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APC–2 – A professional record cutter for producing original playback discs

teenage.engineering

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Re: APC–2 – A professional record cutter for producing original playback discs

#151

Post by klodolph »

strogonoff wrote: post #142
brookst wrote: post #136

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You’ve mixed up a few different stages as well as the reason some people prefer vinyl. There’s composition, where music is written. A drum track may be a boring repetitive loop quantized to 4/4 beat positions, or it may have fills or polyrhythm or free time or who knows what. There’s performance, which may be a sequencer just outputting notes at the right time or may be a human drummer of varying skill, imparting slo…

What’s your current process for discovering new music?

(I know you didn’t ask me)

I think a willingness to listen to unfamiliar albums and unfamiliar genres is all you really need. I look for “best of X” lists, which get posted everywhere from actual newspapers to niche sites nline forums, Twitter, and personal blogs. Type in different values for “X” and you get exposure to more music.

Re: APC–2 – A professional record cutter for producing original playback discs

#152

Post by jeremyloy_wt »

taylodl wrote: post #131
dale_glass wrote: post #108

How does it buffer audio? One thing I didn't realize for a long time is that it turns out that a lot of these machines have a digital stage. To cut a disk you need to pack the grooves as close as possible. But the spiral isn't fixed, it's adjusted dynamically. Quiet sections can be packed close together. That means that before cutting, the machine needs to know how much physical space it needs for the audio it's abou…

Most music today is digitally recorded, digitally mixed, and digitally mastered. It's at the end they distribute it on vinyl and sell it for a fortune. They're literally fleecing people. Now I will tell you digital is far superior to analog BUT - the way music is recorded and mixed today takes all the soul out of music. Rigidly fixing to "the grid" makes it so music can't breathe. Drums are programmed. So much precis…

> the way music is recorded and mixed today takes all the soul out of music

> So much precision is required that session musicians are playing most of the things you hear, not the actual artists

I’m sure the session musicians don’t appreciate this statement. Just because they can play with high precision and reliability doesn’t mean they are playing without soul.

If the featured artists can’t do so on their own, that’s sort of a knock on them, isn’t it?

Re: APC–2 – A professional record cutter for producing original playback discs

#153

Post by aembleton »

trumpdong wrote: post #147

> direct drive precision polished tungsten shaft Isn't marketing wonderful. Who cares what the motor shaft is made of? (and why not ordinary steel? tungsten just sounds cooler? they want to reuse it for a lightbulb filament later?)

I suppose its better than it being made of rust like so many other projects like to advertise.

Re: APC–2 – A professional record cutter for producing original playback discs

#154

Post by iainctduncan »

This is fantastic. There is a shortage of places that can press vinyl, making it very difficult to start an indy label. Vinyl (believe it or not) is going up in sales, many young people want to own a physical product of music, even if they don't have turntables. It's a way to support acts. Selling vinyl is thus one of the ways indy acts and labels can actually make money.

Is there a performative and marketing element? sure. But that's the music world, a great deal is performative. We have depended on patrons who want to support the arts and be seen supporting the arts for time immemorial.

Re: APC–2 – A professional record cutter for producing original playback discs

#155

Post by Joel_Mckay »

iainctduncan wrote: post #154

This is fantastic. There is a shortage of places that can press vinyl, making it very difficult to start an indy label. Vinyl (believe it or not) is going up in sales, many young people want to own a physical product of music, even if they don't have turntables. It's a way to support acts. Selling vinyl is thus one of the ways indy acts and labels can actually make money. Is there a performative and marketing element…

A lot of fans don't own a player, and just want to collect cool cover art. =3

Re: APC–2 – A professional record cutter for producing original playback discs

#156

Post by AyyEye »

strogonoff wrote: post #142
brookst wrote: post #136

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You’ve mixed up a few different stages as well as the reason some people prefer vinyl. There’s composition, where music is written. A drum track may be a boring repetitive loop quantized to 4/4 beat positions, or it may have fills or polyrhythm or free time or who knows what. There’s performance, which may be a sequencer just outputting notes at the right time or may be a human drummer of varying skill, imparting slo…

What’s your current process for discovering new music?

Find your local music venues -- the smaller the better. Listen to the artists that are coming to play. When you find something you like, see where they are touring and look up the other venues because a lot of them specialize in different types of music. Rinse and repeat.

Re: APC–2 – A professional record cutter for producing original playback discs

#157

Post by alnwlsn »

dale_glass wrote: post #108

How does it buffer audio? One thing I didn't realize for a long time is that it turns out that a lot of these machines have a digital stage. To cut a disk you need to pack the grooves as close as possible. But the spiral isn't fixed, it's adjusted dynamically. Quiet sections can be packed close together. That means that before cutting, the machine needs to know how much physical space it needs for the audio it's abou…

Do you need to, or only if you care about fitting the longest possible recording on the disk?

How much shorter would an LP be if you used a fixed pitch?

Re: APC–2 – A professional record cutter for producing original playback discs

#158

Post by musictubes »

Dinsynch makes an “acoustic lathe” for a little less than $2k. It doesn’t look nearly as cool as the TE setup but will probably be similar in execution and quality.

https://youtu.be/udQC04YrXq0

Actual transcription lathes will be much more expensive and I think can record on better material. Those can be used for direct to disc recording production. I’m not sure if what TE and Dinsync offer can make something that can be used for production.

Re: APC–2 – A professional record cutter for producing original playback discs

#159

Post by KerrAvon »

l23k4 wrote: post #102
fragmede wrote: post #82

Earlier quoted context omitted.

$700? $70,000 for a Patek Philippe Aquanaut!

I'd guess there's a very high chance someone wearing an Aquanaut is having a better time than someone wearing a $700 Tissot or a $17 Casio, less of a difference between the latter two. It's not telling better time, it's telling of a better time.

That's very much not how it works. Musk and Trump are absolutely miserable despite having effectively infinite wealth and power. Not that either of them have the taste to wear an Aquanaut, mind.

Re: APC–2 – A professional record cutter for producing original playback discs

#160

Post by lebuffon »

gwbas1c wrote: post #149
dale_glass wrote: post #108

How does it buffer audio? One thing I didn't realize for a long time is that it turns out that a lot of these machines have a digital stage. To cut a disk you need to pack the grooves as close as possible. But the spiral isn't fixed, it's adjusted dynamically. Quiet sections can be packed close together. That means that before cutting, the machine needs to know how much physical space it needs for the audio it's abou…

> How does it buffer audio? The page says DAW integration, but I assume the inputs are analog. IE, I assume the playback is on the computer and uses whatever DAC the engineer has set up. > To cut a disk you need to pack the grooves as close as possible. In the analog, computer-free world, that was done by hand and typically had about 15-20 minutes per side. I've come across records that got close to 30 minutes per si…

Old guy here. I brought a few masters into RCA in Toronto, just before dinosaurs went extinct.

At that time they used a Studer A80 (if memory serves) 1/2 track machine, modified, with an extra playback head that was placed before the head stack so it read the music on tape about 500mS before the playback head got it. The extra head sound was fed to the motor controller that controlled the speed of the cutting head feed motor that turned the screw that controlled the pitch depth of the grooves.

When the preview head sound was loud, the screw motor would slow down to make bigger grooves and then return to normal when the audio envelope was smaller.

That's how they optimized groove spacing before digital buffers. :-)

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