r/Turntablists

I’ve been a longtime vinyl collector and last summer I started getting into mixing and turntablism. I had an Audio Technica LP120X turntable for several years and opted to getting a second one without doing any real research on whether it was appropriate for scratching since at first I just wanted it for mixing.

Soon after I got a couple Ortofon Q.Bert cartridges and started practicing some scratching here and there. I started off with a pretty heavy hand and was wondering why the motor on the LP120X kept shutting off by itself and soon regretted my decision of buying a matching TT.

More recently I’ve started practicing scratching more seriously and decided it was time for an upgrade! Just got the Reloop RP7000MK2 in today and I’m excited to start scratching with it. Especially with that torque knob and the reverse and +/-50 pitch features.

I still have one other LP120X but I just plan on playing music off of that and scratching with my left hand. Maybe I’ll upgrade the other one once I want to try beat juggling 😅

Let's see how long i can go in a row. Quick ten minute session after work still in the work attire lol

Getting used to the rhythm more. Always room for improvement. I'm sticking to simple click action for the time being.

I interviewed Melo D for the Paths of Rhythm podcast the other day - I’ve read this story multiple times but never from someone who was there!

Just now passed 120 days of learning to scratch. The past couple weeks have been really busy between work and other projects but still managing to get on for a little daily.

Now feeling relatively comfortable with some of the more rudimentary scratch’s like baby, chirps, transforms, clicks, crabs, and flares, what should I work on next?

Any/all feedback is appreciated thanks!

Man dusting these off for what seemed like a couple of weeks but in reality a couple of years! Keeping it simple but just flowing with the beat. 15 minutes in finally getting closer to staying in beat but of course a bunch of mistakes!

So I have this heavily warped record, A side plays fine and the warp is not noticeable but I can’t mix any track of side B unless I get the pitch and beatmatching absolutely right in the first moment.

Used ~32kg as a weight for about 2weeks before and hoped that it‘ll just “relax“ but didn’t work

Heard about heating up two glass plates and baking paper but it’s not that kind of record you experiment with:/

Would be happy about any ideas, maybe even without trying to fix the warp itself?

It’s a 173g vinyl

Thx in advance for any ideas

I listed a vintage Numark DM-1150 for sale and wanted to include a video in the listing showing that it still worked. Scratching with the vertical Phono/Line switches on the Numark mixers was popular in the 1980s. I had to dust off the cobwebs for this.

Yo,

Beginner here, about 2 months of practice. Been on a Rane Twelve MK2 (DVS) this whole time, just grabbed an RP-8000 MK2 to start getting into real vinyl. Figured this is the right place to ask before I dive in — would love input from anyone who made this same jump, especially other relatively new scratchers.

Questions:

Platter feel: how different is it really going from Twelve to an actual turntable? Torque, drag, fader feel... rough adjustment for a beginner or does it click fast?

Tonearm/cartridge setup: this is the part that intimidates me the most as a beginner — how do you properly set tracking force, anti-skate, and tonearm height for scratch use? Any go-to settings or ranges you'd recommend to avoid skipping/damaging records while I'm still rough with my hands?

Maintenance: how much more upkeep is real vinyl vs the Twelve (wear, needles, cartridge alignment)? Manageable at this stage or should I expect a learning curve on top of the learning curve?

Slipmat/torque settings: what do you run for scratch — felt slipmat, high or low torque — and what would you suggest for someone still building basic technique?

Timecode vs battle records: for RP-8000 owners, you running timecode vinyl with software or straight battle records? What's better to start on?

Analog vs digital, practically speaking: beyond the feel/nostalgia argument, is there an actual technical edge (latency, precision, response) that matters more when you're still developing fundamentals?

Cartridge recs for someone starting out on the RP-8000 MK2, and how often do you have to readjust/replace them?

Not trying to start an analog vs digital debate, genuinely just want to know what to expect and get some practical setup advice from people who've been through it. Appreciate any input.

Could cut this up all day long so just a short clip.

If you know this break you _know_ this break.

Tried to stay on beat to the violin sample of Large Professor’s beat for The Heist by Busta Rhymes

All tips are welcome 🙏

Since the topic of "Super-OEM" turntables pops up once in a while, I'd like to compile a full list of all the Hanpin DJ-5500 based turntables. The classic reference is this spreadsheet:

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1mEos4YniA5fJAe5kaDZSCeQvaWtOYgwXRF445_ity7s/

However, it's not 100% complete. So if anyone knows of a DJ-5500 OEM not on the following list (or corrections), please post it here so I can add it (to the list below, not the spreadsheet). I have not added color variations.

There's some variations in specs, probably due to revisions of the DJ-5500, but I think the combination of a 16-pole, 3-phase motor and starting torque >3.5kgf/cm is a reasonable qualifier for a deck being a Super-OEM.

Akiyama DJ-4000 Acura

American Audio HTD 4.5

Audio-Technica AT-LP1240-USB

Audio-Technica AT-LP1240-USBXP

BST PR400

BST Pro PR 4.5K

Citronic PD-45

Citronic PD-45 Mk2 ULTIMA

Citronic PD-45 Mk3 ULTIMA

DJ-Tech Vinyl USB 50 ^(*1)

DJ Tech SL-1300MK6

DJ Tech SL-1300MK6USB

Eagletone ONETWO

Epsilon DJT-1300 USB

Gemini TT-5000

Kam DDX5000

Koolsound TDJ-04

Mixars LTA

Mixars STA

Omnitronic DD-5250

Omnitronic DD-5250L

Pioneer PLX-1000

Pioneer PLX-CRSS12

Reloop RP-6000 mk5

Reloop RP-6000 mk6

Reloop RP-7000

Reloop RP-7000 mk2

Reloop RP-8000

Reloop RP-8000 Straight

Reloop RP-8000 Mk2

Sonicline SL-SPD

Stanton T.120

Stanton T.120C

Stanton ST-150 (ST.150)

Stanton ST.150 M2

Stanton STR8-150 (STR8.150)

Stanton STR8-150 M2

Synq XTRM-1

Voxoa T80

^(*1) I could not find specs for the torque on this one, but it has a 16-pole 3-phase motor, and was advertised as high-torque.