Recommendations on turntables
I’m planning on buying two turntables for a time coded set up. What would you guys recommend for a reasonably priced pair of turntables?
Thanks in advance guys
Why? Turntables are cool and all, but they are old technology that really only continue to exist for those who are already use to them. Get yourself some CDJ’s or get some midi controllers like an oxygen 8, EKS XP5, EKS Otus, VCI-100, Etc. They are fun to play with, but they’re definitely not where the industry is heading…
If you must get turntables I would recommend getting a numark battle pack, it’s cheap, comes with a mixer, and it’s plenty good to start off with. I have a battle pack and I love it, although I almost never use it (luckily it’s just hammy-downs that I got for free).
I have a Hercules RMX and an Akai LPD8, I want turntables to run time coded vinyl on for Traktor Scratch Pro
numark ttx, stanton str8s , vestax pdx, KAMs
was never a fan of 1200s but to each their own.
for simple timecode use, for example nudging and minor scratching, the numark battle pack 2 with the tt1625´s is fine. But if you want some better players look for numark tt200 or stanton s-80´s. Next in line are numark tt500 or technics 1210/1200, it doesnt get better than those. If you only want spinning platters you can also check out numark v7, or denon hs3700 (i think)
I dunno man. I dont think thats really the right mindset. Think about it. You buy a pair of used tech 1200s for 300-400 and a good 2 channel mixer. combine with traktor and midi capable devices, and you have a serious set of gear, that combines the old, and the new.
30 years from now when you kids go through your old stuff in the attic, would you rather they find a Technic 1200 or a cdj 1000? Vinyl is going to be an acceptable medium FAR longer than the cdj ever will, which makes recommending the cdj just as bad, if not worse than recommending vinyl in your book.
The industry is not heading towards cdjs.
Hmm, additional thoughts. sorry I’m ranting.
People can do amazing things regardless of medium. Hell, Bkag, you could out and buy some shit ancient belt drive Turntables, and if your dedicated, you can still turn heads with it. There were people who did crazy juggling routines with TAPE (cant remember who it was, theres a vid) on reel to reel. It might take more work to do something one way, it might take more money, more time, but hell, if you put the work into it and learn it your way (not by copying someone blindly) you WILL find something new and innovative that no ones ever done before.
That said, its gonna be hard as all get out hahaha.
check out the ‘super oem’ range of turntables.. here’s a couple of threads with reviews, videos and info:
http://www.native-instruments.com/forum/showthread.php?t=59743
http://www.skratchlounge.com/index.php?showtopic=5851
i’ve got a pair of tech 1200’s that are trashed and will probably ‘upgrade’ to something on these lists when i get some spare $$$.
Thanks for all the replies
That was a bunch of help, I’m gunna browse through and see which best suit my needs and price range.
P.s. Sine, I totally agree with you on the vinyl vs. CDJ
you can get technics 1200 mk2’s without a needle for $200-250 on craigslist no prob
Turntables have made a complete resurgence due to DVS becoming the standard. I’m seeing a lot of clubs moving away from CDJs since most DJs have replaced the large CD book with a laptop and the club owners/management consider the turntable a better visual element. Not to mention, any DJ that has used both usually prefers TTs because the platters are the most sensitive and feel the best. Trust me…it’s a standard control that every DJ should be familiar with at some point.
You can get 1200s on craigslist, but you have to be careful. As popular as tech 1200s have been for so long, there are a lot of janky, worn out ones floating around. On top of that, they are notoriously hard to repair. Something as simple as wires, grounding, or even the popup light require a trip to the repair shop.
Any of the high-end turntables from other manufactures are just as good, if not better…Vestax PDX, Numark TTx, etc. Of course they don’t have the name and resale value of tech 1200s. That means if you can finds some used they’ll be dirt cheap. I’ve seen used Vestax PDX2000s for $150 in a music store. If you want something brand new and a good value go with Numark TT500…best bang for the buck.
Stay away from the starter kits, battle paks, and cheap belt drives. You’ll be limited by the feel, frustrated by the lack of torque, and waste time.
I guess, I just figured for a starting setup that the $500 traktor scratch and then turntables and a mixer on top of that might be a little too much, but if your just expanding then that’s you’re call…
Yeah, its probably gonna be about 1100-1200 dollars. thats with the Audio 4 dj, a decent - good battle or 2 channel mixer (extra good if you find one used in great condition) and 2 Tech 12s
If you are going to go midi, its true, a used vci + audio 2 + Traktor pro = aroung 600, which is half the price. You will be mixing internally, which isnt really a problem, other than the general feel of the knobs. I find the VCI xfader… not great (as in, response inside traktor), so internal scratching is overly difficult, but not impossible. Initial costs of this setup are definitely lower, and the combo is a powerful one.
As far as digital goes, you could also opt for 2 x1s, audio 2 dj, and the external mixer of your choice. LOTS of options from the digital side
CDJs still dont fit in there since a pair of 400s, brings you up to 800ish (you could grab used 800s for under a grand, maybe), then you buy a mixer, and you dont even have Traktor Pro, or a soundcard.
Plus everyone knows tech 12’s get the girls..they want to try scratching, they don’t know what to make of a vci 
haha
Well my equipment right now is a Hercules RMX and I already bought Traktor Scratch Pro (anticipating adding the timecoded vinyl to my setup once I had used the demo with the RMX for a couple months). So for now I can buy the turntables and run their outputs into the RMX and into Traktor can’t I? Eventually I would probably want to upgrade that but that plan will work wont it?
Thanks
someone correct me if I’m wrong, but I’m pretty sure you need traktor scratch pro and it only works with an audio4/8, or maybe it has to be traktor certified?
The audio interface needs to be traktor certified for timecode, which the RMX is not.
So you would still end up getting an audio4/8 or another mixer with a certified soundcard built in.
There used to be work-arounds, but not really anymore.
pretty sure there’s still a workaround but it involves an illicit method
as a traktor DVS user, i can recommend you to go for this setup if you do any of these things:
- have actual vinyls you want to mix in
- incorporate a lot of turntablism in your sets (or just want the option to be able to)
- really really really love the feel of spinning records
i mention the last one simply because if that’s all your going for..you might want to rethink this as it’s a lot of money to drop just to get a certain feel. but if you don’t do any of those things, it’ll be a waste of time for you. you won’t be able to ever work as fast as you would with a controller, so if you’re more into the advantages of controllerism, just stick with that.
this is false. vinyl may make a resurgence (that’s a very very small chance), but CDs, whether burnt or bought, are the medium of the future (for now). vinyls wear faster, are more easily damaged, bulky, and are slowly being distributed and pressed less and less. with the rise of net labels, and really labels in general not doing nearly as many vinyl releases as digital, i give vinyl about 10-20 years until it’s dead.
even if the “industry” isn’t going toward CDJs..it’s not going BACK to vinyl. no way.
Hipnotikk, I still stand by my claim that cdjs are not the industry is heading. For now, we are already there. The industry can only move away from cdjs at this point, its the only option.
Think about it in terms of movies. Right now, most if not all movies are released on DVD (think cdj 1000) Dvd tries to upgrade to HD DVD (CDJ 2000) when BluRay (digital djing) comes out. HD DVD fails, despite support from many major players (microsoft and the Xbox 360, Many major Djs and the CDJ 2000). DVD is still doing okay today, but more and more movies are being released on Blu ray, and its quite obvious that it will become the standard inevitably.
I wouldt go so far to say cdj 2000s failed though, it was just a metaphor. I played around with one (actually the 900 was more fun) for a while and it was damn cool.
Vinyl was never a part of my claim, I was merely stating that the advice to go out and buy 1000s isnt really as founded as it might have been, 5 years ago. Yes, most, if not all, clubs will support you right now, and hell, they will probably support you for years to come, but unless pioneer pulls some crazy shit out of their ass… do you really think we will see a cdj 1000 for the next 20 years, like djs of the past 20-30 have seen turntables?
Oh really??? So I can’t use the RMX’s built in sound card to route the signal into Traktor??