I have a “homemade” record of my dad singing that he sent home when he was in the army WW2. It was done by the Red Cross. Pretty good quality and I treasure it despite it being a bit scratchy. Cool video thanks!

As a child I used to have fun putting my fingernail into the record groove while it‘s spinning - yes, you can actually hear the music that way! I found that fascinating. As an adult, I have to add that you should only do that to records you don‘t care about too much 😂

As someone who has worked with both home and semi-pro level lathes for a while now, I think the biggest problem in fidelity is due to cutting cold into the plastic. Try heating the blank record under a lamp just before, or while making the cut. I've gotten much better fidelity simply pressing a groove into a sheet, or "embossing," than I ever have when trying to actually cut into plastic. Maybe something to consider as a mod for the machine?

The first chord you played with the sampled instrument shocked me, turned out really cool. Great work!

Its just insane to me how a needle can make all these millions of sounds from just plastic it’s magic

When i was 15 I built a recording phonograph that used: 1) cardboard discs cut from the plastic-coated cardboard boxes refrigerators came in, 2) old acetate-covered transcription discs, 3) thick candle-wax poured on top of shirt cardboards cut into discs. I used a needle stylus glued to a thin plastic sheet glued to the open end of one of the weight retainers on a barbell, with the whole affair amplified by a swiped orange road-cone horn. The results? Really not bad at all when played on a regular HiFi at 78 RPM. I still have "Shortnin Bread" played by my Troop 188 boy scout band. Other than the fact that you had to shout and record really close to the mouth of the horn, these DIY experiments were really a lot of enduring fun. Keep at it yourself! you'll succeed without Gakken!

When in my 20s (mid 1960s) I was servicing electronics, I had acquired a Presto cutter with the hot needle add on, repaired the record amp, and cut many acetate records. I learned how to operate my lathe from Glenn Campbell of G&C Records Pittsburgh, and even worked with him learning the business using the 2 presses he had. I met him when his Ampex 8 track (tube record/play amplifiers) needed service. Watching this video made me wish I had kept the Presto! Glenn retired and I lost track of him. The studio electronics were all tube including Neuman condenser tube mics, Western Electric board, Ampex 1" 8 track, Ampex 1/4" 2 track, Ampex 1/4" full track, Pultek EQs, EMT plate reverb, Altec amps, and more than I remember. As Bob Hope would say.......Thanks for the memories! Lou, Clearwater FL

The coolest thing in the video is how you turned out the usual expectations around the device and made it into a sound producer instead of a reproducer. Awesome job, Dave.

if you are able to get enough volume onto the needle, you can get an ok sound with ambient music. it also helps to use a small paintbrush to brush away the swarf, and it helps if the record blank is warm when you cut. we used to do them on cd singles as bonus tracks. you could play the compact-disc as a record as well as a cd, they were done on a homebrew cutter.

this is so freaking cute how you two collaborated. thanks so much for introducing this musical tool/toy to me, for the unboxing and essay around the device, and for providing these beautiful, eclectic samples. i greatly appreciate all you two have done and look forward to more collaborative work between you two

While watching this video, I couldn't stop thinking about a way to use it in sound design and then you went and did it. The sample library sounds amazing. Thanks for sharing it with us.

I was super curious about the TE kit, so it’s really cool to see this deep dive into the history of consumer record cutters. My neighbors had a record cutter in their bar/rumpus room, I wish we’d been allowed to play with it. Also learned a few things about how records are made that I never knew. And now I want to write a song called “Swarf” Thank you!

For some reason your videos haves a very calming effect on me Such a friendly and peaceful narrator voice Thank you for your beautiful work!

Your videos are so cool! You make audio equipment and sound design look like the coolest things ever!

A very interesting library and great to hear your wife getting in on the act, definitely need more of you both working together in the future.

Very interesting! Thanks for taking the time to do this video and share this info David

great what you made in the ending finding an alternate use, this sounds so smooth and calming

Thank you for giving away such wonderful samples. You are inspiring and make this world a better place with your science and art.

I think your approach of sampling waves is the best use anyone could do of this machine, well done sir!

I can't get enough of your videos. Great work!!

Best new channel I've discvovered. Love it even more by each new video I watch.

7:32 - The hit of nostalgia I experienced for a time I wasn't even born in, is fascinating. So many stories told, so little time to listen to them all.

the sample library you created out of this product is exactly why i bought it. i wanted to do the exact same thing and have some fun in my sonic journey. thanks for doing this!

this is incredible as always David!

Gakken kits are awesome! One of my first synths was the SX-150, which I still use sometimes for beeps and blorps and fshhh.

I decided to come back to this video for not only for the fact that you can create homemade vinyls (though that is very cool) but for the one song you used in this. I feel captivated by this song. Think you should turn your sample into a full song for people to listen! I don't think I've heard something like this before! So please do! I would love to hear something just like what you just made!

awesome!! thank you both for sharing this with us, what a stunning little piece of tech...

Beautiful little video and record player. I am so glad that I came across your channel a few months back. Got me into synths!

The way the sample library you made sounds is so calming and nostalgic, I love it.

Love your videos! I feel like I check almost every day to see if you've posted a new one. You are a master!

Man you are so awesome. Fascinating content and the sample packs sound great!👏

thank you so much for making the sample library free, you are awesome

the song you made was so wonderful. even though it was just a sample i would love to be able to listen to the full thing one day on spotify

i subscribed because of how beautiful the production of your videos are. amazing work man. super educational informative and interesting

The Gakken toy record maker is a lot of fun,and with the proper adjustments and a few mods,it can cut half decent records.Using lubricants as liquid turtle wax,helps a lot with the sound quality.

This is great! A very educational video on vinyl cutters. Thank you for sharing this!! 😃

Your videos are SO amazing. What a gift.

wow! what the heck! i had just discovered this a few days ago and just now you post a review! anyway, super cool to see how well (or not well) this works and i really love the sound of that sample library

You never cease to amaze, Dave ❤

What an interesting concept! Thanks Dave

Love the video! Goes to show that any piece of gear can be turned into something useful.

Wow man! This library rocks. Thanks for the mail!

My grandmother & step-grandfather and (a few years later) my mom & dad got married in Las Vegas in the 1950’s and the chapel recorded each ceremony on a record. I still have the recordings of the ceremonies. One of my prized possessions.

What a cool gadget! And likewise, the way you used it to create a sample really surprised me! It has such a nice warmth to it!

Nice! I love that. Reminds me of the cool stuff that Alessandro Cortini does with old tascam tape recorders.

Thank you Dave for your lovely videos

Hey, that's funny, just bought one of these and was planning to make a video on it! First time I cut a record with this, I was expecting my first one to come out terribly but it actually sounded pretty great. I was in awe, I couldn't believe I had actually just cut a record with a tiny kit I built hours ago.

Awesome video. Loved it ❤ always wondered how records actually worked. In love with vinyls something about them that’s comforting.

Goes to show you that today we have everything given to us on a silver platter. But look at how much work and devotion went into something just to make the process work! I certainly appreciate this learning experience.

My grandpa had one of those Wilcox-Gay record cutters. When he died I found only a single cut record in his home, and it was a little audio postcard that my grandma and aunt had recorded for him while he was away in WW2. I recorded and cleaned up a digital copy of it for preservation and gave the record to my aunt. I don't know what other records they had recorded, but the audio quality was surprisingly good so I'm guessing they had a lot of practice cutting records for friends all over the place.

I love your videos. I love all this old music tech, it's so so cool

So cool! You’re videos are awesome!

There are a group of people here on KZfaq who use the Gakken with blank blank cds, and a different type of needle, and found they were able to make much better reproductions of their music. You should check it out and update this video!

David, your videos are some of the most interesting videos on KZfaq.

I'm fascinated. Again. Great video, man!!

Oh this is super cool. I love everything about this biz

Equally inspires and dissuades one from wanting to buy one of these. Beautiful video, thanks!

This was so fantastically fascinating! Thank you😊

Thanks for trying these for the rest of us (not that I wanted one, my vinyl collection is large enough). Thanks also for the information about manufacturing and sound engineerings these vinyls. Great

This record maker looks so cool. I love it. That's why I downloaded the sounds!

Incredible, what a cool idea to sample one-shots from this thing.

The first few chords you played with the sample were so calming, I wish there was more. Really lo-fi

Nice vid! I find these old recordable discs and sound letters pretty interesting, since they let ordinary people record their voices and stuff before tape became available to the general public.

Dude. This has been a beautiful blast. Subbed for for more gloriousness!!!!

Oh my. This video just made my inner child so very happy. Thank you

glad you made a good use of it,very inspiring!

Unexpected but very welcome recommendation. Very fascinating tech.

Fantastic video Dave, fascinating

I loved this!!! Thank you for sharing.

I think if you apply RIAA per-equalization to the wav file before you try to record it, it will improve the sound AND keep the needle from skipping out of the groove.

What a great video that was ! Thanks

This is super interesting and I love the idea of recording vinyl postcards!

amazing as usual David!

Facinating stuff. Real pro video !

How cool! Great video as always.

quickly becoming my favorite channel on KZfaq.

This was a really cool and fascinating video!

I want to use it to make "scratch discs", this was a great demo that shows me that could work and be very interesting. Thanks!

Guitarist Les Paul made some of his 1940s hit records using a homemade lathe he built himself - an old Cadillac flywheel for the turntable and dentist drill belts - I think he was using 16inch blank discs at 78rpm and only recording on the outer edges for fidelity - he and Mary Ford did a number of disc to disc overdub hits before he switched to tape in early 50s - those early discs are amazing for their hifi sound quality

Good video, a lot of useful information, especially since I plan on producing my own records at home. I just need to find the right tools.

You are a genius. Ty for the amazing sample pack.

Those samples are so sick!!

I actually really loved the snippets you played of your various attempts to record with the Wilcox, but then I am a fan of noise music

Wow. Those waves sound awesome ..

Dude, huge kudos for making lemonade from those very sour lemons 😆 That was an awesome way to end and I really appreciate the free sounds, as yes indeed, they sound beautiful in their own environment and for that sound design use. I'm very much a fan of lo-fi FX and they're going to get maximum usage, so thank you for your contribution to the sound design arena and if i manage to make anything cool, i shall post it up here so you can hear your samples in action 😉👊 💚

This is fascinating! thank you so much.

First time watching, great video!

YOOOO the synths you made is fire!!! and it's free?! youre amazing

Right on, man. That sine wave set is money.

Pretty interesting toy to have one! Thanks for sharing a video.

I like your approach here!

That is so cool. Sound is amazing

I have grown fed up of installing endless plugins and held off on Decent Sampler for a while. Usually the faffing required to load banks into a sampler is a turn off. I took the plunge today and downloaded DS, its amazing! I had no idea you could download sounds from the UI within the plugin, that's a complete game changer for time efficiency and staying in flow. I'm sure you have in the past, but a new video quickly outlining decent sampler's ease of instillation/downloading new sounds etc. would surely bring in some people who are holding off from downloading. Just a thought! This is the sound that tipped me over the edge and made me download DS, really glad I did. Thank you.

Thank goodness, I can already tell that you guys aren’t going to go into a rant about perfect cutting from a toy rebrand. I feel like the te fan base is the most reactive and vicious, temperamental crowd. It’s so cool! Take my money every time!

I'm still amazed when Ip ut my own recordings onto a CD. This was pretty cool!

Keep up the great work!

A friend of mine had a Kingston Dub Plate cutter, which attached to the standard Technics deck and had waxy plastic disks. I think you would get a kick out of that - and could probably find the blanks easier. It sounded quite good, but he said they wore down quickly.

This is great. Eva Tone in Clearwater Florida made the Flexi disc popular.

this whole video is interesting, but i think the thing that grabbed my attention the most was the (i think this is what it was) norwegian teaching vinyl, the one playing basic phrases in english then norwegian. i find it especially interesting because i feel like norway is such a small part of the world, and its always special to me when i see something norwegian so far away from norway :)

Yo that sampler-synth you made is actually pretty cool