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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

#111

Post by trq01758 »

geokon wrote: post #97

I wonder if it can make a flexidisc https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flexi_disc I remember to listening to some in my childhood and never understood why the tech was not the standard (relative to the brittle cumbersome vinyls). Maybe the sound quality is worse. Unsure

Because brittle really is a second name for Flexi disc. They have shallower groove which means limited dynamic range, higher hiss/surface noise/distortion, plus because they are so light they often don't sit flat on a turntable so welcome speed variations aka "wow and flutter" and frequent skipping. You could listen 500-1000 times to normal vinyl before any audible degradation and the same may happen to Flexi disc after 5 or 10 times.

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

#112

Post by foobar1962 »

tcbawo wrote: post #55

I always loved the story of the "three-sided" Monty Python record, where the B side had two parallel concentric grooves, causing different tracks to play depending on where the needle was dropped. I always wondered what kind of equipment went into producing it.

Monty Python’s Matching Tie and Handkerchief Executive Version.

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

#113

Post by odeono »

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…

[dead]

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

#114

Post by hudo »

nubinetwork wrote: post #106

Aren't vinyls typically pressed, not carved from a blank? I wonder how accurate they can actually get if they have to carve every notch into the groove.

Master is carved (cutted), and then reverse master pressed, from which all the records are then pressed, if i remember correctly.

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

#115

Post by gizajob »

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…

It’s great technology for long-term archiving.

“Look ahead” to determine optimal groove spacing doesn’t have to be done digitally, even though digital makes this much simpler.

I’d guess that musicians and producers using an all-analogue recording / mixing / mastering process where they have zero digital stages to the master tape are very few and far between nowadays. Kevin Shields for one, but he likely has other options for his analogue master disk cutting, and only needs to attend disc cutting once or twice a decade/century.

A transparent digital stage for the master isn’t going to make a huge amount of difference really, and the limited bandwidth of vinyl compared to digital means that the vinyl master has to be squashed and limited regardless.

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

#116

Post by whywhywhywhy »

vr46 wrote: post #22

I looked and went, "WTF is that? Looks like a record cutting machine" Scrolled down WTAF I'm a total TE fanboi, I have the OP1F and OP-XY, they're everything I ever wanted and my MPC and Digitakt haven't be touched in months. And the Digitone Keys is unplugged propped against the bookshelf. It's extraordinary how addictive these two little synths are for making things happen. The APC-2, however, is a fascinating outc…

> I've heard every lazy comment about hipsters and rich kids who are supposedly their target audience

They essentially make toys for that demographic but theres nothing wrong with that if you get enjoyment out of it.

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

#117

Post by gizajob »

dhosek wrote: post #58
tcbawo wrote: post #55

I always loved the story of the "three-sided" Monty Python record, where the B side had two parallel concentric grooves, causing different tracks to play depending on where the needle was dropped. I always wondered what kind of equipment went into producing it.

From what I know about record manufacturing, creating the lacquer master would involve adjusting the angle of the groove to allow for two concentric grooves to be laid, along with some care in creating that master. But once it’s done, the manufacturing process is handled through a stamping process (so a vinyl record isn’t cut, it’s pressed with a metal die that’s created from the lacquer master through electroplating…

A Porky prime cut.

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

#118

Post by wallst07 »

dackdel wrote: post #98
Stevvo wrote: post #89

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why would you pay for a review from a smartphone reviewer who likely has never listened to Vinyl?

[flagged]

"id pay to watch mkbhd" to "fuck that smartphone reviewer guy, dont give a shit about him and hope he gets hit by a bus"

That escalated quickly... Are you ok?

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

#119

Post by monster_truck »

bigyabai wrote: post #63
vr46 wrote: post #22

I looked and went, "WTF is that? Looks like a record cutting machine" Scrolled down WTAF I'm a total TE fanboi, I have the OP1F and OP-XY, they're everything I ever wanted and my MPC and Digitakt haven't be touched in months. And the Digitone Keys is unplugged propped against the bookshelf. It's extraordinary how addictive these two little synths are for making things happen. The APC-2, however, is a fascinating outc…

> The APC-2, however, is a fascinating outcome > TE's amazing inventions > But that doesn’t mean anything that looks cool was made for them. How anyone tells themselves this while buying Teenage Engineering gear is beyond me. The closest TE came to an "amazing invention" was the OP-Z, and that flopped like a fish on land. The whole business is a marketing-saturated DAWless hipster fantasy, hook line and sinker. I was…

The OP-Z was an absolute mess! That thinkpad bullshit they used to mold it from had curing issues that they never quite sorted out. Had one from the first run, wouldn't stay on or charge without a vice grip. They sent another one that also was not square/did not sit flat and suffers from intermittent shorts, attempting to use the pressure sensitive top button is a coinflip on it turning off. It's also quite colorblind-hostile, and is impossible to use outside or under bright stage lights. Needing an app to manage it was such a dumb choice. It definitely had some neat pre-MIDI 2.0 ideas but in practice most of what it offers is better handled further up the chain.

The OP-1 (and TX-6) on the other hand are excellent, I have 3 of them and love them dearly! Plenty of producers and bands still use them to great effect, the used price is evidence of this. Treating it as a controller is a pretty solid sign you've missed the point. Most midi devices are not able to cope with the bpm/playback speed shifting in response to the tape interactions (which is fully in spec). I did appreciate people offloading them for cheap.

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

#120

Post by Daub »

gizajob wrote: post #115
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…

It’s great technology for long-term archiving. “Look ahead” to determine optimal groove spacing doesn’t have to be done digitally, even though digital makes this much simpler. I’d guess that musicians and producers using an all-analogue recording / mixing / mastering process where they have zero digital stages to the master tape are very few and far between nowadays. Kevin Shields for one, but he likely has other opt…

> I’s great technology for long-term archiving.

Dam right. It’s a medium that a reasonably intelligent individual from any time in future/past history could intuitively understand. Let’s not forget that NASA chose a record to store the digital images it sent with Voyager on precisely that assumption.

https://science.nasa.gov/mission/voyager/voyager-golden-reco...

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