Serato Scratch Live – SL3 vs SL1

In a previous post I wrote when the Rane SL3 was announced, I said that the upgrade wasn’t really worth it for DJs who already owned the SL1. Well, a few months after that post, I sold my SL1 to a friend and bought an SL3 for myself. Having DJed with it for about 8 months, I can now give my educated opinion on if it is really worth the upgrade.

Don’t upgrade from your SL1 if:

You are looking for a super awesome increase in sound quality. Yeah, there might be somewhat of an improvement there, but it’s not super noticeable, especially since most DJ’s are using mp3s.

You only have two channels on your mixer and no axillary input. The exception being if you have a two channel mixer and want to have the option of using two CD players and 2 turntables at the same time (I’ll explain below.)

Do upgrade to the SL3 from your SL1 if:

You do a lot of live recording when you DJ. Being able to record directly in Scratch Live with the SL3 is probably my favorite feature. It’s nice to not have to have another recording program (like Audacity) open to record your set. It’s also a lot quicker to record directly in Scratch Live. For example, sometimes when I DJ weddings, I decide to record the speeches to use them later on in the evening as samples (like during the first dances.) With the SL3, I just click a button and I’m recording. After I’m done, I give the recording a name (or not), click the recording button again, and it is automatically saved into my Scratch Live library. I can also choose between 16 and 24 bit for recording.

Have a mixer with a 3rd channel or Aux in. Unlike the SL1 which makes you hook up 4 rca’s for a two deck setup, with the SL3 you only have 2. With the SL1, to switch from Serato to real vinyl, you had to flip the input switch on your mixer. With the SL3, you do this internally in Scratch Live itself. If you only had a 2 channel mixer with no Aux in, this would free up 2 additional inputs (assuming each of your 2 channels where switchable between line and phono.) Also, if you have a 3rd channel or Aux in on your mixer, you can take advantage of 3 deck mixing with Serato 2.0, or you could assign the built-in Serato sampler to the Aux in.

Even if you don’t actually have 3 turntables or CD players, you can still take advantage of 3 deck mixing (even without a 3rd channel and only an Aux in like on the Rane TTM-56.) Turn on “instant doubles”. Have the Aux out of the SL3 going into the Aux in on the mixer. Have the Aux in volume turned down on the mixer. After you mix in your track on the turntable, click on the “virtual deck” in Serato and drag the track down to the third deck. With instant doubles on, it will copy the track over and line up exactly with the track playing on the turntable. Slowly turn up your Aux in volume, you will get a “phaser” effect because both tracks are playing in perfect time with each other. Drop out the turntable channel volume completely. You now have the track playing on the 3rd deck through your Aux in channel, freeing you up to use both of your decks to mix.

I do like my SL3, and am glad that I upgraded. One of the main reasons I felt comfortable doing so was my trust in Serato as a company. I knew they had something cooking up for the 3rd input, and I was right when they announced 3 deck mixing in Serato 2.0. If you need a great, easy way to record and want to do 3 deck mixing, the Rane SL3 is what you need. If you don’t really need to do those things, then just stick with your SL1, it’s still an awesome piece of hardware!

Tags: DJ Software News, Serato SL3