New: Phonocut Desktop Disc Cutter

[Gus]

Just like a cd burner isn't enough to get tracks sounding great on CD, I really doubt this thing can do the magic it promises.
In my experience good cuts come from good (mastering) engineers. This one size fits all might be enough for some, but doubt it will be for me.
Worst case it will flood the market with sh*t sounding records.

For the DJ's: just buy the vinyl release. For your own music or tracks you get send by friends, find the best dubplate cutter you can find. He or she will make the tracks sound competing. No need for messing around yourself.

No worries, newbies will be very happy with this machine on Chinese price.Also don't forget many embossed discs sounds crappy but the fan's buying them.

[flozki]

hello
maybe i can give you some more infos. answers to the not asked questios as some seem to have questions, but i can't read them.

all info we think is important is on the official website. all other not important or it will show up later.

most important. this is not a neumann for 1k but its real. not a joke made by people who are serious about it and who try to cnvert dreams into reality.

its a simple machine that everybody can use. really like a printer. if you buy a 3d printer you also not expect a full metal cnc router.
so just take it as it is. a super simple machine. i wanted to do a one button machine and i did aone button machine. no display .nothing on the first unit.
i build and service lathes since 25 years and if i think i can build high quality stuff and add all features i want. but the goal was a simplicity.

the fact that those guys who present the machine in L.A. successfully managed to cut records is best proof for me that the concept can work.
none of them cut a record before. the democut they provide was maybe one of the first cuts they ever did. not perfect. but also not that bad.

also the goal was to present a real machine that can be built before kickstarter. too many just render projects are shown there.
so the thing is real and can be built. so this first machine is built and handcrafted by me and lots of other helfull hands.

for the moment is a beefed up kingston dubplatecutter with, i would say even better performing cutterhead than the kingston dubplatecutter had, a great mechanics and a state of the art bldc direct drive turntable. in a nice swiss made quality case 3mm alu case outside and finest mechanics.
done by designers and mechanical engineers who knows to do stuff like this. . i dont feel bad if some of you prefer the 1930ies presto's i can understand, but we are 2019 and there seems to be people who like stuff different.
so give them the freedom to do a lathe that looks 2019 and not 1930.

most of the inside cutting technology is nothing new for me, well prooved and tested and i know how to do.
challenge again was to make it useable for everbody. but to do it like this its qute a project.

please just take it as it is. and dont cry for features or whatever you can not find in the specs.
we have for almost everything a reason why its like this or not.
if you dont like it dont buy it and build your own. more fun to do. and this is why this forum exists.

if you have open questions ask and you might find an answer in the FAQ.

the most powerfull feature many of you might not even noticed.
the cutterhead is a cartridge.
you can theoretically dump a nice cutterhead if the stylus is broken or bad. of course the cartridge can be recycled or shipped back. but the nice thing is that you can upgrade and have different cartridges.
i mainly did this because i love to put a "HD-Vinyl ready sticker on the machine (sorry for bad jokes)
one intention is that it should be upgradeable and expandable. and super simple. we dont want to ask user to adjust stlus and groove adjustment.
so there might be one day a 78rpm mono cartridge with the right groove geometry and equalisation. whatever
for the user its nice to just buy a new cartridge. send the old back and click in the new one. all nice and good.

again. it takes away a lot of fun we all have with our pre-war and 50ies beauties....

as a start the 1k unit will most probabbly not be a same as neumann performing feedback cutterhead version. sorry.
but as most on this forum are happy with 1930 moving iron mono heads or speaker driven VR heads i guess we can easy bring
same or better quality on the entry model.

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.

dear lathetrolls. no danger for all your business or loosing value on your beloved presto or whatever.
its just a serious alternative to cut a record as simple as printing a sheet of paper out of your computer.
which was not the case so far. its also not killing the vinyl mastering business and and it wont be guilty for
disappearing pressing plants.
if you want an oil painting out of your favorite jpg image you dont expect that from your $99 inkjet printer.

so enjoy your nice old skool gear and if you are not one of the chosen lucky ones who have a neumann lathe or a presto in mint condition
or even better completly home built lathe there is just a chance to cut your own records at home, like most readers of this forum here.

thanks.hope that helps and if not, go to L.A. and check it out.maybe the european readers will have the chance too to see it in reality.

happy cutting.

[Fela Borbone]

Hello Flo,
Congrats for the new machine, It will make happy many people.
Just one question, I'm curious...
What kind of transducer has it?

Thanks.

[PlasticParty]

Thank you for spending the time to write so much information. It is great to hear this information from the creator.

I am very interested in this. I like the idea of there being possibilities to upgrade parts of it. As I will plan on using this to cut record for mixing are you able to tell me how deep it cuts and what the loudness is like?

$10 per blank seems a little expensive but I understand that you need to charge this to offset the low price you are charging for the cutter. How much of a discount will you offer for bulk buying records? Say a pack of 50?

Are you able to upload a sample of what house music sounds like when cut on this unit? I would like to hear what lower bass and kick drums sound like.

[Oldskoolhousehead]

If this is legit I am wondering if I can use a heated lamp to be able to cut to PVC blanks instead of their proprietary $10 each blanks. They are possibly softer as there doesn’t appear to be a heater on the unit. Once the details are out we will know more.

Has anybody experience buying blanks from here? http://recordblanks.com/product/10-record-blank/

Just for your information.

https://phonocut.com/#faq

[MikeyV]

I had written him a couple of days ago concerning, song seperation, vacuum and blank thickness......here was his reply

1. Song seperation (is this possible with the Phonocut)

yes sure.
just a question of software. the idea is to have a special app/software
plugin comming with the unit. so thats very easy.
for the prototpe. there was no space feature. but 2-3 lines of code can
change that.


2. What thickness of blanks would your machine be accommodating (.060
or .030)

sorry we have metric units. but it will be like a pressed record.
at the mometn 1.5-2mm blanks where both working. the machine is
intelligent enough to aut adjust.

3. Vacuum system (will it have it or will it be possible to fit one to
it)

we test right now various versions..we hoep to have a solution without.
but attaching a vacuum is very simple. for sure its much better
performance with vacuum. but there will be people who want a silent
vacuum free version. a brush that brings the chip in the middle. like
all the old lahtes in 40/50ies.

I would like to thank Flo for replying to my curiosities............have lots of other questions, but will wait and see.

[PlasticParty]

Cheers Mikey V for the information. I am glad to hear that they are considering the possibility to make adjustments to the setup. This makes it a much more professional unit.

I wonder what the cutting 'cartridge' is like? A concern of mine is that they stop supporting this after unit after a few years and im left with a cutter that I cant get blanks or cutting heads for. I hope there is a solution to find after market cutters and blanks.

[piaptk]

I saw this in action. It works great and sounds very good (current prototype has a Caruso). The current prototype is just that, and has some glitches, but they arent promising delivery for over 14 months from now, so they have time to fix all of that. And the people involved are all legit.

Due to the high price point for proprietary supplies, this wont kill the short run for bands market. But it will probably depress the market for old Vintage machines until people realize how much it will cost to make a record with this compared to a vintage machine.

This will be a sweet little consumer unit, but it is designed for the vinyl fan that wants to make custom mixtapes, not for a band who wants to make their own records for the merch table.

[PlasticParty]

I saw this in action. It works great and sounds very good (current prototype has a Caruso). The current prototype is just that, and has some glitches, but they arent promising delivery for over 14 months from now, so they have time to fix all of that. And the people involved are all legit.

Due to the high price point for proprietary supplies, this wont kill the short run for bands market. But it will probably depress the market for old Vintage machines until people realize how much it will cost to make a record with this compared to a vintage machine.

This will be a sweet little consumer unit, but it is designed for the vinyl fan that wants to make custom mixtapes, not for a band who wants to make their own records for the merch table.

I’m surprised this hasn’t been advertised more for vinyl DJs as they are the ones that would be most interested in making lots of one off records. I’m not really convinced about the vinyl “mixtape” angle due to the limited amount of running time and high costs. DJs are more forgiving on sound quality than people wanting to actually sit down and listen to records especially audiophiles. I have lots of records that I would be happy to DJ but not to sit down and listen too.

[flozki]

I saw this in action. It works great and sounds very good (current prototype has a Caruso)..

no caruso inside. its more like a dialba head (sc-99 follow up) but in a cartridge design.

there was question from FelaBorbone what kind of transducer as well:
so just a very state of the art moving coil feedback head. for the prototpe so far.


let see what will be in the final version. but i will make my best that it will sound right.
i guess thats the difference on this project that there are people involved who care about the product and result.

[PlasticParty]

i guess thats the difference on this project that there are people involved who care about the product and result.

This is very true. After some research you all appear to be the right men for the job. This is what makes me very interested in this project.

I am currently working in Italy so don’t think I’ll be able to stay up late for the start of the Kickstarter. I hope there is enough early bird units left for me to grab one.

I wish you all well with the launch of the Kickstarter.

[Oldskoolhousehead]

I’m surprised this hasn’t been advertised more for vinyl DJs as they are the ones that would be most interested in making lots of one off records. I’m not really convinced about the vinyl “mixtape” angle due to the limited amount of running time and high costs. DJs are more forgiving on sound quality than people wanting to actually sit down and listen to records especially audiophiles. I have lots of records that I would be happy to DJ but not to sit down and listen too.

Hello there. I sent an e-mail to djworx website last Sunday. They feature digital stuff most of the time, but they also press vinyl related news. I don’t know if my message will be noticed of course.

[Oldskoolhousehead]

I saw this in action. It works great and sounds very good (current prototype has a Caruso)..

no caruso inside. its more like a dialba head (sc-99 follow up) but in a cartridge design.

there was question from FelaBorbone what kind of transducer as well:
so just a very state of the art moving coil feedback head. for the prototpe so far.


let see what will be in the final version. but i will make my best that it will sound right.
i guess thats the difference on this project that there are people involved who care about the product and result.

Hello Mr. Kaufmann. I have a few questions for you. Will those records be RIAA compatible? Can this machine cut deep grooves? And what is your opinion about these blanks? Thanks in advance.

https://blanqrecords.com/

[PlasticParty]

I’m a frequent visitor of DJWORX as well. Mark normally waits until the hype has been confirmed before posting anything new. I imagine he is waiting until the Kickstarter launch before making a post.

Have a look at these blanks: http://recordblanks.com/product/10-record-blank/ they are black and 1.5mm thick.

The creator did say that the cutter is designed to only recognise proprietary blanks as its a way to offset the cheap cutter cost. He did hint that it will be hackable though.

[Oldskoolhousehead]

I’m a frequent visitor of DJWORX as well. Mark normally waits until the hype has been confirmed before posting anything new. I imagine he is waiting until the Kickstarter launch before making a post.

Have a look at these blanks: http://recordblanks.com/product/10-record-blank/ they are black and 1.5mm thick.

The creator did say that the cutter is designed to only recognise proprietary blanks as its a way to offset the cheap cutter cost. He did hint that it will be hackable though.

Hello again. As I said before I’m not a DJ but I want to be a successful one. And vinyl is the only option for me. Concerning the record blanks in blanqrecords website; I learned that these blanks are quite light (for instance 10 inch 1 mm. thick blanks weigh 60 grams).

[PlasticParty]

You are better with 1.5mm. 1mm is too thin and clear vinyl is a nightmare to DJ with.

[Oldskoolhousehead]

You are better with 1.5mm. 1mm is too thin and clear vinyl is a nightmare to DJ with.

According to their website black blanks will be available in the future. If we return to Phonocut, I want to have one and cut my own compilations for my sets.

[Gus]

10 hours before Kickstarter stars people here talk how to hack it

[flozki]

Well.not decided yet what happens if you hack the lathe.maybe I put in a small plugin that convert all your nice music to most ugly Austria folk music.
Or as an option the picture of a wellknown german king of proprietary stli&disks..
just another few lines of code...
For sure the machine will know if it’s a real nice blank or a potential Austrian folk record...so better spend the first few bucks on the real shit...
I come with a hacker background...so I know the game a little everything is possible just the question if it worth it.
Looking forward to the creative solutions from both sides hehe

[PlasticParty]

Well.not decided yet what happens if you hack the lathe.maybe I put in a small plugin that convert all your nice music to most ugly Austria folk music.
Or as an option the picture of a wellknown german king of proprietary stli&disks..
just another few lines of code...
For sure the machine will know if it’s a real nice blank or a potential Austrian folk record...so better spend the first few bucks on the real shit...
I come with a hacker background...so I know the game a little everything is possible just the question if it worth it.
Looking forward to the creative solutions from both sides hehe

My intentions were not to 'hack' your lathe. I asked if it could cut other blanks incase after a few years you drop support and people are left with a lathe they can not use anymore. This is a valid concern. I understand and agree with your reasoning for this.