Introduction:
As a Traktor Scratch user, I’m always looking for the best way to control the
looping and effects in Traktor. I currently own a Xone 1D controller, and
while it does provide sufficient MIDI control, it really doesn’t fit into my
new setup well due to size constraints (it’s rather large when not paired
next to a mixer, I have a flush mounted Rane 2016, so it doesn’t really
“work”).

After the new Stanton DaScratch SCS.3d controller was introduced, I was
intrigued and decided to order one. I absolutely cringe at the name
“DaScratch”, so we’ll just call it the “SCS.3D” herein.

Out of the box:
The SCS.3D comes with a USB cable and a getting started card. There is no
software included in the box, you are directed to the Stanton web site in order
to download their “DaRouter” software (described later).

The unit is of plastic construction, but feels quite sturdy. It’s nicely
proportioned, and most people shouldn’t have any trouble finding a convenient
spot in their booth.

The bottom of the unit features a removable panel, allowing you to have the USB
cable come out of the unit from many different positions. The notches in which
the cable goes also lock the cable snugly in place, so you can’t accidentally
yank the cable out of the USB port. There’s enough space under the panel to
store the USB cable during transport.

On the side of the unit, there are some magnetic strips for attaching two or
more units together.

Installation:
For Mac OS X, installation was simply plugging the unit in. It’s a class
compliant USB MIDI device, so no additional drivers were needed. In order to
get the most functionality from the SCS.3D, you do need to install Stantons
DaRouter software.

Installation of DaRouter was very straightforward. After launching DaRouter, I
selected a preset for Traktor Studio. Then, in Traktor itself, I enabled MIDI
control for the DaRouter virtual MIDI device, and loaded in the Traktor MIDI
setup file (.tks) provided in the package for Traktor Studio.

I had the controller up in running in just a few minutes.

DaRouter:
Stantons online description of DaRouter is a little vague. So what is
DaRouter? It’s essentially an OEM’d version of Bome software’s MIDI
translator. Basically this application sits as a “shim” between your
applications and a MIDI controller.

When you touch a button on a MIDI controller, it sends out a MIDI message for a
given “note”. Typically this message would go directly to your application,
where you’ve mapped out a control to respond to that message.

In the case of DaRouter, it itself receives the MIDI message from the SCS.3D.
It can than translate that MIDI message to different MIDI notes before sending
them to your application (hence why you select “DaRouter” as your MIDI
controller input in Traktor, and not the SCS.3D directly, although that’s also
an option).

Upon receipt of a MIDI message, the DaRouter can also send back MIDI messages
to the controller. This is how Stanton is handling the “mode” switches you see
in the videos. When a “mode” (eq, effects, deck, vinyl, etc) button is
pressed, DaRouter sends messages back to the SCS.3D to cause the LED’s and
control modes to change.

Included with DaRouter are presets for Traktor Studio (single or dual
SCS.3D’s), Serato Scratch Live (single or dual as well), Virtual DJ, and
Ableton Live. There is also a “Generic” (single and dual) preset which simply
provide mode change support, without any corresponding MIDI map for an
application (you’d set it up yourself).

There isn’t currently any documentation on creating your own DaRouter preset
files that I can find, though they do indicate this will be forthcoming. I
haven’t gotten my hands on Bome’s software yet, which does let you build your
own presets.

I also can’t find a preset file that allows you to use all four of Traktors
virtual decks, even with two SCS.3D’s. I suspect this will be forthcoming.

In Use:
Powering up the SCS.3D presents you with a little LED light show. Although the
LED’s might seem kinda gimicky at first, they are anything but. They provide
quite a bit of feedback, and allow the control surfaces to easily be seen in
the dark.

The included Traktor Studio map is pretty neat. The included
map allows you to “scratch” (scrub) tracks, beatjump, control EQ’s and EQ
kills, control effects, create loops (including moving and resizing them), and
trigger cue points. A simple touch of the “deck” button flips the controls to
the “B” deck, indicated by an LED at the top of the unit. If you’re only
controlling two decks for a DVS application, I don’t see the need for more than
one of these.

The transport controls (play, cue, sync, tap) at the bottom of the unit perform
as expected. At the top are controls for gain and pitch, although by default
they were too sensitive (this can be fixed in Traktor’s preferences). I would
find “mixing” exclusively on this controller a tad iffy, though in a pinch
without any decks or a mixer you could use the crossfader and control it from
your laptop keyboard.

The controls are surprisingly tactile, more so than I had imagined. As
shown in the videos, the LED’s provide decent feedback as to the “position” of
a control (slider) or button press. The various modes of the center circle
provide plenty of space so that you don’t accidentally hit the wrong control.

The touch surface are multi-touch, so you can use two fingers to say, drop an
EQ value, then have it return to its prior value by releasing your other
finger.

Conclusion:
After using a number of MIDI controllers with DVS’s, I have to say this unit
has the most promise. The fact that it was designed for exactly this type of
application, combined with the powerful DaRouter presets and control modes
really makes this controller easy to use and remember exactly what is mapped
where.

One thing I did notice is that with the unit connected to my Macbook Pro, it
seemed to prevent my laptop from sleeping. Hopefully this will be a simple
software fix…

If you’re looking for a DVS MIDI controller, I definitely recommend checking this out!

Discussion thread: here