Spinning Controller
Anyone know of any midi controllers, where the platters actually rotate, besides the ns7? I think if more of these existed, “traditional djs” wouldn’t feel as threatened by newer age controllers, so i wanted to see if anyone knew of any others.
Stanton SCS1D has a rotating platter.
is there anything smaller, like vci size?
why would you ever want spinning platters the size of the VCI’s??
it would be nice to have a controller that spins, maybe thats just my opinion, i think to actually have the platters spin at the tempo has more of a feel than moving a still platter, not saying vci size is what’s preferable, just wondering if there is something that size, that is more portable than bigger models.
oh i see what you’re saying now. hmm… i really don’t know..
I too have a love of Motorized platters. Cueing IMHO feels far more accurate when you can “touch the music”.
Unfortunatly I think the cost outweighs the benefit of a manufacturer stepping up to the challenge or building one DIY ..
Have a look here at my rough Idea for creating one .. My Idea was a 6-9’ platter on a 1’ high body so VERY portable with my notion being 2 could be clipped together for transport and add adjustable feet to sit on top a tech or pioneer in cramped booths.
The problem is that any motors of high enough torque either.
A) Are too bit (Vestax / TTX etc. are appx 4’ high inc spindle)
B) Are too Expensive - Motors alone costing $75 - $100 excluding the controller board and pitch faders and any other controls you wish to add.
C) May not work whatsoever in traktor correctly as a midi controller 
The V7 is probably the closest you’ll get for now or maybe denon3700, both are a lil’ bigger than the VCI though.
Just put your controller on top of a spinning turntable. (tongue firmly in cheek)
I have a pair of DN-S 3700’s, spinning platter, high torque, basically like a 9" tech turntable, strobe light and everything! Best thing is that it has hybrid mode which creates a timecode signal so no need for timecode cds etc. and it give you full midi control using all the buttons and switches minus reverse and the pitch range buttons
Motorized platters require two very bulky things: some big coils that are used to electromagnetically drive a heavy platter (for example, take a platter off a technics 1200, when you press start the spindle does not rotate. Put the platter back on and it will rotate). So its probably not possible to make a small motorized controller that would have adequate response with those sort of dimensions.
Not quite true on all counts Technics 12xx series are pretty unique in this design as the platter actually funtions as PART of the motor…however most other turntables use an independent motor which the platter sits on.
Yes however you do need a quite bulky motor regardless, but not THAT bulky, a Vestax motor all in is about 4.5’ round and 4’ deep, KAM Direct drive motors were thin as hell (but zero torque) if memory serves me right.
As I mentioned before though, the motor + speed controller board is the pricy part working at around $100+ for a Vestax, Numark TTX or even gemini PDT’s second hand.
Now that amount of torque may not be required depending on the weight of the platter. There are pancake DD motors available which are bloody thin but around the same price to buy new and would require building a controller board as well.
A slimmed down Controller only version of the Denon s3700 but adding USB MP3 function would be the shit! (Yes I know V7’s blarg blarg).