Can we mod Vestax Spin and Serato DJ Intro
I’m wondering if anyone has mod experience to make a Vestax Spin change it’s midi messaging to a Vestax typhoon so people can use Serato’s DJ Intro with the Vestax Spin. Just an idea.
I would have though that the MIDI messaging would be the same between the two units and that Intro is using the device ID to identify the Typhoon vs the Spin so I’m not sure if it’d work.
Serato told me it’s hard coded and not user hackable.
it should be related to the SysEx I.D. that is a part of the firmware, check with vestax if you can swap firmwares between the two versions, I remember reading on the spin a while ago and someone was saying you can make them work on windows with firmware update, I was on the internet though so not sure if it’ll work, but worth a try 
Thanks skratchworx, that’s good to know. Thanks for checking with them. I was trying to find an alternative to selling the vestax, I prefer serato’s layout since I use it for serious gigs.
I am wondering if this could work. On the mac there is a tool in the utilities folder called Audio Midi Setup. Why not change the name of the SPIN to be “TYPHOON DJ - Controller”. This should trick the software into thinking you have a Typhoon and not a Spin. You could also look into using a binary file editor to replace the word TYPHOON with SPIN. Most of these recognitions are done using just the name any. Its just a thought and worth a try.
Serato DJ Intro, it is Serious Business
yes. i prefer scratch live’s layout to anything else out there. be nice if i could use it on the midi controller on the go instead of my full layout.
Did you try the idea I posted? I am sure it will work.
hard coded means that the matching string i.e. the name of the device is coded in the binary. Binary editors allow you to find the string and change it. This is a trick that has been used in other settings many times before, and successfully.
then i guess we need a binary editor for mac? i have my device, audio midi setup didn’t allow me to change a name.
Yes. So try this one: http://www.suavetech.com/0xed/0xed.html
What you will do is make copy of the binary file first. It should be in place like /Applications/Serato DJ Intro.app/Contents/MacOS/intro
Making the copy:
- Open a terminal window (found in the utilities folder)
- type the command:
cp /Applications/Serato DJ Intro.app/Contents/MacOS/intro /Applications/Serato DJ Intro.app/Contents/MacOS/intro.bak
The copy is just a backup in case something does not work. Then You are ready to edit. So up the OxED application and use File->Open Path.
In the path dialog box put:
/Applications/Serato DJ Intro.app/Contents/MacOS/intro
This will open a screen with a bunch of numbers on the left (HEX → Binary) and characters on the right. Use the search bar and search for TYPHOON. Use the edit menu to change the write mode to “overwrite”.
One the right-side change “TYPHOON” to “SPINOON” (replacing the first 4 letters in TYPHOON. Then go to the left side where the numbers are that correspond with the “OON” (it will highlight them for you) and overwrite the numbers with 00. So this will make 3 new sets of 00 and the text on the right will change to 's.
Then save and start the program with the SPIN connected. It should now be looking for SPIN instead of TYPHOON. let me know what happens.
Tried it…still says hardware disconnected
thanks for trying it cyberphox. any more ideas? much thanks for your help.
i suspect synthet1c was onto the real solution… serato is probably identifying devices using methods similar to vdj. so you’d need to respond with the correct vendor info in a sysex response and/or it might be looking for specific info reported from the driver directly. be interesting to try out the software using a diff controller, but i suspect they don’t want that 
couldn’t midimasher lie to serato with the correct information… SysEx, vid, pid & any disparity in the midi messages..
not sure about vid+pid as that’s driver stuff and it’s just using external software for that, like loopmidi etc, or internal virtual ports on linux and mac. it could def respond with any id for a sysex message tho. not sure it should since i guess it’s not much diff to using any software that u shouldn’t but i am curious to try out serato intro…
anyone try midimasher? not sure how to use it for dj intro.
okay. A friend of mine and I got this to work using the binary editor like I mentioned in the earlier post, and by changing the name in the Audio Midi Setup. I attached screen shots. You see that I renamed the Spin to TYPHOON so my machine thinks its a TYPHOON. In one of the shots you can see that the Spin still knows its a Spin. After doing this and changing the binary file as above. It works!
so it can only be looking at the ‘name’ of connected devices and nothing more cunning than that… i’m quite surprised really. good to know. it might also be looking at manufacturer info i guess - but those two are so close already. i’d just like to try out the software to see what it’s like.