Kinect “AiR” Scratch Dj n’ with Traktor from dustin o'connor on Vimeo.

At the recent Tekserve Future of Music V event the discussion went beyond iPads and an audience member brought up Microsoft’s Kinect. I made the joke that the future of music would be air guitar. Well in just less than a month later we have Air Scratching via Kinect. So far I’m not so hot on no surface controllers but friends of mine who have used Kinect say it’s amazing. Is this a novelty or something we are going to be actually using in music creation?

“here im using the kinect to control dj software. its no joke in air gesture scratching.” – dustin o’connor

photo credit: Creative Tools

via Matrixsynth

I’ve mentioned before that the all time best record with scratching on it is Reckless by Ice-T: click here to listen. I’ve worked scratching into my own music a few times. Sometimes I ask my friend Matt (Satronica) who knows his “wheels of steel” quite well to send me something specific. There are a few scratch plug-ins that are just “ok”. Usually they are cool for some effect but nothing authentic. I like the video above both for it’s sound (not so far off base) and the fact that I can whip it out on a whim now since it’s all done with native Live devices.

Video showing how to emulate a scratch Like effect in Ableton Live 8 using the new delay Modes in the Ping Pong Delay. This is not meant to replace vinyl nor will it produce a totally authentic sounding scratch sound, but it is a Ableton Live only solution and is a nice add on to your effects arsenal. You can download the template: click here You will need Live 8 or later to open it. – DubSpot

Have you ever worked scratching into your songs? Is there a go to plug-in you like?

Related post: Scratch. A documentary about scratching.

Another great music documentary has popped up on my favorite place I find my daily “TV” viewing aka Best Free Documentaries. This movie called “Scratch” chases down the origins of Hip Hop’s background sound.

Grand Wizard Theodore (the “Thomas Edison of the movement”) recalls the day, way back in 1975, when his grandmother told him to turn down the music he was making in front of his Bronx River Houses apartment. In order to hear her, he put his hand on the turntable, holding the record in place. As he moved his hand, slightly, a new sound rose up. And so, he smiles, scratching was born. – Best Free Documentaries

An interesting side note is that this video is one hour long and it’s on YouTube. They have started rolling out this feature for some film makers. Believe it or not my favorite Scratch track of all time is Reckless from Ice-T… seriously check it out: click here. Oh yeah and while your listening to it listen for the TB-303′s!

Have you put any Scratching into your own productions? Have you tried any of the various Scratch plug-ins?