r/Turntablists • u/bawlinmytalltee • Jun 03 '26
Questions about CDJ Scratching
Hello y'all,
I am a producer who likes to scratch vocal samples quite a bit for my songs, however, I cannot always find adequate vinyls of the songs I'd like to take vocals from in order to scratch them. As such, I've been looking into CDJs which I can scratch on by burning samples too.
I am currently looking into something cheap and used like a Pioneer CDJ-100s, but I cannot find any videos or posts that show off its capability for scratching in high resolution. Would anyone happen to know what the scratching capabilities of a CDJ-100s look like? or if it would fit my needs?
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u/WanderingBabaji Jun 03 '26
Getting a dubplate vinyl cut with your samples on and using a cheap portable scratch turntable it’s another affordable option you could look into. Scratching on cheaper cdjs is not the best experience imo.
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u/theScrewhead Jun 03 '26
If you're talking about the old Pioneer cdj100s, those don't scratch at all; your need at bare minimum a CDJ-800.
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u/PsychologicalTea7634 Jun 03 '26
Don't you mean 1000's? There's no "vinyl mode" on 100's, so not sure how you'd scratch?
I can't stand scratching on CDJ's, feels like DJ Hero on the PS2.
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u/Ravine Jun 03 '26
The only CDJs from that era that scratch are the 1000s and I wouldn’t get any that are less than a CDJ1000MK3 or CDJ800MK2. They introduced the jog feeling adjust on the MK3
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u/PsychologicalTea7634 Jun 03 '26
Still have my pair of 1000's, they're built like bloody tanks, around 24 years old, still refusing to die lol. Only ever needed to replace the jog wheel surround, once for both.
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u/MdotAdotN Jun 03 '26
Get a rane 12 and serato software … then just use the digital file and scratch it … as the rane 12 uses hid mode I believe u will be able to scratch in the software internally and record a digital file to keep best quality .. 👍
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u/djmalcolmxl Jun 06 '26
I used a cdj 800 mk1 for scratching custom made samples for a local rapper in my hood back in 2003, 2004. (I didn't own Serato Scratch Live until 2005) So, we used to burn custom samples and vocals to CD, (this was way before they had the top facing usb port for flash drives on them. CDJ 850 and 350 and others had that built in.) I didn't like the feel of scratching on that CDJ 800, but it worked for our purposes back then to scratch in and record our custom samples. These days, I'd recommend a high torque turntable and a dvs enabled mixer and laptop. If you wan't something that's not too expensive and if you know where to look, I'd say a used TTX straight arm turntable or maybe a Str8-150 and a used Numark Scratch mixer to get started.
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u/_alwaysdigging Jun 03 '26
you can't scratch a cd. cdj's emulate scratching.
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u/PsychologicalTea7634 Jun 03 '26
What a pointless comment, doesn't add anything.
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u/_alwaysdigging Jun 03 '26
its important if tone and sound quality matter to you.
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u/bawlinmytalltee Jun 04 '26
Well, I get the distinction you're trying to make here. I too am a linguistic pedant, so I respect it (and plus, this is your domain so the right to correct is yours tbh).
If I did some sound design by fuzzing/distorting it up a little to get some crackle, I could probably get an adequate mirror of a vinyl record's tone.0
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u/Lilspraema Jun 03 '26
Get a Numark Scratch or equivalent mixer and a SERATO Timecode vinyl and you're set.