switch to internal mode... any mix I'm doing will all of a sudden go off-beat. Sometimes I've done this and the pitch gets stuck at almost half speed... resulting in a very confused/annoyed dance-floor.

I don't really know the answer but one solution might be to have a secondary option when switching to internal mode (eg shift+f3/f8). One that takes an average of the pitch over the last 'x' amount of time and plays it back at the same tempo.

Not sure if this is possible but I'd love some input on how Serato might address this common set-back.