Itchy & Scratchy
January 26th, 2006
Playing digital tracks with my turntables has been a kind of Holy Grail for me since I started DJing. I always had more MP3s and CDs than records, and usually I like to edit tracks on my PC so they fit into a set more comfortably.
I've had Stanton's Final Scratch version 1 for a couple of years now, but its marriage with my PC has been a rocky one…
First of all, I needed to have Linux running on the PC for it to communicate with their proprietary sound card, the ScratchAmp which in turn connects to my turntables. Then I had to allow the software to analyse and create a waveform for every track I thought I might play, which takes some time for full resolution WAVs… and I can't do anything else in the meantime cos my PCs running bloody LINUX!
Finally ready to play some tunes, I discovered that the version of Traktor DJ Studio that shipped with the hardware has been emasculated. Worse, it's the only version that will run with the hardware. No loops, samples, nothing you'd expect to be able to do with digital tracks. I might as well have bought CD mixers. Which I did.
Having spent twice as much money as I wanted to, and still without the solution I desired, I was quite sick to discover what Rane Serato had come up with in Scratch Live. Simply put, it's genius.
The interface is not just better than Traktor, it's more powerful – the seemingly superficial act of rotating the the waveform displays and putting them together in the centre of the screen reveals a visual beatmatching technique that almost makes your ears redundant. Having just bought myself a Pioneer DJM600, I am doubly sickened to discover this new product integrates Serato scratch with a bloody nice mixer, and puts the most essential PC interface elements like samples and loops above the crossfaders.
So now I'm in a quandary. Do I sell Final Scratch and both my 4 channel mixers and get the 2 channel Rane and a new laptop, or build this little beauty into my existing setup and get to keep the DJM600s which I love? Suggestions and donations to the usual email address…