just to chime in...we encounter simila stuff with the 57 when it 1st released give it some time and i am sure you will be pleasantly suprised

Hi DJRi!

I'm happy to hear that you are enjoying the mixer!

Serato Scratch LIve 2.1 is an update to the Scratch Live software that runs on your computer, not the mixer itself. I suspect that most of the problems with the Sixty-Eight that you say were resolved with Scratch Live 2.1 were actually issues with Scratch Live 2.0 that were resolved with Scratch Live 2.1. Scratch Live 2.0 was a big step forward, and of course there will always be growing pains. Scratch Live 2.1 has fixes for nearly all issues that were discovered after the 2.0 release.

Scratch Live 2.1 does come with new firmware for the Sixty-Eight mixer. The primary purpose of this new firmware (v1.13) was to add more functionality for MIDI learning within the Scratch Live software so that you can MIDI learn any control. We also fixed a user-reported bug with the crossfader. I don't think these changes would have affected the problems you were experiencing with Scratch Live 2.0.

The blue buttons above the cues in the channel strips aren't cues, they're FlexFX mix assignment buttons. Meaning, when you press that button and it is lit, that channel strip is now feeding into the FlexFX mix. When you press the USB Insert button, you are routing that FlexFX mix to Scratch Live on your computer where the software effects in the DJ-FX plugin affect the audio and send it back to the mixer. There are details on how all of this works including diagrams in your user manual for the Sixty-Eight.

I have spent some time looking for the drop in volume that you have described and I have not been able to reproduce it. Since you are running a beta copy of the software, it would be best for you to go back to the beta area and submit a detailed bug report so that Serato's very talented development team can investigate and fix it for you!

Both Rane and Serato care very much about what you guys think about our products, and we value your feedback very highly. We are always striving to create the best product possible for you. What I'm trying to say is that while other companies may blow off users' criticisms, we actually pay close attention and take notes. Of course we can't be changing things for every individual's request, but we will take note and try to produce what "the people" as a whole want. So that being said, we'd love to hear what it is about the Sixty-Eight filter effect that you do not like. So far the filter effect and the channel filters (I'm not sure which one you were referring to) have been very popular, so I'm more than a little curious to hear what specifically you would like to see improved.

In regards to the filter, The new serato based software filter is amazing, but the sixty-eight filter doesnt have punch or depth to it. The new addition into the software filter has much more feeling in it when it is set to a resonance of 2-3. To compare that to the built in hardware filter I would say it would be like setting the software one to a resonance of .50-1.00 so there isn't a whole lot of power or feeling, more like turning down the 3knob EQ lows knob on high pass and turning down the 3knob EQ highs knob on low pass. It may be possible that my sixty-eight somehow has a weaker filter than others, but id be surprised if the majority of users liked it as it is noticeably weak. I happen to like intense filters more than weaker ones, but i'm sure different DJ's like different filter types

One issue ive encountered with fixing the filter with MIDI linking the software one to the sixty eight, is when you link one to the individual channel filter knobs, the old hardware filter is still activated when using the software midi linked one as well. Not sure if there's a way to completely turn off the hardware filter and just use the knob as a midi controller.
The other is that if you midi link channel one's filter, it also effects channel two when the flexfx are activated for channel 2. so if you leave the channel 1 filter at max after filtering out the sound and then activate the flexfx on channel 2, it reads channel ones position and feeds the software filter to channel 2. It would be nice to be able to basically remap FX to individual channels they dont effect other channels. For example with the filter, if I remap channel 1 and 2 filter knobs to the software filters, they effect both channels when the flexfx buttons are activated for both channels, if there was a way to keep each channels filter remapping to themselves that would solve the 'not liking the filter quality' issues Ive been having because i could basically just make a new filters in the software to my exact liking for each channel. the current issue in the software that doesnt make this possible, is that assigning one filter still effects both channels.
If i were to 'envision' a real solution to this it would probably require a whole new drop down page or second window for effect reassignment. You would need to have options for individual channel assignments, and then universal (all flexfx activated channels effected) assignments, just like it's set up now where all activated channels are effected with one software effect. Basically to be able to assign the individual 4 channels their own filter or similar effect linked to the hardware filter knob that only effects the individual channel even if other channels have their flexfx activated
-Right now if you have 2 channels flexfx activated, both channels will be effected if any software effect is activated, what the above was looking to describe was being able to isolate single effects for single channels. I feel like that's a hard concept to convey with out physically showing what im talking about on the mixer, lol)

Im in the process of documenting the hardware issues I have been having on a video so you will be able to see and hear what i am talking about with the flexfx->software effects activating that makes the volume cut out when pressed. I also found that the echo effect in the serato 2.1 turns down the volume significantly when activated, but instead of a .1 second volume blip (like with the flexfx button issue) it just lowers the volume considerably, and permanently until the effect is turned off.

Anyway i'll keep plugging along and let you know my findings, thanks for getting back to me

Ok I think understand what you mean about the filter. The filter resonance can greatly affect the feel and character of the filter. Unfortunately, filter resonance preference varies greatly between music genres.

I understand what you're describing about the channels being individually affected by the Serato software effects. Unfortunately, the mixer architecture does not support it. Hitting that blue FlexFX assign button on the channel strip adds that channel to any other channels that may already be in the FlexFX mix. And with USB Insert on, all the assigned channels together are affected by the Serato software effects. A basic diagram of how this works is on page 10 of your Sixty-Eight user's manual, and a detailed signal processing diagram can be found on page 48.

As far as the sound quality vs Pioneer: I think our sound quality is vastly superior based on both quantitative measurement and qualitative judgment. One way that the audio may become "muddied" would be by setting your channel EQs on the mixer to the same positions as you would have them on a DJM800. The channel EQs are a lot different than a DJM800, so the Mids at, say, 1 o'clock on the Sixty-Eight will sound different than the Mids at 1 o'clock on the DJM800. Some people seem to be viewing the Sixty-Eight as a spinoff or replacement for the DJM800. I think this is poor way to view it. This is a completely new beast. While there definitely are similarities, they are still very different pieces of equipment.

The ".1 second volume blip," you said that only happens when using the Serato effects via USB Insert, correct?

Yes, the volume blips are only when the USB insert light is on and the software effects are being used. When the USB insert is not illuminated there is no blip. For example if just the hardware effects are being used, there is no blip when activating the flexfx buttons, same goes with external controllers like the EFX 1000; no blip. Only with the USB insert does it blip

In regards to individual software effects not being able to be assigned to individual channels, maybe write it down for possible incorporation on a future mixer. It would be incredible to be able to customize a mixers individual channel effects and knob assignments based on user preference, EX: filter design like that talked about above. That was more of an observation/inquisition i came across today, not a complaint. No other mixer would even have the possibility to do something like that (obviously)

On the audio quality I can't place what is dull about it, but it just doesnt sound as crisp. Im running it currently on two Mackie SRM-450's and have only used it once in a club (back on serato 2.0.1 and had some software issues, so im waiting for the official release of 2.1 before I try that again) That being, I havnt had the opportunity to have the mixer working as it should on a proper club system, however on the mackies the sound quality does seem muddled in comparison the the DJM 600 I used to run on. I'm not clipping any channels, or the master, so we'll see once i have an opportunity to bring it out to a gig how the sound goes there on a larger system, however it has been my and fellow DJ's experience that the Rane TTM 57 output quality doesn't match the DJM 800. When i'm comfortable enough with the stability to get the sixty-eight back in a club i'll be sure to give it a good listen and see if my opinion changes at all.
Thanks for the help

Don't know about yall but my 57/68 sounds waaaaay better than my boy's 800 any day...I will be working on a way to test this scientifcally and will post it soon

Ok, gotcha. The downside of using DJ-FX in the Sixty-Eight USB Insert is that you introduce a round trip USB latency dependent on your latency setting. If your machine is good and you use the lowest latency setting, it's just noticeable. At high latency settings, it's more noticeable. The up-side is you get to use lots of effects.

So, you could try adjusting your latency settings on your computer and see if that helps. But otherwise it is unavoidable until USB gets faster (USB3.0).