more about Final Scratch....

[yeswehavetheright]

I haven't got my FS yet so am busying myself by recording all my vinyl onto the computer. So far I've been normalising all recorded files to
-16db in soundforge (this is their default level for "music" and works fine with recorded mixes etc) and saving as 192/44stereo mp3's.

I was wondering if this was ok and what other people did? Obviously I want the output from the PC/scratch amp to be approx the same as for a record playing straight off the deck ( so the gains can be set approx the same on the mixer).
Cheers!

[alsynthe]

finalscratch auto normalises files and play them at desired levels.

[slavestudios]

i been doing similair but with WAV

recording in at 96/192 then dithering down.

[yeswehavetheright]

I know i'm not exactly breaking new ground here, but i have to say that FS works really well - exactly how i had hoped it would.

It suits my mixing style perfectly and feels just like vinyl, the main benefit at the moment being instant recall and playback of any tune i want without the hassle of trying to find the piece of vinyl! To have such quick easy access to all your tunage and then be able to play it back on the decks is just fab. And I haven't even started playing my own edits/tracks yet.

I have to say though it takes ****ing AGES to record all your records onto the PC. But this is good in the long run as I'm listening to all my records from start to finish and being alot more selective about what I'm adding to my FS database. And adding comments to tracks is very handy too.

Sound-quality wise it's not bad, but not quite as good as the original vinyl would sound (obviously there's some losses in the recording process initially) - the scratch amp is not an audiophile piece of gear.

[alsynthe]

yea its a nice bit of kit,im very reluctant to sell mine, but needs must and its going.

[yeswehavetheright]

That's a shame bud.....

[dan the acid man]

ive enjoyed using it the few times i have

[yeswehavetheright]

Started getting technical issues already! Almost every time I boot up my PC and FS I loose audio on one of the "decks" on the scratch amp. A bit of fiddling about gets it working again - and then it's stable, but I reckon it could be stressfull in a live environment when your setting up and about to play! It's not good to have doubts in the back of your mind the whole time. Especially when it's so good when it is working that you've already changed your method of mixing based on it!!

The NI forum basically says that the scratch amp on versions 1.x of final scratch suffers some USB issues and windows doesn't configure one of the ports on the amp properly.

A firmware update is required but you have to make and then solder an eeprom chip reprogrammer on to the scratch amp circuit board and then plug this into the parallel port on a PC and let some software reprogram the chip - ****in 'ell!!!!! All that effort to get the code on a chip changed from 0x0100 to 0x0101!

...or you can get the unit replaced if you bought it through an authorised dealer and is under one year old (that rules me out then).

...or you can go for version 2 which has a new scratch amp and uses a firewire port.

So it's something to consider when buying FS........if it's version 1.x it could well have this firmware/USB problem. Luckily my old man is a bit of an electronics wizard and so between us we should be able to get the thing reprogammed (there's a very comprehensive guide to the process on the NI forum).

[tocsin]

I was told that you can get Stanton to update the firmware for free. Haven't looked into it though.

[alsynthe]

has never affected mine

[yeswehavetheright]

Apparently getting a gold plated USB cable makes a big difference.
I've already binned the cable that came with the pack and used another, shorter cable. That solved the no audio problem, but now I get distorted audio on deck A and have to disconnect/reconnect the scratchamp to get it to work properly. Weird.

Still love it to bits though, there's no going back - no way!

[tocsin]

Unless you really like the function that allows the pitch to stay the same while adjusting the tempo, see if you can score a copy of the linux version. That one never had any problems for me. It wasn't until 1.5 that I dealt with losing Deck B, distortion, etc.

[alsynthe]

the linux 1.0 version is crap, prone to crashing and is not compatable with all hard drives. ver 1.5 is the better version

[g]

i assume the reason you didn't get version 2 in the first place was just a cost consideration?

[alsynthe]

1.1 is just as bad, i have 1.0, 1.1 and 1.5 and 1.5 is the best by far

[yeswehavetheright]

i assume the reason you didn't get version 2 in the first place was just a cost consideration?

Yeah - pure and simple! Half the price......

[tocsin]

the linux 1.0 version is crap, prone to crashing and is not compatable with all hard drives. ver 1.5 is the better version

So use version 1.1.

[tocsin]

1.1 is just as bad, i have 1.0, 1.1 and 1.5 and 1.5 is the best by far

Probably just luck of the draw then. I never had a crash with 1.1 ever. Not a single problem. A friend of mine won't use anything above 1.0 for the same reason. When I used 1.5, everything went to shit and it's because my scratchamp apparently needs a firmware upgrade. I got no advantage from 1.5 whatsoever except for supposedly better interpolation which I was not able to detect by ear. So, when it comes to Final Scratch, I moved to using a Macintosh instead of a PC. I have no problems with it on the Mac ever.