SKR8

Scratch like a real turntablist — without owning a single deck.

SKR8 is a complete turntable engine for Mac & Windows, built on a real seekable, reversible platter that you drive by drawing the motion of your own hand. Not a scratch sample pack. Not a loop library. SKR8 performs scratches in real time on YOUR audio — your drum bus, your vocal, your bassline, your whole mix.

Draw a routine across 8 tempo-synced tables, drop in any of 22 real turntablist techniques, run them through 5 different turntable models, then brake the platter to a dead stop, backspin it and let the motor drag it back up to speed. All inside one 22 MB plugin with no sample library at all.

Every scratch plugin before this one handed you somebody else's scratches, on somebody else's audio, at somebody else's tempo. SKR8 hands you the record.

Features:

• Draw Your Own Scratches:
  • 8 independent scratch tables, played end to end as one continuous routine
  • Draw the curve with your mouse — the curve IS your hand on the record
  • Middle line = record sitting still, above = platter pulls forward, below = platter spins back
  • A sharp spike is a stab, a slow arc is a drag, a tight zig-zag is a scribble
  • Snap the grid to 2, 4, 6, 8, 10, 12, 14 or 16 divisions so every cut lands on the beat
  • Switch snapping off and draw it loose and human
  • Randomize one table, randomize all eight, or reverse the whole routine with one control
• 22 Real Turntablist Techniques:
  • Every table has its own menu of 22 hand-modelled scratch styles
  • The Foundations: Baby, Forward, Stab, Tear
  • The Fader Work: Chop, Flare, 2-Click Flare, 3-Click Flare, Crab
  • The Fast Ones: Scribble, Twiddle, Military, Lazer, Chirp
  • The Slow Ones: Drag, Tweak, Hydroplane, Wub
  • The Holds: Hold Fwd, Hold Rev, Orbit
  • The Silence: No Hand — space between the cuts is what makes a routine groove
  • Pick one per table and build a full routine in eight clicks
  • Load one, then drag its points around to make it your own
  • Can't scratch? You can now. Can scratch? This is the fastest sketchpad you've ever used
• 5 Turntable Models:
  • The same drawn motion sounds completely different depending on the deck
  • INFERNO (Flare-inspired) — the big, dramatic pitch throw with nothing else riding on it. Full bend, completely clean tone. The "go loud" mode
  • DUST (Drag-inspired) — a slow, lazy glide that drags soft bit-crunch hiss in with it, like a worn record losing fidelity as it slows down
  • RATCHET (Transformer-inspired) — a moderate throw plus a steady mechanical chop, the tap-tap-tap crossfader cut the transformer scratch is named for
  • SAWBLADE (Crab-inspired) — snappier throw, a much denser chop, plus a touch of grit. The rapid multi-finger crab technique pushed into buzzsaw territory
  • TREMOR (Uzi-inspired) — a fast wobble riding the pitch itself rather than chopping amplitude. The vibrating, tense buzz of an uzi scratch held tight in one spot
  • Each model has its own animated platter graphic
  • Build one routine, then step through all five and hear it become five different records
• Turntable FX — The Motor Itself:
  • SKR8 models the weight of the platter, not just the scratch
  • STOP / START — hold it and the record brakes to a dead halt, let go and the motor drags it back up to full speed
  • Stop Time and Start Time set each ramp independently — a 5 ms slam or a three-second death
  • BACK / FORWARD — spin the platter backward for a real backspin, or drive it forward for a fast-forward zip
  • Spin Time controls how hard the hand pushes — a flick or a full rewind
  • The animated deck on screen spins, slows and reverses with the actual engine, so you see the brake before you hear it
  • This is the part no sample pack can fake
• Automatic & Manual Scratching:
  • Automatic mode plays your 8-table routine in perfect time, forever, locked to the project
  • Manual Scratch mode steps the tables aside — now a single knob IS the record under your hand
  • Ride it live, or draw it as automation in your DAW
  • Perform a routine no human hand could hold steady
  • Every control on the front panel is automatable — the brake, the backspin and the scratch itself become part of the arrangement
• Tempo Sync:
  • One Speed knob, 24 musical divisions
  • From a lazy 8/1 crawl spread across eight bars, out to a frantic 1/64 stutter
  • Straight, dotted and triplet values all included, so a routine can swing as easily as it can march
  • Change the project tempo and SKR8 follows — it never drifts and never needs re-timing
  • Mix knob blends the scratched signal back against your dry input
  • Go from a subtle rhythmic wobble to a full-on cut without a second channel
• 50 Factory Presets:
  • 50 complete routines, each one a full snapshot
  • All eight tables, the turntable model, the tempo division, the mix, the reverse state and every motor time
  • One click and the whole deck is reconfigured
  • From Boom Bap Basics and Lofi Late Night, through Crab Strut and Military Roll, out to Chopped Screwed, Backspin Break and the deliberately unhinged Chaos Theory
  • Save your own with one button, browse with next/previous arrows
  • Presets stored in a folder you actually own
• Built To Be Used:
  • No sample library — because SKR8 isn't playing samples
  • The whole engine is 22 MB, so it opens instantly and runs on anything
  • Works on your own audio — scratch a source no sample pack could ever contain
  • Resizable interface with built-in tooltips on every control
  • Serial number activation instead of a dongle