TranceAddict Forums (www.tranceaddict.com/forums)
- DJ Booth
-- turntables... where next?
Pages (2): [1] 2 »

turntables... where next?

first of all, no this isn't going to be a digital vs analogue thread

with the advance of digital technology, i feel that its about time analogue turntable manufacturers pulled their smug fingers out of their arses and did something groundbreaking. what is left to put on turntables? at the moment we have a turntable that plays records, some have ultrapitch (or a similar feature) others have (crap) key correction etc. but what should they put into a turntable next?

personally i think they should invent a turntable with an on-board sound processing unit for effects and sampling. sleep functions (as in reverse, but reverting to where the track would have been if you didn't reverse it when you stop the effect) should be a piece of piss to make on a turntable, as well as beat and jog effects.. granted, they would be a few inches wider, but i will love the day i can fuck with a wet/dry fader on a deck.

thoughts?

Manual torque adjustment would be nice. Doesn't have to be a control in the front but maybe a little knob or screw somewhere where the user can customize the torque from Numark cheapo direct drive torque to Vestax PDX-2000 ripe your arm off torque.

A pops and cracks suppressor would be nice. Don't ask me how they can do it.

quote:

Originally posted by Scottaculous A pops and cracks suppressor would be nice. Don't ask me how they can do it.

I dont know much but i guess they would end up with some kind of delay for that to work.

Sorry, but this is a stupid question

What do you actually require from a turntable? You put a record on, you can then alter the speed to allow you to mix in another record which is pressed at a different speed.

That's it. Turntables already do this, and do it rather well.

quote:

Originally posted by DJ 00 Tommy I dont know much but i guess they would end up with some kind of delay for that to work.

Yea, that or the sound would probably get muffled anyways.

Hmmm, what would I like to see on a turntable.... I'm sure they already have it on some version out there, but a pitch bend button would be nice to have on vinyl. The way all vinyl reacts differently to touch a pitch bend would add some uniformity when making those precise adjustments that you don't want to risk fucking up by using fingers.

quote:

Originally posted by Sunnyside Sorry, but this is a stupid question What do you actually require from a turntable? You put a record on, you can then alter the speed to allow you to mix in another record which is pressed at a different speed. That's it. Turntables already do this, and do it rather well.

i don't see it as a stupid question.

why the hell do you think they put all this swanky business in CD decks? is that pointless too? or are you completely closed minded about how you play your music?

quote:

Originally posted by Dirk W. Yea, that or the sound would probably get muffled anyways. Hmmm, what would I like to see on a turntable.... I'm sure they already have it on some version out there, but a pitch bend button would be nice to have on vinyl. The way all vinyl reacts differently to touch a pitch bend would add some uniformity when making those precise adjustments that you don't want to risk fucking up by using fingers.

Vestax PDX-2000 has a micro-pitch control. The club I use to spin for has a pair of them. It's actually really useful for micro-tuning.

hmmm i guess i would like to see decks with some sort of effects processing and looping as well...

but i also think it would be cool to have a screen some what like the TTX's that has a visual procesor that way you could plug it up to a projector or something and have them on the walls... and it react to the bass changes in the song, or even move fanticly with the kick drum

Built in sampler or perhaps effects. I could care less about torque adjustment, and I like the pops and cracks in vinyl.

However, I think the SL-1200s are all that is necessary in a turntable. The more fancy effects and gadgets there are, the more there is to break down or wear out. Even if I did have built-in effects or something, I don't think I would use it very much.

quote:

Originally posted by tu_face i don't see it as a stupid question. why the hell do you think they put all this swanky business in CD decks? is that pointless too? or are you completely closed minded about how you play your music?

Because it's a hell of a lot easier, and more practical, to put all sorts of swanky features on a format that's digital, and can be manipulated so easily. I know you don't want a digital vs analogue argument, and I'm not trying to make one, I'm just stating a point - I don't think we need all sorts of crazy features on a vinyl turntable because it's impractical.

Onboard FX might be cool, but personally I'd just rather have a seperate FX unit. If I get bored of it, or want something better, I can just sell it and upgrade.

Though I wouldn't mind seeing a pitch bend, I think turntables are fine as they are.

a cd + vinyl deck combined together.

My brother just came back from Europe/UK yesterday and in an FHM magazine he brought back there was a turntable with an inbuilt mixer on it. Nice!



More info can be found here:
http://www.decks.co.uk/products/decks/vestax/qfo

I'm not really sure how useful this would be or how easy it would be to use, but anyways....there it is.

quote:

Originally posted by A.J. My brother just came back from Europe/UK yesterday and in an FHM magazine he brought back there was a turntable with an inbuilt mixer on it. Nice! More info can be found here: http://www.decks.co.uk/products/decks/vestax/qfo I'm not really sure how useful this would be or how easy it would be to use, but anyways....there it is.

how do you have 2 channels when there's only 1 sound source (the vinyl)

You would still need another turntable

I think it would just take up less space and be easier to carry around with the inbuilt mixer.

quote:

Originally posted by A.J. You would still need another turntable

haha how dumb am i

it's still weird though, and you'd incidentally touch the vinyl while equalizing a zillion times, look how close those knobs are

combining a cd deck and a vinyl deck in one is a great idea. other than that:

- an optical stylus. an emulation of the needle done with some sort of laser reflecting into the grooves. this would be a bit complicated, but would finish with record wear, needle skipping, etc. not exactly sure how possible this is, bt it'd be nice. the TTM-1 i guess is as close as anything is to this.

- a digital readout of analog pitch. i mean, i want the pitch on my turntable to be analog, but a readout to the nearest thousandth of a % would be great to do smaaaaalll corrections/manual pitch bend and put it back to the right place. i got used to looking at numbers while pitching when using CDJ-800s.

- pitch bend would be nice, but i can do with with the platter, vinyl, or label just fine, and learing to do it with the pitch slider.

- a way to mark down a tonearm position. ie: for cue points. even though it won't be 100% accurate, you can get pretty close. this could be useful...

that vestax deck looks proper space age. i imagine it has an afterburner underneath it for vertical take off and landing.

but back on topic...MIDI connectivity is really just the most amazing thing. i imagine that once pitch tempo and key can be automated the DJ of tommorow will be, essentially remixing songs live. that would be the ultimate in 'playing to the crowd.' you can sort of do it right now with a copy of ableton live, a PC (maybe a few hardware or software synths, an electribe maybe) and some acapellas and dj tools. as long as you put the production hours in at the weekends you could line up some stonking stuff and because of the nature of how live works, and if the crowd is feeling hard, dirty and techy, you could swap out some loops on the pattern arrangement window and substitute them for something with a harder edge right there and then. manipulate effects live on your PC etc. this is really getting into the realms of live production though i suppose. a mate of mine just got a korg electribe and hes a DJ first and foremost. not into his production. but even he is having a blast looping funk breaks over trance classics, all midi sync'ed. and the filter cutoff is just too fun not to play with constantly.

quote:

Originally posted by Inertia - an optical stylus. an emulation of the needle done with some sort of laser reflecting into the grooves. this would be a bit complicated, but would finish with record wear, needle skipping, etc. not exactly sure how possible this is, bt it'd be nice. the TTM-1 i guess is as close as anything is to this.

They have this:
http://www.elpj.com/
but you can't use it for DJing unfortunately. The main problem with having a normal tt with an optical stylus is tracking. It needs to know exactly how much to go inwards and how fast, which varies from record to record. It also would need to know the direction of the record(i.e. if you did a backspin, the motor moving it would need to reverse direction as well). It's a cool idea but impractical for DJing.

yeah i was thinking along the lines of some kind of optical stylus, but it would have to be very, very accurate, one day it will happen but i think its a few years down the line yet.. i would love to see a cue point system too, but again it would be very hard without having to scan the entire track to get your cue point recalled, in which case you may aswell do it yourself. i think that that it's not only turntable technology that needs to move forward, but also the cutting process, because as someone mentioned, sometimes space between grooves differs from vinyl to vinyl. they need an uber-precise standard before any of the posh optical styli/cue point storage could come into action.

the vestax QFO (deck + mixer in one tihng) is pretty swanky to look at. it is aimed at turntablists, it is definitely something new and its about time if you ask me.. not that i would really find it much use. this is why i like vestax in general, they are always trying to do something new, not being over-obsessed with a boring deck they made 15+ years ago. there is also a deck they made that can be stood up on its end at about 70 degrees.. wierd to look at but a very cool idea if you want something different. not too sure on performance, but again, hats off for groundbreaking ideas!

When I bought my Numark CDX1 the guy in the shop said they where palnning a CDX2 which would be a hybrid version (cd and vinyl deck)

I agree and think that intergrated effects will be included on the next generation of turntables. Although I'd still prefer to have them on my mixer or a sepertae unit as it would become a bit clustered.

I also think that Stanton will soon start making decks with Final Sratch built in.

Reverse function would be nice.

quote:

Originally posted by Inertia - a way to mark down a tonearm position. ie: for cue points. even though it won't be 100% accurate, you can get pretty close. this could be useful...

That's a pretty good idea...

Man, those vextax'es are ugly

quote:

how do you have 2 channels when there's only 1 sound source (the vinyl)

I think it is meant to be used in between two other turntables, with it being used primarily for scratching.

quote:

Reverse function would be nice

Numark TTX1 (and probably others) have this.

quote:

When I bought my Numark CDX1 the guy in the shop said they where palnning a CDX2 which would be a hybrid version (cd and vinyl deck) I agree and think that intergrated effects will be included on the next generation of turntables. Although I'd still prefer to have them on my mixer or a sepertae unit as it would become a bit clustered. I also think that Stanton will soon start making decks with Final Sratch built in.

That would be awesome. I had thought about a combined CD/turntable awhile ago, it makes sense. You already have the platter and pitch control and everything, just add a few controls, LCD, some sensors, and a CD drive. It would reduce the ammount of equipment clubs and DJs would need.

It would also be cool to have MIDI or a USB port to integrate Final Scratch, as well as control the turntable via MIDI.

another thing i would love to see in a turntable, is an automatic balancing system. it would be so easy to do, just screw in your cart, let it balance itself electronically, and then tap in the weight you wish to set it at and you're away.

little toys...

quote:

Originally posted by tu_face another thing i would love to see in a turntable, is an automatic balancing system. it would be so easy to do, just screw in your cart, let it balance itself electronically, and then tap in the weight you wish to set it at and you're away. little toys...

That sounds expensive

Powered by: vBulletin
Copyright © 2000-2021, Jelsoft Enterprises Ltd.