The Twittersphere is abuzz with news of the Ableton-Serato collaboration, and has at long last manifested itself with today’s announcement at NAMM. The new product is called “The Bridge” and will be FREE for “anyone who owns registered versions of both Serato Scratch Live/ITCH hardware and Ableton Live 8 or Suite 8″.

The upshot: the products will work in both “directions”. You can either export a DJ mix (i.e.- mixtape) into Live, or put the Ableton Live Session View “inside” of Serato.

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Ableton to Serato

The Bridge provides Ableton Transport Control (ATC), giving you turntable-style control of your own multitrack productions. Simply drag an Ableton Live Set to a deck in Scratch Live or ITCH and use your turntables, CDJ or ITCH controller to control the transport. With ATC, Scratch Live or ITCH provides your productions with deck control, mixing, nudging and DJ style looping, while you can remix, mute/solo tracks, use virtual instruments, change drum patterns, manipulate audio, tweak effects and launch loops on the fly in Ableton Live.

Serato to Ableton

Play your mix rather than cut and paste in a DAW. Forget about having to start a mixtape from scratch because of a mistake at minute fifty-nine. The Bridge is the ultimate mixtape creation tool, letting you export your Scratch Live or ITCH mix as an Ableton Live set. Depending on your Serato hardware setup, fader movements, EQ tweaks and Crossfader cuts on your DJ mixer are recorded as automation and can be edited after the tape stops rolling.

There’s additional first-hand information out on the web thanks to our friends at Create Digital Music.

btw, the Mixcrate Crew will be attending the Ableton-Serato Getdown on Saturday, January 16 at the Commonwealth Lounge in Fullerton, CA. We’ll bring you full video & photo coverage of the featured exclusive artist performances expected that evening.

For now, here’s the full official press release:

Ableton and Serato present The Bridge at Winter NAMM 2010

 Berlin, Germany, (January 14, 2010) – Ableton and Serato are
 proud to announce The Bridge at NAMM 2010 in Anaheim, California.
 The Bridge spans the gap between music production and DJing,
 creating a natural link between Ableton Live and Serato Scratch
 Live/ITCH. The Bridge provides a powerful fusion of DJ and
 production tools, opening a world of opportunities for DJing,
 remixing and live performance.

 The Bridge works in both directions:

 Ableton to Serato

 The Bridge provides Ableton Transport Control (ATC), giving DJs
 turntable-style control of their own multitrack productions. DJs
 can simply drag an Ableton Live Set onto one of the decks in
 Scratch Live or ITCH and use their turntables, CDJ or ITCH
 controller to control the transport.

 Serato to Ableton

 The Bridge provides the ultimate mixtape creation tool. DJs can
 perform mixes in Serato Scratch Live or ITCH and save them as an
 Ableton Live Set. This way, the DJ can still perform the
 mix—better than cut and pasting it together in a DAW—but
 also has detailed editing options.

 Reactions to The Bridge
 “For DJs who don’t make beats yet, that turns into ‘Hey, I can
 make beats in here, too.’ For the guys who are beatmakers already
 as well as DJs, it’s great because it’s almost like you’re DJing
 with multitracks. And the mixtape feature was probably the best
 thing I’ve ever seen. People are going to get really creative,
 I know my brain is working already, there’s stuff that I’m going
 to do that I choose not to disclose right now because it’s top
 secret.”
 - DJ Jazzy Jeff

 “Seeing where Ableton is at this state of technology, and all the
 stuff that’s in there, and thinking about Ableton and Serato
 together is mind boggling. I know there’s a lot of stuff that can
 happen… we’re all producers, we’re all DJs, your mind starts to
 wonder what’s coming. Everybody’s gonna get excited.”
 - Kenny Dope

 “My initial reaction? I was absolutely elated. As with most DJs
 that are Ableton friendly, a lot of us have been utilizing
 Ableton’s warping to quantize and straighten out records that
 otherwise fluctuate. Now that we have the opportunity to play
 with the actual files… and use them in DJ gigs and live shows,
 the possibilities are absolutely 100% endless. Being as I just
 saw [The Bridge], my mind is racing with endless ideas…”
 - ?uestlove

 Pricing and availability for The Bridge
 The Bridge is free for anyone who owns registered versions of
 both Serato Scratch Live/ITCH hardware and Ableton Live 8 or
 Suite 8.

 No release date has been set yet; anyone interested can follow
 the progress of the project by subscribing to the Ableton
 newsletter.

 More information available at:
 http://www.ableton.com/thebridge
 http://www.serato.com/thebridge

 Press contacts for The Bridge:
 press@ableton.com
 press@serato.com

 About Ableton
 Ableton makes Ableton Live, a unique product for writing,
 recording and performing music with a computer. Since the company
 started in 1999, Ableton has attracted an extensive and highly
 committed community of musicians, composers, and DJs worldwide.
 The company has received outstanding press, awards and customer
 feedback since the unveiling of Live in October 2001. The company
 HQ is in Berlin, there is another smaller office in New York. At
 the moment, Ableton has about 100 employees.

 About Live
 Ableton Live is software for making music; for composition,
 songwriting, recording, production, DJing, remixing and live
 performance. Live’s nonlinear, intuitive flow, alongside powerful
 real-time editing and flexible performance options, make it a
 unique studio tool and a favorite with live performers. Ableton
 Live is the choice for those who would rather be “making music”
 than just “using music software.”

 About Serato
 Serato Audio Research has been recognized as the market leader in
 time and pitch adjustment since its inception in 1999. Serato
 formed a product partnership with Rane Corporation in 2004 with
 Serato Scratch LIVE. Scratch LIVE is a revolutionary DJ product
 that enables DJs to control digital audio files on their
 computer. Serato has since expanded its reputation for excellent
 pro DJ products with the release of Video-SL and ITCH DJ Software
 in 2008.

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