It would be exciting to try your app, cause I have 2 turntables to calibrate, but I don't use google play store. Could you make it available on f-droid?
Show HN: I made a free app to calibrate your turntable by simply playing a song
131–140 of 239 posts
Re: Show HN: I made a free app to calibrate your turntable by simply playing a song
#132All the turntables in my life as a kid had built-in calibration, in the form of four rows of repeating black/silver squares on the side of the wheel, a light flickering at the mains frequency, and a little dial to adjust the turning speed until the row of squares corresponding to your current combination of 50/60 hz DC and 33/45 RPM appeared to stop moving. It was a very clever trick.
And for those that don't have that, a strobe disc can be downloaded and printed.
Re: Show HN: I made a free app to calibrate your turntable by simply playing a song
#133Earlier quoted context omitted.
You can extract pitch information and compare it to a set of quantized reference pitches as an instrument tuning app does, sure. But you can also extract BPM info and compare that to a set of quantized reference BPMs that anyone would ever bother to use. And also, since you’re getting multiple pitches from multiple instruments in a time series, if you can isolate particular instruments, you can calculate the key the…
Are there really "standard" BPM? As far as I know, most music production is just "whatever tempo the band feels like playing." I haven't been in a recording studio, though, so maybe a use of a metronome is more common there?
In some countries there are legal and illegal BPMs, e.g. according to [0] only the BPM range from 80 to 116 is legal in Chechnya.
[0] https://www.npr.org/2024/04/09/1243632570/chechnya-music-ban...
Re: Show HN: I made a free app to calibrate your turntable by simply playing a song
#134I wonder if this would work playing The Shaggs' Philosophy of the World record? It's notorious for having untuned guitars and the drummer doesn't seem to be following any kind of pattern.
Re: Show HN: I made a free app to calibrate your turntable by simply playing a song
#135You can get test records which have a constant tone recorded. That's the right tool for this. Not only can you measure speed, you can see small speed variations - wow, flutter, etc.
Re: Show HN: I made a free app to calibrate your turntable by simply playing a song
#136Earlier quoted context omitted.
DJ turn tables have a pitch fader and lights for calibration: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KbdK94vl_Bs .
I used to DJ with vinyl at clubs and I don't think I ever knew a DJ that looked at those lights even once.
A DJ has no use for knowing if the turntable is calibrated correctly in an absolute sense. Only whether this song is calibrated with that song. And for that, good old fashion human ears will suffice.
Re: Show HN: I made a free app to calibrate your turntable by simply playing a song
#137I'm skeptical; you have no idea whether a random song from a record player is in tune or not, without a reference copy of that song from digital media. Is this zeroing in on traces of 60 cycle hum in the recording? Or else, won't it adjust an out-of-tune song to be in concert pitch? (Mind you, that would be extremely useful if you're playing along with the track and don't want to adjust your instrument, or cannot do…
Unfortunately a lot of mid-range tables nowadays don't have the strobe (mine included), most likely for aesthetic reasons... Even just looking at online shopping right now I only see a handful that do have it. As for being skeptical, good! That means I'm doing something great according to Clarke's third law. You can see me testing out the app on multiple records here: https://twitter.com/OKatBest/status/1795453042994…
Building a "strobe" is just a matter of putting an LED, some diodes, a resistor, and (optionally) a transformer together.
The idea is that the LED reaches peak brightness (and darkness) at twice the line frequency, just as ye olde fluorescent tubes did. (Or: Skip the extra diodes and have it work at 1x line frequency. I'm not your boss.)
After that, just print a strobe disc and use it.
Re: Show HN: I made a free app to calibrate your turntable by simply playing a song
#138Earlier quoted context omitted.
That's super odd. So it's not even rotating? There might be an issue that occurs before the analysis starts. If you don't mind, do you have any special setting on? Lockdown mode or something? Are you able to play the music back if you use the Voice Memo app to record a bit of it? Sorry about all that, hopefully we can figure out what's wrong!
Yep, voice memo works fine, not on lockdown (not sure what that is).
Basically it's a setting for people who are concerned about being targeted by 0days.
> Lockdown Mode is an optional, extreme protection that’s designed for the very few individuals who, because of who they are or what they do, might be personally targeted by some of the most sophisticated digital threats.
Re: Show HN: I made a free app to calibrate your turntable by simply playing a song
#139Earlier quoted context omitted.
Correct. That was often done when mastering with tape. Record at one speed, playback at another to make it sound more "lively." There are songs that were sped up that way anywhere from 25 to 40 cents. It's another reason why live music so often doesn't sound like the recording. When using digital mastering, you can also adjust the playback speed, but you can correct the shift. You get more "liveliness" without the sh…
Do you happen to know of any tools for fixing pitch issues in music files?
Anatares Auto-tune.
Re: Show HN: I made a free app to calibrate your turntable by simply playing a song
#140I have zero use for this app (I own no turntable), but I absolutely dig the website. Well done on what you wrote, how you wrote it, and how good it all looks!