NI Traktor Scratch

PsyTox · Post by **PsyTox** » Mon May 14, 2007 1:30 pm

to be honest, any of the two choices is a good choice. To me, the only thing that made me decide not to go for Serato is that interface which looks like someone ate a fluo marker and barfed on the screen. And it's USB1.1 which means that you might also have to use an additional power supply. Also the TS special cabling is pretty cool if you are taking your system out on the road a lot.

But as far as playing goes, I think you'll be happy with either one of them.

Todd Konix · Post by **Todd Konix** » Tue May 15, 2007 12:34 am

I've had Serato for 2+ years and got Traktor Scratch a couple weeks ago. I've been playing around with it the last couple weeks, and I'm working on my own review which I should have done soon. There's just somethings I can't get get used to. For one the GUI, I much prefer Serato's. Traktor's side by side, mono-colored waveforms just don't do it for me after using SSL for 2 years. Multi-colored frequency based stacked waveforms are much better IMO, vertical or horizontal. It's just so much easier to tell where two track are in relation to one another. Not that I just sit there and stare at the screen or anything the whole time to mix. I don't like the file tree browsing system in TS, I need my SSL crates. So much easier to organize. Although TS has better ID3 tag support and editing. Serato still has a lower latency. I've measured TS's needle drop latency to be about 15ms. SSL's lowest is about 7-8ms. Key lock sounds better in TS than SSL, but I don't use key lock. Auto looping is good in TS. SSL's hidden easter egg auto looping works good also, and proper auto looping will be in 1.8. TS's effects are also a pain as you have to use the send and return or a separate channel on your mixer for them to work. TS's supports MIDI though and a MIDI controller definitely will come in handy. SSL will have MIDI also in 1.8. TS has 2kHz control signal, whereas everyone else uses a 1kHz control signal. Now, unless you're a hardcore turntablist, you probably aren't going to notice that much of a difference. Sure, TS can pick up slower movements than SSL, but for mixing, it doesn't make any difference.

I hate TS's XLR connection cables. They're messy and make my table all cluttered. I've just been plugging my tables directly into the Audio 8. I get the point of them, but they are not very practical. I doubt most clubs are going to have them installed for you anyway for "plug-n-play" since you have to be a registered TS owner to even order replacement ones. Maybe that will change in the future, but I'm not expecting any clubs to have them installed yet.

More important though (to me at least) is support, which NI is notoriously poor at. SSL has top notch support. SSL updates are free. NI, if based on previous experience, charges for most updates, which usually don't fix problems, if anything usually only add more. I think that's going to be the determining factor for many. Although, with the amount of SSL's user out there, it's going to take A LOT, if not a miracle, to dethrone SSL from the top of the DVS market. There's just too many satisfied SSL users out there.

Rochey · Post by **Rochey** » Wed May 16, 2007 9:01 pm

Todd Konix wrote:I've had Serato for 2+ years and got Traktor Scratch a couple weeks ago. I've been playing around with it the last couple weeks, and I'm working on my own review which I should have done soon. There's just somethings I can't get get used to. For one the GUI, I much prefer Serato's. Traktor's side by side, mono-colored waveforms just don't do it for me after using SSL for 2 years. Multi-colored frequency based stacked waveforms are much better IMO, vertical or horizontal. It's just so much easier to tell where two track are in relation to one another. Not that I just sit there and stare at the screen or anything the whole time to mix. I don't like the file tree browsing system in TS, I need my SSL crates. So much easier to organize. Although TS has better ID3 tag support and editing. Serato still has a lower latency. I've measured TS's needle drop latency to be about 15ms. SSL's lowest is about 7-8ms. Key lock sounds better in TS than SSL, but I don't use key lock. Auto looping is good in TS. SSL's hidden easter egg auto looping works good also, and proper auto looping will be in 1.8. TS's effects are also a pain as you have to use the send and return or a separate channel on your mixer for them to work. TS's supports MIDI though and a MIDI controller definitely will come in handy. SSL will have MIDI also in 1.8. TS has 2kHz control signal, whereas everyone else uses a 1kHz control signal. Now, unless you're a hardcore turntablist, you probably aren't going to notice that much of a difference. Sure, TS can pick up slower movements than SSL, but for mixing, it doesn't make any difference.

I hate TS's XLR connection cables. They're messy and make my table all cluttered. I've just been plugging my tables directly into the Audio 8. I get the point of them, but they are not very practical. I doubt most clubs are going to have them installed for you anyway for "plug-n-play" since you have to be a registered TS owner to even order replacement ones. Maybe that will change in the future, but I'm not expecting any clubs to have them installed yet.

More important though (to me at least) is support, which NI is notoriously poor at. SSL has top notch support. SSL updates are free. NI, if based on previous experience, charges for most updates, which usually don't fix problems, if anything usually only add more. I think that's going to be the determining factor for many. Although, with the amount of SSL's user out there, it's going to take A LOT, if not a miracle, to dethrone SSL from the top of the DVS market. There's just too many satisfied SSL users out there.

o.k thanks for that a lot of useful information there for me to consider.

it seems to me that you prefer serato, but I'm not just going to make my mind up based on other peoples opinions...

brianc · Post by **brianc** » Wed May 16, 2007 9:45 pm

PsyTox wrote:But as far as playing goes, I think you'll be happy with either one of them.

Yep, they're both really great products. My preference is Traktor, but Serato has a lot going for it. I expect to see even more nice things out of both of them in the future.

Todd Konix wrote:I hate TS's XLR connection cables. They're messy and make my table all cluttered. I've just been plugging my tables directly into the Audio 8. I get the point of them, but they are not very practical. I doubt most clubs are going to have them installed for you anyway for "plug-n-play" since you have to be a registered TS owner to even order replacement ones. Maybe that will change in the future, but I'm not expecting any clubs to have them installed yet.

I love the idea, but as it is now, it's not going to take off. I'd really like to see NI and Rane team up for this so that both products use these cables. That way, clubs could get them and both Serato and TS users would be happy. In reality, people aren't going to buy either system just because of its cables, so "innovating" with them is pointless.

trak660 · Post by **trak660** » Thu May 17, 2007 12:09 am

I like Traktor Scratch better, but everyone I know has Serato, so that's what I bought.

Final Scratch, Traktor Scratch, Serato, all three are very nice. You should get whatever the people around you are using. It will cause less of a hassle between sets changing out boxes.

Sneaky · Post by **Sneaky** » Thu May 17, 2007 12:59 am

Yup agreed, and all I ever wanted was something that works every time I boot up and sounds and plays as close to vinyl as possible... so yeah the new traktor is on point, but for previous Serato users I can't blame ya for sticking to your guns... so if you are looking to purchase either one I would say you can't go wrong either way