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Record Cutting Lathes


Tenshun

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I was wondering if there are any other turntablist out there that have vintage record lathes.

I have 2 of them 1 presto 6n with a Fairchild cutting head and the other is a Presto k8 with the original 5c head.

Both are really awesome and make pretty decent cuts. I would say they can cut to the levels of some professional records!

The frequency spectrum on them cant get as high due to the nature of the mono cutting head.

 

Heres is a link to my 2 beast right here:

IMG]http://i219.photobucket.com/albums/cc299/TENSHUN619/image_zpskqzf9ki4.jpeg[/img]

 

 

Also i was wondering if any of you guys could shed some light on what the formula is on laying samples out for non skip scratch records. As i wanna experiment on cutting some of my own.

 

Peace!

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Super cool!

 

I thought (via a Swamp interview I saw) that the trick is mathematical since the record is doing smaller and smaller circles each go around.

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I think if you open a session in Ableton and put it in 133.33 BPM that equals one full Revolution so if you were to divided up equally into fourths 4/8 you could pretty much hash out the alignment. I believe it is also the story on this YouTube from DJ Angelo on making a scratch tool

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The working:

 

Record spins at 33.333333 rpm

This is 33.33333/60 rps = 0.5555555 rps (as there are 60 seconds in a minute!)

1/0.555555 rps = 1.8 sec/revolution (just flipping the units upside down by doing 1/)

Therefore if you want 4 beats (1 bar) per revolution then that is 4 beats per 1.8 seconds = 4/1.8 = 2.22222 beats per second

2.2222 beats per second * 60 seconds = 133.33333 beats per min

 

So working at 133.333 beats per min will make sure you get 4 beats (1 bar) per record revolution at 33 1/3 rpm

If working at 45 rpm this is 180 bpm (or I guess you could do 90 bpm for 1/2 bar provided your samples or loop makes sense at 1/2 bar).

 

Diggla - the record is doing smaller circles as it goes in, but the rotational speed is always the same at 33.3 or 45 rpm. What is changing is the effective linear velocity at the stylus, it's basically going slower as for each revolution it's covering a circle of small circumference in the same amount of time (classic physics lesson - circular motion). Not really a concern for the problem of skip-proof. This is why records start to sound a bit crapper on the inner grooves I suppose - you are "encoding" the same info into a smaller circumference circle - or something like that.

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I have the Vestax VRX-2000, but have hit a brick wall with restoring it.

https://djworx.com/help-me-fix-my-vestax-vrx-2000-vinyl-cutter/

Have you tried and bypass the circuitry and use a standered amplifier? Just connect the terninals to the output speakers of a amplifier,

Turn the amp up slowly and listen to to the cutting head. You should be able to hear sound coming out of it.

 

Its a good test to see if the cutting head is actually working. Once you have that working. Then atleast you now the main heart of the lathe works.

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I have the Vestax VRX-2000, but have hit a brick wall with restoring it.

https://djworx.com/help-me-fix-my-vestax-vrx-2000-vinyl-cutter/

Have you tried and bypass the circuitry and use a standered amplifier? Just connect the terninals to the output speakers of a amplifier,

Turn the amp up slowly and listen to to the cutting head. You should be able to hear sound coming out of it.

 

Its a good test to see if the cutting head is actually working. Once you have that working. Then atleast you now the main heart of the lathe works.

 

 

 

Yeah I'm thinking that passing audio directly to the head is a good test.

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Got a Vestax VRX arriving on Monday, never cut a record yet, and no idea if this thing is working or needs a ton of fixing, should be a good bit of fun.

 

 

So you nabbed the one on eBay then. Well done sir.

 

 

Yeah had to be done, i had saved up a bi towards the vinyl recorder from souri, and that appeared, so it was a "Fuck it" moment

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I can take pics of the guts of the one that comes monday for you to cross reference Gizmo.

I need to try and source a manual somewhere as well, but i suspect mine is a fixer upper anyway, so while im getting mine going, i can help you get yours going too.

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Although we do have to keep one thing in mind here, these fuckers are just PDX with a ton of hand built crap on them, and apparently no two pictures of a VRX are ever the same, the twats didn't even use the same colored wires throughout hahaha

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I can take pics of the guts of the one that comes monday for you to cross reference Gizmo.

I need to try and source a manual somewhere as well, but i suspect mine is a fixer upper anyway, so while im getting mine going, i can help you get yours going too.

https://www.manualslib.com/manual/374341/Vestax-Vrx-2000.html

 

I found a manual for the Vrx that you can download from the link above

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Goodluck with getting them working!

 

It took me quite a while to dial in both of the lathes. One of them (the presto 6n) the motor would stop in the middle of a cut!

So i had to change out the motor and then i had to make a new motor mount for it.

The othet ine i had to re-grease and oil everything!

 

But i can say recording your first sound no matter how dirty or noisy it mat be is the best feeling ever!

From there all takes is a bit of tinkering and adjusting and your cuts will just keep getting better.

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Although we do have to keep one thing in mind here, these fuckers are just PDX with a ton of hand built crap on them, and apparently no two pictures of a VRX are ever the same, the twats didn't even use the same colored wires throughout hahaha

 

 

Had that confirmed this week too. A lot of Vestax production runs were like that, and I imagine that the VRX is no different.

 

Ta very much on doing the photos. Any starting point is useful. Hopefully, ours were made at the same time, and are at least similar. Obviously, you can throw questions at me too about yours too.

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I can take pics of the guts of the one that comes monday for you to cross reference Gizmo.

I need to try and source a manual somewhere as well, but i suspect mine is a fixer upper anyway, so while im getting mine going, i can help you get yours going too.

https://www.manualslib.com/manual/374341/Vestax-Vrx-2000.html

 

I found a manual for the Vrx that you can download from the link above

 

 

You are a gem Dano !!!!!!

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Glad to be of assistance mate.. :((

 

Being the absolute vinyl junkie that i was (plus the fact i was earning silly money at the time) when the Vrx was first released in 2001 i seriously considered purchasing one for myself and Deeswift to cut our own battle wax & drumbreak records with, but in the end it unfortunately didn't happen

 

so after reading Gizmo's Vrx repair blog and the fact you've managed to grab a machine of your own, im genuinely excited about the prospect of you both getting these things up and running properly as they're supposed to

 

Best of luck chaps !

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I just think it would be sweet for the winner of the beat battles each month to get a cut with a custom DV battle weapon on the B, fuck knows how much work mine needs though, it was a "Turns on, but know fuck all else" listing from a clearance company, and it still took all my fucking savings hahahaha

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Thank you everyone for all the info on making a "skipless" scratch record. I had some success cutting one on plastc!

It tracks pretty well for my first try at making one.

 

Here is a short clip of the plate getting abused:

 

 

 

Gonna keep experimenting!

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Guest petesasqwax

Tenshun - I've got a nice collection of Tenshun lathe cut records (flexi's and regular) and can confirm that they're excellent quality!

Gizmo - I always wanted to get one myself and have followed your exploits with the VRX with great interest, Mark. I feel like the day you get it working might not be all that far away and that's immensely exciting shit!

Flexi - how much did this beast set you back? (a.k.a. how much should I start trying to squirrel away in case I ever find one for sale ;) )

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Awesome, will that be PDF so that you can share ?

If it is i will set up a VRX archive or such, so everything can be saved on the page for other users too

 

I'll definitely share it, no matter what form it's in. I suspect it'll be in electronic form, and is coming from Toshi himself.

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