A type of motor used in a
turntable, such as all
Technics, and is necessary to
DJ with two turntables (or, least makes it humanly possible).
The other motor used in turntables, and I believe the original type, is the belt-driven. These two are comparable to an oldskool single speed ( the cogless kind) bike and a techcorrect 7-speed bike. A single speed bike, the speed at which you pedal (the face) is the speed at which the wheel turns (the motor), period. If the wheel slows down, so does your pedaling. If you want to stop, you have to slow down your pedaling to a stop. This is how a belt-driven turntable works. The speed of the motor is directly related to the speed of the spinning face.
An offtopic side note: NYC bike messengers consider these single speed bikes stylish, the mark of a true professional. It is impressive to see one whiz by during rush hour, down broadway, surrounded in a sea of yellow. No brakes, no coasting, only the constant pedaling to control their speed. Damn boy, that is some mad skills yo.
So, where was I. . .oh yeah. Now with a 7-speed bike, you have to petal to move the wheel, nothing new here. Unlike the single-speed tho, you can pause in pedaling and the wheel will still spin. With a direct drive turntable, you can slow down, speed up, stop, or put your drink on the spinning face of the turntable without
fracking the motor. The direct drive motor will just coast until it can speed the face back up (or down). Even though I am dumbing-this-down, the mechanics behind this are very complicated, hence the cost of a
Tech 12.
With direct drive, a DJ can queue records up, beat match, beat juggle, make that waki-waki sound, and a myriad of other mystical DJ powers. All in all, direct-drive changed turntables from a listening device into an actually musical instrument.