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DJ Turntables: Buying Guide by Vekked (2016)

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Re: DJ Turntables: Buying Guide by Vekked (2016)

#31

Post by letier »

tomduncalf wrote: post #21
letier wrote: post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The MK7s are supposedly (e.g. the bottom of the player - didn't verify myself) built from slightly cheaper materials than the MK2. On the other hand they're new and they have a very solid build. Also they have proper cabling and ports on the player, which some older 1200s were lacking. I got two of them and really like them.

Anecdotally, my local DJ equipment/repair store said the same - apparently the build quality of the mk7 isn’t as good as the older models. Unsure how true that is, but similar to many in this thread I have a pair of 1200mk2s which must be 30+ years old (I got them second hand for a steal) still going strong

I'm on the other side, only having a pair of MK7 here. They seem to be super stable, but I guess only time will tell if they also last for that long.

Re: DJ Turntables: Buying Guide by Vekked (2016)

#33

Post by ehnto »

(Shoutout to any of my DJForums regulars from way back, I miss ya'll)

Given all the very good and correct advice throughout this article and this comment section, remember:

* The internet loves perfect

* You don't need perfect

* Imperfect is better than nothing, use what you can get

* You can always get another set of decks/mixer/etc later on

In other words, be pragmatic, buy smart but don't fall for the hype. I wish we could all have Technics 1200's too, but we can't. You'll have endless fun learning to mix on a budget pair of Stanton belt drives, and you'll probably eventually learn why people hate on belt drives, but you'll probably take a while to progress far enough in the hobby for that to actually matter.

Re: DJ Turntables: Buying Guide by Vekked (2016)

#35

Post by chiefalchemist »

Lio wrote: post #11
dopamean wrote: post #2

It's pretty incredible how bad nearly all new turntables are. I have a 20 year old pair of 1200s that are better than just about anything you can buy today. With that said... two of my favorite djs right now, who are talented vinyl djs, often bring their own gear to events and they use the Pioneer PLX. I wouldn't be surprised if they've modded them somehow though. In my short time with some PLXs it seems the tone arm…

I think it's the cost of tooling and materials. The original 1200 was a pure hi-fi deck in a large and very competitive market. DJs just adopted because it could be repurposed for their needs. When Matsushita redesigned the 1200Mk2 they could afford to maintain their market leading position by investing in things like die casting and superior bearing. Any OEM manufacture now is unlikely to want to spend that kind of…

> The original 1200 was a pure hi-fi deck in a large and very competitive market. DJs just adopted because it could be repurposed for their needs.

Funny, originally the Roland drum machines were not targeted at dance music producers. Initially a handful of such producers adopted those machine for their purposes.

Amazing how a set of failed products spawned a massive industry *and* cultural movement.

Can you feel it?

Re: DJ Turntables: Buying Guide by Vekked (2016)

#36

Post by chiefalchemist »

junon wrote: post #23
Temporary_31337 wrote: post #19

What would you recommend for an 11 year old kid interested in this? I’m thinking a mixer like numark where you still have scratch pads but not using vinyls might be good enough to see if he’s interested enough?

Interested in DJing? Or vinyl? Starting with vinyl is expensive, even if you just get Serato or something. I recommend a small DJ controller. It has everything included. You don't need all the fancy features to learn the basics. As long as he eventually learns to avoid the sync button, he'll be able to transfer the skills to most digital setups with ease. Vinyl is different, and there's really no emulating it. If he…

Absolutely.

And it's important to add...learning to mix is actually the easy part. As someone who has gigged internationally you understand that song selection, reading the room, and working the crowd are the hard part. That 6th Sense is the real skill.

Re: DJ Turntables: Buying Guide by Vekked (2016)

#37

Post by ehnto »

drewbeck wrote: post #12
par wrote: post #10

i mean, i love vinyl and spent a lot of time on the wheels of steel back in the day. But who isnt using a digital controller these days?

Addicts. Like myself DJing with vinyl is fun as hell, gets me away from my screens, let’s me find music in a really satisfying and interesting way AND takes me to shops where i talk to people and learn things from them. The digging is maybe the best quality — walk into a place with a limited set of music, guide your search based on categories, album art, personnel listed in the sleeve etc. Digital provides almost non…

Tonnes of great tracks never made it to digital that's for sure. Especially for the heavily DJ'd genres like house, DnB, hip hop, trance and all that. The industry was hundreds of different small labels churning out wax. many of which likely didn't survive long enough to port their back-catalogue to digital.

Re: DJ Turntables: Buying Guide by Vekked (2016)

#38

Post by tomduncalf »

letier wrote: post #31
tomduncalf wrote: post #21

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Anecdotally, my local DJ equipment/repair store said the same - apparently the build quality of the mk7 isn’t as good as the older models. Unsure how true that is, but similar to many in this thread I have a pair of 1200mk2s which must be 30+ years old (I got them second hand for a steal) still going strong

I'm on the other side, only having a pair of MK7 here. They seem to be super stable, but I guess only time will tell if they also last for that long.

Yeah TBH I am sure they are fine. I might upgrade mine to them at some point, just because mine are aesthetically not great and I'd like the pitch without the 0% notch

Re: DJ Turntables: Buying Guide by Vekked (2016)

#39

Post by bionsystem »

ehnto wrote: post #33

(Shoutout to any of my DJForums regulars from way back, I miss ya'll) Given all the very good and correct advice throughout this article and this comment section, remember: * The internet loves perfect * You don't need perfect * Imperfect is better than nothing, use what you can get * You can always get another set of decks/mixer/etc later on In other words, be pragmatic, buy smart but don't fall for the hype. I wish…

I bought a pair of Numark TT 200 (the low end for DJing), both 2nd hand, a set for traktor also 2nd hand, and a numark pro smx that was new but during a shop liquidation. Total was below 1000€ and I had many months of fun. Unfortunately there is not so much room for me to play in my condo now and the walls don't have great isolation so they are stored but last time I checked they work pretty much like new. Especially the SMX is incredible and will probably last my entire life.

Re: DJ Turntables: Buying Guide by Vekked (2016)

#40

Post by unwind »

rfreiberger wrote: post #4
jmercouris wrote: post #3

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Really? You would say that the 1200s are better than a new top of the line Reloop?

I can speak on this owning a pair of Technics 1200 mk2 I bought new in 1995 and a pair of Reloop RP8000mk2 I bought two years ago. What might be confusing is many DJ turntables are made by the same company now, and are reffered to as "super oem", so the small things are changed, like logos, but they come from the same factory. My Reloops weight close to the same amount as the Technics but the base allows for more rum…

Uh, speaking as a mere human, can you actually hear the music shift in tempo from 99.5 to 100.5 bpm? Or does this become apparent when using tools/mixers/whatever to work with the audio stream?

I just quickly tried this on Google's built-in metronome widget (TIL) [1] and I can't hear the difference between 99, 100 and 101 bpm. However, the switching is discrete (the audio stops and restarts) which probably makes it much harder to detect change, of course.

Just curious, not trying to question your comparison of course.

[1]: https://g.co/kgs/Qqdz4d

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