Scratching and hitting notes

Table of contents
  1. Tips
    1. In general…
    2. Using your scratch hand
    3. Reading scratch notes
    4. Timing scratches
    5. For scratching plus hitting notes
  2. List of charts to practice
    1. ☆8
    2. ☆9
    3. ☆10
    4. ☆11
    5. ☆12
  3. References

Tips

Effectively scratching and hitting notes at the same time – this is arguably the most difficult concept / skill to learn, especially around 9th dan ~ 10th dan level. Because of these patterns, many players will rethink how they are reading notes and tweak their playstyles along the way.

There really isn’t a “trick” to handle these, since practice is the best answer here. Here are some tips to help you.

In general…

  • Don’t be discouraged. This is supposed to be hard, especially if you are coming from other rhythm games - TT + notes are basically what makes IIDX, IIDX.

Using your scratch hand

  1. Determine the shortest distance required to register a scratch on the turntable; with this knowledge, try to minimize your movement when scratching. This depends on the cabinet / controller you are playing.
  2. Be aware that scratches in the same direction will not register if they are too close together. This is coded into the game engine, and it’s also affected by the controller / cabinet. It can also be exacerbated if your turntable spins too freely, so see if you can increase the resistance by turning up the strength on Lightning Model cabinets or adding a little bit of friction to your controller.
    1. You’ll need to get used to this duration so that you know when alternating motion is required.
  3. Stick to one primary direction and use that for single scratches – and also as the start of consecutive scratches. Usually, this is the upward motion.

Reading scratch notes

  1. Pay attention to segments of consecutive scratches. Be cognizant of first scratch of a consecutive scratch section, and the last scratch where it ends.
  2. Learn to quickly recognize short bursts. If you see a small group of scratches, try to count them in your brain. Is it a single? Double? Triple? This will help you with what direction you start scratching, and what direction you stop. Odd numbers would start on up and end on up, and even numbers would start on up and end on down direction.
  3. Start with lower level scratch charts and build up. Low BPM scratch charts are especially good for practicing and for warming up. Don’t jump straight into difficult charts.

Timing scratches

  1. Even if you are not going for scoring, try your best to accurately time scratches. If you don’t, you can easily end up with bad chains.
  2. Turn on FAST/SLOW display and put it where you can see it, and pay attention when you are doing consecutive scratches. Correct your scratch timing as you play. Almost always, people scratch too fast.
    1. Turntable timing is inherently different from note timing, and it also unfortunately varies between environments. The scratch timing on your home controller will be different from playing at the arcade, for example. Even between arcade cabinets it can be slightly different. The only constant is that across Lightning Model cabinets, it will feel the same.
  3. Familiarize yourself with the spacing (gap) between scratches, and translate how fast you need to move your hands. Is it 8ths? 16ths? As you start playing higher level scratch charts, you’ll encounter yourself scratching way too slow or way too fast in certain sections because you read it wrong. In this case it helps to watch videos to learn the timing.

For scratching plus hitting notes

  1. Tweak and improve your playstyle. If your primary playstyle is getting in your way of scratching and hitting notes at the same time, you’ll want to adopt a secondary playstyle (2:5), or change your primary style. See playstyle pages for more consideration.
  2. Get used to the motion – scratching upwards + hitting buttons, and scratching downwards + hitting buttons. At the minimum you should be using your thumb of the scratch hand; most people also use the index finger. Here is a good example.
  3. Horizontal recognition can (and should) include the scratch lane. Try not to see the scratch lane as a separate space, but rather an extension of the notes lane (i.e., see S+1+2 as a 3-note chord, not scratch plus two-note chord). Obviously this is speaking in ideals as this gets difficult at higher levels, but this is the general idea.
  4. In extremely dense scratch sections with few notes, see if you can use one hand technique, but don’t rely on this too much.

List of charts to practice

This is a list of recommended charts for practicing scratches + hitting notes at the same time (and not just scratch-heavy charts). Highly recommended charts highlighted in bold.

You should try to play these with hard gauge.

☆8

  • 19,November
  • Halfway of promise
  • Spin the Disc
  • VOX UP
  • scar in the earth
  • オレはビートマニア！お前は何マニア？
  • 廿

☆9

  • Bounce Bounce Bounce
  • BroGamer
  • Cheer Train
  • Close my Eyes for Me
  • Cyber True Color
  • Digitank System
  • Make Me Your Own
  • NEWALONE
  • Round and Round
  • Reflux [BSS]
  • Watch Out Pt.2
  • Watch out!!
  • naughty girl@Queen’s Palace

☆10

  • 199024club -Re:BounceKiller-
  • 5.1.1
  • BLACK JACKAL
  • BLACK.by X-Cross Fade
  • Buffalo
  • Catch Me
  • D.A.N.C.E.!
  • Dynamite [BSS]
  • Feedback
  • Level One
  • Light Shine
  • Macho Monky
  • Make Me Your Own
  • Mind Mapping (L)
  • mosaic
  • Musik LoverZ
  • NO LIMIT -オレ達に限界は無い-
  • Plan 8
  • Rampage
  • Really Love
  • Red. by Full Metal Jacket
  • Snake Stick
  • TROOPERS
  • The Revolution (VIP Mix)
  • WAR GAME
  • You’ll say “Now!”
  • bass 2 bass
  • オレはビートマニア！お前は何マニア？
  • ラクエン Feat.Chiharu Chonan -JAKA respect for K.S.K. Remix (Infinitas only)
  • 灼熱Beach Side Bunny
  • 灼熱Beach Side Bunny (Masayoshi Iimori Remix)
  • 雪月花

☆11

  • 1st Samurai
  • 27th style
  • BRAINSTORM
  • Back Spin Sweeper [BSS]
  • Beat Juggling Mix
  • Bounce Bounce Bounce
  • CHECKING YOU OUT
  • Digitank System
  • Funny Shuffle
  • HELL SCAPER-Last Escape Remix-
  • Halfway of promise
  • Hello Happiness
  • IDC feat.REVERBEE (Mo’Cuts Ver)
  • Insane Techniques
  • Just a Little Smile
  • Routing
  • SAMURAI-Scramble
  • Smooooch [Black, Empress CS only]
  • Temple of Anubis
  • Theory
  • Uh-Oh
  • Welcome
  • Wonder Bullfighter
  • diagram
  • m1dy Deluxe
  • naughty girl@Queen’s Palace
  • とろぴかる倶楽部
  • カジノファイヤーことみちゃん [BSS]
  • ラクエン
  • 令和(1991RAVE REMIX)
  • 灼熱 Pt.2 Long Train Running [BSS]
  • 花冠 feat.Aikapin

☆12

  • 199024club -Re:BounceKiller-
  • AO-1
  • BLACK.by X-Cross Fade
  • BLUE DRAGON (雷龍RemixIIDX)
  • BLUE MIRAGE
  • Caterpillar
  • Dynamite [BSS]
  • FANTASTIC THREE
  • Level 2 [BSS]
  • Level 3 [BSS]
  • Level One [BSS]
  • Lords Of The Roundtable [BSS]
  • mosaic
  • PLEASE DON’T GO
  • Papilio ulysses
  • Plan 8
  • Purple Purplex [MSS]
  • Red. by Full Metal Jacket
  • Red. by Jack Trance
  • Reflux [BSS]
  • SAMURAI-Scramble (L)
  • SCREAM SQUAD
  • SCREW // owo // SCREW [BSS]
  • Snake Stick
  • TOMAHAWK [BSS]
  • TROOPERS
  • TROOPERS (L)
  • The Chase [BSS]
  • The Sampling Paradise [BSS]
  • Time to Air [Black, CS only]
  • Watch Out Pt.2
  • Y&Co. is dead or alive
  • one or eight
  • 廿
  • 灼熱 Pt.2 Long Train Running [BSS]
  • 灼熱Beach Side Bunny
  • 真 地獄超特急 -HELL or HELL-
  • 雪月花

References

the-safari

Back to top

Copyright © iidx.org