SLAB: The First Controller Made for Serato Studio

Today, Serato enters a new era with the launch of SLAB, the first-ever MIDI Pad Controller made for Serato Studio, co-developed with AlphaTheta Corporation (AlphaTheta). SLAB’s form and function brings the raw, intuitive energy of beat making back to the surface, in its purest, most elemental form. A classic 16 pad layout, scrub wheel, and exclusive Pad FX—tuned for the sounds beatmakers love, and the way they actually create.

SLAB is now supported in Serato Studio, Sample and DJ Pro.

“I love the tactile feel, touching sounds, playing pad effects, chopping samples, just having fun. I could make a whole album with just SLAB.”

TRAKGIRL / GRAMMY-NOMINATED PRODUCER

With native control over the software’s sampling, sequencing, instrumentation and FX, SLAB is the seamless hardware extension for producers looking to level up their workflow and feel in the ultimate DAW for flipping beats.

See SLAB in Its Element: The Launch Film

To launch SLAB, Serato tapped GRAMMY-nominated producer and all-around visionary TRAKGIRL (Credits: JID, Jhené Aiko, Vic Mensa) to build a world around it. The launch film drops you straight into her headspace: deep in her flow, creating with SLAB until the line between real life and imagination dissolves. 

One minute she’s triggering sounds; the next she’s transported to the belly of her beat—a dreamlike world shaped by her touch, her instincts, and the hardware responding to every move. It’s the kind of surreal, sensory universe that can only come from an artist who makes music like she’s worldbuilding.

“With the film, I saw it as a dream—running through fields, lights, stone, this surreal world. I just hope people feel that freedom. That there’s no limit to art and creativity. No rules to how art has to look or sound.”

Producing the original track for the film—armed with nothing but SLAB and Serato Studio—it came together fast, the way TRAKGIRL’s best ideas always do. She approaches music visually—imagery sparks sound for her. As the team built out the film’s surreal world, she instinctively shaped the track to match it: something innovative, unbound by rules, and free-flowing, yet still rooted enough to support the film’s worldbuilding.

“I’m really into film scores and ethereal sonics, synths, simplicity. For this track, I just wanted something clean, sonically driven, simple but still effective. That kick goes crazy with the bass. I did a lot of layering with SLAB. It was just a fun process.”

The record moves like her signature style: airy synths, ethereal textures, heavy low-end, and those little vocal manipulations she sneaks into everything she makes.

“I just like vocal stuff—weird-sounding vocals, sampling myself, little hidden things. Our voices are instruments too. I like throwing little things in. I’m kind of weird in a way… but a good way.”

What she created is the perfect proof of what SLAB was built for: fast ideas, fast execution, and a workflow that keeps up with the imagination of a producer who refuses to stay in one lane.

SLAB Features: The Essentials, Refined

SLAB brings beat making back to its purest, most essential form. Your hands, your feel, your music. Developed in collaboration with AlphaTheta, the team behind some of the world’s most iconic DJ hardware, SLAB reflects a shared vision: tactile creativity, performance-ready design, and tools that move as fast as your ideas.

 

Classic Hardware Feel

Built for the way beatmakers think. 16 highly responsive RGB pads, Dials for scrubbing and navigation, Encoders for control, and a FX and Touch Strip for expression.

 

Exclusive Pad FX. Unlocked.

Exclusive Pad FX like Wah Filter, Lo-Fi Crusher, Inverse Reverb, and Pitch Looper bring the character and movement that define a proper beat set. That dusty boom-bap grit, those warped soulful textures, and that lived-in feel.

 

Dial in Your Workflow Instantly

Multifunctional Dial Modes that enable fast library browsing, sample scrubbing, project navigation, and Focus Mode to control anything your cursor is hovering over in Studio—including plugins.

 

Direct Audio Parameter Control

OLED display with four touch-sensitive Encoders that provide direct control over audio parameters like EQ, FX, or individual track stem volumes, with Stems Levels.

 

Hands-On Sequencing

A built-in Step Sequencer lets you program patterns fast and shape grooves instantly with note nudge and velocity control, keeping you in the moment and out of the laptop.

 

Touch Strip For Precise FX Control

Touch Strip FX control with a 130mm LED long-stroke Touch Strip for precise control of parameters such as filter, pitch, FX level, and swing and note repeats—expressive, performable FX you can actually feel.

 

Versatile MIDI Mode

A versatile MIDI mode that enables producers to switch effortlessly between SLAB’s native control of Serato Sample and any custom mapping within a compatible DAW.

Watch the Complete SLAB Walkthrough

Curious to see how it all works? We’ve created The Complete SLAB Walkthrough. A step-by-step guide to unlocking your new Studio-native MIDI Pad controller.