EEVblog Electronics Community Forum
General => General Technical Chat => Topic started by: rvalente on April 12, 2019, 09:25:53 pm
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Hello mates,
recently i'm getting interested in DJ (disc jockey) stuff...
In the past, djs used to mix with vinyls over turntables and a very simple mixer (two channels, 3 band eq, fader and volume control).
Then the serato company came the time coded vinyl, basically a vinyl with a 1Khz tone, the pick-up gets this signal to a sound card and a very smart software implements a rotary encoder based on frequency, phase and etc...
I understand DJs like this setup because you get all the touch and feel of vinyl, the torque from the motor and the resources of the modern DJ software.
The expensive DJ controllers, which are not turntables, may have jog wheels with motors, for torque feeling, while the majority are just a rotary encoder under the plate.
The problem with the time coded vinyl is, of course, the pick-up transducer does not like to much bass or vibration, which mess the setup.
Them, I cant understand why not to get a traditional turntable and add a encoder under the plate, making a massive jog wheel without the pick-up and their problems.
Anyway, pioneer, stanton, technics, numark and others keep launching new turntables.
Is this just marketing stuff or I'm missing something here?
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When you move the record, you're not moving the much heavier turntable, usually you have a slippery felt or neoprene mat called a "slipmat" between the turntable and record, in contrast to a HIFI player where you have a rubber mat.
The timecoded vinyl came into play about 10-15 years ago when there was a huge install base of people with vinyl record players, and everyone wanted to play their MP3s while still looking cool.
At this time there were a lot of computer-connected or standalone dj controllers emerging, but the encoders and feel was kinda crappy in the beginning.
There were some full size vinyl record players, that also featured a built in cd player and USB for MP3s that I do believe you could use the turntable on to control CD/MP3 playback, not sure how they did it, perhaps with some split axle where you clamp the record to the inner axle and the outer one is driving the turntable.
There might be some more reasons, and you can try googling them. Today the "feel" on digital jogs is just as good, but of course handling real records is more fun =)