u/Lowbatteryfpv

I am selling my sc500. Based in Italy. No shipping outside EU.

Yo,

Beginner here, about 2 months of practice. Been on a Rane Twelve MK2 (DVS) this whole time, just grabbed an RP-8000 MK2 to start getting into real vinyl. Figured this is the right place to ask before I dive in — would love input from anyone who made this same jump, especially other relatively new scratchers.

Questions:

Platter feel: how different is it really going from Twelve to an actual turntable? Torque, drag, fader feel... rough adjustment for a beginner or does it click fast?

Tonearm/cartridge setup: this is the part that intimidates me the most as a beginner — how do you properly set tracking force, anti-skate, and tonearm height for scratch use? Any go-to settings or ranges you'd recommend to avoid skipping/damaging records while I'm still rough with my hands?

Maintenance: how much more upkeep is real vinyl vs the Twelve (wear, needles, cartridge alignment)? Manageable at this stage or should I expect a learning curve on top of the learning curve?

Slipmat/torque settings: what do you run for scratch — felt slipmat, high or low torque — and what would you suggest for someone still building basic technique?

Timecode vs battle records: for RP-8000 owners, you running timecode vinyl with software or straight battle records? What's better to start on?

Analog vs digital, practically speaking: beyond the feel/nostalgia argument, is there an actual technical edge (latency, precision, response) that matters more when you're still developing fundamentals?

Cartridge recs for someone starting out on the RP-8000 MK2, and how often do you have to readjust/replace them?

Not trying to start an analog vs digital debate, genuinely just want to know what to expect and get some practical setup advice from people who've been through it. Appreciate any input.

Having fun is mandatory.

Fun at the beach...

Having fun with ipad.

Hey everyone,

I'm about to start a project that combines DIY electronics and DJing: I want to build a portable digital scratch instrument, inspired by the well-known SC500 and SC1000 from Portablism Gear, the original open-source project created by Andy "Rasteri" Tait (github.com/rasteri/SC1000).

What's a digital scratch instrument

For anyone unfamiliar: it's a portable device that emulates a vinyl turntable for scratching — a touch-sensitive jogwheel/platter, a crossfader, and an audio engine (xwax) that lets you scratch digital audio files as if they were vinyl records, without needing an actual turntable.

My approach

Instead of the original proprietary SC1000 PCB, I'm following the ScratchTJ fork (github.com/no3z/ScratchTJ), which replaces the custom chips with standard off-the-shelf components:

Arduino Nano → reads the fader, the platter's capacitive touch sensor, and cue buttons

Raspberry Pi 4 → runs the xwax audio engine, reads the platter's magnetic position sensor via I2C

ST7789 240x240 TFT display → shows the platter position/waveform, Serato/Traktor-style

I also want to power it with USB-C + an 18650 battery for portability, and use my existing Innofader as the crossfader

Component list I've put together so far

Raspberry Pi 4 Model B (4GB)

Arduino Nano

ST7789 240x240 1.3" TFT display (SPI)

MT6701 magnetic sensor (for platter position, with diametric magnet)

EC11 rotary encoder with push button (menu navigation)

4-channel bidirectional I2C level shifter (for the Arduino↔Pi serial link, since they run at different logic levels — 5V vs 3.3V)

4x arcade momentary push buttons (cue points)

DFRobot ONPOWER UPS HAT (USB-C input, 18650 support, pass-through charging)

Protected 18650 battery

AudioInjector Sound Card (I2S audio HAT for the Pi)

Touch-capacitive platter/jogwheel (recycled HDD surface)

Crossfader: using my existing Innofader

My questions for the community

Has anyone here already done a similar build (SC1000, ScratchTJ, or similar)? Any practical tips to share?

For those with experience using CapacitiveSensor on Arduino Nano — what threshold values have you found reliable for a metal/aluminum HDD platter?

On the level-shifting side for the Arduino↔Pi serial link (500 kbaud): simple resistive divider or a dedicated bidirectional module? Any instability/glitch experiences to share?

For aligning the MT6701 magnetic sensor, does anyone have practical mounting advice (fixed vs adjustable) to avoid noisy readings?

Thanks in advance for any advice, feedback, or constructive criticism — this is my first project combining electronics, soldering, and real-time audio, so any input is welcome!

Practicing this scratch pattern at slow tempo today 🐢🎧 1 hour a day, building muscle memory one rep at a time. Today I also tried adding a track in the background to check if I could stay on beat 🎵 Still a total beginner, but gotta start somewhere!

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Just started learning to scratch and keeping things slow for now to nail the basics (baby scratches, forward/backward cuts) before speeding up. Sounds rough right now, but figured slow and steady beats rushing.

Anyone else start this way? How long before it started clicking, and any drills that helped you most as a beginner?

Thanks!

Yo scratch heads,

Just dropped an Innofader PRO2 into my Numark Scratch. Stock brackets weren't a perfect fit so I went full ghetto-fabricator on one of them — bent/modded it by hand. Looks rough as hell but it's rock solid, zero play, zero rattle. Does the job.

Got the cut dialed exactly how I like it — tight, no bleed. Quick question before I close it up:

After adjusting the cut dials, is there a specific button I need to hit to lock/save the settings?

Anyone run a PRO2 confirm the procedure

Is this good or bad ? Advice to do better ? Thanks.

Hi..looking for something cheap easy to carry on vacation. It haven't last years, just couple of weeks 😄. I have andoid phone.

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So i'm still a total beginner at scratching, just messing around and trying to get better. but i'm also a carpenter, so naturally i thought "why not make my own slipmat out of wood" lol

used this 0.6 mm veneer that has a mesh backing holding the thin wood strips together, which actually made it way more workable than solid wood - could bend it and get it thin enough to actually spin.

my scratch technique is still rough so tips are super welcome, and this was my first time building anything like this so roast it if you want, genuinely want to know what to fix for next time.

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​

I want to share my experience with PortablismGear.com and their SC-500, in case it helps other people thinking about buying one.

The order

I ordered the SC-500 in June. Production/shipping took about 4 weeks, which was stated upfront, so no complaints there — I even offered to take a different color if one became available sooner from a cancelled order.

The device breaks

After about 2 weeks of light use (a few hours total), the unit suddenly stopped working. No warning, no drops, no liquid, nothing unusual — it just died. In the days before that, the jog wheel had occasionally frozen and a restart fixed it, but then one day it didn't come back at all: no sound, no LED, nothing — just the click of the headphone jack connecting.

Getting support

I contacted support and told them clearly I'm comfortable with electronics (I build FPV drones, I solder, etc.) and asked if they could just walk me through some diagnostics instead of shipping it back and forth. They insisted I not open the unit and instead do a specific remote test (boot without USB, check for internal samples/LED). The test failed, so they said the only way forward was to send it to their workshop in Germany, and they'd cover the label.

The accusation

A few days after I shipped it, they came back saying the device showed clear signs of having been opened — tool marks on the screws, cable routing not matching factory assembly, and a firmware state that didn't match what left their workshop. They said this contradicted what I'd told them (that I never opened it), and refused to treat it as a normal warranty case. They asked me to pay for the original return label (€30) plus outbound shipping back to Italy.

I maintained (and still do) that I never opened the device myself. I did mention that my roommate had access to it and we don't get along, so I honestly can't rule out someone else touching it — but I never did.

The cost

After some back and forth over the shipping cost (which went from €60 down to €44.49), I ended up paying to get it back, mostly because I just wanted the situation resolved.

The "repair"

They told me they restored the firmware and confirmed the hardware itself had no defect — just a "corrupted firmware state," which apparently doesn't happen on its own.

What happened when I got it back

Right out of the pickup point, same issues: sample playback freezing, scratching working but with a frozen track, needing multiple restarts to get it to behave. It worked for a while, then died again completely after I added two WAV files to the USB — no sound at all, no functionality, even though the green internal LED is lit and the device appears powered on. Same exact symptoms as before I shipped it out.

About PayPal

Early on, I opened a PayPal dispute simply because they weren't answering my emails at all — that was the only thing that actually got them to reply. They asked me to close it so they could "process my order normally," and I did. Unfortunately, once you close a PayPal case at the seller's request, PayPal won't let you open a new one for the same transaction. So at this point I don't even have that option available anymore, even though the device is once again completely non-functional.

Last resort

Out of sheer desperation, I even tried reaching out directly to Rasteri, the original creator of this kind of device/firmware, hoping for any insight into what could be going on. No response so far.

So, to summarize: I paid full price for a new unit, it broke after 2 weeks of light use, I paid ~€45 out of pocket to get it "fixed," it's now doing the exact same thing again just hours after getting it back — powered on, LED lit, but completely unresponsive — and I no longer have any dispute channel available to me.

Make of that what you will. I'm not looking to escalate further, just wanted to document this for anyone considering buying from them.

Hi, I own an original Rane Twelve MK2 slipmat. Does it make sense to swap it for a different type, like a Suzuki Scratch or something similar? Is there really a difference when it comes to scratching?

😀. Thanks in advance.