Scratch Track

Scratch track is designed to give you a way to add scratches to your recording projects. You can use this plugin to scratch samples, loops, tracks or live input. This is the only software to offer live input scratching, and to support all types of timecoded vinyl, midi learn for controls, automation, and programmable crossfade.

Scratch Track’s primary function is to allow you to use timecoded vinyl inside your recording software. This means you can scratch audio samples with timecoded vinyl from inside Ableton, Cubase, Reaper, or any other DAW.

To use vinyl, simply follow the steps below:

• open the plugin UI and enable vinyl inputs (by clicking on “vinyl in”)
• select the type of vinyl you wish to use (in the vinyl control panel, in the plugin).
• Make sure your audio is actually being routed to the plugin (specifically, to the first two inputs). In most DAWs, the vinyl input will be the primary input shown on the plugin’s track.
• In Ableton, for instance, you simply need to select the incoming vinyl signal from the audio input dropdown, as shown below.

Map incoming MIDI messages to any control

Like with all Stagecraft’s plugins, you can map incoming MIDI messages to any of the sliders or buttons. To do this, simply right-click the button or slider and activate the MIDI learn. Once activated, the object will learn the next MIDI message it receives and use it in the future to trigger/move.

How to scratch live incoming audio with Scratch Track

One of the most exciting features of Scratch Track is that it gives you the ability to scratch live incoming audio. For instance, you could sing a few lines of a song, and then grab the turntable and scratch the audio immediately after creating it.

To do this, first enable live streaming by clicking on the “live input” button on the plugin’s UI.

Once enabled, the plugin will add the incoming audio from inputs 3 & 4 to the plugin’s scratch buffer. The incoming audio will also be immediately displayed in the waveform UI.

Notice that once you scratch the stream, it will no longer be in sync with the live throughout. To bring it back up to the current playtime, simply click the “sync” button.

Record automation data from your scratches

One of the most powerful and unique features of Scratch Track is that it can be used to record turntable scratching to automation data. So in addition to recording the audio output (what the scratch sounds like), you can also record how the timecoded vinyl was moved to obtain a certain scratch. Then, tweak the scratch after it’s been created to invent new scratches.

To record automation, simply select the automation “out” on the plugin. This will tell the plugin to send tracking data for all parameters to the host, including the scratches it’s producing based on the timecoded vinyl input. Then, in your host, you can then record this data.

How to do this will vary depending on your software. In Ableton, simply hitting the record button will record all automation.

To hear the automation, select the automation “In” button in the Scratch Track plugin (to let the plugin know it should use incoming automation data and not the incoming timecoded vinyl signal, or other MIDI inputs). You might also need to record automation for one of the “play” parameters in order to trigger the sample.

You should now see the turntable scratch when you hit play on the DAW, regardless of the timecoded vinyl input.

Finally, to take this to the next level, you can record automation for the crossfade parameter. By automating the scratches and the crossfade, we can reproduce the actions of a turntablist down to the smallest detail. We can also invent new and impossible scratches by tweaking the automation data.