Slab is the first MIDI controller designed exclusively for Serato Studio

Native Instruments and Ableton have had amazing success with their dedicated MIDI controllers that integrate with DAWs (Digital Audio Workstations), Maschine, and Live, respectively. Original machines machine (yes, it’s the name of the device and the software) and Ableton’s pays It is pretty much the gold standard for integration between music making software and hardware. Serrato hopes he can capture a little bit of that magic by pairing with him slab and Evening studio.

Many others have tried their hand at creating (or having others design for them) custom controllers for their DAWs – Florida studio, Studio oneand Monetary Policy Committee All desktop suites got custom hardware at some point. But success was mixed. What Serato does is that the studio is a relatively small, streamlined soundstage with minimal bells and whistles. This means that while the Push and Maschine can be intimidating (and expensive) with their proliferation of buttons, pads, knobs, and large screens, the Slab is more accessible and affordable at $329.

Design-wise, Slab bears more than a passing resemblance to Maschine. Not only are they both built around a 16-pad grid; It’s also the layout, label placement, and font choices. If you told me that Slab was built by Native Instruments instead of Alpha theta (Serrato’s partner), I can’t guess that.

It’s a nice enough piece of hardware, though. The gray-on-gray color palette may not be exciting, and it’s a little difficult to read under certain lighting, but the matte texture and clean lines avoid feeling purely utilitarian. The board is made entirely of plastic, but it doesn’t feel cheap. The encoders have a good amount of resistance, the buttons are not mushy, and the large dial has firm detents. The screen is very small, and although it gives you some visual feedback, you’ll never be able to compose a piece of music on Slab without looking at your computer. This is to be expected from a console in this price range, such as the Atom SQ or MPC Studio console.

The velocity-sensitive pads are good, if not amazing. It’s good enough for finger drumming, but Akai’s MPC still reigns supreme in this area. I found the response to be inconsistent with touch, and while AlphaTheta lists “adjustable aftertouch” as a Slab feature, Serato Studio doesn’t currently support aftertouch, which is a bit of a shock in 2025. However, the RGB lighting makes it easy to quickly encode cuts and drum beats so you can recognize your kicks, for example, by making them all red.

In keeping with its budget price, connectivity is barebones here – just a USB-C port to connect to your computer. There’s no built-in audio interface or MIDI output, as you find in Maschine and Push.

What matters most is how Slab integrates with Serato Studio. The good news is that most of the essential DAW features are at your fingertips. I’m new to Serato Studio, and have only been using Slab for about two weeks, but I haven’t had much trouble getting the basics down quickly. It’s easy and intuitive to sequence a drum pattern or play a piece of music manually. You also have quick access to the stem separation technology that made the Serato sample so successful.

Slab lets you browse your library of samples or play plug-ins without reaching for a mouse or keyboard. However, depending on the size of your group, it may be faster and easier to use a mouse anyway.

It was so simple and fun to break out a drum, chop it up, and start crafting a beat without leaving Slab. By the end of my first day, I had already put together a few (admittedly pretty terrible) beats. Although the quality of my output was questionable, I had fun making it. Part of the reason I hadn’t delved too deeply into Serato Studio before was that it wasn’t a particularly tactile experience.

That’s the appeal of hardware. While it may be easy to chop up samples or draw a melody with the mouse, it’s much more fun to hit the pads and turn the knobs. Slab also puts several performance-focused effects at hand, such as looping and wah. It’s not quite as powerful as what you might find on a standalone machine like an SP-404 or something like that Teenage engineeringbut they still flavor the jam well.

Where the Slab loses points is in the variety of its modes and shift functions. People more familiar with Serato Studio may have an easier time than me, but I often found myself confused by what mode I should be in to change the note repetition rate, or by the lack of visual feedback when browsing through effects and sample chopping modes. Each element has its own ‘mode’, from the dial to the encoders and the Touch Bar. Keeping everything straight can get a little stressful.

Although Serato Studio is a relatively simple DAW that focuses primarily on drum programming and sample cutting, Slab can feel the menu split at times. And while the studio supports VST And AU plug-ins to play your files Tune into favorite programsSlab provides limited control over them.

Slab is unlikely to win many new converts. But if you already use Serato Studio and look up to Maschine and MPC owners jealously, Slab might be a worthy investment. It gives you a similar hands-on experience at a reasonable price.