Direct drive turntables will stop and start faster than belt drive turntables. Learn more about the advantages of direct drive turntables in this free turntable lesson from an experienced disc jockey.

Alright, right now I’m going to talk to you about what a direct drive turntable is and how it works, and why it’s better to use a direct drive turntable as opposed to a belt driven turntable. Now what direct drive means is inside there is a machine that spins the turntable. In a belt driven turntable, there would be a belt which is pulled bringing the turntable around. A direct drive is much smoother and it reacts much faster, if you want it to stop, it stops instantly, you want it to start up, it starts instantly. With a belt driven turntable it’s much looser, it doesn’t start up quite as fast, stop quite as fast as you want it to, and when you’re spinning records, it’s a lot about feel, and if you don’t have the feel, you’re really not going to make the mix quite as quickly. So that’s why I suggest using a direct drive as opposed to a belt driven turntable.