Millsy I’m slowly transitioning to CDJ’s and the plan would be to gradually flog big parts of my vinyl collection - also for bar gigs (when we ever get back to them) im still lumping vinyl about and would want to be cdj’s for those to save my back! Still not convinced about these controllers…

    -si- only using it as a record player at the moment - it’s for once I get my vinyl from storage and have more time (and learn to mix effectively with the XZ

      a year later

      After getting rid of my 1210s and CDJs years ago, I’m thinking about investing in a turntable – just to do vinyl rips.

      Am looking to spend circa £300, so still definitely in the budget range. From what I have researched so far, you can get a fairly decent turntable like the type that What Hi-Fi recommends. They mainly focus on sound quality but they also tend to be belt drives or moving magnets, such as the first two listed here: https://www.whathifi.com/best-buys/best-usb-turntables-budget-to-premium-vinyl-spinners

      You can get a direct drive turntable like https://www.burtonblake.co.uk/products/audio-technica-at-lp120xusb-direct-drive-fully-manual-turntable-black?variant=39306723852375&currency=GBP&utm_medium=product_sync&utm_source=google&utm_content=sag_organic&utm_campaign=sag_organic&gclid=EAIaIQobChMI_sDo2JWu8wIVzYBQBh2uYwc0EAQYASABEgLCz_D_BwE
      This type of turntable with a pitch control etc seems to be geared towards DJ’ing on vinyl, which I’m not doing these days but might be better because it is a direct drive and more likely to mean steadier rips.

      Does anybody experienced with ripping vinyl have a view on what might be best? Does belt drive vs direct drive matter for the purposes of ripping vinyl or is it best to just focus on quality of sound?

      I will also have to invest in stuff to clean up the vinyl as well.


        ..for DJ’ing purposes, DD is obviously preferable (pick-up speed/torque, stability for cuing etc.), but for listening, no reason not to go belt-drive. In fact a lot of mega-expensive audiophile TT’s are belt-driven, the purist argument being that having the motor beneath the platter causes unwanted noise/distortion.

        These days entry DD options are fairly expensive, so for your purposes you’ll get a lot more bang-for-buck with a half-decent belt-drive, leaving you more to spend on a quality (non-DJ) cartridge and sound card which you’ll need for good rips.

          whatever As @Unbroken1 has said above…good cartridge and a decent AD converter are where the differences will be most apparent. Some decent mastering software will also make a huge difference.

              Unbroken1

              Thanks, that makes a lot of sense. The reviews for the audiophile belt drive TTs, definitely focus on the quality of the cartridge, which should make that aspect of it easier but I’ll have to do a bit more research to make sure it has a good one. I hadn’t thought about the sound card and to be honest, I know nothing about them. Do you mean something like this: https://ototo.fm/best-sound-cards-for-music-production/


                ….yeah, something along those lines. They vary in price massively, but if your usage is limited to mainly single-source recording, something like a Focusrite Scarlett, SSL2 or even a used Apogee Duet would prob suffice.

                In fact, the SSL comes bundled with software that might be useful to tidy up recordings as Alex suggests above.

                  Wasily

                  That’s great, thank you and yes, mastering software is another one I hadn’t thought of . You mentioned Izotope above – would that do the job?

                    Unbroken1

                    “the SSL comes bundled with software that might be useful to tidy up recordings” <

                    Perfect, I’ll check that out as well.