Vestax

Vestax Corporation
ベスタクス株式会社

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Formerly called	Shiino Musical Instruments design office 椎野楽器設計事務所
Former type	K.K.
Industry	Electronic musical instrument
Founded	November 1977 (1977-11) in Tokyo, Japan
Founder	Hidesato Shiino
Defunct	December 5, 2014 (2014-12-05) (bankruptcy proceedings decision)
Headquarters	1-18-6, Wakabayashi, Setagaya-ku, Tokyo, Japan
Key people	Kanako Ohsawa (trustee in bankruptcy), Toshihide Nakama (previous president)
Products	DJ equipment (DJ mixer, CD players, turntables, phonograph cutting machines, DJ controllers), multitrack recorders, effectors, guitar preamps, electric guitars, etc.
Website	http://www.vestax.jp/ (closed)

The Vestax Corporation was a Japanese musical instrument, turntable and audio equipment firm founded in 1977. The company started by designing and manufacturing electronic guitars. In the 1980s, Vestax produced multitracks recorders and later move to making DJ Mixers, professional turntables, Compact Disc players and signal processors. Debt troubles lead to the company's bankruptcy at the end of 2014.

History

The Vestax Corporation of Japan began in 1977 as a designer and manufacturer of electronic guitars. In the 1980s Vestax introduced a series of cassette based multitracks to challenge established products from Fostex, Yamaha and Tascam's portastudios.

Completing in the turntable market

During the late 1990s Vestax launched a new flagship range of professional DJ turntables. The PDX models had higher specifications than the two market leading products from Technics and were priced in direct competition with the Technics SL1210/SL1200.

However, the industry standard Technics SL1210/SL1200 models remained the favourite of DJs worldwide. At the time they were an established brand with a twenty-year head start. There have also been some build quality issues reported throughout 2008 and 2009.

This pattern of events has been replicated by other DJ equipment manufacturers such as Numark, Gemini and Stanton. These turntables have either a higher specification or lower cost, in sheer numbers sold they are still dwarfed by the various versions of the SL-1200.

Expanding range

In 2006, Vestax moved into the burgeoning digital DJ market and released the VCI 100, an all-in-one DJ controller used to control digital DJ software. Its design of jog wheels and a mixer in a single compact frame sparked a revolution in digital DJ hardware, quickly becoming the blueprint for most DJ controllers and helping to re-establish Vestax as a major player in the DJ market. The company has subsequently solidified this position by launching a highly respected range of DJ controllers from low-end consumer models to more highly specced pro versions such as the VCI-380 and VCI-400.

In the 2010s Vestax focused on high-tech musical electronics, creating signal processors, DJ Mixers, professional turntables and Compact Disc players. The company also reduced its range of turntables, but kept the PDX-2000mk2/2300mk2 for mainstream DJ use, and the PDX-2000mk2pro/PDX-2300pro with a new tonearm suspension system for increased skip resistance. In conjunction with DJ Qbert they have also released the QFO and QFO LE models. These turntables have built-in mixers, and a portable turntable/mixer that is capable of battery power.

Debt troubles

In mid-October 2014, many websites have reported a speculative piece investigating reports from the Japanese news source, "Teikoku News Online" that Vestax is ceasing operations. Retailers in the US have closed shop, and there was a lack of representation or new products being revealed at trade shows. On the 5th December Vestax started bankruptcy proceedings with a debt of 900 million yen (roughly $7.5 million USD).

In February 2015, official sites vestax.co.jp and vestax.com were down, http://www.vestaxeurope.com/ just showed the logo.

Technology

Vestax was the first manufacturer to release a vinyl cutting machine.

Vestax innovated with their turntable using a straight tone arm, which gave greater tracking force; useful for complex DJing maneuvers such as scratching or beat juggling. This has been adopted by virtually all other turntable manufacturers, with the exception of Technics. Some maintain however that the straight arm increases wear upon the record. This is based on the premise that the original 's' shaped tonearm is so designed as to naturally gravitate toward the center of the record. The straight arm will not do this, and so will theoretically drag more as the record rotates, wearing down the grooves. Vestax however have consistently denied this. Turntables have been made for many years with straight tone arms and other varying designs. The crucial aspect of the record player is cartridge and stylus alignment which relates to how records are made (cut) Baerwald ca. 1941 showed that the tracking error of a pivoted stylus could be minimized if the stylus is aligned such that it is parallel to the groove at two points along its curved path. As long as the stylus is set correctly there will be minimal undesired wear on a standard record for any style or shape of tonearm.

Influence

Vestax focused on the needs of nightclubs and Disc jockeys and their mixers became favourites of international DJs such as Carl Cox, DJ QBert and Cut Chemist. Mixers such as the various iterations of the PMC-05pro have become staples of the Hip Hop DJ community, and they also have manufactured signature models for DJ's such as Carl Cox and DJ Qbert.

Gallery

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  DJ Mixer: PMC-580 Pro

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  DJ Turntable: QFO

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  DJ Turntable: PDX-3000

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  Vinyl Cutting Machine: VRX-2000

See also

• List of phonograph manufacturers

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Vestax or Hidesato Shiino

• Vestax official site