Your main DJ software likes and dislikes

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I'm very much a Serato guy.

My original love for Serato came from the fact that I could run Itch on my mobile unit (which was a Denon HC-5000 at the time), and flip over to Scratch Live for a club gig on turntables with the exact same library management.

The only thing Serato has lacked over the years for a mobile DJ, is the ability to "set and forget" cocktail or dinner music to allow it to just run for a bit and reliably sound good doing it. Itch had Relay, but I never trusted it. I've dealt with that "problem" for so long now, that it doesn't really feel like a problem anymore. I simply create premixed cocktail and dinner sets, often custom to each event, so that I have time to do the other things I need to be doing during those times.
 
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For me, that's iTunes .. and I've used it with Traktor, PCDJ and Serato.
 
I have no issues loading the index into Serato .. or creating a playlist and setting Serato to continue playing a given playlist. 1st, there's no blending from one song to the other and 2nd, if you use external drives, after 'x' amount of time, the drive spins down and Serato 'forgets' to load and continue playing.
 
I agree it should have auto playlist playing/mixing .. everyone needs to take a break at some point. The seem to be off on a tangent with "stems", so basic playback doesn't seem to be their focus these days.

I am liking the newest version of PCDJ Red (Dex 3 RE) .. seems to do most of what I was thinking about CDJ for (mostly integrated Karaoke).
 
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steve149 said:
I agree it should have auto playlist playing/mixing .. everyone needs to take a break at some point. The seem to be off on a tangent with "stems", so basic playback doesn't seem to be their focus these days.

I am liking the newest version of PCDJ Red (Dex 3 RE) .. seems to do most of what I was thinking about CDJ for (mostly integrated Karaoke).
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No, they are definitely focused on ways to push the creative boundaries, not make it easier to sit back and relax.

But, in many ways, I appreciate that about them. As much as people like to crap on the Sync function... the fact that I can sync two songs that are way different in speed, and then create my own transitions up or down on the fly... is amazing. I used to stock my library with TONS of transition tracks so I could get up or down smoothly. Being able to grab a loop or acapella and just blend that seamlessly is super freaking cool.

FWIW I don't use Sync for basic beat matching, but for stuff like that, it's absolutely a huge value add.
 
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Albatross said:
No, they are definitely focused on ways to push the creative boundaries, not make it easier to sit back and relax.

But, in many ways, I appreciate that about them. As much as people like to crap on the Sync function... the fact that I can sync two songs that are way different in speed, and then create my own transitions up or down on the fly... is amazing. I used to stock my library with TONS of transition tracks so I could get up or down smoothly. Being able to grab a loop or acapella and just blend that seamlessly is super freaking cool.

FWIW I don't use Sync for basic beat matching, but for stuff like that, it's absolutely a huge value add.
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I have no issue with their focus .. it's just not what I need or want. At many of my events (non-wedding), I spend as much time away from the controls as I would at them, so I need the "auto" functionality. I think for a club or serious dance DJ, it's what they need .. to each their own.

However, it seems that a simple capability to auto-mix a playlist or sidelist would be nice for ANY user and not all that tough to implement, so still not sure why most every other package has it and not Serato.
 
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steve149 said:
I have no issue with their focus .. it's just not what I need or want. At many of my events (non-wedding), I spend as much time away from the controls as I would at them, so I need the "auto" functionality. I think for a club or serious dance DJ, it's what they need .. to each their own.

However, it seems that a simple capability to auto-mix a playlist or sidelist would be nice for ANY user and not all that tough to implement, so still not sure why most every other package has it and not Serato.
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I do mostly weddings and corporate parties. They have a lot of mcing components. I'm away from my console a lot and need my system to do things automatically when I want them to. Sometimes it's not far away, but it's great having the software be able to do tasks. Yes there are times when I want to mix songs together and being there is important. It's about 25% of the time. For me, it's most important that I have the next dance song that's right for that crowd. Creating a unique mix is not going to impress the guests. The right songs over and over will.

Club djing may be very different.
 
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VDJ 8.2, I've been using it since V. 4.0 won't change it for any other does everything I need plus a lot more. I also own copies of the other software, they are ok but VDJ is what I'm very comfortable with.
 
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You don't want to know, complications from the respiratory failure have turned things upside down with my diabetes. That's why I haven't been online much.
 
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Scott Hanna said:
What do you like best about your software. What do you like least?

Your like should be something you believe is different from other software

While I own several different software licenses, I use Otsav primarily.

It's very easy for me to use. Very stable. Uses windows functions(copy paste). My favorite part is the search and lists.i. I sort my Lists by most played. When I search, usually 2-3 key strokes will pull up the song I want. Simply hitting enter will put the song in whatever list I'm working in. Hitting delete clears my search bar for the next song. So I can load their whole request list very quickly.

The bad:
They are simply awful with the amount of time between updates. They added karaoke in 2006 and said a hoster part is coming soon. We are still waiting.
around 2008, an update came out with no new features but said it's a whole new build that they can now put out updates much quicker. The updates actually got slower.
They charge a premium price, which I had no problem paying when I believed they were the best. My younger djs prefer vdj, which is cheaper because you can use vdj on a backup. I have 5 current 1.90 licences. But I also have 4 V1.85 ones that I paid $300 each for that they want another $200 each to make them functional. These older ones dont work on Windows 10.
It was cheaper for me to buy 2 vdj licenses, which is what the djs wanted.

I've tried vdj, but have gotten so used to ots, that I keep going back. I'll probably use ots until they stop supporting their DJ software all together or until I retire.
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I use Ots as well but only use 1.85. I purchased 1.9 but went back to 1.85. 1.85 will work on Windows 10 but you need to uninstall it, install an older version of Windows, install Ots then install Windows 10 again. That is what I did and it is working fine.

I agree with your assessment about the horrendous time for any updates and I don't use 1.9 partly because they never completed a complete users manual. There are too many little quirks that I love about 1.85 that I can't figure out on 1.9 that it was just easier to go back to 1.85.
 
Galager said:
I use Ots as well but only use 1.85. I purchased 1.9 but went back to 1.85. 1.85 will work on Windows 10 but you need to uninstall it, install an older version of Windows, install Ots then install Windows 10 again. That is what I did and it is working fine.

I agree with your assessment about the horrendous time for any updates and I don't use 1.9 partly because they never completed a complete users manual. There are too many little quirks that I love about 1.85 that I can't figure out on 1.9 that it was just easier to go back to 1.85.
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I like the 1.90. Search function and sorting is outstanding
 
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