Traktor guy trying Serato for the 1st time at a gig... am I being stupid?

[Tortango]

So I got offered a gig by an acquaintance who already will have Serato and control vinyl set up at the bar when I show up, he recommended that I just bring a flash drive with the tunes I want to play. Thing is, I'm used to using Traktor with a controller and have never used control vinyl.

Now, I used to spin records (although it's been a while) so I'm confident that I can beatmatch with turntables, but I'm a little worried about what the learning curve could be like. On the other hand, I really want to try it out and I don't normally get a chance to do that.

Does anyone with some relevant experience have a guess on whether or not I'll be able to play well without having tried it out before? If it's too tough I can bring my own setup and use controllers on my laptop instead.

[dayvue]

If it is anything like a normal bar gig, you should be fine. The pressure won't be too high and you'll get to mess around with the software. Just treat it like spinning normal records and you'll be good to go.

[sicnarf033]

i say take 5-10 minutes to go over it before you hop on. i started with serato and its simplified alot more than traktor. i found myself spending more time learning traktor than i did with serato. but to save yourself, just take a minute and ask questions before you spin.

[JayRuss]

Just imagine your playing with real records, tis that simple.

[bumtsch]

Maybe go through the "setting up" videos on the Serato Youtube channel to get acquainted with the very basics of it. Yes, even the "plugging things in" parts, you never know if you might have to nudge a wire or recalibrate.
Better yet, you could sign up on serato.com and download+install the program for free. It'll be mostly useless without one of their audio interfaces, but you can still fire it up and figure your way around menus, layouts and prepping tunes and playlists/crates in offline mode.

[Tortango]

Okay, thanks guys! Sounds like I don't have much to worry about then. I'll have 15 minutes or so to practice during what would normally be setup time, and will do some prep work before hand.

[haze324]

also download Serato (the offline player is free) and analyze the tracks you are going to play. This way your tracks aren't being analyzed when you load up your usb.

If you have EVER played on turntables you'll be more than fine.