Ever since the moment I set my eyes on one, I coveted a Vestax VRX2000 vinyl cutter. Last year, this craving was sated and said massive lump of cutting goodness was installed into the worxlab, but sadly it seems to be in less than perfect working order with little hope of getting it going again (I’ll keep trying though as I have boxes of blanks). But hope of owning a vinyl cutter that actually works looks possible again — the DRC (Desktop Record Cutter) from machine.pro has popped up on Kickstarter, and aims to deliver the very thing that I’ve wanted to do and a dog’s age.
This project is coming on leaps and bounds Having rapidly jumped from v1 to v2 to release model 3, the DRC seems to be approaching the final production stage, which is what the Kickstarter campaign is for. As ever, there are different levels of rewards, including dropping $6750 AUD (around US $5600/£3600) get you a finished DRC, but the relatively paltry $10K AUD get ploughed into the project to make it become a practical reality for the full run of units.
As a realised product, the projected price is $6500 US, but should more money raised by Kickstarter, the lower the final price will be. Either way, the DRC taps right into the current upward trend of vinyl. Here’s hoping it becomes a reality and people can cut their own one-offs.
Meanwhile, I’ll get back to getting the VRX working. I’ve got around 100 blanks to burn through.
Source: Mixmag
Fingers crossed this project makes it!
Have you never heard of this one? http://www.vinylrecorder.com/
It’s absolutely fantastic. There’s a guy in my city who has one and he does know how to use it. I’ve recently given up digital to go back to vinyl, and I’m happy to get digital only tunes cut on vinyl by him.
That website is terrifying in its simplicity.
im sure they’ll reach their pledged goal, if i had the money id buy that
$600 yesterday – $8600 just now.
wow!
Yeah this is awesome, 15 years ago.
15 years ago less vinyl was less popular than it is today, thats one of the motivations behind this project
The last time there was as much vinyl sold as 2014 was 1994…
Vinyl is more popular now than ever, but the only reason there was real interest in the past was for the ability for DJs to be able to cut their own dubplates and test presses. That need for that type of technology now is totally irrelevant and obsolete with the popularity of mp3 sharing sites like soundcloud, dj software like ableton, serato, and traktor, and the ubiquitousness of consumer cell phones for listening devices for mp3s and streaming media.
In a world now, there is 0 need for a consumer 10k $ vinyl cutter.
not true, there are still ppl around who like to have their own songs pressed on vinyl, not everybody loves mp3s as much as you.
“In a world now, there is 0 need for a consumer 10k $ vinyl cutter.”
then how did they triple reach their goal over $30.000 in just 10 days if there is 0 need for it?
I would absolutely love to be able to have a record with the sounds of my son talking as he grows up.
what this doesn’t do for you is the mastering portion. If you are going to get plates cut,9 times out of 10 the tune you are cutting isn’t mastered for vinyl press. Go to your local dude and spend the $40 bucks to get a mastered plate cut. You will waste a lot of acetate just mastering to get it to sound right on the dub. http://www.turnstylerecords.com is the go to, each and every time in the states.
If I remember correctly, Vestax made something similar years ago. It had two arms – one for cutting and another for monitoring. I remember the small print stating that is was designed for use by an experienced machinist (if that is the correct term).
I think there are many variables in cutting vinyl which would probably make it very difficult for a casual user to get a good result.
Duh. Just read the article properly. Nevermind.
Why oh why the “consumer-grade” equipment for vinyl cutting has to be soooooo expensive? Hasn’t the technology advanced enough to provide a less expensive solution? $1500-$2500 would be reasonable, no? Or is it just that carving sound on a vinyl platter is way too advanced for it to be affordable? Please someone explain.
Economies of scale for a start. These are only ever going to sell in hundreds at the most, but the actual unit is labour-intensive. You’ve got a $500 turntable in there for a start, let alone all the other very short run custom components.
I always wanted the Kingston Vinyl Cutter. But FinalScratch 1.0 came along.