There was some discussion about the Vestax VRX 2000 vinyl cutting lathe
on the list. The latest (March 2000) issue of Wired had a little article
about the Swiss company Vinylium, who are also planning to release a
similiar device this spring. The good news is that it seems that their
machine is cheaper than the £ 4,000 quoted on Vestax. Their "FAQ of the
Dubplate Cutting Machine" (http://www.vinylium.ch/stuka/dubfaq.html)
sez: "our aim is something about $4000.- with Head and Electronics..."
So at the current rate this is nearly some 35% cheaper than the Vestax
one. And even better thing is that now there is competition, which is
bound to affect Vestax prices also.
Of course both prices are preliminary (the Vestax price is more of a
rumor). And for the Vinylium cutter you need a Technics SL1200/1210
turntable, while the Vestax cutter seems to be a standalone. On the
other hand, should you have access to affordable cutting heads, you can
buy the Vinylium equipment without the head for $ 2,500.
The Vinylium site offers also other interesting info on the cutter, for
example that the cutting stylus will wear off in 20 hours of use (on
acetate, that is, the FAQ doesn't say anything about cutting to vinyl).
There is also a neato section about dubplate cutting called "Flo's
cutterhead page", including the hilarious "HOW TO BUILD YOUR OWN CUTTING
MACHINE" section (http://www.stratozoo.ch/cut/prmitivcut.html). I quote:
"do it here is a step by step guide to build a cutting machine for 5
bucks...... maybe you can approve it a little bit...but it
works...without electricity...."
This archive was generated by hypermail 2b29 : Mon Mar 20 2000 - 15:35:03 MET