Starting the Software
Connect your Serato DJ Lite hardware to a USB port on your computer, before you open Serato DJ Lite.

macOS

Serato DJ Lite will be installed to your Applications folder.

Double click the Serato DJ Lite icon in the applications folder to launch. For easy launching, you can click and drag this icon to the dock.

Windows

Serato DJ Lite will be installed in Windows Menu > All Programs > Serato > Serato DJ Lite

To start Serato DJ Lite on Windows simply double click on the shortcut icon on your desktop, or browse your start menu and click the Serato DJ Lite icon.

NOTE: When Serato DJ Lite launches it will automatically detect your Serato DJ hardware, as long as the appropriate drivers are installed (where necessary).

Software Overview
The following chart provides an overview of the Serato DJ Lite main screen. Each point is covered in more detail, later in the manual.

 

1	Deck layer	Shows currently selected deck layer. Change with deck layer controls if your hardware supports it
2	Offer	Loads your default web browser and takes you to a Serato.com page with an offer (NOTE: Offer may not always be as pictured)
3	Track display	Displays song title and artist information for the track currently loaded to deck
4	Tab control area	Click on or press hardware controls to trigger functions determined by selected tab
5	Edit Grid	Allows you to edit the beat grid of the track loaded to deck
6	FX	Click to open the DJ-FX panel SEE DJ-FX FOR MORE INFORMATION
7	Sampler	Click to open the Sampler panel SEE SAMPLER FOR MORE INFORMATION
8	Scratch Banks	Click to open the Scratch Banks panel (available with compatible Serato DJ Lite hardware connected) SEE USING SCRATCH BANKS WITH SERATO DJ LITE FOR MORE INFORMATION
9	Load previous	Allows you to skip to the beginning of the loaded track, or load the previous track by pressing twice
10	Play	Play currently loaded track, click again to pause. Control + click to reverse play direction
11	Acapella / Instrument Stems	Click to toggle and isolate Acapella (vocals) or Instrument Stems on the track loaded to the virtual deck SEE USING STEMS FOR MORE INFORMATION
12	Keylock	Enabling Keylock means the song will keep its key when the tempo of the song is changed
13	Virtual deck	When a track is loaded to the virtual deck and is playing, the virtual deck will rotate. The outer ring will gradually change from black to grey to represent of the tracks elapsed state. The platter position indicator will change color based on the proximity of the nearest Cue point on the track
14	Track Gain adjust	Allows you to adjust the individual track gain for the currently loaded track. Adjustments made to the track gain are saved to the file and recalled next time the track is loaded
15	Track Output level meter	Allows you to monitor the individual deck outputs visually
16	Sync On/Off	Enables or disables Sync
17	Master Gain level meter	Allows you to monitor the master output level visually
18	Limiter warning	Lights up when master audio audio gain is too high, which will result in audio output being compressed or limited
19	Master gain adjust	Allows you to adjust the master output gain. This is separate to the Master level control on your hardware
20	Help	Access 'Help' functions
21	Setup	Shows the software Setup screen
22	My Account	Open the My Account drop-down menu
23	Audio Dropout Warning light	Shows a colored warning light that indicates the increased the chance of an audio drop-out occurring
24	Current time	Displays the current time
25	CPU Meter	Shows current computer CPU processing load
26	Pitch % and range	Displays pitch adjustment as a % and current pitch range
27	Auto Loop controls	Select Auto loop sizes and enable / disable Auto loop SEE LOOPING FOR MORE INFORMATION
28	Beat Matching Display	Accentuates the beats in the track SEE BEAT MATCHING DISPLAY FOR MORE INFORMATION
29	Search	Searches your Library or Crate for the text entered in this field
30	Column selector	Click to choose columns and fields to be displayed in the library area
31	Prepare	Displays the Prepare panel containing tracks you have pre-selected for your set
32	Files	Displays the Files panel, which enables you to search for tracks on your hard drive
33	Playhead	Shows playhead position on the main waveform display of the track
34	Eject	Eject a track from a loaded virtual deck
35	Library	Displays the songs available in your current library location
36	Crates	Displays a list of Crates and Sub-Crates
37	Streaming	Displays currently selected streaming provider (NOTE: Only 1 streaming provider can be selected at a time)
38	Stems crate	Displays the Stems crate for tracks with prepared Stems
39	Add Crate	Adds a new Crate so that you can organize your files SEE CRATES FOR MORE INFORMATION
40	Library Display modes	Select between either Simple List and Album Art Grid display modes
41	Stems tab	Reveal Stems Tab and further Stems controls SEE STEMS TAB FOR MORE INFORMATION
42	Cue point tab	Reveal Cue point tab and Cue point controls

Show Tooltips
Click on the Help button in the upper right-hand corner of Serato DJ Lite, then 'Show Tooltips' to enable tooltips. Tool tips provide a handy way to learn the various features of Serato DJ Lite.

Move the mouse over a section of the screen to bring up a context sensitive tool tip.

Watch Tutorials
Click on the Help button in the upper right-hand corner of Serato DJ Lite, then 'Watch Tutorials'
to launch your default internet browser and watch tutorials, to help you get familiar with Serato DJ Lite.

Get Support
Click on the Help button in the upper right-hand corner of Serato DJ Lite, then 'Get Support' to launch your default internet browser and navigate to the Serato DJ Lite knowledge base, where you can find helpful articles and guides on Serato DJ Lite. Alternatively, type in the Search box, with keywords, to search the Serato DJ Lite knowledge base for specific, related topics.

Take First Use Tour

Click on the Help button in the upper right-hand corner of Serato DJ Lite, then 'Take first use tour' to launch the first use tour in the bottom right-hand corner of Serato DJ Lite. This will run through the basic operation of Serato DJ Lite. Press the button to progress through the tour

Search Help

Enter your desired search term, then click Go to find online resources, in order to learn more about Serato DJ Lite or troubleshoot and request support directly from the Serato support help center, via your default web browser:

Show Shortcut keys
These actions can be accessed directly from the computer keyboard.

PLAYBACK SHORTCUTS	LEFT DECK	RIGHT DECK
Load selected track	shift + left arrow	shift + right arrow
Double (loaded) track	control + shift + left arrow	control + shift + right arrow
Eject Virtual Deck	shift + alt + left arrow	shift + alt + right arrow
Play/Pause	W	S
Reverse play direction	Q	A
Set Next Cue Point	alt + `	alt + -
Set/Jump to Cue Points	1, 2, 3, 4	6, 7, 8, 9
Delete Cue Points	shift + control + 1, 2, 3, 4	shift + control + 6, 7, 8, 9
Set temporary Cue Point	I	K
Load next track	alt + W	alt + S
Load previous track	alt + Q	alt + A
Rewind	alt + E	alt + D
Fast Forward	alt + R	alt + F
Pitch bend down	T	G
Pitch bend up	Y	H
Censor	U	J
Keylock	F5	F10

 

LOOP SHORTCUTS	LEFT DECK	RIGHT DECK
Loop On/Off	[	'
Autoloop On/Off	alt + 1, 2, 3, 4	alt + 6, 7, 8, 9
Set/Adjust loop in point	O	K
Set/Adjust loop out point	P	L

 

SAMPLE PLAYER SHORTCUTS	KEY
Play Sample (slot 1-4)	Z, X, C, V
Stop Sample (slot 1-4)	alt + Z, X, C, V

 

LIBRARY ACTION	KEY
Move Up/Down through tracks	up/down arrow
Move Up/Down through crates	control + shift + up/down arrow
Shift highlight focus	tab
Move cursor to search	control + F
Reveal track in Explorer (PC) or Finder (Mac)	control + R
Locate last loaded track (press again for other deck)	control + L
Select All	control + A
Undo Track load	control + Z
Delete track/crate	control + delete
Send file to trash	control + shift + delete
Add track(s) to prepare panel	control + P
Zoom main waveform display	+ or -
Zoom library text size	control and + or -
Open track in default media player	control + O
(While editing BPM) Double/Halve BPM	alt + up/down arrow
Enter Beatgrid Edit Mode	alt + spacebar (repeat to toggle between decks)
Exit Serato DJ Lite	esc (escape)

NOTE: If the option ‘Playback Keys Use Shift’ is enabled on the setup screen all playback keys require either shift or caps lock to be pressed.

The shortcuts described are the keys on a US keyboard. On other keyboards these key positions may be labelled differently.
For example, [Ctrl] on Windows is equivalent to [Command] on Mac OS X. Similarly, [Alt] on Windows means [Option] on Mac OS X.
NOTE: For some Keyboard Shortcuts such as Load the highlighted song to a deck (shift + left or right arrows), control can be used as a substitute for shift.

SEE PLAYBACK KEYS USE SHIFT FOR MORE INFORMATION