I have read in other forums and also seen for myself that DJ TechTools is a bit (which is an understatement) biased towards Ableton and Traktor. Specifically Traktor obviously. I have seen in the forums a huge push toward even the S8, S4 and other N.I. controllers. While this deters myself and others I know from participating here I will say we have probably the best forum community I could ever ask for at Serato.com
I am however and always have been curious if there was an underlying reason in which I am not aware of? Pioneer’s most recent sales figures shows that they make up for 60% of the global DJ market as a whole (with no secret that this is in no small part helped by their partnership with Serato) so I am sure it is not popularity that drives this bias.
The Serato section does not even have Serato DJ titled nor does the DDJ lineup have its own dedicated section which to me is crazy. So yeah I am kindly asking if there is something I am missing or is this Forum not even used all that widely to begin with?
Also noticed the N.I. gear was so up to date the S5 was included yet Serato -
Anything to do with Serato SSL or Itch… nice!! LOL
Nothing in Midi maps.No dedicated section in the blog like Traktor or Ableton … yet you guys are trying to sell DDJ gear.
I think it’s mainly due to the broader audience of the forum. Most people on here (myself included) are very much into customizing the software, mappings, and gear. Serato just isn’t as friendly.
FOr producing, I don’t use Ableton. I prefer FLStudio with my tracks all routed into audition for multitrack live recording. But I still love this forum.
When it boils down to it, Serato is straight forward DJ Software with not a lot of customization ability. Even the discussions on Serato forums (Which I follow as well) aren’t anywhere as detailed as most of the discussion in Traktor forums.
Most of us have been using Traktor as our main tool for quite some time (10 years in my case), even before DDJ or Kontrol devices were around. We don’t really have anything against Serato or other platforms but as a forum that has always been deeply involved with MIDI mapping and Trakor has always been pretty good at it.
Regarding DDJ specific sections, we normally open new areas if there is enough demand for it (like there was for the Kontrol series) and unfortunately no one ever asked for a Pioneer specific section. Either way, most people simply post in the General Discussion section no matter how the forum is laid out. We never had much Serato content on the blog but that might change in the near future. Regarding Mappings, you can go to maps.djtechtools.com directly and select your software of choice from the dropdown menu. I’d LOVE to be able to make proper mappings for the Midi Fighters in SeratoDJ but the fact that you can’t even assign a shift layer so you can delete cues with the same button is quite sad (it was possible with SSL).
Long story short, if you or anyone else has any suggestions on how to turn this place into a more welcoming spot for other kind of minds they are always welcome!
While I understand your stance and I can appreciate your history I use Traktor, Rekordbox, Djay, etc. as well as Serato and from my personal perspective these forums as well as site content in itself have kept me from participating here as a whole. I am always up for learning and love a good debate but I’ve always felt a sense of defeat or even being embarrassed that I prefer Serato. If I had a nickel for the mount of times I created a post… hovered over the “Reply to Thread” button only to close the window and move onto something else, I would be FLOATING ha.
Trust I mean NO offense. I am NOT here to tell anyone how to do their job. I have watched (from the sidelines) djtechtools.com become a huge asset to the DJ community. I admittedly come here first (over DJworx, digitaldjtips, etc.) for my DJ news and such but I feel like the Serato stigma gets lost elsewhere is all I am saying. I find the articles you post informative and thought provoking. I am unfamiliar with the community here so I will skip any commenting there (not that I am here to judge anyways) but I figured I would ask a question that has been on my mind for YEARS.
I appreciate your time and perhaps in future things may shift. Again please take this constructively. If I ad no interest in what you guys do I would have let another decade or so pass before asking LOL.
I wish Serato would allow the same mapability as Traktor. I love Serato for its simplicity and thats why I love using it for non-edm focused gigs. Its straight forward, has super low latency, and makes me feel more into my gear than the laptop. I am very much so hoping the new rekordbox software is like serato with mapability.
The bias on this forum is a result of the significant contributions from it’s members. It’s gathered momentum. There are some super helpful guys around here, and (unfortunately for Serato users) those guys use Traktor.
When I started here, I hadn’t even started using Traktor. But the community here made it easy to pick it up and use it.
I understand your frustration about there not being too many serato guru’s here. But I’m sure no-one would complain if you started posting about serato (asking questions OR posting tips).
Quite simply - if you want to see more Serato postings, you’ll need to make 'em yourself. Then, hopefully, Serato will gain more traktion (!) around here.
I’ve got a huge interest in the RedBull Thre3style Contest - which is primarily a Serato contest. I’d love to read up on the techniques that the entrants use (especially the Tone Play Techniques!). So, I headed over to Serato.com to get involved… Didn’t find too much in the way of technique discussion… I was disapointed.
Now - maybe that was just me missing the important threads where these things HAVE been discussed.
If you can bring such discussions HERE, I for one would be extremely grateful.
