TRAKTOR SCRATCH or SERATO

Todd Konix · Post by **Todd Konix** » Thu May 24, 2007 3:43 pm

Latency is 4ms btw, not 20 like someone here mentioned

Really? I don't think so. The latency setting you select in the setup menu is not the TOTAL latency, the 4ms you selected is the In/Out latency of the Audio 8 soundcard. So that 4 ms In + 4ms out = 8ms, then you have to add the timecode decoding/processing latency, which is where the rest of it comes from. Total latency = In + timecode process + Out.

Depends on if you're using a Mac or PC. Macs have more In/Out latency choices to choose from than PCs. I only test on my Macbook at the lowest setting (1.5ms) and 44.1kHz. The lowest needle drop latency I could get was 14-16ms (avg 15ms) But needle drop latency isn't as good to measure total latency compared to change of velocity measurements. If you really want to know to do that, read this...

http://ssl-wiki.help.bootlegs.de/SSL_Comparions_Entry

Or you can just check nem0nic's page ( http://www.nem0nic.com ), he's a beta tester for TS and has done test as well, but only on PC he's only done needle drop latency, which he found to be 13ms.

but I HATE the Serato interface, it's like someone ate magic fluo markers and barfed over your screen

I take it you mean the multi-colored waveforms. Well, they are not just random colors. They actually mean something and are frequency based color coded. Red = bass, green = mids, blue = highs. I HATE the TS interface. Mono-colored side by side waveforms? Sorry, SSL's stacked (vertical or horizontal) and colored waveforms are much better IMO. But who cares, stuff like GUI and waveform colors are subjective and a matter of personal preference.

PsyTox · Post by **PsyTox** » Fri May 25, 2007 10:21 am

wow, tech talk :p

of course I meant the settings as shown in the program. Oh well, it still doesn't matter whether it's 10, 13 or 20 ms before the needle drop picks up the signal... because to be honest, you don't do stuff in that timeframe.

It's like that discussion on turntables which one has higher torque: who gives a sh!t, because no one needs it really when you go out and play. You don't use the turntable to pull cars out of ditches, do you :p

I've tested both Serato and TS and in my opinion, there's no difference except the interface. All the rest is subjective. All I need is a system that works as if I would play an actual vinyl and they both do that just fine

Todd Konix · Post by **Todd Konix** » Fri May 25, 2007 4:10 pm

Sure for mixing, the latencies between SSL and TS aren't that important. But for the scratch/turntablist dj it's very important and does matter (and I suppose turntable torque does also). 7ms vs 13ms doesn't matter for mixing minimal, but for scratching, that's a night and day difference. And especially since TS uses a 2kHz timecode, which is supposed to be so much better for scratching than SSL's (and ever other DVS) 1kHz timecode.

ec50 · Post by **ec50** » Sun Feb 24, 2008 1:04 pm

sweet - thanks all for the info!

im leaning heavily towards TS (heard good things about the audio 8 and also the linking ableton option sounds very interesting. and as im not a scratch dj or anything of the sort the tech. specs should do just fine. also used to the interface because of using traktor 3.3/)

nubianmindz · Post by **nubianmindz** » Mon Feb 25, 2008 10:43 am

for me,after using both Serato and Traktor Scratch extensively I would definitely go with Traktor everytime.

They've really turned it around from the unreliable,dodgy program it used to be years ago and now it's rock solid & reliable with loads of frills & options.

To be blunt,the thing is a MONSTER!!!!!!

nihad · Post by **nihad** » Mon Feb 25, 2008 11:19 am

traktor scratch here, or actually traktor 3.3 with vinyl emulation.

and yess you can control 4 decks with the timecode in Traktor 3.3, the only thing is that you only have 2 phono riaa preamps on the audio8 interface ... but you can use 2 external riaa pres to connect two more turntables, or use control cd-s, for channel 3 and 4

have been playing with the system since october 2007, 4-5h sets aswell, and it has never crashed on me ..

beaker · Post by **beaker** » Tue Feb 26, 2008 1:33 am

Traktor Scratch + Traktor 3.3 + Zero SL = big fucking fun

Played with serato... tbh i wasnt that impressed... sound quality was a bit lacking.. interface looks like freeware... interface box feels like it might disintegrate at any given moment...

loads of people swear by it... i ended up swearing at it...

Personal preference i guess...

patrick bateman · Post by **patrick bateman** » Tue Feb 26, 2008 7:41 am

beaker wrote:Traktor Scratch + Traktor 3.3 + Zero SL = big fucking fun

Played with serato... tbh i wasnt that impressed... sound quality was a bit lacking.. interface looks like freeware... interface box feels like it might disintegrate at any given moment...

loads of people swear by it... i ended up swearing at it...

Personal preference i guess...

Very personal preference for sure. For me the Traktor interface looks like some C64 oldschool color theme game, and on the other hand I find the SSL interface super nice to look at and work with, but again, it's a personal preference, and probably something you get used to.

Anyway, a good friend of mine just bought the Traktor system, so looking very much forward to try it out, because I thought about buying it myself, but now I can get some serious testruns first.