They also tend to be superior when it comes to maintaining a constant speed, virtually eliminating wow and flutter-audible pitch variations that occur because the record is being rotated at an inconstant rate. The SL-1200, also designed by Obata, came three years and a few product models later.ĭirect-drive turntables have high torque, which means that, among other things, they spin up to speed almost instantaneously. It hit the market in 1969 ( MoMA has one in its permanent collection). The first electronic direct-drive turntable, the SP10, was designed by Shuichi Obata, an engineer with Matsushita’s Technics division. Some tinkered with direct-drive turntables, but a direct-drive would require very precise control of motor acceleration and speed, and achieving that in a mass-market record player remained impractical for decades.Įlectronics finally provided the means. Turntable manufacturers understood that it could be advantageous to dispense with belts, which weren’t ideal for maintaining a consistent spin rate and were also prone to failure. Belt drives were the next step (and opinions vary as to whether the step was forward or backward). To spin the platter, some of the early machines used idler-wheel drives: the motor spun the idler wheel, and the idler wheel turned the platter. Many of the first models relied on cranks and flywheels to spin discs at a consistent speed. The overwhelming success of the platter format led to a complete takeover of the market by turntables. Then in 1892, Emile Berliner began commercializing disk-shaped records. His original machine, built in 1877, recorded on cylindrical media. Of his many inventions, Thomas Edison liked the phonograph best. It was a surprising twist in the long history of recorded sound. And there was one specific model that was overwhelmingly used in early hip-hop: the Technics SL-1200. In this role, the turntables were an essential element in the development of hip-hop, the most popular and enduring new musical genre in the last 50 years. The direct-drive turntable is the only music-playback device to become a musical instrument itself.
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