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Digital DJ Turntable

Posted by ryuzaki0 on from the me-want-grunt-grunt dept.

Daniel Gomez-Ibanez writes "I made a digital turntable - it stores digital audio and plays it back like a record player. This lets you scratch the audio from a CD. I like it because there's no 'computer' involved- a four year old can figure it out. There's a description here." Daniel also has a more descriptive web page on the inspiration and design of this beast.

7 of 171 comments (clear)

  1. Scratching isn't simply sped up audio by ObviousGuy · · Score: 3, Interesting

    There is a lot of white noise generated during scratching, noise that is not available on a digital CD.

    How did you create the scratch effect?

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    1. Re:Scratching isn't simply sped up audio by panaceaa · · Score: 4, Interesting

      I have some turntables and I definitely agree that vinyl is a whole lot sexier than cds. But CD djs are definitely taking over the low-end of clubs. At an average dance club, most patrons don't know or care that the music is on CDs. It's unfortunate.

      Vinyl will continue to be the medium of choice, though, because most house and trance songs just aren't available on CD. And you can see the musical progression on a record, so you can easily line up phrases (32-measures) and see where breaks are without the need to completely know a song 64 measures ahead.

      What it comes down to is the quality of mixes you can create on each medium. You can create a much better experience, as a dj, if you can see the grooves and know where the climaxes and breaks are with relation to the needle. Until you can do that with CDs (with some visualization firmware), and until decent tracks are released on CD, vinyl will remain.

      That said, going to good clubs you still see greats like Tiesto and van Dyk using CDs for about 15-25% of the tracks they play.

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    2. Re:Scratching isn't simply sped up audio by p0d · · Score: 3, Interesting
      Here's where I can interject an actual comment.

      Clubbing is my profession, I shoot for a local nightlife guide...

      A lot of top DJs use CDs, since they get a lot of new material that way...some of those tracks you hear are on CD, because the artist cannot afford to get vinyl pressed at the moment..also, consider Tenaglia, who does 15 hour sets on average..can you imagine toting around 15 hrs worth of vinyl?!?

      Certain other DJs, notably Erick Morillo and Steve Lawler, use the CD player as a sampler of sorts, carrying all their samples and noise on CDs...crobar South Beach just got equipped with CDJ-1000s, and with their response time and effects banks, they are quite akin to a true sampler from what I can see.

      Vinyl has it's merits, certainly. Real clubs demand it. Your average "clubgoer" in Buttfuck, MI is not 'educated' enough to care, but in a big city with a true nightlife, vinyl, as well as a sophisticated CD deck like the 1000, is not only expected, but is demanded...

  2. FinalScratch? by tswinzig · · Score: 3, Interesting

    I remember hearing about a program called FinalScratch that is REAL similar to this, a few years ago. I think it came out first for BeOS. It's the same kind of thing, in that it uses digital audio for the source, but it's actually tied into a real turntable with a "real" vinyl record, and it sounds like it has a lot of cool features for DJ's.

    Here's their site.

    --

    "And like that ... he's gone."
  3. terminatorX by seanmeister · · Score: 3, Interesting

    kinda reminds me of the very cool terminatorX program.... the author built a turntable for scratching using an old turntable and some mouse guts.

  4. Re:Denon and Sony by Verizon+Guy · · Score: 2, Interesting

    The first time I saw the 9000 I almost creamed myself. See the videos

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  5. Re:Vinyl vs. CD cueing by gregington · · Score: 2, Interesting

    When you buy dance vinyl, there are at most two tracks on side of a 12" (and usually, there is only one). This means that the grooves are spaced quite far apart, so that the whole track takes up a lot of space. It is then quite easy to spot the breakdowns and different parts of the track.

    BTW: Dance LPs aren't LPs in the old sense, with 30 mins per side. Dance LP's contain multiple pieces of vinyl, with one or two tracks per side.

    As for learning to DJ, just buy a pair of turntables, a mixer, headphones and some records, and practice, practice practice! Stick with Technics 1200's if you can afford them as they are the industry standard. I don't have any recommendations on cheaper turntables.

    Recess's DJ Hints is a useful resource for learning how to mix.