Quartz lock function?

J

joeygill

Guest
Hey guys, excuse this newbie question ... but what exactly does the quartz lock button on the turntable do?
 
basically, when engaged, it makes the plater rotate at exactly 33 or 45 rpms controling it with some kind of quartz cristal thats very accurate... mmm... or something like that... like watches

be aware that on 1200 the quartz lock only works for the normal fixed speeds (33 & 45) . I think Vestax works in a different way... and im sure someone else will explain that :D
 
so i can have the pitch at .. say ... -4% and the minute i hit quartz lock it goes back to 0% ?
 
Yup that's on the tables that have a separate quartz lock or "pitch lock" button. Most of the newer TT's have that. You could say it practically comes down to disable the pitch slider. When the quartzlock is engaged, the platter rotates at nominal speed (33/3, 45 and 78 RPM if available).

The SL1200 mk2 works in a different way. They have an automatic quartz lock that kicks in at 0% (if calibrated right). It ensures that if your pitch slider is on the 0% point, the pitch will really be 0% (in other words deactivated).
 
ummm...i think we should clarify the difference between quartz lock and pitch reset. quartz lock disables the pitch slider, so if you move it, the pitch won't change. pitch reset, on the other hand, takes the pitch back to 0%.
 
Actually they come down to the same thing, because if acts like you say, it would involve an automatic slide of the pitch button to 0%.

I only know a few TT's that have that. For all the others the quartz lock or pitch reset behave the same way : you activate it and you got 0%, you deactivate it and you got your pitch setting (where the slider is) again.
 
on my numarks, the quartz lock disables the pitch slider. it doesn't take the pitch back to zero though. maybe it's different on other decks.
 
What about on CD units? Most haeva pitch button... it will turn the pitch feature off... so you can slide it aroudn all you want, and won't change the music at all..... It's digital (I woudl imagine) IS ti as accurate as quartz lock? more accurate, less accurete?... just curiouse..
 
hey guys... youre all saying the same thing...

i mean, disabling the pitch slider and taking it back to 0 is just the same...

on my numarks, the quartz lock disables the pitch slider. it doesn't take the pitch back to zero though. maybe it's different on other decks.
Click to expand...

what you can say is that there is a difference between the quartz lock function on the m3d and the one on the mkII (meaning the first one has a pitch lock button and the mkII has it on the slider itself) as Dj Thy explained above
 
i mean, disabling the pitch slider and taking it back to 0 is just the same...
Click to expand...

but it's not! i can jack a track up 4%, then hit the quartz lock button. the pitch is now locked at 4%, and it won't change, even if i move the pitch slider. but it doesn't return it to zero, tho. if i want the pitch to return to zero, i have to hit the quartz lock button again (to disable it) and physically move the pitch slide back to the zero point.
 
thats not the way it works floorgasm...

if youre at +4 and hit the quartz lock... the pitch goes back to 0 and the slider remains on +4... when you hit the button again... you go back to +4

this applies to technics, dont know how other decks work tho

i dont find the use of locking the pitch at, say +3 or +4... when you can accomplish that just by...... not touching the slider

not sure if that made sense
 
it must work differently on numarks.

i've never bothered using the quartz lock when mixing. like you said, just don't touch the pitch slider.
 
No... I have both on my CD player..... and I've played with TT's that had a pitch bend....a pitch bend does just that.... it bends the pitch... it's for makign smaller adjustments that the pitch slider.... liek if you have two records matched up.. but after a little they get slighty off... you can hit the pitch bend, and they will go back together... the much more popular way of doing this on TT's is to "break" or "push" the record.. it does the same thing.... the quartz lock sends it back to Zero pitch..... imagine it like turning off the pitch slider..... (which is essentially what CD models do) so thier two different things.... I dont' know if CD players actually use a quartz funtion, or if it's all digital.. I asked the question, bu tI guess no one knew the answer... If you find out anytime let me know :)
 
ok... I got'cha ;) ... I'm gettin ST-100's whichs has a '6% manual pitch bend' feature and the 'Key Adjust (Change the speed without changing the key)' but yeah... i was just wondering.

But I gotta question: Has anyone used http://www.groovetech.com/ to buy LP's (wow thats really 'ol skool... you would never think a 17 year old be callin records Lp's) and what have you? I've been exploring it and it seems really good, even has preview streams... and i'm not talkin bout the 30 second sh!t cdnow has I mean like 2-3 mins. But I wanted to see what ya'll think bout it.
 
g'tech is ill as hell.. good prices and good shipping rates.... they're good people
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top