INSUBCONTINENT EXCLUSIVE:
Vinyl has been coming back for the last few years, but unlike MP3s, CDs or even cassette tapes (also coming back), records aren&t easy to
This tiny toy record maker makes it easy, though you probably shouldn&t expect that famous vinyl sound quality.
The Easy Record Maker was
created by designer Yuri Suzuki, who has been itching to do something like this for years.
&This idea has been my dream machine since I was
teenager,& Suzuki told Dezeen
Digital media are easy to copy, but making your own vinyl has proven difficult
&Of course professional-use record cutting machines exist, but they are very expensive
As it a complicated process with records, there is no way to create them at home.&
That not quite true — last year the Phonocut record
maker hit Kickstarter and more than doubled its goal, but the large (think turntable plus hi-fi), $1,000+ machine is a bit more than many
The tiny Easy Record Maker is meant to be a simpler, smaller option for people who want, for instance, to let their kids create their own
(This was done in the past when records were more common, but this is surely a more serious effort.)
The device cuts and plays five-inch
records, of which it comes with 10, at both 33 and 45 RPM
Operating it is as simple as plugging a sound source — your phone, a mic, whatever — into the 1/8″ headphone jack and playing the
content while the cutting head is in the groove
Put down the other head to play it back, or put the record in any other turntable.
The resulting records have a &nice low-fi sound,& Suzuki
said, which is as much as admitting they don&t sound particularly good — but that not the point.
He hoping that the device will make the
idea and process of creating vinyl records familiar to a new generation, helping them appreciate the physical side of the medium and the
value of a permanent object associated with music rather than a fleeting stream.
There no price yet, and no definite retailers, but expect
the Easy Record Maker to be available later this year (certainly before the holidays) online and in a few stores in the U.S
