DM2 turntable mod. (56k beware.)

I came here looking for X-Session mods, and was inspired by someone in the “post pics of your mods” thread who modded his DM2. I had previously tried some of the stuff here, which is literally strapping a mouse to your turntable. It worked, but it was crude. The turntable I own is a 1970's Technics SL-BD1. It's belt drive, and the needle was broken by my little brother. Rather than shell out monies to fix it, I decided to modify it.


This is my DM2, I bought it for $20 off of Ebay. It works, but the scratch rings suck ASS. Impossible to do anything, and I use them solely for pitch bending, and cueing. I’m not even going to attempt scratching. So I thought, why not hook it up to a turntable?

http://i110.photobucket.com/albums/n...4/IMG_4783.jpg



I cracked the thing open, and this is what I found.

http://i110.photobucket.com/albums/n...4/IMG_4785.jpg

The scratch rings are a giant gear, which turns a little gear. This little gear turns a disc with holes in it, and the hardware reads how fast the holes go by. Look inside a Nintendo 64 controller to see what I'm talking about.

http://i110.photobucket.com/albums/n...4/IMG_4786.jpg

A close-up of the mechanism-

http://i110.photobucket.com/albums/n...4/IMG_4787.jpg

CONTINUED:

Now. You know how the DM2 works, now I have to figure out how to mount it to the turntable. This is the turntable:

http://i110.photobucket.com/albums/n...4/IMG_4788.jpg

Without the platter:

http://i110.photobucket.com/albums/n...4/IMG_4789.jpg

Under the spindle there's a little gear, not sure if you can see it well in this picture.

http://i110.photobucket.com/albums/n...4/IMG_4791.jpg

The original idea was to mount the DM2 parts to that gear, but there isn't enough room:
http://i110.photobucket.com/albums/n...4/IMG_4792.jpg

So I took it apart.

http://i110.photobucket.com/albums/n...4/IMG_4794.jpg
http://i110.photobucket.com/albums/n...4/IMG_4795.jpg

There is a metal piece holding the spindle, and I removed that. What I have to do now is get the DM2 part to fit up against the spindle, so the gears interlock. It doesn't fit, so it looks like I'll have to cut into the metal piece. Once that's done, I'll solder on wire to make it longer, and then we're done.

What do you think?


Hm. It seem as the forum does not auto-re size photos. What resolution should I put them in?

Photos are fine size for me!

Anyway that is a very interesting mod. I am looking forward to seeing what the finished product is like!

Keep on working on it

Very interested how this will go down. :D

Great mod, i look forward to hearing more on your progress :)
Keep up the good work, i have been thinking of different ways to do this myself.
I was thinking a high resolution laser gaming mouse with a ton of buttons would make a really sensitive controller, unsolder the buttons and replace them for arcade buttons would also give it a ton of midi controls.

Perhaps you could implement the arcade button idea by unsoldering the buttons on the DM2 and using arcade buttons on the turntable instead, that would be awesome :D

looking forward to the finished product!

Quote:

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Originally Posted by BentoSan

Perhaps you could implement the arcade button idea by unsoldering the buttons on the DM2 and using arcade buttons on the turntable instead, that would be awesome :D

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I was thinking of pulling the remaining buttons and parts from the DM2 casing, and putting it in a custom metal or plastic case. Anyone know where I can purchase buttons for this?

Like i said, arcade buttons are your best bet, unsolder the existing buttons off the circuit board and replace the connections with wires that run to the arcade buttons that you can build into your new case.

hey trial i got an sl-d2 i'd be willing to part with for real cheap (+ shipping) if you wanted to make this a 2 deck mod.

you could link the wires together with the white break away and create a custom "mixer" to house the crossfader and the rest of it. pm if you're interested.