Ableton and Serato upto something

[Khazul]

Serato Audio Research - News - Serato and Ableton announce a creative partnership

If this mean being able to use Live and Scratch together on the same machine, in harmony, then I could be very interested in this instead of the default Traktor Pro (scratch) upgrade/crossgrade...


Stephen (Arbiter) - if you read this and can feed back to the NI dev guys - my #1 feature desire for Traktor at the moment is solid single machine integration with Ableton Live so that I can use decks or my VCI-100 to control traktor and eventually a VCM-600 for controlling live - and be able to control both together, in sync. I probably want Ableton to be the clock master (because the VCM-600 appears to have dedicated and useful controls for tempo).

Typical scenario is combined sets - other music in traktor, and running clips etc from Live at the same time, or even mixing right over to Live to working there for a bit - for eg doing some of my own stuff in Live.

At the moment I have been looking at various options to do this that currently involve two laptops and a midi link between them - the obvious advantage of this is you get two screens, no controller clashes etc and obviously you need two audio interfaces and an external mixer - alot of gear to lug around and set up in typically limited space.

As otherwise I rather like Traktor - then it is my preferred bit of software to see usuable alongside Live

[sureno]

wow that is a serious step i would switch over to serato in a heartbeat if it offered ableton vinyl control, the only sad thing is that it will want ableton to stay faithful to serato which means i doubt traktor will get a look in

[Monarch]

Interesting move by Ableton. After adding so many DAW features they now focus on the DJ market. Curious.

[sureno]

Originally Posted by Monarch

Interesting move by Ableton. After adding so many DAW features they now focus on the DJ market. Curious.

i think they have always aimed at the DJ just not to this depth imo

[Monarch]

Originally Posted by sureno

i think they have always aimed at the DJ just not to this depth imo

Yes they have, but since v.4 with Midi added they have steadily added more DAW like features.

Midi editing and recording
Midi FX
Pow-r dithering
64 bit summing
Better metering
Spectrum Analyzer
Instruments
e.t.c

But maybe they now realise that market is too tough to crack and want to re focus on the dj market?!?!?

[sureno]

Originally Posted by Monarch

Yes they have, but since v.4 with Midi added they have steadily added more DAW like features.

Midi editing and recording
Midi FX
Pow-r dithering
64 bit summing
Better metering
Spectrum Analyzer
Instruments
e.t.c

But maybe they now realise that market is too tough to crack and want to re focus on the dj market?!?!?

not sure, they got a pretty good DAW standard, like you said may be they simply want to excel their Dj functionality too either way very good move shame its serato though, i think this must mean either serato are dropping their bespoke audio driver to work with ableton or ableton are going to create a specific program for their audio driver?

[Monarch]

Originally Posted by sureno

not sure, they got a pretty good DAW standard, like you said may be they simply want to excel their Dj functionality too either way very good move shame its serato though, i think this must mean either serato are dropping their bespoke audio driver to work with ableton or ableton are going to create a specific program for their audio driver?

Your second guess might be right. Or something similar. This whole hardware software integration is really taking off. Yamaha's Steinberg offerings and Cakewalk Vstudio e.t.c so maybe Ableton feel the need to invest time and money in tight integration or similar with a top hardware brand name.

This might be just the start for Ableton. They kind of need it to compete IMO.

[Khazul]

When vestax get around to finally releasing their VCM-600 - that might do rather alot for ableton. Most (all?) other typical controllers for live are either too generic and/or barely better than land fill fodder - ie really nasty construction.

I think the serato thing is going to be about deep integration of the two software packages rather than hardware.

I guess also serato maybe more broadly used than NI traktor too at club level and if course serato have some heritage to leverage that NI perhaps dont quite have (no matter who is actually 'better').

[sureno]

Originally Posted by Khazul

When vestax get around to finally releasing their VCM-600 - that might do rather alot for ableton. Most (all?) other typical controllers for live are either too generic and/or barely better than land fill fodder - ie really nasty construction.

I think the serato thing is going to be about deep integration of the two software packages rather than hardware.

I guess also serato maybe more broadly used than NI traktor too at club level and if course serato have some heritage to leverage that NI perhaps dont quite have (no matter who is actually 'better').

Yeah i was in a quandry when choosing but i found serato used as the more reliable utility, suppose it can't hurt to get both

[Khazul]

Some more natterings on it...

Create Digital Music » Ableton Joins Serato in Partnership; Digital Vinyl for Live?

My guess is they are probably just going to do what I have been looking for in a future traktor...

[sureno]

Originally Posted by Khazul

Some more natterings on it...

Create Digital Music » Ableton Joins Serato in Partnership; Digital Vinyl for Live?

My guess is they are probably just going to do what I have been looking for in a future traktor...

looks like il be going serato, its all kicking off over at N.I too about traktor pro, i think i started something over there

[Khazul]

Does serato still not have midi sync+control?

If so, then thats it main advantage as currently (AFAIK) any kind of control over serato is going to be very expensive unless you allready have good decks for playing the timecode off.

OTOH, if they solve that in their link up with ableton - then it becomes alot less clear cut for someone starting out without allready having a ful non-computer rig and *then* Traktor has some serious competition to worry about.

Currently I guess they only really compete in the market for DJs transitioning with existing gear to a computer.

All of that said - there is such a world of difference between even the best available midi controller (IMHO the Vestax VCI-100) and using high end CDJs and other equivalents + a decent mixer, so I wonder how many people have bough CDJ just as controllers? - It seems just a bit extreme however

[sureno]

Originally Posted by Khazul

Does serato still not have midi sync+control?

If so, then thats it main advantage as currently (AFAIK) any kind of control over serato is going to be very expensive unless you allready have good decks for playing the timecode off.

OTOH, if they solve that in their link up with ableton - then it becomes alot less clear cut for someone starting out without allready having a ful non-computer rig and *then* Traktor has some serious competition to worry about.

Currently I guess they only really compete in the market for DJs transitioning with existing gear to a computer.

All of that said - there is such a world of difference between even the best available midi controller (IMHO the Vestax VCI-100) and using high end CDJs and other equivalents + a decent mixer, so I wonder how many people have bough CDJ just as controllers? - It seems just a bit extreme however

in my experience the VCI-1000 is the nuts but comparing it to my cdj1000's its dog poop imo
i THINK the midi was addressed in the last update

[conor_j]

VERY INTERESTING!!

I'll be keeping a keen eye on this

[Khazul]

Originally Posted by sureno

in my experience the VCI-1000 is the nuts but comparing it to my cdj1000's its dog poop imo

Thats what I meant by world of difference