We are aware of an issue affecting users on macOS 11.4 Big Sur and higher, which prevents device some device drivers from "loading". This issue will result in Serato DJ Pro being unable to connect to the specified device, after restarting your computer, even if the correct driver is installed and allowed.
Newly released drivers should not experience this issue. Ensure you are running the latest supported driver for your operating system.
We believe this issue is caused by a change made by Apple in macOS 11.4 Big Sur, and also affects macOS 11.5 Big Sur, and the way the operating system interacts with hardware drivers.
The symptoms are not immediately obvious, as the first time you install your Serato-compatible hardware driver, whether from within Serato DJ Pro, or after having downloaded it directly from the manufacturers' website, your Serato-compatible hardware should connect to Serato DJ Pro without issue.
NOTE: If you're having connection issues on macOS and believe you're not suffering from the issue above, please check out our Troubleshooting connection issues on OSX and macOS guide.
The issue will present itself the first time you restart your computer after installing the driver and will re-occur each time you restart your computer subsequently.
IMPORTANT: Users on macOS 11.3 Big Sur and below should not run into this issue.
What does the issue look like?
You may see the following messages in the status bar of Serato DJ Pro, after your Serato-compatible device appears to work with Serato DJ Pro, and you then restart your computer:
- Failed to connect: Audio
- Trying to connect... Connection failed
How do I confirm I'm facing this issue?
Given the symptoms can be quite confusing, it may help to open the macOS System Information application, ensuring your device is connected via USB, and turned on, then navigating to Apple --> About this Mac --> System Report --> Software --> Extensions.
Once in this section, locate the name of the device you're having trouble with, and confirm the driver mentions "Loaded : No" as per the Pioneer DJ DDJ-1000SRT example below:
How do I resolve the issue?
Pioneer has provided a script, for their devices, that allows you to force the driver to load, after restarting your computer. This prevents you from having to reinstall the driver each time you restart the computer, but you will still need to re-run the script after each restart of your computer:
- After restarting your computer, and confirming your driver has not been "loaded" as per the confirmation above, download the scripts package provided by Pioneer, here.
- Locate the .zip file that corresponds to your Pioneer device, and double-click on it to extract the script file. Then double-click on the resulting .command file to open a terminal prompt and execute the script.
- At this point, you will be prompted to enter the password of your macOS user account. Press 'Enter' on your keyboard after doing so.
NOTE: During this step, you will not see any * characters appear as you type your password - this is normal. - Give the script a moment to run, then wait for it to advise [Process completed] (as shown in the DDJ-1000SRT example below)
You may now close the Terminal window and your Serato-compatible hardware should now connect when opening Serato DJ Pro - without having to reinstall the previously working driver.
IMPORTANT: Keep the script somewhere that is easy to access on your computer, as you will need to run it again after restarting your computer