Serato DJ 1.5 Finally Brings Serato’s Controller & DVS Software Together

For the first time ever, Serato has a unified DJ software: Today, a major new version of Serato DJ – Serato DJ 1.5 – with vinyl and CDJ control was announced, marking a seismic shift for Serato, in a move guaranteed to have big repercussions throughout digital DJing. While Serato DJ 1.5 marks the end of the road for Serato’s dual-tier DJ software approach (and thus of course eventually for Serato Scratch Live), it’s the parallel announcement of some strategic new hardware to support the software that makes this truly big news for the world of digital DJing. Read on for all the info and Serato’s launch video.

A total of three new Serato DJ 1.5 DVS hardware units were unveiled, and crucially two of them are not from old-time exclusive hardware partner Rane, but from Pioneer: The Pioneer DDJ-SP1 add-on controller, and the Pioneer DJM-900SRT mixer. (The third is indeed from Rane, the Rane Sixty-Four mixer.) While the software announcement shouldn’t be a big surprise to either Serato Scratch Live or Serato DJ users (when Serato replaced its previous controller software, Serato ITCH, with Serato DJ, one of the stated intents was to move towards unifying its software range) nonetheless when combined with the break from Rane and the new serious club-friendly Pioneer hardware, it is a huge statement of intent from the company.

Serato now seems to be setting itself up seriously to battle for the ground that many would say Traktor has taken from them with its own unified Traktor Scratch Pro software and tight (but not always perfect) integration with certain Pioneer Pro DJ booth gear. Of course, this news is also going to have a big impact on Serato Scratch Live users, who now see their DVS-only software going the way of the controller-only Serato ITCH: Clearly Serato is not oblivious to the repercussions this news is likely to have among the Serato Scratch Live user base, as the company’s CEO, Sam Gribben, has recorded a YouTube video message on the developments of Serato DJ and the end of Scratch Live.

Official launch video

• The new version of the software is going to be available this October, with free upgrades for Serato Scratch Live users following a public beta period in February 2014.

So do you think this is a great move and long time coming, or are you not so pleased about this at all? How will this affect the Pioneer / Traktor / Serato balance in pro DJ booths, or won’t it change things much? We’d love you to share your thoughts in the comments.