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Transitioning from DJIng to music production feels like a natural progression to many DJ’s, and now Serato has entered the game with a new app that tries to bridge that gap: Serato Studio.
To make things crystal clear, this is not a fully-fledged DAW (Digital Audio Workstation) like Ableton Live or FL Studio. Serato Studio is more of an expanded version of Serato Sample: a simple way for DJ’s to go beyond just playing music and start tweaking their own sounds.
If you are a Serato DJ user, the interface will feel and look very familiar:
DAW’s have the tendency to scare newcomers with a complex interface and workflow, but Serato Studio looks like DJ software on steroids. Load op some beats and samples, sequence them in the right order and you have yourself a track.
The software helps out with setting the right key for your projects, by automatically adjusting the key of your sounds to the project’s master key.
My Take
I think it’s a smart move from Serato to enter the music production game. I had the chance to play around with Serato Studio before the beta release, and it’s really well put together. I’m not really into music production, but I found myself having fun with samples and beats in no time.
It shouldn’t be hard to get the Serato DJ crowd to at least have a look at Serato Studio. At this point, the software is not ready to be a contender in the professional music production space, but as a tool to quickly put something together in a familiar environment, it’s pretty, pretty good.
I’m really looking forward to seeing how Serato Studio works with controllers, especially the Roland DJ line, since these have built-in sequencers that, hopefully, will interface with Serato Studio.
Key Features
- DJ Style Library – Access your entire Serato DJ library with crates, cue points, BPM and key information.
- High-Quality FX – Tweak your beats using over 30 built-in FX presets that will feel instantly familiar to DJs.
- Works with DJ hardware – Studio works with a range of DJ controllers and mixers, as well as MIDI controllers, or just your laptop.
- Make Beats – Get inspired with over 300 pre-made drum patterns across a range of different genres.
- Master Key and BPM – Let the project key automatically update as you start making your beat. Adjust the BPM to extremes with world-class Pitch ‘n Time stretching.
- Play in Key – Play any instrument or plugin in key, without knowing music theory.
- Quality Content Built-In – Studio comes with a huge amount of built-in drum kits, instruments, audio loops and samples, with frequent content updates for subscribers.
- Simple Sequencer – Get creative with your drum patterns using the simple and easy-to-use 808-style step sequencer.
- DJ-style mixing – Mix your sounds using a familiar DJ channel mixing strip, with dedicated gain, EQs, filters and more.
- Serato Colored Waveforms – See your audio and MIDI sequences in Serato’s famous colored waveforms.
Pricing and Availability
When will the new product be available, and at what price
