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TRAKTOR FINAL SCRATCH WARNING!!!

For all of those interested in the digital side of DJing, please read on. This could save you hundreds of dollars...

This is a word of warning for all those interested in vinyl controlled digital media systems. More specifically Final Scratch.

* Please keep in mind this page represents the opinions and experiences of many people including myself who have purchased Traktor Final Scratch, but it does NOT represent ALL Final Scratch customers...

** If the links on this page no longer work, it means the official Final Scratch Forum has moved or been shut down - This has happened before.

If you havent yet heard, Final Scratch (developed by Stanton Magnetics and Native Instruments) is a software \ hardware package which is supposed to allow the manipulation of audio files using regular turntables. The package consists basically of 3 timecoded vinyls, a ScratchAmp, and Traktor Final Scratch Software. This package is typically priced anywhere between $399 - 600 USD and even more if you live outside the US.

Final Scratch is not the only product in its class. Rane and Serato have teamed up to develop their own version called Scratch Live. Others like PCDJ, Ms Pinky, djDecks and MixVibes are also available (generally much cheaper and of excellent quality).

My Final Scratch Review:

I walked into a music store in Manhattan while on holidays in Oct 2004. I was planning to purchase Rane Serato Scratch Live after I saw a discounted price on Final Scratch ($399). After chatting to the sales person, he finally convinced me Final Scratch is the way to go... mainly for one reason, its been around longer. After spending a short period of time on the net looking up Final Scratch reviews I gave in and handed over my hard earned money.

When I got back home some days later, I opened the box and pulled out the contents. A quick run through of the manual and I was up and running... well not quite. After setting up Final Scratch, all I could hear was a heavily distorted version of my mp3s. The sound was terrible. After mucking around for a short while I finally found the Settings panel and adjusted the output volume. Good, the distortion disappeared. But now my left turntables sound was much quieter than the right turntables output. If I increased the output level, the right turntable would always go distorted. So I had to leave the output levels down. Unfortunately it was so quiet that I had to turn up my mixer to full volume, just to hear it.

But thats far from the worst of my problems. I had a ground loop in my setup which basically caused a loud hum and pulsating sound. I thought to myself well this cant be hard to fix so I hit the Official Final Scratch Forum (www.finalscratch.com/forum/). To my disgust I noticed a majority of unhappy users with problems similar to mine (just some of the users with ground loop issues: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6). Immediately I realised the mistake I had made by choosing Final Scratch over Scratch Live. Apparently ground loops are very common with Final Scratch and while a ground loop exists in your system, its pretty much rendered useless. I tried all of the tricks suggested by forum members (read here). I visited the Native Instruments support site which basically gave me the same info as the forum participants. I sent two requests for feedback from Native Instruments support and never received a response (other users with complaints regarding Native Instruments lack of support: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6). I sent a third request for help regarding the different output levels soon after and again, never heard back from them. I even bought 2 ground loop isolators ($20 each) and they still didn't work. A friend of mine also experienced ground loop issues but was lucky enough to have resolved his problem but cutting the earth on his power cord (this can be hazardous and is not recommended). I was running the whole thing unearthed yet no matter what, these unwanted noises continued. It may have been the cheap construction of the Scratch Amp which caused this by picking up interference but regardless, I paid my $400 and I should have a system which works as advertised. Here is a very small sample of other miscellaneous complaints on the forum (1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8).

Its appalling to see companies charge such high prices for products that have such a high faulty rate. I have spent many frustrating hours and dollars trying to get my system working correctly and still havent succeeded. Final Scratch users are left in the dark once they hand over their cash. Even if I did get it going, I would never trust it in a club environment due to its apparent instability (some examples here). I guess thats how it got the nickname 'FinalCrash'. If you read the other forums for other products, users just dont get these sorts of issues.

Summary:

In terms of actual functionality, Im not in a position to comment since I still havent successfully set up Final Scratch. As an overall recommendation I would steer clear of this product and look elsewhere. You should expect a certain level of support with products costing hundreds of dollars and you will most likely not receive that when purchasing Final Scratch.

And if your thinking about buying Final Scratch 2, just make sure you read the FS2 forum (www.finalscratch.com/forum/) first, then make your decision.

As they say, an unhappy customer will typically tell 10 people of their experiences, well I'm just doing my bit.... Unless Stanton or NI somehow manage to magically fix my problems, then I will continue to warn people of my experiences.