Serato

To be able to toy a bit with cptnemo’s Serato set was nice. I had to try if the laptop thing would suit me. Earlier I actually went from CD’s to Vinyl because I like to feel (and smell!) the media I use. I like to grab it and being able to give it to somebody who diggs the track it contains. Being able to, right. I’m not actually giving away my hard earned vinyl.

So, I was sceptic at first. As always cptnemo is the early adapter in the group, so he has a Serato set-up at home. We went fooling around a bit. Unfortunately we haven’t recorded anything, ’cause I actually got the hang of it. Being able to see the wave-form, to be able to see how the track builds-up (and tears down!) is good added value.

Serato also contains a good BPM counter and Key analyzer. Combine it with something called the Camelot wheel and before you know it, you are rocking the shit out of the place. The only downside of it all is the interface. We had to use the mouse a lot. There are some keyboard shortcuts, but I like to do some serious knobbing when I’m playing. Still, there are a lot of interfaces out there that solve that little problem. All things considered, I felt how good BPM counters and key analyzers can up your game. I think Pio’s CDJ-2k or the Denon S3700’s are more my kind of new-school weapons of choice.