Setup
Licensing & software
This is a Serato DJ Lite hardware unlocked device, meaning it unlocks Serato DJ Lite when connected.
It is also a paid upgrade to Serato DJ Pro device, meaning it requires the purchase & activation of a Serato DJ Pro license, in order to be used with Serato DJ Pro.
You can try Serato DJ Pro, before making a purchase:
Please ensure you have the latest version of Serato DJ Pro installed:
Drivers & firmware
The Hercules DJControl Inpulse 300 MK2 is class-compliant on macOS, but requires manufacturer-specific
drivers when used with Windows operating systems. Download and install the Windows driver via Hercules’ website.
Then connect your Inpulse 300 MK2 with a USB cable to your computer, and launch the latest version of Serato DJ Pro.
Overview
| # | DJCONTROL INPULSE 300 MK2 CONTROL | FUNCTION |
| 1 | MASTER | Connect audio output via RCA |
| 2 | USB | Connect USB cable to computer |
| 3 | HEADPHONES | Connect headphones via 3.5mm jack |
|
# |
DJCONTROL INPULSE 300 MK2 CONTROL | FUNCTION | SHIFT FUNCTION |
| 1 | FX ON | Toggle FX Slot 1 on/off |
Press to select FX Slot 1 FX |
| 2 | DEPTH | Turn to adjust FX Parameter 1 | Turn to select FX Slot 1 FX |
| 3 | BEAT |
Turn to adjust FX Beats multiplier - per deck |
- |
| 4 | CHANNEL (SECTION) | Adjust level, adjust EQ (High, Mid, Low), and adjust filter | - |
| 5 | HEADPHONES | Adjust headphone cue volume | - |
| 6 | BROWSER | Turn to scroll library. Press in to toggle back between crate & track area | Fast Library scroll |
| 7 | ASSISTANT | Add selected track to Prepare crate | Open Prepare panel |
| 8 | LOAD |
Press to load selected track to corresponding deck. Press twice to Instant Double selected track |
- |
| 9 | SLIP | Toggle Slip mode - per deck | Toggle between vinyl and jog platter mode - per deck |
| 10 | Q | Toggle Quantize - per deck | Toggle tempo range settings - per deck |
| 11 | BEAT ALIGN | Move jog wheel/platter forward (FWD) or in reverse (REV) to align beatgrid, as the corresponding arrow lights up. ‘BEAT ALIGN’ will light up in green when the beatgrid is aligned. NOTE: This feature relies on accurate beatgrids. CLICK HERE TO LEARN ABOUT BEATGRIDS IN SERATO DJ |
- |
| 12 | TEMPO MATCH | Move tempo slider up (-) or down (+) when corresponding arrow lights up. ‘TEMPO’ will light up in green when tempo is matched. NOTE: This feature relies on accurate set BPM. |
- |
| 13 | PERFORMANCE PADS (SECTION) |
SEE PERFORMANCE PADS FOR MORE INFORMATION | - |
| 14 | MASTER | Adjust master output volume | - |
| 15 | CROSSFADER | Crossfade audio between channel 1-2 | - |
| 16 | BEATMATCH GUIDE | Toggle BEAT ALIGN & TEMPO MATCH features on / off | - |
| 17 | CHANNEL FADER | Adjust channel volume (per channel) | Channel fader start (per channel) |
| 18 | CUE (SECTION) | Toggle per channel, or master for cue monitoring | Press channel cue to Tap Tempo |
| 19 | TEMPO SLIDER | Adjust tempo/pitch | Ignore tempo/pitch adjustment |
| 20 | PLAY / PAUSE | Toggles Play / Pause on selected deck | Stutter play |
| 21 | CUE | Cues from temp cue point/Set temp cue point | Load previous track |
| 22 | SYNC | Press to turn SYNC on (per deck) | Press to turn SYNC off (per deck) |
| 23 | SHIFT | Shift modifier, which can be held while using another control for secondary SHIFT function |
- |
| 24 | IN | Set Loop In point / Edit Loop In point | Halve active Loop |
| 25 | ON | Toggle 4 beat Autoloop on / off | - |
| 26 | OUT | Set Loop Out point / Edit Loop Out point | Double active Loop |
| 27 | JOG WHEEL | Turn jog to bend pitch, or control waveform within Serato DJ in vinyl mode | Fast track waveform scroll |
Performance Pads
The Hercules DJControl Inpulse 300 MK2 comes with 8 performance pads, that can be used across 8 different performance pad modes.
The first 4 modes can be triggered by pressing the performance pad mode button of the same name once, and consist of:
HOT CUE mode: Pads 1-8 trigger Serato DJ Pro Cue points, and if no Cue point is present on that slot/pad, pressing that pad will set a Cue point. Holding down the SHIFT button while pressing a populated pad will delete the Cue point from the respective pad/slot.
LOOP mode: In Autoloop mode, pads 1-8 trigger an Autoloop of varying sizes. Press the same pad for a second time to exit an Auto Loop.
STEMS mode: (NOTE: Some devices may be incorrectly labelled with Slicer - press SLICER to enter Stems mode if your device has this button).
In this mode you can control features from the Stems Tab, allowing you to utilize real-time audio separation in Serato DJ Pro. Press pad 1 to toggle off/on the Vocal Stem, press pad 2 to toggle off/on the Melody Stem, press pad 3 to toggle off/on the Bass Stem, and press pad 4 to toggle off/on the Drums Stem. Pads 5-8 toggle Stem Pad FX, which consist of FX Vocal Echo, FX Instrumental Echo, Instrumental Braker FX, and FX Drums Echo.
NOTE: Using Stems is very CPU-intensive, and may take some time to initialize.
CLICK HERE TO LEARN MORE ABOUT USING STEMS
SAMPLER mode: Press pads 1-8 in this mode to trigger samples loaded into the Serato DJ Pro Sampler. Holding SHIFT while pressing a Pad will stop a currently playing Sampler slot, or load a new sample to the Sampler slot if empty.
PITCH PLAY mode: Press the HOT CUE mode button while holding SHIFT to enter Pitch Play mode. In this mode, pads 1-8 play Cue points over variable pitch ranges. See the ‘Pitch Play’ section for more information.
NOTE: Pitch Play mode requires that the Serato Pitch ‘n’ Time DJ expansion pack is activated & enabled.
Manual Loop mode: Press the STEMS (or SLICER) pad mode button while holding SHIFT to enter Manual Loop mode. Press Pad 1 to set the Loop In point, and press it again to edit the Loop In point. Press Pad 2 to set the Loop Out point, and press it again to edit the Loop Out point. Press Pad 3 to turn the Loop on or off, and press Pad 4 to trigger a Reloop. Press Pad 5 to select the previous Loop slot, press pad 6 to select the next Loop slot, and press pad 7 to save a Loop to the selected slot.
LOOP ROLL mode: Press the LOOP pad mode button while holding SHIFT to enter Loop Roll mode. In this mode, holding any of the performance pads activates a loop for as long as that pad is held, the length of which differs per pad. When the pad is released, the track continues playing from where it would have had the loop not been activated
SCRATCH BANK mode: Hold SHIFT while pressing the SAMPLER pad mode button, to enter Scratch Bank mode. This mode allows you to assign files in your Serato DJ Pro library to a Pad. When Pads 1-8 are triggered, the corresponding files will be loaded to deck, allowing you to load useful Scratch samples quickly.
Click the Scratch Banks panel toggle button (pictured below) in the top left-hand corner of the Serato DJ Pro user interface to reveal the Scratch Banks panel.
Here you can click and drag tracks into slots in the Scratch Banks panel, adjust preferences that are remembered when the respective Pad is triggered and loaded to a deck, and eject tracks. You can reveal those preferences (such as start point, Key lock on/off, and Repeat on/off) by toggling between Advanced and Simple view in the Scratch Banks panel, by clicking the toggle button (pictured below).
The left set of pads will load Scratch Bank assigned tracks to Deck 1, and the right set of pads will load assigned tracks to Deck 2. Holding SHIFT on your device, while pressing an assigned/loaded Pad, will reload the previously loaded track to the relevant virtual deck.
Pitch Play
There are 3 key ranges to choose from, and the following tables show the pitched key ranges (in Semitones) while using the 8 performance pads in Pitch Play mode.
The root keypad (0) is always lit white, which will play the cue point at its regular pitch.
Use the Parameter Left & Right buttons to move the Key Range up or down.
In Pitch Play mode, pressing a pad will pitch the currently selected cue point up or down the following ranges:
Up Range: (Up 7 Semitones)
| +4 | +5 | +6 | +7 |
| 0 | +1 | +2 | +3 |
Middle Range: (Up 3/Down 4 Semitones)
| 0 | +1 | +2 | +3 |
| -4 | -3 | -2 | -1 |
Down Range: (Down 7 Semitones)
| -3 | -2 | -1 | 0 |
| -7 | -6 | -5 | -4 |
When Pitch Play mode is first enabled, the middle range is selected. Pitch Play mode will default back to the middle range if a new track is loaded. The selected range is recalled if another pad mode is selected, then
the user switches back to Pitch Play mode.
Pitch Play can only pitch one Cue point at a time. To change the selected Cue, hold the SHIFT button and press a performance pad where the cue point you want to select would be (as shown in the HOT CUE performance pad mode).
While holding SHIFT, press the corresponding performance pad for:
| Cue 1 | Cue 2 | Cue 3 | Cue 4 |
| Cue 5 | Cue 6 | Cue 7 | Cue 8 |
The selected cue point defaults to Cue Point 1 on track load, even if instant doubled. A new cue point will be created if a pad with no cue point is selected. Deleting a cue point is not possible in Pitch Play mode.
NOTE: Pitch Play mode is available once the Pitch 'n Time DJ Expansion Pack has been activated in the Expansions window, under the My Account drop-down. Then ensure Pitch 'n Time DJ is checked in the Expansion Pack tab of the Setup screen.
MIDI
The MIDI feature in Serato DJ Pro allows you to remap Serato DJ Pro software functions to your primary Serato controller, interface or mixer. You can also assign controls to a secondary MIDI controller to further enhance your performance.
For more information on MIDI mapping with Serato DJ Pro, click here.
To remap your supported Serato device, open the SETUP screen and click the MIDI tab. If your Serato device supports hardware remapping, it will appear in the MIDI DEVICES list.
Select your connected device from the MIDI DEVICES list and check the Allow Serato Hardware Remapping option.
Once checked, the MIDI assign button at the top of the main Serato DJ Pro interface will become available for you to start remapping.
You can save, edit or delete MIDI presets in the MIDI tab of the SETUP screen. Clicking Restore Defaults will erase any custom mappings for all connected devices and revert their functions back to default.
Beat Jump
To activate Beat Jump, open the Setup screen, navigate to the DJ preferences tab and turn on “Show Beat Jump Controls”.
When you close the Setup screen, you will see Beat Jump controls underneath the existing Auto Loop values on each deck. Checking this box will turn on Beat Jump features in the deck area and let you control Beat Jump from your supported Serato DJ Pro hardware.
When the Beat Jump option is enabled, performance pad modes AUTO LOOP or ROLL mode (where applicable) will use the bottom row of 4 pads (pads 5-8) as Beat Jump controls. This is designed to mirror the change in the deck Auto Loop area (from 8 Auto Loop sizes to 4 Auto Loop sizes + Beat Jump controls).
Help
Show Tooltips
Click on the Help button in the upper right-hand corner of Serato DJ Pro, then Show Tooltips to enable Tooltips. Tooltips provide a handy way to learn the various features of Serato DJ Pro.
Move the mouse over a section of the software to bring up a context-sensitive tooltip that describes the feature.
Click on the Help button again to turn off Tooltips.
Show Shortcut Keys
Click on the Help button in the upper right-hand corner of Serato DJ Pro, then click Show Shortcut Keys to launch a pop-up window displaying shortcut keyboard combinations.
These shortcuts can help you perform various actions quickly, such as triggering specific deck functions, controlling playback, or navigating the library.
Watch Tutorials
Click on the Help button in the upper right-hand corner of Serato DJ Pro, then Watch Tutorials to launch
your default internet browser and watch tutorials to help you get familiar with Serato DJ Pro.
Get Support
Click on the Help button in the upper right-hand corner of Serato DJ Pro, then Get Support to launch your default internet browser and navigate to the Serato DJ Pro knowledge base, where you can find helpful articles and guides on Serato DJ Pro. Alternatively, type keywords in the Search Help box to search the Serato DJ Pro knowledge base for specific, related topics.