Why is Serato worth more money

DJ Software & Apps Serato
1

Why is Serato worth more money

Why does Serato SL demand a higher price than Traktor. If Traktor cost more would that effect their sales. Or would they have the same share as they do now. What is it that makes people want to spend that extra money on serato?

  1. is it they really need side by side waveforms
  2. They truely beleive serato is the only credible DVS solution
  3. they think its more reliable
  4. its easier to setup for the 1st time
  5. its simpler to use
  6. They use the bridge and its recording capabilites
  7. they like having midi devices set up for them
  8. they dj with video ( i know a few ppl who have switched for this reason)
  9. They beleive the sound cards are better quality
  10. there mates use it
2

I think Serato had a bit of a first-mover advantage. It’s true that NI (and former collaborators) came to market first. But I would argue that at the time when digital setups/DVS started to take off, Serato had the more mature product.

So more people got into the game using Serato. And, from then on, it’s a switching-cost issue. Switching is costly (e.g., it takes time to take your cue points or the organizational structure of your collection to another product). Due to those switching costs Serato still has a bit more market power than NI which allows it to charge higher prices.

Obv, I’m not claiming this is the full story but I def think this has been an important factor over the last few years.

3

I suspect Serato may feel that being more expensive may help them appear as the more premium product.

4

its just marketing

you get a bunch of famous people to use your stuff everyone is gonna go buy it and enough people buy it,its gonna become the standed in certain places

and if serato can sell there products at a higher price than NI and people are buying them at them price they aint going to lower the price does not make it a better product than traktor,but i like both so its all good.

5

It’s the industry standard!:roll_eyes:

I think a lot of people use it because it’s an easy step into laptop djing with your turntables. Solid hardware and software without all the bells and whistles of Traktor or VDJ and a (marginally) tighter DVS.

6

jackinthebox I wouldnt say there is an industry standard yet however there may be one in the next couple of years you say serato is a tighter dvs. Are you refering to the timecode if so that is incorrect traktor has better traking due to the timecode and that is a fact. Its tough to call what will be the next industry standard. I personaly hope there isnt one. At the moment both companies are putting alot of development into there products to make them better if one company comes on top this will stop. And we will end up with the same situation as the turntable and cdj. The cdj 2000 was only released as a reaction to digital djing. I think this traktor update needs this sample player we know is coming. An option for side by side waveforms it really would not be that hard to program and video support. A cool feature to add with the new soundcard would be 3 record outs with an inbuilt recorder so you can record the master and both lines with cross fader movment for midi enabled mixers. Oh yea and high res midi

7

Please use the [,] and [enter] keys a little more often, you’re making my eyes hurt.

It could be argued that SSL is as close as we have to an industry standard, since clubs with house soundcards more often than not have an SL-1 or SL-3.

8

Who’s jackinthebox? :slight_smile:

Ask any Serato fanboy why his software is better and he’ll tell you it’s because it’s the “industry standard”. I threw it out there as a joke. :slight_smile:

I don’t regularly use DVS, so that doesn’t matter much to me, and VDJ can do everything else and more, so I have no desire to spend almost twice as much on Serato.

9

Absoluetly not.

There is a minority of very loud people asking for side by side and they go on like its killing Traktor and everyone wants it and the uncomforatable truth for these people is that most Traktor users (in my received opinion ) is that they dont want/need it.

These people claim a load of odd reasons for NI not implementing it such as ‘they dont want to change the UI’… if it was such a popular feature they would implement it and it would be killing Traktor but it isnt.

Fact its the Phase Meter pleases a lot of people and just cus Serato has side by side does not mean its a better way to work.

People coming from SSL or Itch go on how its make or break for Traktor and Traktor will never challange Serato until they have side by side.

This is laughable for many reasons. Fact is nothing is slowing the progress of Traktor .

I was told a few “facts” by an reliable industry insider at the BPM show in October and the Traktor sales figures are simply Unbelievable. Unreal.

NI could probably ignore this feature for rest of time and it wouldnt hurt them one iota.
I mean, what is the point of trying to convert or convince a few SSL/Itch users when they can just get on with selling their own method to millions of new DJs.

Money talks. If NI thought they needed to implement it they would.

I personally hate side by side. Cant stand it .BUT i think NI should implement it just so Traktor has everything.

10

^ They are implementing colored waveforms!!

:slight_smile:

You know I’m a happy camper. Hopefully the gridding has improved. Any word on when we should hear an official statement from NI on the new Traktor product? A few weeks?

Ok back on topic. It cost some much because it’s from Rane!!! It’s pricey gear. You also have to remember Rane sells the soundcard or mixer and Serato has the software so thats two companies sharing profits. With Traktor it’s all NI.

my thoughts.

11

Having used Scratch Live for just over 5 years before purchasing my Kontrol S4 3 weeks ago, I can say that I enjoy both. But, when I first bought Scratch Live, there weren’t many other impressive DVS solutions at the time. And, what sold me on it was a demo that DJ Jazzy Jeff did on Scratch Live. So, after some research on my own, I figured this would be the best solution for me to move to a DVS.

And I can count how many times in that time Scratch Live has frozen or messed up on my with just 3 fingers. It is a rock solid DVS and it just works. So, I believe it is worth the price.

And now with 3 weeks on the S4 pro software, I am not finding anything I dislike about it. Granted I don’t have any turntables to scratch on, I can still scratch with the little s4 jogwheels.

The main reason I switched was to save space at home. And in the future, I will see how the S4 goes in a live setting.

12

I used Final Scratch 2 and SSL, and I’m currently spinning on Traktor Pro (controllers only). I think Jason actually used my first copy of SSL…I can’t remember exactly whom I sold it to. The only reason I sold it at all was because I had an issue that turned out to be with one of my turntables and not the DVS. If I’d kept a more level head and figured that out before I got afraid to trust it, I probably would have kept it and never tried FS2 or Traktor Pro.

SSL had a LOT of top hip hop DJs moving away from strict vinyl for the first time, which seriously helped it in the US…Also, when SSL and FS2 were on the scene, SSL kind of was just better software for a lot of people: it didn’t drift; it sounded better; it ran on more computers…and, NI/Stanton pissed a lot of people off when they ditched support for the Scratch Amp and ended their collaboration. It happened right around the PPC/Intel switch for Apple computers, and that alone probably sent more than a few FS2 users packing: the new computer may have been worth more to users than a software package that was having issues anyway and turned out to never be updated. FS2 also cost more than SSL at the time, and if you were unlucky enough to buy FS2 towards the end and then hear the news that you needed to buy another $600 sound card…i mean…seriously?!

When Traktor Scratch came out, they probably didn’t even try it. I didn’t even consider it. I just bought SSL again, and I only got rid of it when I switched entirely over to Live for a year or so.

Frankly, I still think it’s weird to see people using TSP as a DVS…it seems like a controller-only software package to me, and it might always seem that way.

If SSL had a demo or didn’t require a Rane interface…or if GC would accept returns on SL3 boxes, I might have never tried Traktor Pro. If I eventually find out you can use X1s just as well in SSL internal as you can in TP, I’d still consider switching back at some point.

Despite its popularity here and around the world, to me the question seems less “why is SSL worth spending more?” and more “what makes traktor worth its price at all?” For me, the answer is “beats to cue”, the key knob, and the X1s. Everything else, I think SSL does better. It just so happens that those 3 things are enough right now.

We’ve been told it won’t happen again, but if NI drops TSP support for the Audio 4 DJ and Audio 8 DJ when the new sound cards hit or even if they continue to support them without the new software features (within reason, of course), I’m either going back to Serato or back to CDJs.

Why do I think it’s okay for SSL to cost more? They’ve never pissed me off. NI is on its last chance.

13

Serato hardware costs an arm and a leg, but their software is free

14

Sometimes I look at this forum and wonder why it doesnt have a big NI in the upper left hand corner of every page.

15

Really?

Is it not anymore sinister than the fact that more people use Traktor than anything else..?

Are Traktor users supposed to keep quiet just so that the discussion is evenly weighted..?

This kind of opinion is posted on the Blog quite a lot and it baffles me.
If people are so pissed at listening to Traktor stuff they should post more about SSL/Torq/VDJ etc.

Some people on the blog are a lot less polite in their response to that accusation than i am being here.:slight_smile:

16

dont take this the wrong way. but youre getting rather defensive about a relatively broad comment. i wasnt even thinking about you when i posted that.

now its all kinds of awkward.

17

Its not awkward… and thats a pretty childish thing to say.
Im not getting defensive at all. Its called discourse.

You made a post dude and i made a reply.
Thats kinda what we are all here for isnt it..?

I dont think the “DJTT is bias towards NI” accusation is fair on DJTT.

I couldnt give a crap, if this site was a 1000 times less Traktorist id still be here. Im here cus the people are nice.

18

It’s a forum full of Traktor users built on the popularity of a combination of that software and a VCI-100, what do you expect!

I do think people play it up to be a make or break feature whereas I have been quite happy using Traktor without it for a long time. That said, having also used itch and found it to be quite a nice additional tool for visual cueing and beatmatching, In the fullness of time I’d like to see it implemented in Traktor as an option. I’d never suggest they completely redesign the GUI just to add that one feature.

19

I agree.
I think it could be done with minimal rejigging of the UI as an option.

20

I’ve used VDJ for a while, and I think side by side would be a very useful feature for beatgridding. I would not use it live however, since to me it takes away the idea of spinning with two separate tracks. Call me old fashion, but I do like that idea.