Operator`s manual
RANE SL3 FOR SERATO SCRATCH LIVE • OPERATOR’S MANUAL 2.5.0
9
How to Calibrate Scratch Live
With music playing in the background
(from any source), put your needle on
the record with the turntable stopped.
If you are using CD players, the same
rules apply. Have the CD deck paused
or stopped while calibrating. Ensure the
input level in Scratch Live is set correctly
to accept a LINE level signal. See “Line /
Phono Status” on page 32.
Click and hold the estimate button
until the slider stops moving. Moving
the threshold slider to the left will make
Scratch Live more sensitive to slow record
movement, but also more sensitive to
background noise.
Repeat the process for each deck.
Things to remember:
• Your needle must be on the record.
• Your turntable (or CD player) must be
stationary.
• The background music playing must be
at a similar level to which you will play
your set at.
• Calibrate Scratch Live every time you
play.
TIP: If the slider jumps to the far right,
then you have a problem with noise
in your turntables/CD players/mixer.
Check all your connections and make
sure your equipment is well earthed.
In some situations you will not be
able to improve the signal quality, and
you will have to play on regardless. In
this situation, stick to REL mode. See
“Calibration Troubleshooting”.
The Scopes
The scopes on the Setup screen in
Scratch Live display the input signal as a
phase diagram. The key factors to look at
on the scope display are crisp clean lines,
round shape, and the tracking percentage
in the lower right corner.
Calibrating
Scratch Live
Since Scratch Live is controlled by an
analog signal, there is no guarantee of
what state that signal will be in by the time
the software gets to interpret it. Therefore,
Scratch Live needs to be able to handle a
wide range of signals, and be congurable
to use them optimally. Calibrating is just
conguring the software to your situation.
Calibration is equally important for both
vinyl and CD users of Scratch Live.
There are two parts to the Scratch Live
control signal: The directional tone, and
the noise map. Listening to the control
vinyl, the directional tone is the 1 kHz
tone. The noise map sounds like random
noise over the top of the tone.
The directional tone provides the
current speed and direction of the record,
while the noise map tells the software
precisely where on the record the needle
is currently.
The Noise Threshold
A threshold is a lower limit, below which
a process will not occur. In the case of
Scratch Live, the noise threshold is the
limit below which the input signal will not
be interpreted as control signal; in other
words if it’s below the threshold, it is
considered noise and ignored.
This setting is necessary because a
stylus is very sensitive, and will inevitably
pick up noise from the environment as
well as the signal on the record, especially
in the noisy environment of a live show.
Start both turntables or CD players. You
will see green rings appear in the scope
view as shown above.
For optimal performance the inner ring
should be as close to circular as possible.
Use the scope zoom slider (1x to 16x)
to zoom in or out as necessary. Use the
scope L/R Balance and P/A Balance
controls to adjust the shape of the inner
ring.
The number in the top left corner of the
scope view gives the current absolute
position within the control record or CD.
The number in the top right corner is
the current speed in RPM. In the bottom
left is the current threshold setting, and
the number in the bottom right shows
the percentage of readable signal – this
number should be close to 85% when
your system is calibrated properly.
Calibration Troubleshooting
After calibration, the number in the upper
right corner of the scope view should say
0.0 while the needle is on the record and
the turntable is stopped.
If that number is uctuating then
manually move the Estimate slider to the
right until that number is stable at 0.0.
If you’ve moved the slider all the way
to -24 and its still uctuating then you
have a grounding or interference problem
somewhere in the chain.
If so, the rst thing to check is that
the grounding wire coming from your
turntable is connected to either your SL3’s
or your mixer’s grounding posts.
Next, make sure that the SL3 isn’t
sitting next to a power source such as
a power strip or power box and that the
RCA cables connected to the SL3 aren’t
laying across other power conducting
cables.
If you are still experiencing issues, you
might have to adjust the placement of
your setup. For example, make sure bass
bins aren’t directly under the turntables.
for more calibration troubleshooting
help See “Scope Reading and Fixes” on
page 38.