So that’s why I found myself in the market for a USB turntable: I want a fast and efficient way to make my vinyl into something digital that I can play with. And that purpose alone, setting aside completely its many other amazing features, is why I went for the Stanton T.90. I’m not a club DJ, but this turntable could be used by one rather easily. When you’ve got a Direct-drive, Hi-Torque motor like this, you find yourself wanting to scratch. For this, I pulled out my favorite hip-hop vinyl: Ol’ Dirty Bastard’s N**** Please. I kept thinking, I’ll just do a few simple scratches on “Cold Blooded” and leave it at that. But the thing is, that punchy Neptunes bass sounded really interesting on the backspin. Fortunately, one of the other neat little features on this deck is a reverse play option… And you haven’t lived until you’ve listened to the ODB completely in reverse. Especially “I Can’t Wait.”
Along this line are two other functions which I had never been familiar with before: key lock and multi-setting pitch adjusting. The former means that you can lock the key of the vocals even as you adjust the speed of the recording (which is neat and also explains how a lot of remixes get done). The latter allows the user two options for pitch shifting: either a +/- 8% scale or a +/- 12% scale. I love pitch shifting, so this was an especially entertaining bonus. Because of this function, I was able to kick Gary Wright’s “Comin’ Apart” up to the point where it pretty much became Armand Van Helden’s “My My My” with no additional production necessary…
What is it?
The Stanton T.90 is a USB turntable that, in conjunction with Audacity or Cakewalk Pyro 5 (included on a disc with the deck), enables the user to rip vinyl directly into a digital format (.WAV or .mp3). It is also a fully-functional turntable with expansive pitch control and direct-drive.
Basic Testing
The manual laid out how to set things up in a fairly-simple manner, though I think it could totally use some rewrites in its section on balancing the tone arm, because I was lost in that respect until I called a friend. But every other aspect of this deck couldn’t be more user-friendly. The setup also comes with a needle cartridge (which is good; I can’t imagine how annoying it would be if it didn’t). Even with my balancing difficulties, I had this turntable up, running, and recording files within fifteen minutes. Note: this doesn’t include installing Audacity, which I already had in my system (and anyone who likes working with pitch and time-shifting should already have and be acquainted with Audacity).
My first record to try out- Marlene Ricci’s “Tonight” (Ariola Records 601 376). Following that, just to make sure that the Stanton could handle whatever I threw at it, I pulled out the 7” of Hazell Dean’s “Who’s Leaving Who/They Say It’s Gonna Rain” to see if 45s were within this deck’s capabilities, and they certainly are. Sadly, I didn’t have any 78s, so I wasn’t able to test that function directly, but I did play some old downtempo funk records at 78 and make them into drum-and-bass tracks, so let’s call that a rousing success as well.
In-depth testing
Nothing tests the ability of digital programs to replicate music like pronounced hi-hats. For this, classic Hi-NRG records and early-to-mid-90s house music are ideal. Book of Love’s 1988 album Lullaby (I-Square/Sire), when directly compared between LP and CD versions, feels fuller on record, and digital rips of those files are sonically preferable. Likewise, Abbacadabra’s “Eagle,” going way back to the first round of Abbacadabra on Almighty records, has a more expansive sound than its CD equivalent
Since the 90s were such a transitional time for vinyl to begin with, you really have to cast your nets wide to get a feel for what a turntable can do. From 1984, I pulled out the RCA Promo 12” for “The Arbiter” from the musical Chess. The sound, state of the art for 1984, had a remarkable richness, and sounded comparable to the sound on the CD release of the Chess soundtrack, albeit fuller, and with the material in the extended version that isn’t on the album. But where you really start to hear amazing differences is when you look back even further. Some 45s from the 60s, captured digitally and then compared to their equivalent CD versions, resulted in a whole new sound field. Phil Spector productions, in particular, resonate in vinyl in ways they simply don’t on CD. But more so, being able to explore the records I’ve hung onto for all these years is like getting brand new stuff all over again.
