What it is
Scratch Lab is a free tool to have fun with sound, right in your browser. Scratching is the gesture DJs make when they slide a record back and forth to create rhythmic sounds. Scratch Lab lets you try that, in a simple way, with no DJ equipment and without installing anything on your device.
It’s a lab: a place to experiment, practice and have fun with sound. Whether you’re an experienced DJ or just curious, you can come in, try it, and see what happens.
Scratch Lab is part of the site’s Free tools section, just like Link Analyzer. It’s open to everyone.
How to use it
First step: click “Free tools” in the site menu, then choose Scratch Lab.
Second step: wait for the tool to load in your page. Everything happens in your browser, you have nothing to download.
Third step: follow what appears on the screen and start manipulating the sound with your mouse or your finger, if you’re on a touch screen. Make back-and-forth movements, like a DJ on a turntable, and listen to the result.
Fourth step: experiment. Change the rhythm, go faster, go slower. The point of a lab is to try things. There’s no wrong answer.
Good to know
Scratch Lab is a tool for fun and practice, offered for free. It works in the browser, on a computer as well as on a phone or a tablet. If you’ve always wanted to know what a DJ’s gesture feels like, this is your chance to try it in two minutes, without spending a cent and without bothering anyone.
If you give training or run workshops, Scratch Lab can even be used to show the scratch gesture to your students, right on the screen. No need to carry equipment just for a demonstration. You open the page, you show it, everyone sees and hears. Simple as that.
It’s free, it’s fast, and it’s open right now. The door is there, you just have to walk in.