Recently, my Serato kept crashing during an event. As a professional, I always have music backed up on other external hard drives, thumb drives, and CDs. Yet, if you’re a DJ, you can understand how frustrating it can be when you’re software is not working properly.
What happened?
The song wave form would break, start again (almost as if the song was skipping), then it would completely disappear. After trouble shooting a number of things, I found it to be my external hard drive. Once I removed the external drive and started using a new one, the software worked fine. However, if you’re experiencing the same issue and determined it’s not your external hard drive, here are some other troubleshooting steps you can try:
1) Shut down any programs you are not using (or don’t need to have running during your event). This way, your computer can run the software more efficiently.
2) Remove your firewall (I would suggest only removing it temporarily to see if this is causing the issue). While I use a MAC, I recently added a firewall because I had a hacking scare. Yet, I was told it may be interfering with the software. If this is not the problem, you’ll want to make sure to re-install it.
3) Uninstall & Reinstall Serato – This has worked for me in the past. A while back my Serato would just completely freeze while using it. I uninstalled the program and reinstalled it and it worked fine.
4) Turn off your WiFi. This could be causing interference.
5) Test ALL External Hard Drives your using – How do you test the drive? Load some of your music files directly to your computer, remove the external drive, and try using the software. If the software works fine, most likely you’ve found the issue.
6) Remove any unnecessary files from your computer. This will help your computer run more efficiently.
Keep in mind, if you’re Serato is not working properly, it may not be the software. As in my case, my external drive was causing the issue.
Did this video help you? If so, SUBSCRIBE to my SOUNDS BY SHELLY YouTube Channel! I want to keep bringing you more DJ tips and advice, so we can all keep doing what we love – play music! Thank you for your support! – Michelle Lee (aka DeeJay Shelly)
Are you in the market to buy DJ software and a controller? I personally like using Serato. I also purchased a combo pack of the Numark Mix Deck Express with Serato DJ intro. I purchased this combo for two reasons; I could train new DJs coming on my team and it was a great price. Turns out, I really love it! If you’re a beginner DJ, or any DJ, I would recommend the Numark Mix Deck and Serato. It’s what I use at all of my events! At $419 on Amazon for both the software and controller, it’s a great deal!