Never ones to do things by half-measures, Stone Throw come with the glazed heat for Dilla fans this May. A special edition co-promotion with Serato ensure the Dilla legacy will continue to shine with a deluxe artwork donut related artwork for all you beat freaks out there.

The package consists of 2 discs with six J Dilla tracks, 2 sides with Serato Control Tone (for use with Serato Scratch Live DJ software), and 2 donut slipmats in a package designed by Studio No.1. This will be released May 10th (the day after Mother’s day–what’s up Ma Dukes?). Pre-order is available now.

The J Dilla tracks consist of three previously unreleased instrumentals selected by J.Rocc from the Dilla archives – “Safety Dance”, “Sycamore”, “Bars & Twists” – and three unreleased instrumental versions of Dilla’s production for Mos Def, Q-Tip and Busta Rhymes, each remastered by Elysian Masters who mixed and mastered J Dilla’s Donuts, The Shining and Ruff Draft albums.

Check out the ‘Safety Dance‘ sample from Men without Hats, classic Dilla sampling

sure here is the original for ya

Click here to view the embedded video.

At the NAMM 2010 conference back in mid-January,  Ableton and Serato introduced their much rumored collaboration project, the Bridge. This was something that definitely got all the heads worked up in giddy anticipation. But first, what is the Bridge?

The Bridge spans the gap between music production and DJing, creating a natural link between Ableton Live and Scratch Live or ITCH. The Bridge provides a powerful fusion of DJ and production tools, opening a world of opportunities for DJing, remixing and live performance.

Click here to view the embedded video.

You can cross the Bridge in either direction: export Ableton productions into Serato for live DJ playback. Or go the other way, taking a DJ performance into Ableton with 100% production control over the recording.

While trying to find a good demonstration of The Bridge this snippet of Ski Beatz, the producer behind some of Jay-Z’s great early tracks, using Ableton was too good not show. Watch what he does here then imagine what can be done when you take this a step further into a live DJ scratch setup.

Click here to view the embedded video.

The Bridge is still in Beta and not on full release as yet. When it is released it will be free to anyone who owns a registered copy of both Serato Scratch Live (or Serato ITCH) and Ableton Live 8. Sure this a high end entry point but what it means to the average punter is that you can expect to see your favorite musical talents breaking new ground in the very near future.

For me ?uestlove says it best, with a somewhat dazed look on his face,

“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…”

The new generation of vinyl collecting is all about…erm…. colours?      click here to find out more.

To hell with your rare test pressing of ‘Ultramagnetics MCs’ or the original ‘Disco Rap 12inch on Enjoy Records’. If you are into vinyl these days you need the ‘marble finish’ or the exclusive ‘mint green’ control serato vinyl. Well, we do not fully agree with this, but with the way music is going these days, it is no surprise that limited edition coloured serato vinyls are in demand! Have a read of the link above and let us know your thoughts.