scratching with dj controllers v2

Scratching With DJControllers: Special Report

Second edition - Nov 2013

Contents

i. How Scratching Can Help Controller DJs To Get Ahead - 2

ii. Can I Scratch On My DJ Controller? - 10

iii. The Seven Golden Rules Of Learning To Scratch With DJ

Controllers - 23

A special threepart report from Scratching For Controller DJs and Digital DJ Tips.Visit the website: http://www.digitaldjtips.com.

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1. How Scratching Can HelpController DJs To Get Ahead

So why on earth would a controller DJ want to scratch?

It’s a good question, but one that you probably already truthfullyknow the answer to. Of course there’s more than one reason, but let’sjust reel a few of them off: It looks cool. It’s organic, somethinghuman. It’s a performance element in an otherwise often dull “select /sync” world. It gets you noticed and remembered. Technically,scratching can help you overcome a number of sticky situations inyour sets: For instance, changing tempo or genre; dropping a track inwhen time has run out; making an impression when taking over froma DJ whose style has nothing in common with yours...

But maybe the biggest reason? It has true heritage. It’s not easy tolearn, and learning not only shows you have dedication and skill, butalso raises you up to a level where you can stand shoulder to shoulderwith other scratch DJs, old and new, whatever technology they use.

After all, ask any non-DJ to “mime” being a DJ, and what do they do?Pretend to hold a headphone to one ear, and to scratch a piece ofvinyl with the other hand, of course! Truth is, to many people,scratching is DJing.

So wouldn’t it be nice to put those jogwheels on your DJ controller to


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the use they were always destined for, rather than continuing toignore their potential? Wouldn't it be nice to build on, rather thanignore, the history that led to the digital gear you currently use? Afterall, it's also a big chunk of the history of DJing we're talking abouthere...

The awesome legacy of scratching

Where did it all come from then? Well, scratching was developed byearly hip-hop DJs from New York such as Grand Wizard Theodore.He describes scratching as "nothing but the back-cueing that youhear in your ear before you push it [the recorded sound] out to thecrowd".

Jamaican-born DJ Kool Herc also influenced the early developmentof scratching, by developing breakbeat DJing, where the “breaks” offunk songs - the short instrumental sections in the middle, often eightbars long - were isolated and repeated by skilled DJs for the purposeof all-night dance parties (these being the most danceable parts,often featuring shake-your-ass percussion) Sounds like fun, yes?

Since then, scratching has been used on countless hit records, andbecome an integral part of DJ sets way removed from the discipline'ship-hop roots, with plenty of house/EDM DJs using scratching tospice up their DJ sets, and even pop guys using it to add a bit of flair(not to mention acappellas) to their sets in order to stand out.

Maybe scratching’s biggest legacy, though, is the fact that the skills it


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presupposes - counting, beatmatching, mastery over a piece ofrecorded music - are also the building blocks of truly accomplishedDJing, whether that’s done on vinyl, CDJs or in most cases nowadays,on digital DJ controllers.

Want to connect with DJing how it’s always been done, to get theconfidence to head off into the new territories offered by compositionsoftware, samplers, and other controllerism tricks? Scratching cangive you all of that stuff on a plate, and an impressive new skill toenjoy using, too.

What it feels like to scratch with records

Ever watched a DJ scratching? If you want to see what DJing “in thezone” looks like, observing a skilled scratch DJ at work is a good placeto start. When you’re scratching, you feel totally in control, like aperformer. You’re engaged in the process of playing andmanipulating your music for your audience, and getting the mainlinebuzz of immediate crowd reaction. You feel like a “proper” DJ. Themusic’s doing what you want it to, and you feel confident andself-assured.

That feeling of total control, through skill, is one of the things thatdoesn’t necessarily come automatically nowadays to digital DJswho've never used vinyl (or even CDJs). That physical control overyour music is an important feeling to understand, because it’s fromthat foundation that you can use all the tricks that digital has to offeryou to build something bigger and better than that achieved by the


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generations that came before you, in complete confidence that you'reon top of the basics. Not all confident, self-assured DJs know how toscratch; but all scratch DJs get that confidence and self assurance aspart of the package.

Guess what? Record decks were neverperfect...

One myth that it's helpful to bust is that there was somehow a"golden age" of scratching, where every DJ booth was set up just-sofor scratch DJs, and from where we've fallen so far it's not even worthtrying it nowadays, with today's gear.

So in no particular order, here are some reasons why scratch DJs inthe past had it worse than you, reading this today. Firstly, theirhobby was expensive: To kit yourself out with decks, a mixer, theright vinyl and sounds and so on was thousands, not hundreds. It wasalso wildly impractical (ever tried to carry such a set-up round toyour friend's house for a quick hour's mix?).

Then there were the technical issues. Far from being invented forscratch DJs, Technics 1200 and 1210 "DJ" turntables were actuallydesigned for hi-fi buffs.

Even to use them for scratching, you had to turn them around 90degrees to keep sensitive parts at the back away from your hands;"hack" the weighting so the needle didn't jump out of the groove as


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easily; swap the supplied rubber mat under the record with a felt"slipmat" to be able to manipulate the vinyl properly; fold up bits ofpaper to insert between the spindle and the edges of the hole in themiddle of your record, to stop the record rattling around horizontallyand jumping; go to extreme measures to counteract bass feedbackand rumble - we could go on and on.

And actually, far from making things worse for scratch DJs, today'sDJ controllers have in many ways made many things considerablybetter...

Advantages of scratching with controllers

Many of the advantages of scratching with digital DJ controllers arethe same advantages that digital DJing has over the old way, fullstop. Digital files, unlike expensive, brittle vinyl, last forever. The gearis more compact, so you need less space for an awesome set-up - aset-up that is totally portable. You can have access to your wholelibrary. And so on.

But there are specifics, too. It might sound silly, but you have nodelicate, sensitive record deck arm and cartridge/needle to worryabout as you're performing with jogwheels. Further than that, thetime taken to put on tunes and swap tracks is a fraction of thatneeded to do the same thing with vinyl, so more impressive tricks arepossible.

Something else blindingly obvious, but true: With vinyl, if you wanted


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to scratch with two copies of the same record, you had to buy twocopies. With DJ controllers, you just load the same track onto twodecks!

For the sake of fairness, let's present the other side: Some controller /software combinations aren't up to the job. Bad software combinedwith small, old fashioned jogwheels (especially on older controllers)does not lead to fun or even good sounding scratching. And thedreaded "latency" - the delay between you doing something on thecontroller and it coming out of the speakers - can occasionally rear itshead here, too.

And let's be honest; some controllers are, well, kind of fiddly. It'shardly the same when you're trying to pull wide-armed scratch moveson a controller no bigger than a laptop, because there is plainly lessarea for arm movement and "flow".

Digital vinyl systems vs controllers

What about digital vinyl, you might ask? Systems like TraktorScratch Pro and Serato Scratch Live, where you use real record decksalongside your laptop and software? Well, for vinyl guys, these can bemassively fun - it's their old hobby, updated. They can carry on usingtheir old gear, but plug in and use digital files. Awesome! And forcontroller scratch DJs who get really serious about exploring thelegacy of scratching, again, this is a way of connecting even moreclosely with the past.


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But for everyone else? You could argue that digital vinyl systems areactually the worst of both worlds!

Why? Well, they're still big, expensive, clunky, fragile, hard to movearound and so on, but you've also lost the immediacy of vinyl DJing(turn on, slap two pieces of vinyl on, get going). Instead, you needcomplicated audio set-ups, calibration of control vinyl, extra boxes tointerface between old and new - all before playing your first beat.That’s why we think controllers have an edge here.

Scratching complements digital DJing'sstrengths

But the truth all these arguments keep coming back to is this:Controllers are here to stay, and they're good enough to learn thisstuff on. And it's when you bring all of this bang up to date - whenyou look at what else controllers bring to the table for creativemodern DJs (sampling, remixing, DJing with your own music,blurring the boundaries between producing, performing live andDJing, being able to do all this stuff from tiny devices you can fit inyour backpack…) - that you realise how great is is to add scratchingalongside all these skills in order to be a more "complete” digital DJ.

Scratching, far from being an anachronism, actually fits in very nicelyindeed alongside cue juggling, custom Midi mapping, FX riding, livemashups and all the other stuff smart digital DJs learn to markthemselves out from the pack, whatever their style of dance music.


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That's why the best digital DJs already scratch. What we want morethan anything is for you to be inspired to join them.

Next: In the next chapter, we’ll look at exactly which DJ controllersit’s possible to scratch on, based on our testing of 50 popularmodels.


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2: Can I Scratch On My DJController?

In the first chapter, we looked at whether it's actually possible to"scratch" on DJ controllers, and we answered that question bydefining what scratching actually is, looking a bit at its history, andconcluding that actually, there are many advantages to using DJcontrollers rather than record decks! If we reached a conclusion, thefeeling was that times change, things move on, and there's nothingany of us can do to stop that (nor should we) - but for so manyreasons, scratching is still an utterly relevant skill for the DJ. Indeed,maybe more than ever nowadays, it is something that can reallystand you apart from the crowd.

Here we're going to look at a more practical question: Can youscratch on your particular DJ controller? Because it's all well andgood working out that yes, this stuff is possible, but of course noteveryone has the high-end DJ gear that you might think would benecessary to scratch.

Hopefully in the last piece we showed you that the actual physicalidea of using jogwheels rather than vinyl record decks isn't in itself ahindrance to scratching, so now we need to look at what affects howwell you can scratch on DJ controllers. We'll cover that question inthe first half of this chapter, then we'll move on to looking at somemajor manufacturers in the second half.


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i. What affects your ability to scratch on aDJ controller?

The three elements are: The controller itself (and especially thequality of the jogwheels / crossfader); your laptop; and your software.Let's look at them one by one:

Your DJ controller

Early DJ controllers were difficult - no, impossible - to scratch on.While it's easy enough to map on/off buttons and simple faders tosoftware so they control what you want them to do pretty well,jogwheels are a different beast. There is an almost infinite number ofsubtleties and nuances to what you can do manipulating a jogwheel -it is, after all, what makes scratching such an organic and fun thingto do in the first place.

So it took the manufacturers a little while to get up to speed. A bit ofbackground tech: Most DJ controllers communicate with yourcomputer using something called "Midi" - it's a 30-year-old protocolfor electronic communication of musical data.

More recently, some manufacturers have come up with theirown-brand improvements to Midi, designed to make jogwheels moreresponsive, and you'll also hear "HID" bandied around; it stands for"human interface device" and is a theoretically better way to achievewhat Midi does. Finally, manufacturers often speak of "high


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resolution" jogwheels, indicating that for any particular movement,the wheel can transmit more data to software than previously.

In early 2013, we tested 50 controllers, and at the end of it all, wedecided that overly worrying yourself about whether your controlleroffers Midi, HID, high resolution or some other weird and wonderfulconcoction of jogwheel/software communication is a bit of a redherring. There are controllers that do just fine with Midi, andcontrollers with non-Midi interfaces that only achieve average grades.But here's the good news, and this is what you should take away:Nearly all modern controllers are fine for beginner to intermediatescratching. The hardware is good enough, even on cheap models.

For instance, the Numark Mixtrack 2 & Mixtrack Pro 2 are basicallyplastic boxes, plainly built to a budget so as to be affordable tobeginners, yet the jogs are good, and with some software, they areindeed excellent (more on software later). This is indicative of thecare and attention manufacturers pay in getting their jogwheels toperform well. But that brings us on to the second point: a controller isonly ever going to be as good as the software it's running...

Your DJ software

Hand-in-hand with improvements in DJ hardware, themanufacturers of DJ software have also made massive strides toimprove the way their programs interact with controllers. So let'slook at the three major packages.


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Traktor Pro 2

Traktor is 100% fantastic with its own controllers (the TraktorKontrol S2 and S4, at the time of writing). Of the third-partycontrollers it works with (which is most of them, whether officially orvia user-created third-party mappings), it is usually also very good. Ithas improved a lot in recent times (since 2.5), and will only getbetter. We did find with some of the cheaper controllers (theaforementioned Mixtrack Pro 2 is a good example) its performancewas not excellent, but was passable nonetheless.

Serato

Serato Serato DJ (including Serato DJ Intro) performedacross-the-board excellently - almost. Why so good? Well, Seratodoesn't make its own controllers, and it's staked its reputation onscratch performance (as its legacy digital vinyl product, SeratoScratch Live, was what built the company's reputation). To get"Serato in the box", a DJ gear manufacturer has license the software,and in that process, Serato applies quality control to ensure greatscratch performance. Curiously, though, there was one modern DJcontroller (albeit now discontinued) - the Allen & Heath Xone:DX -that despite being Serato, is not possible to scratch on, due to its tinyjogwheels. But apart from that, if your controller can run any flavourof Serato, it'll be fine.

Virtual DJ

Overall, Virtual DJ we found to be "very good", especially because


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there are several software settings with this particular program thatyou can use to tweak the way it interacts with your jogwheels, and wealso know that the company is proactive in working with gearmanufacturers to ensure good performance. It wasn't perfect (wecould reproduce an erratic forward-spin behaviour on mostcontrollers), but having said that, we've had a chance to demo VirtualDJ 8 at a couple of DJ shows recently (which is at the time of writingforthcoming) and in the same way that Traktor 2.x dramaticallyimproved on that program's scratch ability, Virtual DJ 8 improvesover Virtual DJ 7's already pretty good performance still further.

Other programs

As far as other programs go, we found MixVibes Cross performedwell with its own U-Mix Pro controller, and we've heard good thingsabout Algoriddim's Mac-only djay software when mapped tocontrollers like the Vestax VCI-400, although we found that programa little "spongy" on the Vestax Spin2. Having said that, DMC scratchchampion DJ Rasp is gigging with the Spin2 - just goes to shownowadays, the gear really shouldn’t hold you back. However, thatbrings us on to the next truth: Neither the hardware manufacturersnor the software houses can help you if you don't get the next thingright: Your laptop.

Your laptop

It all comes back to the laptop. Your software runs on it, yourhardware interfaces with it. Without a well functioning "brain" at thecentre of your DJing universe, none of this digital scratching stuff is


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possible. So what's the important advice to remember here?

1. Meet the recommended spec

Check out the websites for the software and hardware you're using.There is always a "technical spec" or "minimum spec" page. Also,check your quick start manual, printed manual, or the box your gearcame in for the same info. Now check your computer to make sureyou're meeting that spec!

The main culprits in our experience are: Not enough memory (easy tofix: buy a memory expansion) and (less easy to fix) weird processorincompatibilities (generally, you're fine with Intel, there is someweird behaviour with some controllers and AMD chips, though).Hard disk type is not important, as the computer loads tracks intomemory before you “scratch” them anyway. Truth? Nowadays, wefound that even cheap PCs can do this stuff. DJ software when usedfor basic scratching does not put massive strains on a modernlaptops.

2. Keep it simple, stupid

Computers are amazingly complex things. Whenever I speak to audioengineers working with sound cards, DJ controllers and digital audio,all they seem to say is "timing!” (usually accompanied byhead-shaking.) Trying to get everything to work exactly when itshould in a sound environment when it comes to digital is extremelyhard - and so if they've done their bit to ensure this happens, for yourpart you need to give your software and hardware half a chance by


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moving everything else out of your DJ software’s way.

That means closing down all software you're not using, making surethere's as little going on in the background as possible (Bluetooth,WiFi, auto update, internet connection, notifications and so on),always running on outlet power (battery power usually has aperformance compromise) and all the other common-sense thingsthat will allow your computer to give its undivided attention to yourDJ performance.

3. Reduce the latency

It's a control in your settings that sets how much "buffer" thecomputer puts between you doing something and the sound comingout of the speakers. Obviously for scratching, the lower this numberthe better, but the more demands it'll put on your PC. Weird crackles,freezes, glitches and so on indicate you've been a bit overambitiousand set this too low. Here's the thing though: If you follow the twopoints above, it's my guess you'll never have a problem with latency.

Here's a little confession: When we tested the 50 controllers we havehere to see how many of them you can actually scratch on, we rarelyhad to play with latency - and when we did, it turned out the problemactually couldn't be solved by messing with it (ie it was somethingelse causing our issues). Again, nowadays you should find latencyisn't an issue for you.

4. Mac vs PC


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Listen up kids. It doesn't matter. I'm not saying it doesn't make adifference, but whichever one you've got, that's the one you're goingto use, and it'll work fine. Nearly all the software works with both. Allthe hardware (bar one or two units) works with both.

Sure there are differences but the manufacturers and software houseshave worked around them on your behalf. You can achieve perfectlygood results with both. Don't sweat it. Buy and use whatever makesyou comfortable, but don't let the OS be an excuse for you not to usewhatever computer you happen to have for scratching. Worryingabout it is a nonsense, in practical terms. In 2004, I bought a SonyVaio which I DJed with until 2010, when I bought a MacBook. It'sonly me, sure, but I've had equal (ie very few) problems with bothOSes. I hear the same stuff every day from all kinds of folk. Don'tsweat it.

ii. Hardware overview

Rather than give you a detailed analysis of every controller we testedin words (it’s very hard to demonstrate scratching in words!), wehave produced on the Digital DJ Tips YouTube channel as manyset-up videos as we can for popular controllers, we can, to show yousome of these units in action. For now, though, here is a summary ofour notes from the testing sessions, organised alphabetically bymanufacturer. Note that we've only tested software controllers, notUSB units etc.

A word on crossfaders: All of these DJ controllers had passable


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crossfaders for basic scratching, and none had a crossfader as goodas a decent standalone “battle” scratch mixer. “Loose is best” - butmore important is crossfader curve adjustment, and thankfully allmajor software packages (and some higher-end hardware) offers thisoption. Don’t sweat it - live with what you’ve got.

The controllers by brand:

American DJ - The company's VMS2 and VMS4 models areusable, but not the best as they are physically a little weird, witha kind of "afterthought" rubber ring fitted to give the standard"nudge" behaviour to the jogwheels. We also found the wheelsquite wobbly. However, you can get good sounds out of them(VMS4.1 is better than VMS4 as it has a better sound card) andthey’re fine for learning on.

Behringer - The company's very early controllers(BCD2000/3000) are ancient news now and you can't scratchwith them, and the company has a new controller dueimminently (CMD Studio 4A) is crippled by bad jogwheelperformance from the supplied software package Deckadance.Performance with Virtual DJ was much better, though, andthere’s apparently a Traktor mapping too now, but we’ve nothad chance to test that as of Nov 2o13.

Denon - Funnily enough, we liked Denon's cheapest controller(the MC2000) the best of all for scratching, as it performsflawlessly with Serato. Having said that, the MC3000 and


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MC6000, both of which you can use with Virtual DJ andTraktor, are solid controllers and good scratch performers. AllDenon controllers have rather small jogwheels, but we thinksmall jogs are fine for scratching, so and as long as you don'thave clumsy, big hands we wouldn't let that put you off!

Gemini - Well known for their scratch mixers in the past,Gemini’s new G4V (and G2V) has great jogwheels that performwell with the supplied Virtual DJ LE software. We found theircurrent controllers (CNTRL-2, CNTRL-7 and FirstMix Pro) tobe OK performers for basic scratching, but the most intriguingmodel in their range is the CDMP-7000. This is a CDJ-styleunit (in fact, it is two CDJs, just in one big case) with a mixer,that you can use with Virtual DJ - and performance was prettygood. If you want to learn to scratch on something that feels likeCDJs rather than the more lightweight DJ controller-style jogs,and you're on a budget, this is definitely one to consider.

Hercules - The DJ Control Instinct was the smallest controllerwe tested out of all 50, and we found it honestly to be too smallfor scratching, and also the software (DJUCED) didn't producethe nicest scratch noises. The DJ Control Air was at least a bitbigger, but really the 4Mx and the RMX2 were the controllerswe liked the best out of this range. Hercules has amechanical-style jogwheel that you'll either like or hate; it'swobbly, clunky and chunky, and we actually loved it - it feelsnice under the hand, is responsive and something a bit differentfrom most.


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Native Instruments - Another manufacturer with mechanicalrather than capacitive jogwheels (meaning they detect thepresence of your hands on them by micro-switches, notelectrical current changes). With jogwheels that were quitesmall, deep and slightly weird to use (Native Instrumentsjogwheels stop dead almost instantly you remove your handfrom them, so no spinbacks), the Kontrol S2 and Kontrol S4nonetheless proved to be extremely responsive units forintricate scratching - no doubt helped by the fact that as thecompany makes both the hardware and the software, they canprioritise getting everything just-so. However, due to thepositioning of the jogs and the size, we’re giving thesecontrollers a “very good” rather than an “excellent” - especiallyas we find the new Mark 2 models a little harder to scratch onthan the original. They’re fine for all but the most advancedscratch DJs, though.

Novation - We love the Novation Twitch, but despite itproducing a convincing scratch sound when you "throw" thetouchstrips, you can't scratch on this. You can do someinnovative digital stuff, sure, but for scratching? You needjogwheels. Trust us on that one.

Numark - From the lowliest Mixtrack to the all-bells NS6 and4Trak, Numark's stuff is dependable, and frequently excellent.While their DJ2GO is simply too small for scratching (or, to behonest, anything past novelty DJing), the rest of the range letsyou do it fine. Slightly better performance from the Seratocontrollers (NS6, Mixtrack Pro) than Traktor (4Trak, which


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although good, wasn't 100% perfect. 95%, maybe). The NS7 andnow the NS7 II take it a stage further by being motorised (ie thejogwheels spin like real turntables), and are both excellent ifyou really must have the vinyl feel. Be aware that older,discontinued Numark controllers (Steel, Stealth, Total Control)don't cut it.

Pioneer - Pioneer gear is all very good or excellent when itcomes to the jogwheel performance. We loved the DDJ-SX(although like the Traktor Kontrol S4, the jogs, lovely as theyare, won't let you do spinbacks), the DDJ-SR and the newDDJ-SB, and the company’s earlier controllers (the DDJ-Ergofor that CDJ feel, the DDJ-WeGO & WeGO 2 for the classiccontroller-style jogs) are fine for learning to scratch.

Reloop - Some slight imperfections of performance withTraktor and the earlier Reloop controllers (Digital Jockey IImodels, now discontinued), but the Jockey III / Jockey IIIRemix and Mixage with Traktor were pretty good. The cheaperBeatmix model for Virtual DJ was also good, while the TerminalMix 2 and Terminal Mix 4 with Serato software (all variations)we found to be excellent. The Beatpad, for iPad, is also great.

Stanton - These guys made their name with record deckcartridges and still have a hand in the analogue mixing world.Of straight DJ controllers, the DJC-4 for Virtual DJ performedwell and is a nicely made unit too, and their SCS.4DJstandalone (ie no laptop required!) controller actually hassurprisingly tight, good jogwheels. You can't scratch in the


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SCS.3 system though, as its jogs have no moving parts! Quickmention for the SCS.1 system here too, which precededNumark's NS7 in delivering motorised platters first to digitalDJs, despite being impractical for most(mainly due to it beinghuge, expensive, and FireWire only, ie no USB).

Vestax - Again, an old hand at this game, responsible for somewonderful scratch mixers both past and present. Since theVCI-100 for Traktor, all of its controller have been excellent forscratching. The VCI-100, while not perfect, set the bar (anddespite its age, that controller is still very good), but theVCI-300, VCI-380 and VCI-400/VCI-400DJ all performbrilliantly, the latter slightly better with Serato than Traktor.

Conclusion

We’ve said it so many times: Nearly all modern controllers (ie fromthe last two years) are fine for learning to scratch on. Don’t let thecontroller you own put you off trying, and if you’re finding it hard, itis nearly always because you need to improve your technique, notbecause there’s a fundamental problem with your set-up.

Next: In the next chapter of this special three-part report, you’llmeet the seven golden rules of learning to scratch on your DJcontroller.


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3. The Seven Golden Rules OfLearning To Scratch With DJ

Controllers

So having worked out all the reasons why it's a smart move to learn toscratch in chapter 1, and investigated how to make sure yourcontroller, computer and software are up to the job in part 2, it's nowtime to give you seven solid rules that will help you get off to the bestpossible start when teaching yourself to scratch.

These are a mixture of rules that apply to everyone learning toscratch, and rules that are specific to controller DJs. Most often,they're universal rules, but there are small "tweaks to the thinking"that take into account the profound changes in the technology sincethe first scratch DJs played with manipulating vinyl back in the1980s. So here they are:

Rule 1: Fine-Tune Your Kit

Hopefully by now you're sure your hardware and software are up tothe job, but that's not the full battle. You need to understand whatthe setting are that scratching demands, and to ensure you've setyour controller and software up right.


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Some controllers have mechanicals resistance controls to govern howloose or tight the jogwheels spin; where you set this is personalpreference, but looser rather than tighter is a good rule.

Others have actual controls for the crossfader, which govern itsbehaviour insofar as how quickly it lets sound through when youmove it. "As quick as possible, as much as possible" is the scratchmanta here, because we want to crossfader to act basically like aswitch. Find the controls on your hardware or (more usually) in yoursoftware to make this so.

You also want to engage "scratch" or "vinyl" mode on your controller,which is the mode that means when you "grab" the "record" bytouching the top (not the edge) of your jogwheel, the music stops andyou can then manipulate the music in a way that hopefully soundspretty similar to manipulating a piece of vinyl.

Now, truth is a lot of people don't bother with this stuff. And if youdon't, as long as you have vinyl mode switched on, you can probablyget away with it. But here's the thing: If you don't bother to set yourgear up properly and then try and learn that way, at the very bestyou'll be "compensating" for your bad set-up. A pro scratch DJ mightmanage this, but a beginner? No chance. You'll either not get it at all(most likely), or learn some pretty bad habits. So open the manualand work out how to set up properly - it's worth it in the long run.

Rule 2: Take Control


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Your DJ controller is an instrument, not a fragile piece of hi-tech. It'sbeen designed to be played, not gingerly operated. All of those knobs,buttons and faders are there for one reason only: to give you anawesome amount of control over the music. The jogwheels, especially,are expressive things, giving you an almost infinite amount of optionsto alter over the way the sounds are played.

And like any instrument, you need to make an awful amount of badnoise with it before you start to make the good sounds! The trap hereis to expect perfection from the off - and digital makes it worse,because with modern DJ controllers and all their "cruise control"features, you can indeed get great (as in, correct) sounding stuffreally quickly and easily.

Forget that. You'll never, ever learn to scratch with that mindset. Youneed to switch out of cruise control (sync, in other words) and messup. Make a racket. Train-crash those beats! Get used to using thejogwheel to control your music and the crossfader to smash tunes inand out of the mix. Get used to doing stuff that people will notice.

Of course, you can do all of this practice in your own bedroom, butthe mindset - that a DJ's mixes and actions should always be soperfect that nobody even notices - is what you need to escape from.Think of it as the same thing as learning a language; if you neveropened your mouth when learning a language, you'd never learn atall; it's the mistakes that teach you the right stuff. And you need tomake an awful lot of mistakes to get good at both languages andscratching (and anything else that involves freestylin' your way to


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mastery of a new skill). Embrace that, and learn to enjoy the process.Take control.

Rule 3: One Hand At A Time

From the somewhat conceptual to the practical! When you learn, yousimply have to "tie one hand behind your back". For a long time. Yousee, one hand is for the jogwheel, and the other is for the crossfader,and they do very different thing. It's simply i-m-p-o-s-s-i-b-l-e tolearn using both hands. It's one of the biggest mistakes beginnersmake, and it's a total dead end.

Your early practice sessions should involve using the jogwheel tomanipulate sounds, or the crossfader to turn those sounds on and off- but never, ever both. Sure, switch between the two (eight weeks ofjogwheel practice is kind of boring!) but just don't try and combinethem until you've mastered the skills of both.

Rule 4: To Get Started, Press Stop!

Think of a vinyl turntable. It's clear when it's switched on, right?There's something going round! And a scratch DJ using thatturntable? He'll grab the spinning record to "stop" it, do his stuff,then when he's finished, deftly let go of the record, and the tunecarries on playing. Won't he? So far, so clear?


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Now think of a DJ controller. Turn the tune "on", and it starts playing(the waveform moves, you can hear music). But the jogwheel doesn't"spin". It is static.

Maybe it’s because of this fact that there's this kind of confusion withcontroller DJs around whether the music should be "moving" or notwhen scratching, whether the track should be playing or not (and,indeed, whether you can scratch at all because of that lack of a motorspinning the jogwheel).

Well, don't worry about the second point - yes, you can, and it'sbasically exactly the same. The motorised platter really doesn'tmatter at all. But the first point is more important to grasp. Withcontroller DJs, maybe more so than with vinyl trainee scratch DJs,there's a tendency to think that you can just grab the jogwheel andscratch away on a playing tune. But you can't! You need to practise,at least at first, with that record paused or stopped, and with thatwaveform static. Here's why:

A lot of scratching is about timing and rhythm. It's also aboutknowing how to control the jogwheels. The trouble is, with a "live"jogwheel (or turntable) - ie, one that's "playing - as soon as you takeyour hand off of it, the music "runs away". You're now in need ofgetting it back to the sound you want, or all is lost. And that'sabsolutely not what you want as a complete beginner. It's too much inone go.

No, what you want is to do your scratch, but when you take yourhand off the jogwheel, for everything to remain still and calm until


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you choose to touch it again and do something else. This simple idea- learning with the deck on "pause" - is going to revolutionise yourearly scratch sessions and teach you the basic movements, rhythmand sounds far faster than the alternative, which is like trying to runbefore you can walk.

Rule 5: Get Your Sounds Right

Scratching is all about manipulation of sounds, so it stands to reasonthat those sounds themselves are pretty super-important. It's nosurprise that DJs have scratched by and large with the same fewdozen sounds for many decades, at least as starting points. Certainsounds just have the right "character" for scratching - stabs, vocalsnippets and instantly identifiable snatches of music that just seemto "cut through" and show off a scratch DJ's skills the best.

So identifying and collecting the best scratch sounds is important,and happily this will also help you to guess what sounds are likely towork best from your own music. But further than that, in much thesame way as good DJs have to learn which songs mix with othersongs and which don't, it's important for you to know which soundsare likely to work over which music (and again, which are likely tosound bad).

So here are a couple of starter rules. Vocals over vocals are generally a"no go" - try dropping vocals over dub or instrumental versions (orparts) of songs. Want to scratch over vocal tracks? Well, that's where"stabs" or other instrumental scratch samples will naturally sound


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best.

Think about the frequencies involved. If you're playing over a heavilyfiltered, bottom-heavy disco dub tune, scratching a big woolly bassdrum over the top is just going to dirty things up and not add anyexcitement. A sharp, metallic brass stab? that might well suit theoccasion far better.

Choosing your sounds wisely is an integral part of making scratchingsound great.

Rule 6: Pat Your Head And Rub YourBelly

This strangely named rule is all about being able to control each ofyour hands independently, and builds on Rule 2. You see, once you'vemastered what each hand is meant to do, and managed to combinethem to do their first "thing" together - well, that’s where the funreally starts! Because just like patting your head and rubbing yourbelly, it's now time to get comfortable with controlling both actionsindependently.

To continue the head/belly analogy, you need to be able to pat yourhead twice as fast while continuing to rub your belly at the samespeed. You need to be able to reverse the direction you're rubbingyour belly in while continuing to pat your head just the same. Youneed to be able to rub your belly one rotation in one direction and


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one in the other while patting your head fast-fast-slow. And so on andso on.

Scratching involves complete mastery of the not-so-simple skill ofdoing two independent things at the same time, and with mindfulcontrol over each. Again, this comes with practice, but just knowingthis - and being able to train your mind when you're nowhere nearyour controller, using just your hands and your head and belly - putsyou way ahead of most people who try to learn to scratch and justdon't "get" this vital fact.

Rule 7: Do The Work

It'd be easy to glibly sit here and lecture you that if you don't put thehours in you won't get anywhere in scratching, and I don't think youneed to be told that - I am sure you're smart and you get it already.

But there are specific things when it comes to scratching that it'sgood to know, because once you do, you can use them to mark yourprogress - and we all know that when you've got reminders of how faryou've come and how far you have to go (ever ticked items off a longlist as you've completed them? You'll know what I mean then) it'seasier to get to where you want to be.

So here are the two things you're going to want to know about. Thefirst is "muscle memory". This is basically teaching your body (mainlyyour hands, but there's arm and shoulder stuff too) to get used todoing things that don't come naturally to it.


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If you've ever learned to play the guitar, for instance, you'll know whatI mean. Just getting your hand around the neck is hard enough, notto mention trying to hold each individual string against a fretwithout "dampening" the others. Then the next day - phew! You canhardly touch the thing, your fingers hurt that much! Yet over time, itall becomes second nature. That's muscle memory.

It's exactly the same with scratching (although thankfully, not usuallyso painful). The crossfader and jogwheel techniques are notsomething that comes naturally. Thankfully, though, you willdefinitely learn them - you just need to put the time in, happy in theknowledge that doing that alone is enough for these things to start tobe more natural for you as your body adapts.

The second thing is consistency. The key here is to realise that at thestart you'll probably pull off a few tricks you never thought possible!(Know the term "beginner's luck? that's what it refers to.) You'll beamazed you managed it... then get royally peeved when you can't do itagain for, like, 100 further attempts!

But the truth is that practice gives you - above all else - theconsistency you lack as a beginner; it gives you that knowledge thatyou're going to get it right 90 or 95 times out of 100, rather thanonce or twice. And one really good way of measuring this progress isjust to keep dead simple diary of what "went right" for you in yourpractice sessions - you'd be amazed at how quickly you do actuallyimprove, and when you're feeling down about your progress, justlooking back at your diary will be enough to make you realise this,


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and will give you heart.

Final word...

We do hope this free PDF guide has helped you to see the opportunityfor controller DJs when it comes to scratching, to become bettereducated about the kit and the factors that govern setting it all upcorrectly, and to pick up a few useful tips to get you off to a good startas you teach yourself.

For more resources, news and info to help you in your DJing and yourscratching, please make sure to visit our website athttp://www.digitaldjtips.com. Happy scratching!


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