The Rane Serato SL-3

An industry standard in DJ equipment with a more compact design and improved software.

Like its popular predecessor Rane SL 1, the SL3 is a USB interface that connects one or two standard vinyl or CD turntables to your computer and the mixer of your choice. Using regular turntables or CD players and the included Serato Scratch Live software, DJs can scratch and mix files from their Mac or Windows computer's CD or hard drive.

Enhanced by studio grade preamps and 24-bit audio processing, the compact SL3 interface produces a warm punchy sound to heighten the senses. The auxiliary outputs allow DJs and electronic musicians to intensify the mix with the Scratch Live SP-6 Sample Player. The auxiliary inputs provide a live input feed for creative sampling or recording your set. Use any combination of audio sources: control CD, control vinyl, MIDI, or regular CDs and vinyl for more flexibility than ever.

I know I probably should have written a blog on the Rane Serato a lot sooner, especially since it's the primary DJ software that I use with my B-52 Prodigy. Well as luck would have it, as soon as I get ready to tell you about the Serato Scratch Live unit, they come out with a new version of it! So I thought I should introduce this newest version of it instead.

It doesn't appear to be that different from what I'm using at first glance, but after reading the specs on it I see they've added a few things to enhance the performance and offer some tricks that mine doesn't do.

Scratch Live software
The included Scratch Live 3 software supports all these file formats: Fixed and Variable Bit Rate MP3, AIFF, AAC, WAV, OGG Vorbis, CD Audio, and direct from the mixer. Record from your mixer's Aux output and immediately scratch as if it was on vinyl. Record direct from vinyl or CD and save as a 24-bit/48kHz stereo file.

With the help of the SL3 interface, Serato Scratch Live can easily import your playlists and iTunes library. DJs can drag from Explorer (Windows) or the Finder (Mac) into the Scratch Live library. The crate and subcrate system helps organize libraries and sets. Hot-swap external drives with fast automatic library merging and retention of crates. Browse your music collection by album, artist, BPM, or genre, with optional album art display. Intuitive search function can be applied to any field to find things quickly. Edit ID3 tags with full Unicode support.

Preprocessing of MP3 files is not required except to detect corrupt files or use the auto-BPM and auto-gain functions. Auto-BPM detects tempo information for tracks without it, saving it with each file. A tap tempo button allows you to enter your own. Auto-gain lets you set a target gain on any or all songs in your library. You can also manually adjust individual gain, remembered in each song file.

What I like most about this software is no matter how much music you have stored on your computer, it will organize it and make songs easier for you to find with just a few clicks. I especially like the virtual crates that you can create to separate your genre's of music. (Reminds me of when I used real crates of records) That was how I organized my music then by putting the different genre's in separate crates.

My SL-1 ran me about $500.00 and some change, this new version is about more like $700.00 and some change. A pretty nice chunk to pay but well worth it once you get all those CDs and MP3s loaded onto your computer. Once you see how well this organizes your music and lets you pull up what you're playing next in an instant, you won't be disappointed.

Try it out in the store when you get a chance, I'm sure you'll like it. So that's about it for now, but as always....... Stay In The Mix!