Operator`s manual
RANE SL3 FOR SERATO SCRATCH LIVE • OPERATOR’S MANUAL 2.5.0
13
Visual Aids
When the track is playing several 
waveforms are displayed. Each shows a 
different aspect of the track being played.
Tempo Matching Display
The Tempo Matching display area 
provides a helpful tool for beat matching. 
Scratch Live detects the beats within the 
track, and places a row of orange peaks 
(for the track on the left side) above a 
row of blue peaks (for the track on the 
right side) in the Tempo Matching display 
area. When the two tracks are matched 
to the same tempo, the peaks will line 
up. The tempo display is aligned with the 
beginning of the bar, so the peaks keep 
their relative position as the track plays. 
This display does not show the relative 
timing of the beats, only the tempos of the 
tracks. The peaks will still line up when the 
tracks are playing at the same tempo, but 
are out of sync.
Track Overview Display
This view provides a complete 
overview of the track waveform, 
and includes a marker to show 
the current position within the 
track. This view is useful for 
nding transitions within the 
track. The waveform is colored 
according to the sound spectrum 
– red representing low frequency 
bass sounds, green representing 
mid frequency sounds and blue 
representing high frequency treble 
sounds.
  You can jump to different 
positions within the track by 
clicking on the Track Overview display 
(disabled in ABS Mode). Grey lines behind 
the overview show the length of the track 
– a thin grey line every minute, and a thick 
grey line every 5 minutes. The overview 
will be lled when you load the track onto 
a Virtual Deck. On slower computers, 
you should disable Autofill overviews in 
the Library tab of the Setup screen. See 
“Preparing Your Files” on page 11 
and “AutoFill Overviews” on page 34.
Main Waveform Display
This view provides a close-
up of the track, including 
color coding to show the 
frequency of the sound; red 
representing low frequency 
bass, green representing 
mid-frequencies and blue 
representing high-frequency 
treble sounds. You can 
also switch to a three-band 
spectrum view by holding 
the ctrl key and clicking 
on the waveform. Click on 
the waveform to ‘scrub’ 
or make ne adjustments 
to your position within the track. This 
applies to INT Mode only, and may be 
useful if you wish to set cue points in 
your tracks without your turntables or CD 
players connected. The Main Waveform is 
zoomed around the current position in the 
track. See “Cue Points” on page 18 
and “Scratch Live Modes” on page 
16.
TIP: Use the + and – keys to zoom in 
and out.
TIP: Waveform can be either vertical or 
horizontal. See “Display Modes” on page 
15.
      Kick Drum
In this example, the red part 
of the wave represents a kick 
drum, while the purple part 
represents a snare drum.
      Snare Drum
Beat Matching Display
This view shows the position 
of beats within the track. When 
beat matching, this view helps 
align the downbeats of the two 
tracks. The markers are matched 
up when the two tracks are beat 
matched.
  Example: The following is a 
demonstration of using the visual 
aids to help beat match. In this 
example, the track that is playing 
is on the Left Deck, and the track to be 
mixed in is on the Right Deck.
1. Start the track playing on the Right 
Deck. After a few seconds, blue peaks 
appear in the Tempo Matching display.
2. Adjust the pitch of the right turntable 
until the blue peaks sit under the orange 
peaks in the Tempo Matching display. 
Once they are aligned, the two tracks 
have the same tempo.
3. Next align the markers in the Beat 
Matching display. Watch the color of the 
items passing by in the Main Waveform 
display. Remember that a kick or 
bass drum will be red in color, and a 
snare drum will be green or blue. This 
technique will by no means guarantee 
perfect mixes, but may help to speed up 
the process of beat matching.
Master Gain
The master output of Scratch Live 
can be controlled using the master 
gain control. This adjusts the 
output volume of all tracks played.Ctrl-
click the knob to reset it to 12 o’clock.
NOTE: For best results, set the master 
gain to 12 o’clock, and adjust the 
volume of individual tracks using the 
track gain adjustment.
33 / 45 Speeds
Set this to match the speed of 
your turntable for normal playback.
Tracking Indicator
The tracking indicators 
on the main screen show the quality of 
the signal coming from the control record 
or CD. The length of the bar indicates 
the speed of the record or CD. The 
color indicates the amount of position 
information Scratch Live is receiving. 
When you are playing the record at normal 
speed, the tracking indicator should be 
grey. If it is mostly red there is a problem 
reading the control signal. Make sure 
your needles are clean, and check the 
calibration in the setup screen.
NOTE: It is normal for the tracking 
indicator to be red when cueing or 
scratching.










