cut your own vinyl record with this nifty toy
Unless you’re a real music nerd, cutting records is a pretty mysterious process – especially for those of us who grew up with CDs and streaming services. If you want to do some hands-on learning, though, you could try the Gakken Toy Record Maker. Created in partnership with Japanese designer Yuri Suzuki, the nifty gadget lets you record digital tracks onto real-deal vinyl records by simply plugging in your phone or computer and letting the machine do its thing. As the music plays, the cutting arm engraves sound waves onto your vinyl disc in real time, which is exactly how small-run records are made. With that said, it’s not quite as easy as unboxing and pressing play. (As this video shows us, there's the small matter of assembling all the machine’s bits and pieces, too.) The final record is not going to blow your mind with commercial-quality sound, but you will get some cool, old-timey effects, and learn a thing or two about records in the process.