scratching with controllers?

Keep in mind, Phil has a digital dj scratching course in the works…. stay posted.

As far as scratching on controllers, generally I pay attention to what the wave formats look like and try to stick to scratching acapellas/solo instrument parts/ solo bass kicks. Samples are also great, I’ll have a sample loaded on a 3rd deck just to fuck around with when I’m in the mood for some flash.

To begin;
1) Pay attention to the waveform, and try to scratch when there is less going on. The more going on, the more it will sound like tv static.
2) I’m still no turntablist, and haven’t emulated every vinyl sound on digital yet. I use TP2 instead of TSP, I really miss my little pieces of tape on my vinyls. It really helps keep track.
3) Keep the volume of the deck you are scratching on lower than the loaded track deck. Until scratching is second nature, this will help mask mistakes.

It does have a slightly different feel, and there is definitely a reason I’m switching to the ns7 II when it’s released. Scratching is still possible on most controllers (though imo vinyl will always be king for scratching), and it is still possible to sound good. When I busk w/ my 4trak people eat it up when I scratch, and I generally use it as a percussion element along with drums for fills/keeping a syncopated beat.

i tried to scratch with my ns6, it’s pretty decent but just takes time to get used to it.

Usually I’ll just scratch along to tracks when there are no vocals. I find it easier to scratch to tracks 128-140, as opposed to slower tracks. I’ll have my track playing on deck B, and will be scratching on C/A (I’m left handed and find it easier to use my left hand on the jog/right hand on the fader). I’ll have a scratch track loaded on A, and the song I plan on transitioning into onto C.

As far as making scratch tracks goes, just start collecting a bunch of one shots/vocals you think would sound cool, and place them back to back in an mp3 (I use audacity). For instance, I have a sample of Kanye West saying “Everybody knows I’m a motherfuckin’ monster” set as one of my cues. One way I might open up one of my sets is after I am introduced, I’ll play around with this cue and have it sound like “Everybody knows I’m a motherfuckin’ monster-monster-monster mon-mon-mon-mon-mon (insert little scratch diddy here, right after scratch diddy is over I launch my first track).

I will tell you, f1s are amazing for scratch bank samples (disregard this Connibis, for I assume you use Serato with a ns6). I use the 4trak, which is the sister controller of the ns6, and I find it sounds pretty decent.

I like what I call fake-scratching in Traktor… I find decent section to “scratch” with, like a vocal bit, turn Gater all the way wet, and work the waveform back and forward, while playing with the gater speed.