Anyone using a portable turntable to sample from?

I'm thinking of getting a portable TT with built-in speaker for my living room and would want to use it to sample records when I'm not upstairs in the studio.

Have been looking at some £60-£100 models, such as Crosley and Steepletone. I don't expect a great sound from the built-in speakers but wonder if this'll matter if using the line out to sample into Audacity?

Are any of you guys using something similar and if so, which unit would you recommend?

crosleys are garbage. can't speak for the other brand.

some ppl actually use the Numark PT01, although they are a bit thin.

if you can find a Soundburger, the audio quality is good, but they are rare and a bit pricey for a decent working unit. The motors are not replaceable.

I have a few random turntables and sample from this newer Crosley with built-in speakers. Does the job fine for me but nothing to write home about... at all.

The Numark PT01 is hardly portable. The fact the thing takes 6 D batteries sucks too.

had pt01 and it worked like it supposed to, buddy had Vestax Handy Trax. Must say I liked it better than my pt01

konc3pt wrote:had pt01 and it worked like it supposed to, buddy had Vestax Handy Trax. Must say I liked it better than my pt01

I've got my eye on a HandyTrax on Ebay at the minute - think they look the part. Deciding whether USB is gonna be needed or not

mastasteez wrote:

konc3pt wrote:had pt01 and it worked like it supposed to, buddy had Vestax Handy Trax. Must say I liked it better than my pt01

I've got my eye on a HandyTrax on Ebay at the minute - think they look the part. Deciding whether USB is gonna be needed or not

I'd say %90 of thet time it wont, but the %10 you'll wish it had.

You can get away with Line-in on just about anything though.

konc3pt wrote:

mastasteez wrote:

konc3pt wrote:had pt01 and it worked like it supposed to, buddy had Vestax Handy Trax. Must say I liked it better than my pt01

I've got my eye on a HandyTrax on Ebay at the minute - think they look the part. Deciding whether USB is gonna be needed or not

I'd say %90 of thet time it wont, but the %10 you'll wish it had.

You can get away with Line-in on just about anything though.

yeah that's what i was thinking. I've never sampled into Audacity before but having a quick look it seems easy using line in. I'll see if i can get the HnadyTrax for less than £100

I own the HandyTrax for the same reason as you want one and it's pretty dope. It's also handy for those long diggin' excursions too, nothing like playing records in the car hahaha. You should see some of the looks you get when you drive down the motorway!

I do use it for sampling, although, you can sort of hear the motor whirring if you listen closely. The built-in speaker isn't bad really, with a decent noise level. Plugged into headphones or speakers it does sound better though. One thing I've noticed with the Vestax; the needle can skip/skate if a record is even slightly warped. People do say that the needles can be pretty hard-wearing too.

I use mine mainly for quick sketching-out of beats, it'd probably be really nice paired with a 500 or a 1K.

With regards to the Numark PT01, that's also a good turntable. A mate of mine owns one and I reckon it's a decent table, it ain't heavy though jnorth!

IllRhythm wrote:I own the HandyTrax for the same reason as you want one and it's pretty dope. It's also handy for those long diggin' excursions too, nothing like playing records in the car hahaha. You should see some of the looks you get when you drive down the motorway!

I do use it for sampling, although, you can sort of hear the motor whirring if you listen closely. The built-in speaker isn't bad really, with a decent noise level. Plugged into headphones or speakers it does sound better though. One thing I've noticed with the Vestax; the needle can skip/skate if a record is even slightly warped. People do say that the needles can be pretty hard-wearing too.

I use mine mainly for quick sketching-out of beats, it'd probably be really nice paired with a 500 or a 1K.

With regards to the Numark PT01, that's also a good turntable. A mate of mine owns one and I reckon it's a decent table, it ain't heavy though jnorth!

Seen you for a while!

I'm probably just dreaming that one day they'll be a truly portable turntable (that's easy to get ahold of) that's small enough not to take up too much space in a backpack. Would have really loved one of these:



over £199 for one of these ****
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/VINTAGE-1970s-YELLOW-SOUND-BURGER-AT727-AUDIO-TECHNICA-PORTABLE-RECORD-PLAYER-/371072169332?pt=UK_AudioTVElectronics_HomeAudioHiFi_Turntables&hash=item56659ff574

I wonder what a portable Turntable made by Apple would be like? Suprised they haven't tried it! The hipsters would buy tons.

ive used the pt 01 on every beat for the last like 5 years

i also used a pt-01, recently sold it, so im sample-less now, but it was fantastic for what it was.

would buy another.

you wont be disappointed if you buy it for sampling, and the speaker is a nice touch too. its also awesome you can hook up headphones to it.
its nice of having the option for digging at places that dont have listening stations.

north wrote:over £199 for one of these ****

Save your pennies and get one. It'll hold its value if you decide to sell it later.

I recently picked up a Pro Sony Walkman recorder from the 80s. Love it.

I do use it for sampling, although, you can sort of hear the motor whirring if you listen closely.

I agree with this.

I've owned 3 handy trax (regular models without USB). The best is to use them with batteries. The unit weights then a bit less than 2 kilos.

Don't expect a good sound quality. I used them to get a dirty sound (hiss, wow&flutter when depitching..etc)

Here is an example of whirring on the main sample :
http://tnkz.bandcamp.com/track/yasfool-3

Here is an example of the dirty sound mentioned above (there's not only the handy trax btw. I used a s950 and a hardware compressor and - tune inside the MPC)
http://tnkz.bandcamp.com/track/cleanbreak-4

PEAce

i used to have a vestax handytrax, they are really nice. the needles are easy to find too, the seem to have them in old hifi shops, i suspect that they are an old 80's design.

the thing i didn't like about it was the way the motor switches off when you take the arm off the record. and the way the plastic case really picks up vibrations.

it's a shame they gave the volume control a fader and the pitch control a tiny little knob.

when sampling i use the pitch control a lot. so i'd lean towards either the vestax or the numark.

obviously you can't compare these picnic turntables to real dj turntables like 1200s or vestax.

don't worry about usb, you should be recording directly into the mpc anyway.