Advances In Turntable Technology?

WogboTheFrogGod asks: "I've seen numerous postings regarding DVD, CD-R, MP3, devices, drivers, softwares, etc. No one has talked much about the old-school technology. I suspect that I'm not the only slash-dotter with a healthy collection of vinyl. What's the latest and greatest with turntables? To get you started, here is a turntable that uses a cd-style laser to read the vinyl grooves. Trouble is that it costs $20,500! I'm looking for equipment that will integrate with the newer higher-end stuff, and that will (possibly) facilitate vinyl ripping." Turntables and vinyl I still prefer over CDs in some situations. I would love to be able to grab a laser-based turntable, but unfortunately, I don't think any of us would like to deal with that price tag.

But has it got tubes?

[peccary]

I mean, it won't have that warm, natural sound if that's a solid-state laser.

(getting the chills just thinking about a tube-driven laser...)

DJs

[Adam Wiggins]

Silly rabit, vinyl is for DJs [adamwiggins.com].

Old Skool Turntables are still the best

[CowboyNeal]

I've played with a lot of different ways to "scratch" music, and the old 2 turntables and a mixer setup still always comes out on top.

Why? It's all about the interface. All of the trick routines and techniques are built around this interface. I've seen several programs that allow one to "scratch" the music they are listening to, but they usually leave out one important part: the crossfader. The crossfader is just as important to mixing and scratching as the turntable is. There's no way one could do a Transformer, much less a Crab or a Flare without a crossfader.

Now, a CD-based system might be able to replicate this. The problem then comes with record selection. Since most real DJs still use turntables, no one makes CDs that are full of breakbeats and scratch sentences. The best battle records are still on, well, records.

To a lesser extent, it also has to do with needle dropping. I don't know of a single CD player on the market that will let one start playing the CD, anywhere on the CD, instantly. I don't mean just cueing up a song or fast forward. Vinyl gives one the opportunity to look at a record, see where the break is on the record, drop the needle, and play, almost instanteously. If one is in the middle of a battle routine, this is imperative, because the clock is ticking, and no one wants to watch you sit there and find the part you're looking for.

Also, don't think that new advances aren't being made in vinyl turntable technology. At the most recent NAMM show, Vestax unveiled their vinyl cutter for personal use, and it can create 12" records that last just as long as professionally-mastered records, giving the DJ the freedom to combine his/her favorite breaks, samples, loops, sentences, etc. into one record. Most modern mixers also have a crossfader curve adjustment. The crossfader curve is a key part to any complex scratch pattern. The latest mixers from Vestax also feature a setting which can automatically double and triple up one's crossfader clicks. This means that new DJs can fake doing Crab Scratches, but those of us who can already do them naturally will probably be able to exploit the feature to make a new sound.
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nondistrutive playing of rare or one only vinyl

[Big Torque]

Many very old vinyl records are being played in order to get the songs down on something else before they deteriorate and are lost forever. The biggest problem is that with very old vinyl disks the vinyl is so brittle that playing them is often destructive. As one curator stated the records give up there sound only one last time and die. Some of these records are one of a kind and not replaceable. Many are extremely important in order to place music in its from and style at the turn of the century over 100 years ago. This laser Vinyl player would be a godsend.

Re:Old Skool Turntables are still the best

[TheLink]

I figure with decent software, a 70GB drive, a 17 inch monitor and two mice you might be able to do it :).

Basically you have a window for you to select your mp3s. Another window where the active mp3s are displayed in "scope form", right click at that point it starts playing forwards from that point, left click it's backwards :). Moving the mouse while holding the button adjusts the playback speed and volume.

That leaves the keyboard free for tons of fun stuff ;).

Cheerio,
Link.

Re:But has it got tubes?

[fatmantis]

ooh, my tube driven laser has such a richer, warmer coherent light it's not even funny.

okay, so I think your point is in how the laser light is interpreted, right? is it digital sampling of the light scatter patterns? this is okay if your sample rate is high enough. a good read head and a good DAP will capture nearly everything the vinyl has to offer. These curators almost certainly have access to endless amounts of high end gear. and it would be better to have the info digitally, anyway, as you can compress it (losslessly) all to hell for archival purposes. I think the analogue qualities you are referring to are better suited for playback equipment (and for some of the _really_ snobby purists, the media as well).

Re:Old Skool Turntables are still the best

[m0nkeyb0y]

From a DJ's perspective, that Vestax personal cutter is pretty worthless in terms of sound quality and how long the plate will last. If you want a personal cut made, and don't feel like having a minimum of 500 records pressed (unless you're trying to distribute your press), you can have something called a "dubplate" cut. A dubplate is, for lack of a better description, a disposable record. It'll last about 50 plays without degrading the sound quality, and you can get around 5 cut for under $100. If you are trying to distribute and wanna get a feel for how well you would do, you make about 100 dubs, and see how they sell and then let that determine if you will have a real press done or not.

technics SL1200

[cosmic heat death]

nuff said.

Re:Old Skool Turntables are still the best

[The-Bus]

Well, the organic feel and sound of vinyl will be very hard to replicate electronically... Carrot Innovations has created Virtual Turntables [prohosting.com] (shareware) which does a fairly decent job of emulating some qualities of a set of turntables. I admit I haven't used it in over a year, but as a toy, it was certainly interesting.

I've heard rumors of Pioneer and Technics making "CD Turntables" that will let you "scratch" your CDs back and forth and make it sound close to a vinyl table. Haven't used or seen these, but a DJ friend of mine told me about them... Here [hard-to-find.co.uk] is a page selling them.

OT, but I was thinking, how cool would it be to have your own custom vinyl cutter? Then you can combine your mp3 collection with your vinyl collection... :)

And thats not that new

[RomulusNR]

The DAK catalog sold laser turntables about... 10 years ago? Not this quality either.

Hell, the display on that thing reminds me of my grandfather's Epson printer.

I'm also surprised at the lack of innovation in turntables, but I'm sure there isn't a big market for them. Only long-time audiophiles collect vinyl, and most people don't see the point in a high-end record player.

However, it strikes me as strange that Technics manages to hold such a monopoly on the DJ market, both for music entertainment and for hip-hop mixing/scratching. The brand name has become synonymous with "turntable" in those fields; I don't even think they have a competitor in that area. It's possible I guess that they've nailed the best possible design, but I find it hard to believe.

Try Rega or Linn

[b100m]

Neither really have anything for ripping directly from vinyl per se, but they are both really solid turntables. The Rega will give you the most bang for the buck and are pretty cutting edge. If you have more to spend, an Oracle would be cool. For my budget, a Rega Planar 3 does nicely.

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$which weed

Re:Old Skool Turntables are still the best

[TheLink]

Or use a Mac?