Russian homemade DJ cassette decks

DJ ~~Aptem~~Artyom is a new MT hero - he's done what I always dreamed of doing when I was little and couldn't afford a pair of Technics. He's built a pair varispeed tape decks, complete with 'jog wheel', EQ and motor off switches. He also has a nice minimal studio setup (he only uses Max/MSP). DJ Aptem, we salute you! Here is the Flickr photoset, and here is DJ Artyom's own website, with mix MP3s getting very heavy traffic. (Thanks, Tommy and Waxy)

Posted by Tom Whitwell.

Comments:

I love this! See, house party DJ's need something that's cheap in case drunk people crash into their equipemnt, or spill a cup full of cheap beer all over it. Why ruin your Technic's or your SUPER expensive Dennon or Pioneer CD decks. If only somebody would hack an ipod to have pitch control. That's the real ticket.

Quick Verbal Tactics dot Com

# posted by

Josh : 8:08 pm

That's beautiful!

# posted by

cemenTIMental : 8:13 pm

Are a pair of technics 1200s really that expensive? I got mine for $500 But its still pretty cool with tapes...I wonder if you can scratch with it?

# posted by

Anonymous : 11:01 pm

looks likt something you'd find at Firmfm.. lol

# posted by

Anonymous : 11:41 pm

dj aptem sounds better to these Irish ears anyway...

snappier, easier to say - easy to write.

# posted by

chunkybacon : 12:03 am

Brilliant.

# posted by

Greg : 1:09 am

I bought a double tape deck with varispeed in the early 90's (Denon, I think from memory) it seemed like a good idea at the time, before I realised what a massive pain in the arse cueing and indeed recording stuff onto tape was - cheaper than vinyl, I grant you.

# posted by

Anonymous : 2:22 am

Speaking of pitch control for ipods

# posted by

Anonymous : 7:48 am

What the hell? You guys got the concept aaaaaaaall wrong! Talkaing bout cheap decks... wtf shame on you... this is just about the coolest thing ive ever seen, and then one fool comes up with a comment about an ipod with pitch or whatever. U really think this thing would be cheap if it went into production... jesus!

# posted by

Anonymous : 12:11 pm

Anyone have links to diy casette hardware projects?

# posted by

Anonymous : 12:50 pm

I thought about making this kind of casette player once, but i never really got to it. This is a major source of inspiration!

# posted by

Anonymous : 2:39 pm

i Love these sort of projects !!

And if it was mine i wouldn't be happy if people spilled beer over it either....it's not always about $$$$$$$$

# posted by

Anonymous : 6:27 pm

The post-data.com link is great. Thanks for posting it. Went to the FAQ:
http://www.post-data.org/cassette/rules2.html

Q&A #12 on what past contestants have done is esp. fun.

FWIW: Quick & dirty cassette player fun is using any portable with a remote jack for playback. With a mic that has remote plug and on/off switch, you can turn the cassette playback on and off. For older players esp. you'll get a quick ramping up to pitch at the start of playback and a ramping down at the stop.

May be too coarse an effect for CJ apps, but could comprise a poor man's Mellotron of sorts--multiple cass. portables each with its own source tape to play and yoked a "keyboard" of on/off switches. No, I haven't gone that far yet (complex implementations make my head hurt), but if anyone has . . .

# posted by

Anonymous : 3:04 pm

do you kiddies even know what a cassette is???

# posted by

Anonymous : 5:25 pm

Imagine the possibilities too... like, if he built in a mic to each tape deck and hit record on a blank and recorded his voice while scratching, thereby layering his voice going forwards and backwards in real-time... wow, the effects that would have.

# posted by

Anonymous : 5:35 pm

looks likt something you'd find at Firmfm.. lol

# posted by

Anonymous : 7:34 am

luv the guy a saw who used two cassette decks and a dj mixer, cross-fade, duck and dive
you can pinch the rollers for cool effects and get nasty.

# posted by

Anonymous : 9:21 pm

Very cool, I'll give you that. But it's riduculous to compare these to technics as an alternative.

Here's a question for you, one DJ is rocking these in one room full of girls, another is rocking some technics and vestax in another room full of girls. Who's gonna get laid? :)

# posted by

Anonymous : 2:12 pm

Great invention, wish I was that clever.

# posted by

Anonymous : 5:19 am

These are great.

# posted by

Anonymous : 11:31 pm

I love creativity.

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credit info.

# posted by

Anonymous : 2:32 pm

Somebody would hack an ipod ot have pitch control.

# posted by

Anonymous : 8:51 am

ok..let's all maintain focus on the analog goodness here.. no ipods please! I own one, but hell, it ha its place in the media thanks..

Any video clips of these tape decks in action?
i want to see this thing working real time, and no mix that was possibly 'refined' via digital edits.

Is he using a belt driven motor here? Technics, among other companies made Direct drive servo based motors in the 80's which are very good.. but probably harder to work with ?

Has anyone seen a space echo made out of old decks and such? that would be sweet to have and it'svery possible to do. Too bad they don't teach basic electroinics in schools.. we could all collaborate more and understand each other and people could understand what a capacitor does, or what a transformer is good for (no not one those little robots ! :D )) Great post thanks

# posted by

freQazoidiac : 2:01 am