The MIDI feature in Serato DJ Pro is a great way to add flexibility to your performances by mapping frequently used Serato DJ Pro controls to your primary Serato DJ hardware, secondary MIDI controller, or Serato official accessory. Create, save, and customise your mapping to better suit your performance style. The following article will give some tips on:

• Remapping your primary Serato DJ Pro hardware
• Saving your custom MIDI presets
• Assigning controls to a secondary MIDI controller
• Assigning controls to a Serato official accessory
• Reverting your mappings if you have made a mistake

Remapping your primary Serato DJ hardware
If you wish to remap your primary, compatible Serato DJ hardware (the hardware used to activate Serato DJ Pro - whether controller, interface or mixer) and it has MIDI capabilities it will appear in the 'MIDI devices' list of the MIDI tab.
If your hardware device is not showing in the 'MIDI Devices' list it most likely does not have available MIDI controls or is unable to be remapped (if neither is the case, your hardware may not be connecting to Serato DJ Pro or simply not being recognized by your computer)

Click the hardware device you want to remap and make sure that the "Allow Serato Hardware Remapping" box is checked. You will need to enable the "Allow Serato Hardware Remapping" option per device in the MIDI devices list. When this option is on, the MIDI button in the main Serato DJ Pro screen will be available to assign MIDI controls for your primary hardware.

Close the SETUP screen. Click the MIDI button near the upper left-hand side of the Serato DJ Pro main window. This will enable MIDI assign mode and open the MIDI panel ready for custom mappings.

You can now click on a Serato DJ Pro software feature, then touch a control on your hardware and Serato DJ will link those two mappings. When in MIDI assign mode, clicking a software function and pressing, turning or moving a hardware control will map this function and remove the default mapped function.

NOTE: Remember to save your mapping preset if you think you will use another type of device.

Mapping multiple functions to a single MIDI control

You can assign multiple Serato DJ Pro functions to a single MIDI control (button, knob, fader).

Enter MIDI mode and click on a function you wish to map. If a MIDI control has already been mapped to another Serato DJ Pro function you will be presented with the option to Overwrite the mapping or Add an Additional mapping.

Pressing ‘O’ will Overwrite ALL of the previously assigned mappings. Pressing ‘A’ will Add an Additional mapping to the already assigned MIDI control.

Mapping multiple MIDI controls to a single function

You can assign multiple MIDI controls (buttons) to the same Serato DJ Pro function.

To do this, hold ‘Shift’ and click on a Serato DJ function that has already been assigned a mapping. Moving or pressing another physical control on your MIDI device will assign the new MIDI control as well as retain the mapping for the control originally mapped to the function.

The control mappings will be listed in the mapping panel

Save your preset!
To prevent the hassle of having to MIDI assign every time you have a gig you can create new, save, delete and load MIDI templates in the MIDI tab of the SETUP screen.
 
Make sure you create a new preset BEFORE you start MIDI mapping so that when you are finished there will be a preset to save to - just clicking 'new' will wipe your current MIDI settings. 

Assigning controls to a secondary MIDI controller

To assign MIDI controls to a secondary MIDI controller you have connected along-side your primary hardware, enter MIDI assign mode by clicking the MIDI button at the top of the display screen next to SETUP. The MIDI assign button will not be available and will be greyed out unless a secondary MIDI controller is plugged in (or Allow Serato Hardware Remapping is enabled for primary hardware, or a Serato official accessory is connected).
Once in MIDI assign mode click a control on Serato DJ Pro, then press/move/twist the desired MIDI control on your hardware to map the two together. The grey "assign" box will turn blue when successfully assigned. If you make a mistake, press the ENTER key while the blue box is showing to revert the mapping. Some controls on Serato DJ Pro can have a secondary function by using CTRL + Click when mapping. For example, holding CTRL and clicking on the loop button allows you to MIDI map the Loop Trigger instead of Loop Toggle.

NOTE: Dials and faders in Serato DJ Pro will need to be assigned to either dials or faders on your MIDI controller. Assigning dials and faders to buttons will not work due to the difference in MIDI signal received. It is always best to map a button to a button, a knob to a knob and a slider to a slider etc.

Assigning controls to a Serato official accessory
You can also re-map certain controls on your Serato official accessory. Simply connect the device along-side your primary hardware, then click SETUP then choose the 'MIDI' tab, select the device, and choose "Allow Serato Hardware Remapping":

To assign MIDI controls to a Serato official accessory you have connected along-side your primary hardware, enter MIDI assign mode by clicking the MIDI button at the top of the display screen next to SETUP. The MIDI assign button will not be available and will be greyed out unless a Serato official accessory is connected (or Allow Serato Hardware Remapping is enabled for primary hardware, or a secondary MIDI controller is connected).
Once in MIDI assign mode click a control on Serato DJ Pro, then press/move/twist the desired MIDI control on your Serato official accessory to map the two together. The grey "assign" box will turn blue when successfully assigned. If you make a mistake, press the ENTER key while the blue box is showing to revert the mapping.

Not all controls can be mapped on Serato official accessories, and there are some official accessory devices that cannot be remapped at all, including:

• Pioneer CDJ series
• Roland TR devices
• Numark Dashboard

Check out the full list of Serato official accessories here.

Reverting a mapping
If you have made a mistake while making a MIDI mapping, click the mapped Serato DJ Pro control and press the ENTER key while the blue mapping box is showing and the specific mapping will be reverted.

If you want to revert back to the standard Serato mappings for your primary device you have two options.

• You can turn off the "Allow Serato Hardware Remapping" option in the MIDI tab of the SETUP screen, this will keep your current MIDI .XML loaded but will only disable custom mappings to your primary device. This is good if you have mappings for a secondary controller or Serato official accessory you want to keep, or..
• You can click the 'Restore Defaults' button which will prompt you to save any custom mappings you have made and will unload your current MIDI .xml leaving you with a clean slate.
  

If you have already made custom mappings for third party MIDI devices it's best practice to back-up existing mappings before you begin remapping your primary device. Make sure to save your favourite mappings! Unsaved mappings will be cleared once the software is closed.

Clicking the 'Restore Defaults' button will wipe mappings for any device saved to that XML. If you have two devices connected at the same time, both devices will be restored to their default mappings.

Current limitations of MIDI mapping

• MIDI mappings will be remembered (but might not match up) even if you connect a different piece of Serato DJ hardware. It is recommended to make a MIDI preset for each different piece of hardware you wish to use otherwise MIDI mappings might not function correctly for each device.
• Hardware features that cannot be remapped at this stage are the Jogwheels/Platters, Input Switches, Shift buttons and Performance Pad Mode buttons.
• Re-mapping any pad(s) in Hot Cue mode will also re-map the same pad in Saved Flip mode and vice versa.