can you scratch on an ion usb turntable?

someone wants to buy the one we have for sale, but i wasn't 100% positive. i think you can.

i guess you could. probably have to have a very light touch though.

it's a belt-drive, so it wouldn't be like using a 1200

yeah I'd probably actually not do that if it's a belt drive... at the very least the guy will probably be disappointed with how it performs.

i'm thinking you'd go through a lot of needles. anyway, he bought it. i told him to try and find a felt slipmat for it.

i "learned" how to scratch on a crap belt drive many years ago. I think that what it did is help me out a lot when i finally got on a 1200. the trick to using the belt drive was to rig the slipmats to be extra slippy. not saying that i would recommend going this route or anything but it worked out for me.

Hmm... were the older 1200's ever belt-drive (ie. the ones you see people using in the late-70's?). I was just guessing, but I thought that a lot of backspinning would put some undue stress on the belt, weakening or breaking it eventually (even with a slipmat). It was just a guess though.

all 1200s were direct-drive since inception in 1972

thought that a lot of backspinning would put some undue stress on the belt, weakening or breaking it eventually

this is what I've heard. never tried it out.

(even with a slipmat)

in theory if you just held the record and the mat, not the platter, it wouldn't hurt the belt. but I doubt that works very well

Do these turntables do a good job of digitising or are there better decks around now for that sort of thing?

you can scratch on belt drives

chinavision!, i think the ones you see people using in the late 70's/early 80's are the technics sl-23's.

"Do these turntables do a good job of digitising or are there better decks around now for that sort of thing?"

they are probably fine. i dunno. everyone has a different opinion.

some people prefer stuff like this:

http://www.amazon.com/ART-USB-Phono-Plus-Preamp/dp/B000BBGCCI

i dunno, i'm no audiophile though. when maria would digitize stuff for me i would give her a cassette tape mix and she would just put an rca cable directly from the stereo receiver into the computer and then record the tape on to audacity. always sounded fine to me. all the mixes i've put on ilm were made that way. can't get any easier than that. though i'm sure you can make stuff sound better with various devices.

in theory if you just held the record and the mat, not the platter, it wouldn't hurt the belt. but I doubt that works very well

in the radio biz they call this "slip-cueing" and I was taught how to do it in the 80's. still use it to cue up tracks even on direct drive. it takes practice but is easy once you learn. you put your finger on the record, not the mat. still wouldn't help very much with scratching though.

dunno, i'm no audiophile though. when maria would digitize stuff for me i would give her a cassette tape mix and she would just put an rca cable directly from the stereo receiver into the computer and then record the tape on to audacity. always sounded fine to me. all the mixes i've put on ilm were made that way. can't get any easier than that. though i'm sure you can make stuff sound better with various devices.

I am doing this now. Part of me would like some fancy schmancy setup, but it isn't worth it right now, I have no one to impress, I just want my beloved vinyl available to me as I'm working on the computer. A plain old stereo works for me about 85% of the time, some of the tracks are downright annoying - I just put them on my "replace with CD or mp3" wishlist.

FWIW the older records (late 1950s through late seventies) sound pretty good and I appreciate the vinyl warmth that comes through, pops and all.

so are USB turntables good or what

aren't they like $90 or something? I think they are okay for the price

never used one. my dad has one. I think they're fine for digitizing vinyl ... for something to hook up to your stereo or if you want it to last for years, probably not, they're made of plastic

according to usbturntables.net:

"USB Turntables are becoming popular even though most people have not even heard about them. The new innovative invention will be sweeping across the world in no time. Everyone will want to own one including you."

so...they must be.

really, you get what you pay for. a friend bought one for <$100 and it sounds fine. better than none at all if that's your budget. but they are turntables for people who want to play each record 1 final time.

i mean, if i get three years of solid use from a $90 turntable that also makes digital copies for my DJ sets that seems like it might be ok, no?

i've sold a bunch of them at my store and nobody has had any complaints. they aren't great turntables by a long shot, but if you just want to digitize random tracks or whatever they'll do the trick. people who are picky/anal/uber-serious about vinyl might scoff, but they're definitely handy for people less picky/less anal/less serious.

so which one of these should i buy?

http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_ss_i_2_5?url=search-alias%3Daps&field-keywords=usb+turntable&x=0&y=0&sprefix=usb+t

what it called when the tone arm like goes back to its home by itself when the record is done?

I hate that, i don't want that

lol no way

it makes it virtually impossible to play any record with a weird shape. And in my experience often cuts off the last few seconds of a record because it thinks it's "done." And often, I'm fighting the fucking tone arm to cue a part late in the record

Fuck that shit

imo

That's okay, Whiney. They're called automatic. You want manual. People like manual better, except when they like to fall asleep to records, but then they should play a CD or something.

Word, thx. I don't fall asleep to music anyway. I like to fall asleep to total silence!