Serato discontinues Scratch Live, adds DVS to Serato DJ

Almost a decade after its first release, Serato has announced that it is to discontinue its influential, time-code driven DJ software Scratch Live. It's not all doom and gloom for Scratch Live users, however, as the developer has announced the addition of digital vinyl support for the company's more recent, controller-centric application Serato DJ.

In the video above Serato CEO Sam Gribben explains the move, which effectively sees the company consolidating its sprawling and slightly confused assortment of applications into a single, all-encompassing piece of DJ software.

The latest version of Serato DJ will be available as a free upgrade for all current Scratch Live users. Digital vinyl support will begin to be available within Serato DJ from October, via the new Rane Sixty-Four or Pioneer DJM900-SRT mixers, while support for other Rane DVS hardware will begin to appear early next year - although a public beta version will appear before the end of 2013.

Meanwhile, Serato has promised to continue support for Scratch Live until 2015, and the software will still be available to download even after that date.

As Create Digital Music reports, it does appear one potential casualty of the switchover is Scratch Live/Ableton link application The Bridge, which isn't currently compatible with Serato DJ.

Check out the video above for full details, and head over to the Serato site to compare the features of Scratch Live and Serato DJ.