Easily Recreate Vinyl Record Scratching in Ableton Live

Record scratching is a trademark in many genres of electronic music.  But the idea of lugging around another piece of gear just doesn't seem worth it to me (and a record player would be a rather larger addition).  Oh yea, plus I don't really know how to scratch on vinyl anyway.   I don't feel bad admitting that because, despite the name AfroDJMac, I'm not a DJ.  In my mind, what I do is closer to a singer with a guitar and some effect pedals than DJ-ing.  So, since I can't scratch vinyl or even want to learn at risk of having to carrying around extraneous equipment, I created an Ableton Live Rack to do the job.

Learn the Power of Ableton's Delay Modes

The video you are about to watch, starts out as a tutorial about the different delay modes on each of Ableton's delay effect plug ins.  There's a sort of "secret" drop down menu that appears when you right click the title bar of a delay effect.  From there you can change the way the delay behaves.  About half way through the video I build the Vinyl Record Scratcher using the Repitch Delay Mode.  Check it out below and scroll down to download the Vinyl Record Scratcher.

**Pro Tip:  Map the "Vinyl Scratch" knob to a cross fader.  Cross faders are usually fast moving faders, so it will allow you to quickly make a scratch and turn it back off.

Super Tape Drums for Ableton Live

The drum sounds I used in the video were created with my Super Tape Drums Premium Ableton Live Pack.  Long story short: I sampled hundreds of drum sounds to a reel to reel tape and used those samples to create some really awesome Ableton Drum Racks.  It's perfect if you want a warm vintage feel to your drums.

Super Tape Drums
Ableton Live Pack

450 drum samples from a variety of sources, recorded directly to an 8-track reel to reel tape machine. Resampled and built into 30 Ableton Live Drum Racks.