The final proof that vinyl is clinically, rigidly, TOTALLY DEAD!

[Note - this article dates from 2006. You may wish to consider that it could be outdated with respect to current trends.]

The Vestax VRX 2000 Vinyl Creation Station - what an amazing machine! It's a vinyl cutting lathe that you can use to make your own records at home.

Yes, you can cut records at home! Playable records too - not just lacquers whose only purpose is as the first stage in the conventional mass-manufacturing process.

Prior to Vestax's incredible contribution to the vinyl arts, you would have had to have a massive, complex lathe that required incredibly fine-tuned skills to operate successfully. You would probably have to have your floorboards strengthened too. Oh yes, it would cost both your arms and both your legs even to get a secondhand one. Vestax simply have to have the accolade of innovators of the decade for this. Who would have thought that a lathe you could use at home would even be possible?

So, if vinyl is so popular, how come everyone doesn't have one?

The fact is that although many people do still like the end-product of vinyl, they don't actually want to cut records themselves. So there is a hardcore of vinyl creators who have their work mastered and manufactured in the conventional way. There is a 'medium core' of Vestax VRX 2000 owners who are definitely to be encouraged in what they are doing.

But the vast majority of people who say they like vinyl are simply not doing anything about it!

And if they don't care, then vinyl is dead. All that's left now is the illusion of life, nothing more than a galvanic response. I ask the question then, do you care? If you truly care, you will get on board with this incredible technology that makes it possible to cut records at home. Since numbers are relatively few, you could become influential in the development of subsequent VRX models, and perhaps even persuade other manufacturers to join in.

But I don't think this will happen. Vinyl is dead.

One question... if you have a VRX 2000, we want to know about you! We would love to feature your work in these pages!