New: Phonocut Desktop Disc Cutter

[flozki]

For sure I will put necessary infos online whenever I see an end...
But hey lets hope first for getting it started
Just for your info I still support Kingston dubplate Cutter after 20 years
And even worse Neumann and scully lathes sometimes 50-60 year old.most of important spare Parts made on my cost.
If there is a significant number of machines out there will be always support from someone..

[PlasticParty]

...If there is a significant number of machines out there will be always support from someone..

Excellent response. Supporting equipment for that long shows you have a passion for this and someone the people can trust. Please forgive me for being sceptical, there are too many failed Kickstarters out there that begin on a good premise. Hopefully this lathe will be a runaway sucess and the gateway for many people to lathe cutting.

I wish you all the best with the launch of the Kickstarter in a few hour!!

[EpicenterBryan]

But hey lets hope first for getting it started

Way to go Flo! Almost there in just 1 1/2 hours!
AWESOME!

I'm in the PHONOCUT 45 Club (B-side) level.
Damn local customer walked in right before the open, and distracted me until the first 2 early bird levels were gone!

That stupid $20 sale cost me over $200 USD!
Love it!


Bryan

[cosmO_O]

This looks to be a big deal.

https://www.wired.com/story/phonocut/

BOONE ASHWORTHGEAR10.10.2019 09:00 AM

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

From Kickstarter:

"The next 45 people get PHONOCUT for €700 off the €1999 retail price."

So technically it will cost 2K?

[PlasticParty]

Congratulations on getting successfully funded! I’m in the 45 B side club. Very smartly thought out tier names and amounts BTW!

This is just the beginning. I think much more people will back this once they have had time to digest everything as it is a lot of money for some people who are not massively into vinyl.

Excellent news

[handcut]

BIG RESPECT.

This is an amazing project. I doff my hat... and I totally picked the wrong week to have a break from the internet!

[Big Al]

Fantastic project and I am very interested but still have some reservations.
In this Youtube demo comparison:

https://youtu.be/ZNHzLK-GFgo

You can hear that there is some pitch flutter on the Phonocut version noticeable on the Rhodes chords.
To me it sounds like the motor / drive on the turntable might be struggling?
I understand that this is a prototype but still the comparison was posted without any explanation so one has to assume that as the makers posted the comparison into the public then they are satisfied with the sound quality?

Not trying to have a dig or pick holes as I was incredibly excited when I found out about it and would love to own one but this has made me pause from signing up to the Kickstarter.

Flo if you read this, would love your input and if the turntable is just an early prototype that will be improved for the production model which will be solid and stable and will not suffer from these problems or if its an unnecessary trade off from making a machine that is relatively low cost and aimed at a semi - pro / consumer market?
Thanks!

[kampbell]

I am very looking forward to getting one of these units, have had a lot of questions answered thanks. Just have to to wait over a year to get it.

[flozki]

You can hear that there is some pitch flutter on the Phonocut version noticeable on the Rhodes chords.
To me it sounds like the motor / drive on the turntable might be struggling?
I understand that this is a prototype but still the comparison was posted without any explanation so one has to assume that as the makers posted the comparison into the public then they are satisfied with the sound quality?

the sound file is quite nice for what it is. otherwise they would not have posted it.
its mainly because of chip non-removal or grabbing the chip.
this is maybe the 3th-4th record done by the people who presented the machine.
also regulation parameters where not super optimized. but easy all will be nice and good.
i did maybe 1-2 cuts before the machine left. no time to play.
it is a BLDC motor state of the art. strong enough to even drive the AM44 turntable. so this will be sorted out.
or if nicely done will not be an issue.

concerning sound quality at the moment its shocking too good. too good.
and the goal is not to have same performance as a neumann or a scully.
just to remember what is the price tag difference. and the group of people who use it.
do the same comparison once with a VR or an atom cutter. we might can provide the sound file we will see. so far i never saw a source-playback from a VR on a 1200 somewhere.
i tried to get a special test file cut at various Westrex/Haeco based studios in the US. they refused.
maybe because they were afraid to damage their fragile cutterhead by my test signals or more likely because someone could analyze their system.
fair enough to refuse. but bad for not so experienced cutting engineers like me to learn from the masters.
any westrex reference cut is highly welcome to understand the differences. and limitations of the phonocut system.

i did the same ref cut in many european (neumann, caruso based) cutting rooms where so far everybody just did the cut.

would be so interesting to get an overall understanding of different cutting systems. amps,heads.

additionally don't forget that we compare here a lacquer cut with a plastic cut. not really the same thing.
then: diameter of that pressed disc cut and the much smaller diameter on the 10" makes also a difference, as we are cutting 33.3. i don't know the playback system used. but i guess that ugly red turntable from the video.

we will have much more samples as soon as the machine returns back to europe and we can play with it.

also the strobo is a 50hz version and on video's it looks odd.
but the machine will cut rock steady 33.33 and 45 no problem.

[Big Al]

Thanks for the reply Flo, appreciate the detailed response.
The frequency response seemed ok for the price my biggest concern is the pitch wobble which would put me off of buying one.
Looking forward to finding out more and hearing better tests!

Have you considered making a more expensive ‘Pro’ version?
With a better frequency response and vacumn to suck the chip for example?
Obviously not for the mainstream consumer / semi pro market that the first version is aimed at but still a lot of people would be interested and would pay more for a better spec’d ‘Pro’ version I think.

[symatic]

"it is a BLDC motor state of the art. strong enough to even drive the AM44 turntable"

can we buy this separately ?

[PlasticParty]

Strange that this topic has went quiet. The Kickstarter has also went quiet and I would have expected an update after a week at least thanking everyone for the project getting successfully funded.

[trailerparkjesus]

Strange that this topic has went quiet. The Kickstarter has also went quiet and I would have expected an update after a week at least thanking everyone for the project getting successfully funded.

dun dun dun

I am sure theyre busy. Love this project, like others, can't wait for real world feedback on performance!

[Oldskoolhousehead]

It would be great if DJs could obtain performance rights when they cut their records with Phonocut.

[Aussie0zborn]

Like they did when they burned CDs?

[misjah]

Like they did when they burned CDs?

lol

[Oldskoolhousehead]

Like they did when they burned CDs?

Not at all. I wasn’t talking about piracy. What’s on my mind is to obtain performance rights of songs for club use.

[jonoaustin]

Interesting project!!!!

Regarding blanks, warranty, etc as described below. Be careful of this - it is not legal in the US. The printer companies (HP, Canon, etc) tried this, and it was ruled not legal. Now, using 3rd party ink for printers does not invalidate warranty. https://topclassactions.com/lawsuit-settlements/lawsuit-news/858824-hp-ink-cartridge-monopoly-class-action-lawsuit-settles-1-5m/

There is a similar suit involving Epson currently.

hello

about the blank situation same as for printers. the blanks will partly pay the machine and will guarantee the best performance.
if you want to use your own blanks. go and buy an old lathe. buy a VR or whatever.
the PHONOCUT will recognize the original blanks and if using others (sure its hackable..everthing can be tricked) just the warranty will be gone.
very simple and fair enough. buyers will be noticed before and its up to everybody if he wants to safe money stay with DIY or use the PHONOCUT stuff.


happy cutting.

[tragwag]

concerning sound quality at the moment its shocking too good. too good.
and the goal is not to have same performance as a neumann or a scully.
just to remember what is the price tag difference. and the group of people who use it.
do the same comaprison once with a VR or an atom cutter. we might can provde the sound file we will
see. but so far i never saw a source-playback from a VR on a 1200 somewhere.

I'd be happy to cut a VR file for comparison

[Big Al]

concerning sound quality at the moment its shocking too good. too good.
and the goal is not to have same performance as a neumann or a scully.
just to remember what is the price tag difference. and the group of people who use it.
do the same comaprison once with a VR or an atom cutter. we might can provde the sound file we will
see. but so far i never saw a source-playback from a VR on a 1200 somewhere.

I'd be happy to cut a VR file for comparison

Would love to hear that!