Cut Your Own Vinyl Records With This $1,100 Machine

33.33 @ 60Hz requires 216 marks. And one would think that a lathe would have accurate speed designed in.

Count if you care:
Factor Pairs: (1, 216) (2, 108) (3, 72) (4, 54) (6, 36) (8, 27) (9, 24) (12, 18)

 

That's what I noticed, especially the wow and flutter in the sustaining notes in the piano/bass and Alex Lilly's vocals. I can hear that the higher frequencies are missing in the Phonocut , including the hi-hats.

Not very impressed.

 

That description IMO absolutely comnirms that this is a cash grab aimed at the vinyl revival and is not geared towards actually making anything sound good. Appealing to the 5 senses is a pure nostalgia appeal, and not speaking to any of the audiophile qualities or benefits of vinyl or their device speaks volumes to me.

This is a $1000 toy so someone who doesn't know any better can say they ripped their CD to vinyl and printed their own label on an inket, "and now it sounds so much better" while people who know better roll their eyes.​

 

Even for that application, I don't see the cost savings over just having a limited run pressed propery, plus if you have to pinch pennies in that way you probably pinched far too many pennies on your actual recording, and unless they themselves work for a mastering house as a day job, they're still going to botch the DIY at home master.

I'm really just drawing a blank on how this is going to be a benefit to anyone.

 

This could also be a concern from the copyright point-of-view, as anyone with that device can churn out unofficial releases to unsuspecting consumers, combined with people jumping the whole vinyl record bandwagon for whatever reason.

I listened to the audio sample that @vudicus linked to the Phonocut's website and I have to say that it left me unimpressed, especially those who can even discern audio flaws in the medium. So unless it can be corrected, I have to say that it's not a worthwhile purchase.

 

I wouldn't be surprised if avoiding those sorts of legal implications factored into their choice to go 10" as their format.

 

Didn't Aerosmith have a song about ten inch records?

 

Or ink jet cartridges.

 

"Crosley makes record lathe!"

This reminds me of the guy complaining about a problem with a $200,000 motorhome and somebody said, that's because you got one of the cheap ones. And he wasn't kidding.

 

Waste of $1,100.

 

To be pedantic, it's a cover version of a Fifties tune. I believe Bullmoose Jackson did the original.

 

It was Jackson. But it all became moot when we got Five Inch CDs with perfect sound forever, of course. Who brags about those big old things anymore?

 

"She just loves my average five inch CD of her favorite blues" sounds a bit... lacking in comparison.

 

It probably doesn't produce great-sounding records, but I dig the modernist, Dieter Rams-inspired industrial design. It's visually very attractive.

This could be a fun way for bands to sell their music at gigs.

 

This outfit online sells blank 10" vinyl discs for $2.75 - $3 (2mm) a pop, or $247.50 for a pack of 100x blank 10". They even have clear vinyl:

http://recordblanks.com/

I do notice they're currently out of stock of 12" and 7" blanks.

 

Lathe Cuts, when/if produced properly by a lathe company that knows what they're doing, sound absolutely crisp and phenomenal to my legit but grateful surprise. I've been getting a lot made from a West Coast company called Town Lathe after being burned twice by sub-par suppliers.

 

This is just the kind of product that will have open-ended promise and then be constrained by physical and economic realities.
I am, of course, ready to buy ASAP.
In fact, would be willing to trade my mint minidisc player and some valuable home made tapes for the unit.
Looking forward to the specs this December.

 

Neither am I. I also hear the wow and flutter in the sustaining notes of the piano/bass, and Alex Lilly's vocals. The soundstage sounds very flat, I can barely hear the room ambiance. The Grundman sounds considerably better and cleaner, and none of that annoying wavering.

 

No they aren't, as this is a Kickstarter scam with no product to emerge.

 

Now you can record your music on any plastic plate from your kitchen. "For professional use"! LOL

 

Phonocut post a new update on their new prototype to minimize the wow/flutter that was encountered in their first build.



They definitely mitigated the wow/flutter in their second prototype but the sound quality is still not very good. It sounded like a badly transcoded MP3 file with added artifacts.

Currently, they're charging 1,899EUR for their pre-order and their targeted MSRP is 2,999EUR. Replacement cutting stylus will cost 149EUR.

Pre-Order Today + New Prototype, Pricing & Delivery Update

 

Depends also on how much the blank lathes cost and if you plan on doing a lot of them. I'll be doing an 8" lathe soon and it's around $275-300 for 25, through a company that does them well (meaning as good as they can get it, considering the inferior sound quality etc). 10"s are around $400 for 25. Only being able to do 10"s is certainly limiting though as pointed out, as well as longevity as for getting blank lathes.

 

I just can’t see the utility of this, even when it was a $1,100 machine, but it makes even less sense at €2999. The entire premise is that pressing is expensive and bands can hock these imitation records at their merch booth. But even the most basic, bottom of the barrel pressing run, white labels in a generic jacket and cutrate mastering will absolutely blow these away. While costing a fraction of the price of the machine. And not requiring your drummer to sit there and individually cut 100 records.

 

Can one use it to make direct to disc records? If so, that would bump up the sound quality a lot.

 

Wait, for a bit over $3000 I can keep the drummer in one place out of sight for hours at a time?