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Final Scratch 2 in action by DJ Craze

OK, well the moment alot have been waiting for, heres what I found over at Skratchworx:

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Out of the steamy jungles of Uganda comes top secret video of DJ Craze cutting it up with FS2. I would like to point out a few things: 1. Note the skipless vinyl-whereever he drops the needle it is on the sample. 2. Record modulation scratches actually sound like they should. 3. Note that the entire set is being recorded with the computer he is using!

So heres the vids.
Realmedia
Windows Media

Ooh, looks very nice

Interesting (terrible quality video though)

Final scratch is certainly working well there- but i still fail to see the point of it personally.
You are using vinyl to emulate vinyl but in a more expensive more complicated and potentially less reliable way Makes no sense at all
Still, no denying it clearly works well

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Originally posted by Freak Interesting (terrible quality video though) Final scratch is certainly working well there- but i still fail to see the point of it personally. You are using vinyl to emulate vinyl but in a more expensive more complicated and potentially less reliable way Makes no sense at all Still, no denying it clearly works well

Quite the opposite, it's way cheaper. How much money would you have to spend to buy 100 differen pieces of vinyl? Compare that to MP3's, quite a difference.

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Originally posted by tw1tch Quite the opposite, it's way cheaper. How much money would you have to spend to buy 100 differen pieces of vinyl? Compare that to MP3's, quite a difference.

True, but for me Reliability beats Quantity, I'm still looking at getting SSL or something as then I can buy some old MP3s that you can't get on vinyl anymore, but I am getting a CDJ so maybe I'll just use that.

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Originally posted by tw1tch Quite the opposite, it's way cheaper. How much money would you have to spend to buy 100 differen pieces of vinyl? Compare that to MP3's, quite a difference.

Well... that depends if you are paying for them or not. Id rather have quality over quantity any day of the week.
But think how much the investment into the system is. Laptop+ the system itself.
This is all IN ADDITION TO an existing conventional setup which isnt exactly peanuts, then (assuming you are doing things legally) paying to download the tracks... then having to spend the time ripping them from your cds+vinyl, editing them or whatever. I just cant spare the time (nor would want to- too much hassle).
Would take a long long time to pay for itself- and its a lot of fuss for, in my personal (and professional) opinion, no real advantage .


Like i said, its interesting stuff and im intrigued to see how it pans out. Id like to try it at some point in a demo capacity- purely for interest purposes

meh ill stick with serato...i got my CDJ for looping haha.

the biggiest reason why i love serato is just I do so many edits. Its almost godsend (I know a place that presses vinyls but they can only press it if its your own work)

FS never crashed on me...but when I switched to mac FS was plain out horrid. Now im back to PC hahaha

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Originally posted by Freak Well... that depends if you are paying for them or not. Id rather have quality over quantity any day of the week. But think how much the investment into the system is. Laptop+ the system itself. This is all IN ADDITION TO an existing conventional setup which isnt exactly peanuts, then (assuming you are doing things legally) paying to download the tracks... then having to spend the time ripping them from your cds+vinyl, editing them or whatever. I just cant spare the time (nor would want to- too much hassle). Would take a long long time to pay for itself- and its a lot of fuss for, in my personal (and professional) opinion, no real advantage

What ripping are you talking about. You get Final Scratch you buy MP3's most likely. A quick download and it's ready to play in FS. It costs about $2.00/track. It has worked fine for me, it sounds not different then my vinyl, so in my case, I win. I get what I want to do, play music and I get more of the music I love for less money. (I wouldn't get nearly the amount of music I do now, if I was paying $15+/each).

Many people already have laptops too, you're assuming based on your situation that everyone would have to go out and buy a laptop.

Works wonderfully for me, and I can afford to get more great music rather then be stuck with a limited amount because I can't afford more.

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Originally posted by tw1tch Many people already have laptops too, you're assuming based on your situation that everyone would have to go out and buy a laptop.

Im assuming nothing,
And its not based on my situation at all. I have two.
It was a point for consideration. Nothing more, nothing less

Like i said- each to their own.

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Originally posted by Freak Im assuming nothing, And its not based on my situation at all. I have two. It was a point for consideration. Nothing more, nothing less

hahah, me saying you made an assumption is rather ironic here.

God damn it. I'm trying to find this james zabiela interview, i read a while back, where he said something very amusing about final scratch. Can't seem to locate it though.

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Originally posted by tw1tch What ripping are you talking about. You get Final Scratch you buy MP3's most likely.

very true but i always here djs talking in their interviews about how great it is to travel with just their laptop and the fs hardware... i think i even heard some huge dj like sasha or something paying people to rip and catalog his entire collection.

its true that most of us will be buying mp3s but if i were a traveling dj who plays out alot [which i am not] i could see myself ripping my entire collection into a hardrive

just my thoughts

I still don't think FS is that fantastic. If you can afford a nice laptop and the FS software, I don't see why you can't afford vinyl.

If you're going to use digital, just use CDs. Let's face it, as much as we all love vinyl there's only so much it can do, because the needle must ride in the physical groove. CDs can just do so much more. Tonight I was spinning with my new CDJ-1000, and had some mad carl cox/zabiela 3 deck action going on, with a nice kick/robot sounding vocal looping (since it was just a short portion of the song), then killed it, put in another CD and mixed it on the fly (pitch bend makes for silky mixes), and started sampling another record during the transition... I was doing all sorts of crazy shit like that tonight. It was wild, and just something you can't do with vinyl (or FS).

much rather have a cd deck

I'm not arguing that CD are inferior, I'd like to have both. I like to be able to use turntables as well. Makes it very easy to download MP3's on my laptop and with no extra work now, I can start playing them immediately, no burning any CD's.

Also came down to price, two CDJ-1000's vs. Final Scratch (I already have the laptop for work purposes). Huge difference in price.

I just don't see the point of paying even $2 for a mp3... Freaken hell you pay money for something that everyone has, cause lets face it HOW MANY PEOPLE DO YOU KNOW THAT DON'T HAVE MP3s? It will just make my music collection look and feel inferior to something like vinyl. Also your equipment is software... and a pc... everyone has that too, so in no way will a mix be as impressive, cause everyone will think they can mix cause they can open 2 or 3 sessions of winamp and be a dj.

I see no point in mp3's besides the fact that they make minesweeper and solitair more interesting. And they provide for samples when choosing vinyl to buy.

Another thing I'm thinking... when everyone plays mp3s wont rare records and your one record that you know is your secret weapon become far too easy for others to have, cause I know one of my biggest thrills is tracking down those elusive records. How will track hunting be fun if anyone can just go and download everything?

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Originally posted by Gunyouken I just don't see the point of paying even $2 for a mp3... Freaken hell you pay money for something that everyone has, cause lets face it HOW MANY PEOPLE DO YOU KNOW THAT DON'T HAVE MP3s?

Maybe so you can support the artists you love?

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It will just make my music collection look and feel inferior to something like vinyl. Also your equipment is software... and a pc... everyone has that too, so in no way will a mix be as impressive

Nope, FS just lets you play the tunes off the laptop. Your turntables and mixer are still the interface upon which you mix, just like with regular records.

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everyone will think they can mix cause they can open 2 or 3 sessions of winamp and be a dj.

Are you high? Do you even know what Final Scratch is, or what it does? To use it, you have to know how to mix with records and a mixer in the first place.

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Another thing I'm thinking... when everyone plays mp3s wont rare records and your one record that you know is your secret weapon become far too easy for others to have, cause I know one of my biggest thrills is tracking down those elusive records. How will track hunting be fun if anyone can just go and download everything?

Boo hoo. So you'll actually have to work harder to find good records and make your sets unique? Too bad. Trust me, there are a million great tunes out there that you'll never find on mp3. You'll just have to divert your energy used to hunting down rare records to sifting through piles of mediocre and overplayed records for those unique gems. I have no sympathy for DJs who think working hard to set themselves apart is below them.

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Originally posted by nrjizer Maybe so you can support the artists you love?

Of coarse, it is ones duty, but I would much prefer to buy a record with a specific tune than downloading it, somehow paying for music that you download just doesn't appeal to me at all.

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Originally posted by nrjizer Nope, FS just lets you play the tunes off the laptop. Your turntables and mixer are still the interface upon which you mix, just like with regular records.

I don't think it's worth it, people that don't dj or have the deep apreciation for EDM that we have don't give a shit about beatmatching or any thing to do with proper mixing, so imo if you are gonna dj off a pc you might just as well dj with 2 sessions of winamp.

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Originally posted by nrjizer Are you high? Do you even know what Final Scratch is, or what it does? To use it, you have to know how to mix with records and a mixer in the first place.

Then wouldn't a mixer and records be more worth it?

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Originally posted by nrjizer Boo hoo. So you'll actually have to work harder to find good records and make your sets unique? Too bad. Trust me, there are a million great tunes out there that you'll never find on mp3. You'll just have to divert your energy used to hunting down rare records to sifting through piles of mediocre and overplayed records for those unique gems. I have no sympathy for DJs who think working hard to set themselves apart is below them.

I was refering to the future, cause most likely in the future people will be more inclined to digital. And I think artists and labels will prob be more inclined to release on digital.

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Originally posted by nrjizer I still don't think FS is that fantastic. If you can afford a nice laptop and the FS software, I don't see why you can't afford vinyl.

nope, they did...
damn hipocrite

choose a side... i feel personally this is my own opinion to keep the real ecence of DJ-ing alive we should get rid of all this digital bullshit all together, thats FS, SSL and CDJ's and stick to whats worked for the past 20 years you know 2 Tech's and a mixer, though myself i feel like i would persoanlly want to use it to see what all the fuss is about, but would never bring it with me to the club...

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Originally posted by Cosmic Realm nope, they did... damn hipocrite choose a side... i feel personally this is my own opinion to keep the real ecence of DJ-ing alive we should get rid of all this digital bullshit all together, thats FS, SSL and CDJ's and stick to whats worked for the past 20 years you know 2 Tech's and a mixer, though myself i feel like i would persoanlly want to use it to see what all the fuss is about, but would never bring it with me to the club...

Try telling Zabiela to get rid of his CDJs , I know what your on about, but we need to progress forward, if something helps, why should we get rid of it, I like the ideas of some of this new technology thats come out, it can lead to better things, I'm not bothered if I ever use/have anything like FS, but I wouldn't want to get rid of CDJs from the scene, they can add alot to a set if you know how to use them, this is coming from a vinyl junkie who will always spin wax, but I can't wait till I can add a CDJ to my setup and then throw in my own samples/accapellas/beats/breaks, honestly there is only so much you can do with 2 decks, I know they can still do alot, but CDJs can do things that decks can't and so you can use that advantage and really add to a set.

But thats just my opinion.

No, my arguments never changed. I don't care for FS at all, but I also don't care for people who talk about things they apparantly have no clue about (not to mention vinyl elitists). I'm just trying to set the record straight on a few things:

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I don't think it's worth it, people that don't dj or have the deep apreciation for EDM that we have don't give a shit about beatmatching or any thing to do with proper mixing, so imo if you are gonna dj off a pc you might just as well dj with 2 sessions of winamp.

But when you use FS, you're still adjusting the pitch on your Technics, you're still dropping the needle and cueing, you're still using the mixer and EQs to do your transitions. It's pretty much the same, except you're not picking up your record, replacing it, and putting on a new one. So comparing FS to 2 sessions of Winamp is like comparing a brand new Yamaha bike to one of those silly PowerWheels that your parents got you for Christmas when you were 9: One is a serious tool, the other is something that you use to kill time while wishing you had the real thing.

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Then wouldn't a mixer and records be more worth it?

While I agree (and always have, read my past posts), you're taking that quote out of context. I said that in response to "everyone will think they can mix cause they can open 2 or 3 sessions of winamp and be a dj." While I may not like FinalScratch personally, I can tell you with a fair bit of confidence that it's nothing like mixing with 2 sessions of winamp (and I'm sure people who use it can testify to this as well).

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I was refering to the future, cause most likely in the future people will be more inclined to digital. And I think artists and labels will prob be more inclined to release on digital.

Another thing is, serious DJs will accept nothing short of .WAV quality. Mp3's just won't cut it on a good sound system, period. I have a lot of amazing tunes on mp3 that I'll never spin, because I wan't the sets I play and hand out to be of the higest quality. I might get bored and play with it on a rainy day, but it'll never go into one of my performances or demos.

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choose a side... i feel personally this is my own opinion to keep the real ecence of DJ-ing alive we should get rid of all this digital bullshit all together, thats FS, SSL and CDJ's and stick to whats worked for the past 20 years you know 2 Tech's and a mixer, though myself i feel like i would persoanlly want to use it to see what all the fuss is about, but would never bring it with me to the club...

No, I won't choose a side. My CDJ-1000 MK2 is sitting comfortably next to my Technics MK5s, and that's the way I like it. Right now, there are big advantages to using vinyl, and there are big advantages to using CD decks. If you limit yourself to either, you're just missing out. This vinyl elitism bullshit drives me crazy. "The real essence of DJing?" I'm sorry, I thought that the real essence of DJing was taking other peoples music and crafting it together into one giant, flowing, dancable song. I guess I was wrong.

Tell you what, you go ahead and keep spinning on your 2 deck setup. The rest of us will be enjoying the fruits of technology.

Well Scratchworx now has more to tell on FS2, heres what I found:

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Maker of the recent Soundcraftsman v1 scratch tool NickNack has been lucky enough to lay his hands on Stanton's new Final Scratch 2. And like the jolly good chap he is, he's sharing his first impression with you all via the medium of . Recorded at 3am in the morning, NickNack decided to snap a few pics, film some deck action and add a few words to fill you all in ahead of full reviews appearing soon. Anyway - I'll pass things over to Nick Nack: "I will make this super simple and right to the point, b/c we will be doing a way more in depth review of FS2 here in the near future....actually it will be a side by side comparison to the Numark CDX and Rane Serato Scratch (these are the main 3 products that most of us are considering these days). This review is just my initial impression of Stanton's Final Scratch 2 after using it for a day or so. I know there have been some very heated debates between Serato and FS users on this site and others, but let me just say that in this review and every other that I give, I am interested in one thing, giving my honest opinion on a product. If there is something wrong with it, I will tell you...there is no reason for me to mislead or sugar coat things for you guys. I have friends that work at Numark, Rane and Stanton and at the end of the day I am just like you, I want to know what the best product is out there. The install of FS 2 is very simple. First, install a driver for the scratch amp, then install Traktor FS, then you hook up the scratch amp to your turntables. Once everything was connected, I fired up Traktor FS for the first time. I was so anxious to play with this bad boy, I didn't even configure it right off, I just wanted to see if I could use it out of the box. Sure enough...I could. Their initial/default settings for latency, rumble filter, etc.. were almost right on the money (this will obviously depend on the laptop/computer you are running this on though). However, after about 5 mins of playing around, some wierd things started happening. Some digital hiccups and other drop outs. I decided it was probably time for me to really configure this thing to my actual computer. Doing this was pretty easy and I was able to get the latency down to about 4ms overall (I have a P4 3.2gHz computer). After the proper configuration, I went back to scratching. I was very impressed at the fact that I could do almost any record hand scratch with FS2. Now, I am not anywhere near as advanced of a scratcher as some of you guys are, but I tried fast stuff, slow stuff, erratic stuff, etc... and I only rarely got wierd behavior. This weird behavior mainly happens if the record skips. It takes the computer a split second to refind it's location, so it can throw you off a bit. However, there is a skipless button setting that FS2 has cleverly implemented to help make this a non-issue. There are no complaints on the sound quality (I have more testing to do on this though). Loading songs can take about 10-20 seconds sometimes, which seemed a bit strange to me, but hey...I guess if you open the same file in say Sound Forge...it will take about as long. There is one thing that kinda bugged me and that was the wav display. It seemed to be a bit slow to draw. And if you needle drop, the wav display takes a while to catch up redrawing. Seems like there could be some improvement there as well as some other minor things in the user interface, but overall this system has really caught my attention. I will be curious to see what others think and also how I feel about it in a few weeks. Check out the video - VIDEO of me doing some really bad scratches at 3am (damn Taiwanese coffee from a can is a mfer..hopefully I can go to bed soon). This video should show what FS2 is capable of in about 2 mins. Props to Gizmo and Skratchworx for letting me do this review! 'Preciate that. NickNack [email protected] www.crowdcontrolrecords.com Scratchamp Scratchamp2 FS2 Screen Deck Heres the link....

Thanks for the link DannyO.

Good stuff until the full review comes out. I think I am going to get this over SSL because I can upgrade for basically the same price and it sounds like the backspin issue is fixed (my only real beef).

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