If there are any turntablists in the premises, Please report here immediately Options

[Simba]

Alright, I've been wondering about this for a while. Out of the 361,264+ members on cB, there's got to be at least a few turntablists creeping around on cB, right?

Anyone?

Even just interested in turntablism.

[Simba]

Maybe if your mom had it in mind?

[TRIBE]

ooooooo Arjuna talkin about yo moms!

[Simba]

Yeah, maybe more people would get into it if it didn't cost an arm and a leg and your newborn. =P

[*Podomaht*]

Arjuna, you doing turntablism? What's your setup?

[Simba]

I do mainly skratching, so I got a relatively minimal set-up for doing just that.

For my turntable and mixer, I use the Vestax QFO, and then for needles I use an Ortofon OM Pro-S (not the best, but I was kind of in a hurry to get started skratching when I was looking for needles).

...And then just whatever speakers are around (since the QFO is portable) and then of course, the vinyl.


You do any turntablism? Or maybe you know some people into it.

[*Michelle*]

ME ME ME

Once, when I was young and innocent, I went to someone's S.O.D.A. and they had a ...mixer... thing, and I played around with it.

Does that count?

[Simba]

Well, you're not a mixer virgin. =P

[Naomitron]

My brother has been really into it for a long time. Well, the idea, anyway. He's been following via whatever he can find online (by way of videos, forums, tutorials, etc.). He's been wanting to get his own setup for years, but you're right...it's quite pricey. I'll eventually be able to help him out, and hopefully we can take it on as a brother-sister bonding project. I'd love to be able to mix and skratch.

(Pardon me for sounding lame)

[Simba]

Nah, nah, that's awesome! That sounds like a pretty good plan. You and your brother can both get a shot at it if you work it out, so that's cool. Ha ha, I've been following stuff online too since it's really hard to find anyone into this around my area.

Oh yeah, ask me if you need any help when buying your set-up; if he's been following the online, he probably knows some already, but still, feel free.

[Naomitron]

Well, now that you mention it...

He's been checking out a number of "kits" from Technics and Stanton. Technics seems to be pretty out of our reach for right now (school and bills are sucking up all my money, damnit ><), so how does Stanton stand up next to some of the other companies/brands? He tries to tell me, but sometimes my mind is on so many other things, I barely absorb what he says. I feel sort of bad about it -_-

[Simba]

Those complete DJ kits that include turntables and a mixer and headphones and all that?

Generally, they're pretty cheap/garbage stuff, but when I was looking for turntables the Stanton's actually seemed decent (I never saw and Technic ones at the time). I was looking at these. The price of the third pack is pretty out there though. And I never ended up buying any of those so I can't say whether they're garbage or not, but they definitely seemed to be some of the better choices.

Really though, if you've got the money to spend, I'd try to buy those Technic turntables. They supposedly last for ever (definitely several years), and are considered some of the best built. And since they're so durable and they're pretty much industry standard, you shouldn't have to really worry about buying new turntables even when you upgrade. Just the mixer and needles and all that.

You could even start with just one; you only really need one turntable and a mixer to get started with skratching (you can just play a beat off a separate CD player or whatever).

So even if you want to go ahead and buy the complete DJ kit, chances are, the equipment will be useless once you decide to upgrade. If you go ahead with Technics you'll just have to upgrade your mixer and anything else.

I guess first you're going to want to decide if you want to go with a complete DJ kit or buy each piece of equipment separately, because if you go separately, there are a couple more choices other than Technics (though Technics tends to be the most reliable) and some of them are cheaper.

We can talk about this on AIM too if you want. It's quite a bit of money to be tossing around and a lot of info to take in.


By the way, for anyone who's going out to buy equipment, www.musiciansfriend.com has some really great prices.

[Naomitron]

Thanks. You know I'm guamtova, right?

[Simba]

Yeah!

[Naomitron]

Okay, so the QFO. Is that something you'd like to try? It looks a bit complicated. I like the standard set.

Edit// Just read about your setup. Holy crap, I'm slow.

*QBert Fangirlism!*

Did I mention I was already a fan of his? Haha.

[Detective]

Arjuna, Who taught you?

[*Podomaht*]

I do mainly skratching, so I got a relatively minimal set-up for doing just that.

For my turntable and mixer, I use the Vestax QFO, and then for needles I use an Ortofon OM Pro-S (not the best, but I was kind of in a hurry to get started skratching when I was looking for needles).

...And then just whatever speakers are around (since the QFO is portable) and then of course, the vinyl.
You do any turntablism? Or maybe you know some people into it.

1.2k. You're loaded as hell. Nah, my friend and I used to be big on bboying so we'd hang out with the whole breakbeat crowd and the DJs and whatnot.

I'd get into it, but 1.2k would go on my car insurance, rofl.

[Simba]

Okay, so the QFO. Is that something you'd like to try? It looks a bit complicated. I like the standard set.

Edit// Just read about your setup. Holy crap, I'm slow.

*QBert Fangirlism!*

Did I mention I was already a fan of his? Haha.

Ha ha, yeah, Qbert is awesome! Kentaro got me into turntablism, and then Qbert got me into skratching.

Arjuna, Who taught you?

No one has taught me... For one, I can't even find anyone around here who could. =P Except for one person, but he was pretty flaky.

So self-taught, but I'm certainly looking up as much information on it as I can.

1.2k. You're loaded as hell. Nah, my friend and I used to be big on bboying so we'd hang out with the whole breakbeat crowd and the DJs and whatnot.

I'd get into it, but 1.2k would go on my car insurance, rofl.

Oh, Podomaht bboying, huh. Cool, cool.

Ha ha yeah, turntablism is one heck of a expensive hobby (like photography, goodness). I guess I had the money because I don't really buy anything else extra.

[Naomitron]

Anthony (my brother) and I were listening to DJ Kentaro tonight. When he was on Live Jam with the guy playing the shamisen. Awesome.

Have you heard of DJ Trigger? That's one great Brit.

[Simba]

Oh yeah, Live Jam. That performance was sweet. I'd definitely want to try something like that sometime.

I've heard of DJ Trigger, but I haven't heard much of his stuff. Mostly a mixer right?

[Naomitron]

Yeah, he is. A lot of happy music, in my opinion. It always gets me pretty hype. You should give it a listen. I don't know if you like heavier hip hop beats or lighter/trippy-ish stuff, but I like his work.

[Simba]

Oh, I'm pretty much open to anything, so s'all good.

Yeah, I haven't checked out many mixing DJs recently, so I guess I could start with Trigger.

[Naomitron]

I'd say Trigger would be a good start. I like him. Of course, I have a lot more to learn too. Haha.

[Simba]

Alright, I'll try checking his stuff out. I've heard of people like Tiesto, but haven't looked much into it either.

Oh yeah, people that are interested but don't know all that much about turntablism should check out these videos:
Qbert - Skratching
Kentaro - Beat Juggling

Here's Live Jam, for anyone who wanted to know what we were talking about.

[Naomitron]

Tiesto's good, but a lot of his stuff sounds the same. I remember my friend played an entire Tiesto album and by the end I didn't even realize the track had changed!

[Simba]

Yeah, I guess he's supposed to be good for really long stretches in clubs.