Rane Serato Scratch Live (Macintosh and Windows)

zZounds' Take on Rane Serato Scratch Live DJ Software

Remember when you were first learning how to scratch? Remember what happened to your sister's copy of Blondie's Eat To The Beat? Remember the beating she gave you when she found out? Even after that painful experience, you still practiced your turntable skills, till finally you've become the deck-master you are today. Still, you're reminded of that prodigious beat-down every time you have to replace a needle-shredded LP, every time you pull a heat-warped album out of its sleeve, and every time you load your vinyl crates into your car. Wouldn't it be nice, in this digital age, to be able to do away with costly and burdensome vinyl, but still retain the tactile control and familiar feel of DJing on a turntable? With Rane Serato Scratch Live, you can!

Serato has been revolutionizing the DJ world since its introduction in 2004. Using timecode-engraved vinyl discs (or CDs), Serato Scratch provides real-vinyl control over digital audio files. All the inconveniences of vinyl are done away with, while the satisfying and expressive feel that only LPs can provide remains intact. Hesitant to scratch on that that rare pressing of Dancing in Your Head? Load up the digital version and cut away! Tired of lugging your LP library with you to gigs? Access your multiple-Gigs' worth of music directly from your laptop! Can't seem to find that one Can track your buddy told you about? Just get it online and stop wasting hours going through the shelves of every record store in town!

The Rane Serato Scratch Live package comes with everything you'll need to join the virtual vinyl revolution, including two vinyl timecode LPs, two timecode CDs, and the virtually bulletproof SL1 audio interface. The SL1's low-profile and folded steel chassis can take a beating, as well as deliver pristine, 16-bit 44.1k digital-to-analog audio conversion and transmit all timecode control info from you to the Serato Scratch software.

If you've been a long-time vinyl DJ, you'll appreciate the fact that the Serato system works with the turntables or CD decks you currently use, and the fact that the rock-solid Serato timecode tracks every move you make on the control vinyl, with zero lag time. When Serato says "every move," they mean every move, including needle drops, backspins, power-downs and any other technique you've developed on the wheels of steel. If you're new to DJing, you'll love Scratch's self-explanatory interface and simple setup. The SL1 interface connects to your decks and sound system via common RCA jacks (phono or line-level!), and to your laptop via USB. There's a dedicated microphone input and an external line input on the interface for additional sound sources like iPods or regular CD players. You can even switch back to spinning regular vinyl right through the SL1. . . no extra mixing equipment required! For beginners and pros alike, the Serato Scratch Software will take your DJ skills to the next level. Beat-mapping and gain adjustments can be set to automatic, making the vinyl DJ learning curve a little less steep for novices, and letting experienced users focus on developing even more complex tricks.

Reliability, ingenuity and high-fidelity come together perfectly with Rane Serato Scratch Live, the quickest way to enter the 21st century and the era of the Digital DJ.

Manufacturer's Description for Rane Serato Scratch Live (Macintosh and Windows)

Scratch LIVE is the ultimate software and hardware solution for bridging the analog world of vinyl and the digital world of computer audio files. Using regular turntables or CD players, you can scratch and mix files from your Mac or Windows XP computer's CD or hard drive, add in a live mic input for scratching, and even bypass to standard vinyl if you wish. Scratch LIVE is the complete digital solution for the vinyl junkie - take your entire collection wherever you go and leave your precious vinyl at home!

The Scratch LIVE USB interface connects one or two standard vinyl or CD turntables to your computer. This extremely rugged, portable, high quality, bus-powered USB interface features two switchable phono or line inputs, a microphone input, two line outputs, and pass thru outputs for the phono/line and mic.

The included 12 in. vinyl records (2nd Edition) each have Serato's exclusive and unique control signal which allows Scratch LIVE to track the motion of the record, simulating the same movement with digital audio. Due to Serato's proprietary control scheme, the result is a feel and sound indistinguishable from playing vinyl. As a producer and DJ, the track you finished today can be played on a real turntable tonight.

Software Features
Runs natively on Windows XP and Vista, plus Mac OS X

Supported File formats: Fixed and Variable Bit Rate MP3, AIFF, WAV, CD Audio and direct from microphone input

Full iTunes integration, Windows and Mac (excluding playback of files protected by Digital Rights Management such as those sold through the Apple iTunes Music Store).

Play and scratch tracks direct from CD and CD-ROM

External Mode: faithfully reproduce movement of vinyl control records, including stops, starts, scratching, needle dropping, rubbing, backspins, powerdowns and other turntablist techniques

Relative Mode: disable needle dropping to ignore record skips, but still allow scratching

Internal Mode: play songs without vinyl control, enabled automatically when end of vinyl groove is reached

Browse music collection by Artist, Album, Tempo (BPM) or Genre, with optional album art display

Digital 'crates' for quick access to your favorite collections

Record from Mic Input (Mic Input is only usable as thru) and immediately scratch as if it was on vinyl

Instant full text search of ID3 tags, matches partial search terms; Edit ID3 tags with full Unicode support

Full track overview showing current play point

Variable zoom waveforms centered around current needle position

Waveform coloring to distinguish different musical features

Large on-screen record label, for scratching and beat juggling

Visual markers can be set at important cue points, and triggered from the keyboard

Large elapsed time and time remaining displays

Beat display emphasizes transients in tracks to visually assist with beat matching

Tempo display assists with rapid tempo matching of tracks

Adjustable gain per song file

Latency can be adjusted to match CPU power

Assign the same track to both turntables simultaneously

Current RPM Indicator: 33 / 45 RPM vinyl selector

Single key song loading. Single key deck swapping

Drag and drop importing of tracks, no preprocessing required

Add whole directories of music files on the fly: tags are read in background, no performance interruptions

Scope display for testing signal path quality

Low power warning when running off laptop battery

Hardware Interface Features
USB 1.1 (Full Speed) interface and bus-powered for fast, simple set up.

Phono level inputs for direct connection of 2 turntables to your computer - no phono preamp required.

Line level inputs: No extra hardware required for CD decks and line-level turntables.

Input-thrus: Switch instantly back to regular vinyl.

Microphone input with adjustable gain; Microphone thru output.

Analog circuitry fully isolated from noisy USB Bus.

Optional external power pack for permanent installations, or switching computers during a live show.

Unit requires a mixer to sum the L deck out, R deck out, and Mic as a stereo signal to your amplification or recording device.

Vinyl Features

Side A: 10 minutes plus Vinyl Select area. Side B: 15 minutes.

Vinyl Select allows you to play a whole set without touching the computer.

Visible time markers on vinyl.

Continuous control signal on vinyl allows smooth accurate scratching.

Innovative positioning system for fast and accurate needle dropping.

Two 15 minute control CDs included. zZounds is an authorized dealer of Rane products.

System Requirements
Mac:
- 1 GHz G4
- 1 GB RAM
- OSX 10.3.9 or higher
- Intel Macs require Scratch Live version 1.5 or higher

Windows:
- 1.5 GHz PC
- 1 GB RAM
- Windows XP with Service Pack 2 or higher
- Windows Vista requires Versions 1.7.2 or higher
- Windows Vista 64-bit requires Versions 1.8.2 or higher

Note that Rane recommends Windows XP over Vista for performance reasons. By using XP, you can have a lower latency (for a better vinyl feel) and better performance in general.

Please note: this is the minimum requirement to run Scratch Live. We recommend you use a higher spec computer, and particularly if you have a large library, you will benefit from having more RAM.