If serato didn’t have the WORST possible business plan for serato itch, not only would it make them a ton of money and become a close contender to Traktor, but it would be awesome!
Does anyone have any insight on how they could possibly think it’s a good idea to make their software free, and charge hardware companies to release controllers compatible with it… Rather than using the model that works great, which is selling the software and letting the public do with it as they want.
Serato itch looks amazing, there’s so much potential for innovation in mapping for it. There’s so much you can do… But instead they’re going with the mac “we will tell you what you want” approach.
They don’t even bother to make claims that they are doing it for HD reasons, they’re simply denouncing the entire concept of midi, and ignoring it.
Don’t get me wrong, if you’re a basic DJ that just wants software to work like a traditional DJ set up, by all means, check out Itch. If you want to be at ALL creative with your hardware set up, if you want to be innovative in any way… You’re still stuck with Traktor… Hell, even Serato Scratch is more versatile than itch for controllers… and Itch is marketed as the controller software.
Anyone else feel like Traktor and Serato are both turning into money-hungry failures, that are totally okay with killing the progress and innovation of the DJ community?
The flipside to this argument is that Itch hardware just works. you plug it in and it does it exactly what it says it will do. no programming, no relabelling buttons, etc. The hardware has been built from the ground up to work with Itch. Also, serato gets to maintain strict quality control.
If you look at the industry leaders in consumer electronics, they all use this plan.
I will start off by saying I heart Itch, bigtime…and I dig Itch for what it is ---- NOT for what I want it to be. Itch’s platform is based around tradtional DJing (Twitch is new venture). Orginally you had the VCI-300 and the NS7, no effects, no Sync, etc. It was meant to emulate two CDJ’s and a mixer or two Turntables and a mixer. You could have the same workflow as traditional set-up, but now with a more portable system. As Itch has grown they’ve added somethings, but the idea is it just works. You won’t see Itch being used with a Hercules RMX. They are all quality controllers that do as advertised. If you want to remap everything…well that already exists. Traktor. If you want awesome jogs, spinning platters and streamlined approach to DJing you have Itch. I think as the product grows you will continue to see improvements. In a very short time they’ve gone for a very bareboned system to adding AWESOME elastic beatgrids, effects, 4 deck controllers, SP-6 syncable sampler, various GUI layouts, smart crates, quantized play, etc. In the neat future I expect to see Video, The Bridge and the SP-6 midi mappable.
I understand where your coming from. As a former traktor user I used to think Itch’s very platfrom is it’s own limitation. How will the product grow if the current controller only has 3,4, or X amount of buttons. Well the product is still growing and new controllers with new features continue to come out. Truth is not everyone will have all features. 2 deck controllers can only control 2 decks. Only if you have Twitch do you get the slicer effect or Fader FX mode. This is how hardware works. When the DJM 900 came out, I could not map the new effects to my DJM 800 right. This is why having the hardware 1:1 mapping works great for them. It does what it advertises to do and it works. No mapping, no low rate sound card, no cheap controller, etc.
What I do think is that Itch needs some next level up caliber controllers to step up to the next level. Bigtime acts play on industry standard gear and really the Xone DX, DDJ-S1, NS6, etc are all mid-grade controllers. None are a Xond 4D or 2 X1’s and a DB:4. I’d love to see the next genearation of Itch controllers take it up a notch.
Bottom line. Itch is not meant to be another Traktor. It’s meant to be Itch.
It’s true, from what i can tell, the software and hardware integration are perfect. The problem I see with this… Is simply that Traktor already did that, and better, with the kontrol S4. Perfect hardware/software integration in HD (which a lot of itch controllers don’t use) plus You can still midi map the Kontrol s4 however you want, both on top of, and separate from the HD mapping.
Plus with traktor you get all the effects which are pretty much inarguably MILES above serato’s, as well as working as a Digital Vinyl System by plugging right into the controller.
What i thought itch was going to be was either Serato’s take on this system, or even better, they would just build an entire platform just for controllerists. I was excited when i saw the awesome new layout options in 2.0, and was pumped because I assumed they’d make a much better midi mapping protocol than traktors, as well as lots more options to tweak. What I thought I was going to get out of itch, was a newer, hotter Traktor, made by people who actually know how to program… Hopefully with better performance, and better customization to make it worth sacrificing Traktor’s effects.
Honestly I don’t see the point in using itch, unless you just hate traktor’s performance issues. Aside from that, and the new layouts etc. in itch… Traktor is still way better in almost every department.
Because Itch isn’t actually using HD controls in most cases, there’s no advantage over just midi mapping any controller you want in traktor. With 99% of controllers, someone probably already has come up with a mapping that you can easily download to make your controller work with the software as simply as Itch’s controllers.
That is just wrong. It’s completely impossible to use non-itch-certified hardware with itch. There’s no way someone has hacked it already.
Wanna make a bet? I’m a SSL & Itch User, Bridge, heck i have a video on youtube show full automation for the mixtape with a DJM700/800/900 series mixers.
For every reputable windows hardware company like Dell, you have a thousand off-brand cheap pieces of kit. You want to run OSX, you have to buy an Apple computer.
I’m not saying one is better than the other. what I’m saying is, this is an apple versus pc argument which always ends in trollz and flames.
traktor and itch are quite different software with various pros and cons. People should just use what is best suited to there requirements. I see lots of people buying itch hardware and complaining because they expected bridge, video or midi mapping. Buy to what you require not what you think the future will hold. Anyway itch is still young and who knows what the future holds for it.
peace
I was verryyyy tempted to pick up a Ns6 or twitch over my S4 (it’s 2 days old ). I love what serato is doing with itch and I can’t wait to see the next gen. controllers with Itch 2.0.
As a preface: I was an ITCH user from the moment the VCI-300 was available, and used several ITCH controllers up until a few months ago.
That said… ITCH is miles behind Traktor, even with their latest “update”. Fact is, that 2.0 was supposed to be out a year ago, and the latest release should have the Bridge and other features that SSL has had for some time now. Serato is obviously more interested in developing SSL, and they have indicated that ITCH isn’t a priority.
Their release of 2.0 is an incredibly weak effort. What could possibly take so long to implement in that update? People have been begging them for specific features over the last 2 years, and all they have been able to come up with is a sampler that SSL has had for a few years, and some new colors. Want video and the bridge? Expect another year or two for them to “get around to it”.
The whole point of itch is to stop wasting time with mappings, if you want mapping go with traktor.
Frankly I only see 1 point to giving a shit about mapping - youre fucking broke and want to use some cheapy controller. With a numark v7 or any of the itch controllers really what would you want to map that doesn’t already have a control for it?
I dont get how itch is “miles behind traktor”, it was meant to be a simple solution with controllers spanning multiple core audiences. The majority of what I’m seeing from “advanced traktor users” is just lame ass gratuitous use of beat masher and delay. Congrats on being a ponce
I wonder if ITCH will one day have full midi flexibility. You gotta wonder if they aren’t already trying to merge serato SSL and ITCH into one formidable piece of software with midi flexibility.
I wouldn’t be at all surprised if this was in the works
Customization, expanded functionality, etc. The way a manufacturer maps a device ain’t always the best. Of course, not everyone wants/needs or cares about it.
Serato for you! ^^^