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Technics 1200 and 1210 axed by Panasonic: Number's up for the ones and twos?
The legendary Technics 1200 turntable is dead, according to rumours spreading across the Web today. Panasonic is reportedly discontinuing the Technics 1200 and Technics 1210 decks in February 2010.
The rumour started among Australian clubbers at ravey-davey message forum Global Hardstyle. We've asked Panasonic but are yet to hear anything official, although we notice that Panasonic hasn't got round to creating a new Technics Web page since 2007.
The Technics 1200 launched in 1972, followed by the 1200MK2 in 1978. Quickly becoming popular among DJs, the various forms of 1200 have sold over 3 million units. The direct-drive turntable has a special place in the hearts of DJs, rappers, producers and vinyl junkies of all ages for its reliability and durability.
The age of digital DJs has taken its toll on vinyl, but the much-loved format refuses to lay down and die. Is this a sad day for the DJ world or is it about time too? Mix and scratch your Technics memories in the comments.
For more landmarks in the history of music, seamlessly crossfade into our feature on music and technology firsts.
Update: It seems this is just a rumour after all. Panasonic told Crave it "there are no current plans to discontinue the Technics Brand" although the brand is "under constant review".
Photo credit: dmcworld.co.nz
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Comments 16
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anonymous 27 November, 2009 20:50
About time too if you ask me. For turntablists the Technics are the only standard to adhere to. But if you play at clubs carrying the decks and lumbering around 110+ vinyl for each DJ is very, very tough going every week or so, is no fun. Record Jumps, dusts etc.
Vinyl DJ's should now move onto the Pioneer CDM CD decks now.
which I should of doen
anonymous 27 November, 2009 21:55
"But if you play at clubs carrying the decks and lumbering around 110+ vinyl for each DJ is very, very tough going every week or so, is no fun."
Ever tried working on a building site?
anonymous 27 November, 2009 22:30
this rumour circulates about every 7 or 8 years and guess what? loads of people go out and buy 1200s/1210s! I think Heinz once said they were stopping making salad cream once for the same reason - sales boomed!
There may be a little more truth in it this time, though, as there is now so much more competition from CD and digital that last time the rumour surfaced.
To be honest, anyone who's ever used a 1210 that's more than a year old will know they have a massive design floor which gets weirdly accepted by everyone, even thought it's a huge pain. On the pitch control, the quartz lock at 0 – and just around it – stays perfect forever, but the rest of the pitch control drifts over time. The result is that it's dangerous to mix within +/- 1, because if you get too close to zero, the decks can speed up or slow down dramatically - throwing your mix out totally. So everyone plays all records on +2 or above!
Not really sure why we all put up with that massive bug!
anonymous 28 November, 2009 20:03
Has anyone ever head of Serato?? I mean WTF. Serato is the industry standard and most DJs on Serato are using technic 1200's. There is no way this can be true, thousands of DJs still use Technic 1200s with Serato such as myself and every other well respected club DJ in the world.
anonymous 30 November, 2009 01:42
The thing is, you can use CD controllers and don't necessarily need turntables with Serato or TraktorDJ.
anonymous 30 November, 2009 16:48
Vinyl sounds better. Period. Even if you're playing hi-fidelity wav files, there's still compression. Vinyl is the absolute best reproduction of sound that there is. Your arms hurt because of lugging around records? Go wait tables.
Long live Technics. This is just an internet rumor.
anonymous 30 November, 2009 19:16
Seconded:- has to just be an internet rumour (a dodgy one...).
anonymous 30 November, 2009 21:06
Horse Sh*t!!! There will be a complete uproar in the DJ community if this is true, but I doubt it is. You'll still find 1200's (not Numarks, Stantons, etc.) in every DJ booth. Our crew runs 1200's and CDJ's. We mix on 1200's when ever possible. You simply cannot beat the feeling of beat matching on an analog, torque driven platter. NO! You can't!!! And in the advent of Serato and the like, 1200's will be here to stay far into the future. Its not unusual to find a Serato interface installed in the booth as part of the house system. There's a reason for that. DJ's still dig 1200's!!!!
anonymous 30 November, 2009 21:21
....another thing: the nuances of 1200's (fader decay, dirty needles, finicky tone arms) are not the same across the board. If you take care of your decks you won't experience these issue. DJ's use there own needles. Anyone that trusts whats on the house decks when they step to them is a sucker. My personal decks have been in use for 6 yrs now, and they're still legit. Adjusting your pitch back to zero is not rocket science, and if your fader was to develop a dead spot its only $60 for a new fader. Dirty needles? Again, you're a sucker if you let this happen to you. Its your responsibility the the DJ on decks to make sure your booth is on point.
I still say the story is horse sh*t.
anonymous 1 December, 2009 13:45
hands down the 1200-1210 series ARE THE BEST there is no comparison what so ever!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
anonymous 2 December, 2009 11:13
Oh dear, you guys got this one wrong. Vinyl is FAR from dead, the Technics SL1200 may not be quite as popular as it was 10 years ago, but it's still in demand. Matsushita would be idiots to kill a product that is still selling well for over 25 years. Which is why they aren't.
anonymous 4 December, 2009 02:41
how can the sound quality be as good as playing a hifi wav directly form the source...
most producers make their tracks in ableton or logic or protools as a digital wav file wouldnt the sound quality stay purer than if you put it onto vinyl than through a needle, tone arm, and some crappy rca leeds...
any hard core sound heads done any tests...
ps i love vinyl just think the quality thing might be a myth
anonymous 4 December, 2009 20:04
i have been djing now for 8 months, i love the using technics, the feel of that method of mxing is so much more rewarding then when i have used ableton. i realy hope they do not stop macking the technics 1200 and 1210's, my frst choice is vinal but im also using tracktor scratch. I may not have been in the game as long as some of you guys but but i am very happy using turntables and so are alot of other people i know who have been djing for years, i cant think wy they would end somthing that is used alot still.
anonymous 25 February, 2010 17:24
Well this can be a problem unless you get the turntable pitched up then this can be avoided, mine have been pitched up this can be done by changing the settings on the little screws under the platter but be warned for pro's only ! but can be done buy lining up the calibration lights.mine have been adjusted for the past 15yrs and never suffered from this problem you speak of.
plastictrickery 14 April, 2010 13:13
If Technics boxed clever surely they could design a deck that incorperates a CD player as well. A small screen and the ability to control the CD via the platter would be the perfect deck solution in my opinion. I still buy a lot of vinyl as a lot of what i play is only available on this medium. I also use serato which allows much more scope Djing as i can take a laptop with 1000's of tracks with me. To say that vinyl is dead because you get fed up of carrying it to gigs is ludicrous as for a 2 hour set you only need 50 tunes at best, so carrying one small record bag with you is hardly exhausting.Anyway if your feeling lazy you can always get your girlfriend to carry them. Vinyl will never die, or at least the ability to to emulate the feel of playing vinyl with solutions like Serato or Intimidation Touch. Should Panasonic take the move to stop producing 1210's, looking after your decks properly should see them last 20 years + all be it with the odd MOT.
plastictrickery@hotmail.com
anonymous 15 July, 2010 14:13
Shame really, Technics turntables on first release dominated the scene with 1000's of clubs using them and the technics 1210's reknown of becoming the club standards. with a high demand of people wanting to own them they were rapidly growing to be the best selling #1 turntable in the world. I own a pair of technics 1210's and i will never part with them. i own a pair of pioneer cdj 800's also but i dont think you can beat the fresh smell of vinyl and mixing with the technics 1210's!
TECHNICS WILL NEVER DIE!
VINYL WILL NEVER DIE!
Im honestly sad to hear they're being discontinued =[