Simulating vinyl scratching on a Mac

lampmeister · Post by **lampmeister** » Mon Aug 13, 2007 3:54 pm

Hey people,

I'm trying to figure out the most authentic way of "scratching" a sound file on Mac OSX. You can get some joy in Ableton Live (6) by using Simpler and assigning the sample start and transpose functions to the same midi/usb hardware controller knob/fader. But the problem with Live/Simpler is that the transpose function is controlled by your current position in the sample, not by the current speed of playback (make sense?).

When scratching on a real record deck you "play" one scratch forward and then momentarily stop before scratching back to the start point. During that stop the pitch "transpose" returns to zero and when scratching back to the start goes up and down again, just backwards. Not so in Live/Simpler - when you "play" a forward scratch the pitch "transpose" stays at +24/+36/+48, only lowering when you start to reverse and getting back to 0 when you reach the sample start point.

So what I'm trying to find out is whether there is a way, either in Live or any other app./plug-in to modulate pitch transposition via playback speed rather than current sample position. Hope that's understandable.

Suggestions welcome.

Cheers!

Patch · Post by **Patch** » Mon Aug 13, 2007 4:37 pm

Try this:

Wow n Flutter VST

I've had SOME success emulating a scratch sound - but it's not amazing. You could also try this:

Sxratch VST

If you have a midi controller, and know a little about scratching (and it sounds like you do...) you'll get better results with Sxratch.

scientist · Post by **scientist** » Mon Aug 13, 2007 4:47 pm

for os x:
http://destroyfx.smartelectronix.com/audiounits.html
scroll down to 'turntablist'. its essentially a sampler player though, so only acts on a loaded soundeed file rather than a live track's contents.

Tone Deft · Post by **Tone Deft** » Mon Aug 13, 2007 6:02 pm

record some backspins and scratches, just the scratch sounds, not the forward sounds, then cut from a regular playing loop to a scratch sound. this was a trick Phat Conductor came up with, works groovy.
http://www.ableton.com/forum/viewtopic. ... 398#229398 (I think that's it.)

I've tried some of the scratch plug ins and they're not there yet, IMO, YMMV, check 'em out.

another tip by phat conductor
http://www.ableton.com/forum/viewtopic. ... 383#359383