So i picked up some 1210 M5G's awhile back, and noticed that i sometimes - but sometimes not - have problems locking them up. Now i know that digital pitch control doesn't wander and has the added perk of being really consistent across decks, but sometimes i just can't seem to sync certain tracks forever like i always could on the old 12's i've used since the 80's. Am i imagining things, or is it possible that there's enough gap between those digital increments to create the occasional "can't get there from here" situation without messing with the other deck to try to find a happy place between them? i swear it vaguely (and disquietingly) feels like a freakin CDJ sometimes, just a tiny but perceptible lack of seamlessness in the pitch range, ya know?

Anyone had similar experience with these decks?

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ive had the same thing happen, i have a M5G and a MK2 and i find that theres no way i cant get some songs PERFECT by adjusting just 1 deck....no biggy it gets close enough but sometimes i really gotta adjust both

AH!! i KNEW it!!

think imma put them up for sale and get some Mk2's before it's too late. and i had 3 of them, grrrr.. when you're syncing 3 decks this not-quite-locked shit is just ridiculous. you have hardly any crate-time cuz you're so busy with the decks. that's the case anyway with 3 wheels, so the last thing you need is your decks fighting you. damn, how could they be so cavalier with something sofuckingcrucial. i'm pissed.

i wanna get a few more opinions and maybe bounce this off Jay at turntabletech to see if something can't be done about it. otherwise i'll just get 3 Mk2's. i like the stock Mk5's for the extra anti-skate and all but the location of that pitch button is like *right* where i rest my hand when doing armlifts on my Orts..

looks like i've got some deciding to do, dammit..

ya from what ive read the m5g is digital and the others are not so you have an infinate range of numbers on the analog but the digital is limited so its possible to not hit pitch desired


Another thing i dont like is the pitch buttons under the slider get in the way of putting my midi controller there

i haven't noticed a problem keeping a mix on beat BUT i did have to get used to the m5gs when i got them. i didn't know what it was, i little nudge to the slider with previous 12X0's would put you where you needed to be. with the m5g's a nudge puts you too fast or slow. i usually adjust both now. if i nudge one up i nudge one down. seems to work.

Yep that's exactly what i have to do - sometimes. others it's spot-on and there's zero drift of any kind which is nice, but the multi-adjusting just creates too much extra work for me as a house dj.. i feel like i should be paid extra for spinning on these for extra wear and tear on my nerves!

No issues here but then again I don't mix two songs for 10 mins.

i never have a problem with hip hop shows... if im that close it will usually stay on beat for the 2 bars. if im doing an a capella over a beat, i cut it up, so it wouldn't drift either. but it's definitely noticeable with electronic mixing.

yea, i'll usually have 2 tracks overlapped for a minimum of 2 minutes even when playing poppy vocal stuff, and forevah and evah if i'm spinning dubs, plus a 3rd one laid on occasionally as a bridge/augment to them. so i think i just bought the wrong deck. Lots to like here for hip-hop dj's and i too like scratch-friendly features like the stylus kick thing and love the new tonearm, but i live and die by the pitch sync, so guess i'll just have to be deprived of those useful toys.. MAJOR bummer...

anyone wanna buy a pair? like both of em, under 50 hrs on em, with Ort Scratch OM's with same low mileage, say 600 each?

this is so depressing..

I found this older post on the issue on the tranceaddict forums. This dude says he works on them for a living.


"My sources; Me

I'm a technics (amongst other brands) qualified service engineer and used to support myself by repairing and services decks.

Here's how it works, in laymens terms: The old 1200's just usea resistance value based on the position of the pot (slider) which is then sent to the motor control circuit, which in this case is glorified relay turning the resistive value in to a voltage to drive the motor. So basically the resistive value was send to another transformer (via a calibrated internal pot, hence why you can actually make old techincs go to +50 pitch if you really wanted) and it directly sends the voltage to the motor. The problem with this is that as pots degrade (and any one of the other 2 dozen comenets that aloow pitch change to happen in a 1200) the accuracy of the pitch degrades. Even things like temperaute affect resistors and caps

The m5g's take the resistive value of the pot to a fully digital cicruit which effectively constantly calculates the correct voltage to send the motor the motor. Yes, theorectically with any digital control there is always a argument of resoltion or steps in the process, but this is actually more accurate than the resistive error margin of resistors in the all analogue system.

Furthermore, you could not physically move the pitch slider a small enough distance to fall between the resolution steps (you can see the most tiny but relative changes if you hold a ohmeter over the internal calibration pot contacts on a m5g).

Please note I'm using the term resolution steps for no other reason that to give an understandable picture of what I'm trying to explain (the terms is technically incorrect in this instance but you hopefully get what I mean)

What I'm saying is the m5g's are more accurate than any other previous version.

They're still analogue in every way apart from how the motor control voltage is managed."

For what it's worth.

Hey thanks Wes, very enlightening. i sort of expected such an answer from someone, and i'm definitely experiencing what i'm experiencing, but according to this it truly might just be a learning curve and some muscle memory retraining (25 years of it) that's in order here. i'm humble enough to admit it if that's the case. i'll give the sexy beasts some more time and see if we can't meet each other halfway. i'm used to tapping it pretty hard since 1200 sliders are pretty stiff, so maybe the only diff is that these decks are actually paying attention :) God i hope so, this was shaping up to be quite a calamity especially right when i'm looking at dropping all kindsa bank on dvs gear. my stress level just dropped like a zillion percent..

@craigmac, ya imma regular flame magnet, it's a public service i provide :) you should see the flack i'm takin' over on the Sixty Eight thread for daring to decry the Naked Emperor lol.. but dammit someone's gotta do it!

LOL^^^