Technics Turntables Quartz Lock

[LuvLatins]

I hate my quartzlock on my technics. Has anyone performed the Hack to disable this ? If disabling the Quartz lock really worth doing. I just cant seem to bring myself to hack a mint pair of decks

HELP

[Super D]

Originally Posted by jbandes

I hate my quartzlock on my technics. Has anyone performed the Hack to disable this ? If disabling the Quartz lock really worth doing. I just cant seem to bring myself to hack a mint pair of decks

HELP

why do you hate your quartzlock?

super d(motordetroit) 8)

[LuvLatins]

I am an old queen. Having said that I come from the old school of mixing long gradual blended type mixes. I beleive real talent is in long smooth gradual mixes. Having said that I find it very difficult to to do these types of mixes with the quartz lock feature enabled. The tables fight me and do not allow records to stay in synch long. Some have told me that I will have more control of the tables if I disable the quartz lock.

I am trying to determine if that is true. It would appear that it is true but them resynching the tables sounds painful to get dead zero.

[QUINNY]

There's always been quartz locking on 1200s hasn't there? Unless they've done something really weird, how would it affect your ability to mix?

[LuvLatins]

Yes there has always been quartz lock but many DJ's remove the quartz lock see this article http://www.mio.co.za/printpage.php?id=238

[QUINNY]

Umm.

Bet the guy who wrote it is into turntabilism to some extent.

What sort of music are you mixing?

I guess it could be a problem if you're deliberately mixing in an old Disco record slightly fast and applying pressure to the turntable to adjust for speed fluctuations. With modern day stuff this shouldn't be an issue as the tempos are rock solid.

However, it could also mean that you're trying to do overly long mixes and you could easily compensate for this by doing a mix over say 8 or 16 bars instead of 16 or 32 (48,64) and starting the incoming record 8,16 (32,48) bars earlier without having the fader up.

If you're doing long mixes just for the hell of it, you've really gotta question why?

[LuvLatins]

The mixes at the Saint and the Garage that drove the crowd wild were the ones you could gradually hear coming in. The magic, was if the DJ was really good, you would not be able to identify the incoming song. You knew it was coming in but you could not identify it until the very last minute. Here is a small example of a mix done by DJ Michael DePrisco at the DCA in Philadelphia in the 1980s. Notice the sound of the horn in the attached sample mix. The mix is over 15 measures in length. Even this example shows you what I mean, it is a bit off. Your correct today I guess the drum lines are perfect but your correct on old disco they were real drums and not so percise.

http://www.jbandes.com/Samples/mix1.mp3

[QUINNY]

I should think all of the ex DJs around here have done mixes in their time that lasted 2 minutes. I certainly have (was listening to one that went over 2.25 the other day), but now listen to them and think of "why do dogs lick their bollocks....'cos they can." It was/is no big deal.

Someone (a fellow DJ) once said to me "I love it when you mix 'cos I can here what the next record is". Different strokes for different folks I guess. I personally think the DJs 'teased' you by making the incoming record unidentifiable, because they weren't quite synced and nothing to do with deliberate thought. I personally can't see the point of doing a mix if the incoming record is so low in the mix that it can't be identified. Having said that, it still gives me a rush when I hear a more prominent bass underneath and hear the odd sound effect without fully knowing whiuch record it is. Some intros were simply less easy to put yer finger on.

[Super D]

"Quinny" I agree__ this hacked off method seems useless :roll: ---either you can blend or you can't. :o ....many times I had to ride the finger lightly against the plate to perfect a rolling blend....some tracks go better with others...experience tells you that....I don't think I have ever went into a mix not knowing what the blending track is....it just seems odd to have to go thru such extremities as to hacking up your babies(1200's) :cry: ....then too, what ever works for you. I once new a dj that thought it was a sin to touch the platter with his hands after he initially caught the beat...he would ride the pitch control all the way thru the blend....for me__ my trusty finger has helped me out of many, many, disasters.

I'm sure if the research department of Technics thought this was a serious concern, this problem would already have been addressed.

super d(motordetroit) 8)

[LuvLatins]

I agree with both of you. Brian at KISS in New York, used to just let the deck go and it was perfect. Did not even use a headphone during the mix. However a good ear hear can hear a finger draging on the plater, especially at 200,000 watts. And when the qurtzlock is fighting you, no matter how much pressure you apply its a drag.

Never did figure out how Brian used to just let it go and have it in synch perfectly. I guess he really knew his music and it just takes practice but you guys have convinced me to just leave the decks alone. No sense in destroying a perfectly good set of decks to accomplish this MOD

James

[QUINNY]

Originally Posted by jbandes

I agree with both of you. Brian at KISS in New York, used to just let the deck go and it was perfect. Did not even use a headphone during the mix. However a good ear hear can hear a finger draging on the plater, especially at 200,000 watts. And when the qurtzlock is fighting you, no matter how much pressure you apply its a drag.

Never did figure out how Brian used to just let it go and have it in synch perfectly. I guess he really knew his music and it just takes practice but you guys have convinced me to just leave the decks alone. No sense in destroying a perfectly good set of decks to accomplish this MOD

James

200,000 watts!!! :o :o :o only twice as loud as 20,000, which was more than loud enough last time I heard a system of that size.

Talk about diminishing returns.

[LuvLatins]

:) wishful thinking on my part.

The lighting system is essentially limited to projecting from the center onto the dome's inner surface. The star projectors (one for each hemisphere) are ten times brighter than in the standard planetarium so that the projections are visible in contrast to the other lighting effects... the projector can tilt, rotate, or turn the hemispheres upside down. Another system consists of 12 spots mounted on one of the light rings above whose color and beam spread can be changed at the flick of a switch. At $2000 each, these units use polarized liquid crystal field controlled by electronic signal.

The 26,000 watt sound system is probably the most powerful per square foot for entertainment purposes in existence. Designed to reproduce sound as recorded, the system is based on the distributed concept rather than point source concept.

The heart of the system is an Audionics Space and Image Composer that separates the music signal into the dome's quadrants, with 14 channels of amplification each. In order to isolate the three record turntables from the dance floor's vibration, they are set on top of a 1500 pound concrete slab. The slab is suspended by pneumatic isolators.

Six booth monitors each with separate volume controls are used because of the delay in the room from the opposite side of the dome. Four of the monitors surround the DJ. The other two are behind the lighting system operator. To eliminate echo, high frequency speakers mounted on acrylic and sealed 1.25 inches from the dome with rubber gaskets, are aimed directly at the dancers. The Saint's sound system was designed specifically for fidelity. The sound system disappears physically and sonically. The dancer is left only with music, time and space.

[Super D]

Wow__ talk'in bout' "big baller" system! :-?

Your into all of that, and you are worried about quartz lock. :roll:

I feel so cheap now :cry:

super d(motordetroit) 8)

[LuvLatins]

I did not spin at the club mentioned above. It was called the Saint, its gone now but it was amazing. I did speak recently to one of the DJs that spun there (Robbie Leslie) and here is what he said about the quartz lock.

(smile)

Bobby Viteritti, one of my DJ tutors, taught me that no matter how light a touch you had, you could always hear it when someone was touching the platter with the channel open. He was the one who got me to always use the pitch slide bar…

My two cents.

Bobby Viteritti on an original Technichs 1200

[LuvLatins]

Now here is what you call mixing WOW

http://www.jbandes.com/samples/trust.mp3