VINYL TECH ALERT: MusicNeedle.'s 3-D Printed & Hand-painted Gaming Console & MPC-shaped 45 Adapters (@musicneedle_ Instagram)

Anymore, here at The Witzard, we generally, just cover Hip-Hop, Punk/Hardcore, and Indie Rock stylings, as well as an array of different genres and host a handful of columns and exploration pieces; although, The Witzard was, in fact, founded back in 2010 as a "Pop Culture" blog and over the years, we have covered different "streetwear" brands, music-related technologies, Banksy installations, and other various non-music-related coverage. Last week, J.D. at Common Good Records hit me up on Instagram (@ologistbbb) with a non-music, yet still, music-related story suggestion; he also, looped in @musicneedle_, who he described as a guy who "makes some incredible 45 adapters that are in shapes of beat machines and classic gaming consoles." Following J.D.'s introduction, I soon reached out to @musicneedle_, otherwise, known as German Moreno—a 25-year-old part-time electrician/part-time art gallery curator hailing from Pasadena, California. Moreno is an avid record collector and "huge music lover," who started MusicNeedle.com about 10 months ago merely, as a hobby. MusicNeedle. sells German's hand-made vinyl/picture frames, as well as a variety of 45 adapters, which J.D. had mentioned within his initial message.


"Technical details: they are very easy to set in place with the record. Either flip the adapter over and slide the record on and then, place on the platter onto the spindle or place the record directly onto the platter and slide the adapter onto the spindle, until it locks in place with the 45 hole," J.D. wrote within a December 2017 Instagram review of MusicNeedle.'s Nintendo NES & SNES 45 adapters. In addition to the NES & SNES models, German also makes Sega Genesis, N64, Atari Joystick, and MPC2000XL 45 adapters, as well as a multitude of hand-made vinyl/picture frames. German Moreno told The Witzard, via email, that his game console and and beat machine-shaped 45 adapters are first. designed in a computer-aided design (CAD) program, which he largely, learned with the help of YouTube tutorials and Google searches. German's CAD designs are then, created using a 3-D printer and each model is meticulously hand-painted, which takes about 2 hours/adapter. When designing on of his unique 45 adapters, it generally, takes German 3-6 hours (or sometimes, several days!) to design each model in CAD. It then, takes his 3-D printer about 2-4 hours to print "one" 45 adapter on the highest quality setting. German's 3-D printed and hand-painted 45 adapters and vinyl/picture frames are available for purchase at his site and can be viewed at his @musicneedle_ Instagram prior to purchasing.

"Why design a drum machine or game consoles?"

"Well, I, myself, have dabbled in creating music on a drum machine (MPC2500) before, but let's just say that it didn't turn out so well hahaha. The MPC2000XL is just an iconic piece in Hip-Hop culture, I mean, all the great producers—J Dilla, Pete Rock, Lord Finesse, [The] Ologist, MF DOOM, Kev Brown, Damu [The] Fudgemunk, etc.—have used it to create music that we now know and love today! And having the adapter spin on the turntable, it's kind of a remembrance of where it all started: sampling records! For the game consoles, it's just something from my childhood; playing countless hours just staring at the TV as a child hahaha. It's kinda nostalgic and fun to look at when it just spins around the turntable. I wanted to create something that people can relate to, something that was completely different, compared to other custom-designed 45 adapters that are out there."

- German Moreno (MusicNeedle.)