Andrew Norris has released Scratcher an Ableton Live / Max For Live device, available as a FREE download. Donations are welcomed.
Scratcher is a MaxForLive device that attempts to emulate the sound of a record being played forwards and backwards on a turntable, much like a DJ would do when scratching.
The device simply moves a playhead over a sample to replicate this sound, and you use a MIDI note to ‘cut’ the sound in.
There are various ways of controlling the playhead: either manually with the mouse, with a dial on Push, or with a dial / fader on a MIDI controller.
You can also automate the playhead within a MIDI clip, or use the built-in LFO to move the playhead forwards and backwards automatically.
Much like the action a DJ would normally perform with a crossfader, the sound can then be ‘cut in’ with the note C3, either in a MIDI clip or played live.
By combining different note patterns with moving the playhead forward and backward over the sample in various rhythmical movements, you can go some way to creating a reasonably authentic scratching sound.
Tips
- Works best with samples of exactly 1 second in length. Anything longer or shorter and it won’t sound as good. You can negate this a little by increasing the ‘Drag’ amount for longer samples, but try to stick to the 1 second length for the best sound.
- Also works best with particularly noisy, aggressive-sounding samples. Screams, white noise, car screeches, etc. all work well.
- Adding a short amount of silence before and after your sample helps give the initial transient more ‘attack’ as the playhead passes over. Without the silence beforehand, things can sound a little ‘mushy’ as the playhead passes each end of the sample.
- Although you’re limited to one custom sample, you can still add more instances of the device if you wish, either each on a separate track or together in a Drum Rack. The only limit here is your CPU, although the device itself is not particularly CPU-intensive.
For more information and to download Scratcher, click here:
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