Where would vinyl DJing be without Stanton’s Final Scratch, the first DJ-centric software solution which transformed DJing entirely? It took a while for most DJs to adapt to using CDs, even well into the CDJ era. Vinyl was considered more tactile and ‘real’ than CDs. But the options for playing on turntables were drying up as clubs began replacing their house systems.
Beyond hardware DJing
Before Serato DJing courses were a thing, DJing was exclusively a hardware activity. It was either CDJs or vinyl. Then Final Scratch worked out a way to control computers with vinyl records using DVS (Digital Vinyl System) technology. Final Scratch DJs use special records with timecodes that send a modulated signal to the audio interface. This allows the computer to know exactly where in the track a DJ was.
Bridging the gap
Final Scratch did more than bridge a gap between vinyl and digital. It pretty much shouldered the task of keeping vinyl alive. In 2003, the software was ultimately bought by Native Instruments and renamed Traktor Scratch. This allowed further options, such as MIDI control, and effectively democratized the market by kickstarting the era of bedroom DJing.
Software vs true vinyl
Spinning wax is now a pretty niche thing, even with the assistance of Traktor or Serato timecode records. The advantages to using software-encoded vinyl (over actual vinyl) are mostly that you’re able to play stuff unavailable on vinyl. You can also do digital stuff like keylocking, pitching, looping and more. Software-encoded vinyl is generally more sturdy on wobbly dance floors, and some software has functionality to avoid needle skips.
As with previous DJ innovators, Final Scratch revolutionized DJing. Controllerism was born. DJing made its way to laptops, allowing for even more librarianship. Without question, Final Scratch contributed to the ongoing wellbeing of DJing three decades into the digital era and gave birth to a hunger for the online DJ courses and workshops that we see today.