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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

#171

Post by ghostly_s »

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…

I would guess if anyone wants to use this thing it will mostly be for 12" singles, optimal groove packing is not a concern for them.

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

#172

Post by PaulHoule »

ufocia wrote: post #168
bayindirh wrote: post #129

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I believe they indeed do, but for digitizing rare records, they are much better than their physical counterparts. Considering that we can now remove these pops and clicks way better than we did before, it's a worthy thing to have for preservation purposes: Laser Turntable: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Laser_turntable Click and Pop Removal: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j-LvCRzWCpU

Archival optical media is likely much better than any kind of open groove technology.

I dunno if Blu-Ray players are going to exist 100 or 1000 years from now, but it could be very challenging to recreate them.

On the other hand you can play a phonograph record by sticking your fingernail into the groove!

The Church of Scientology has done a lot of work towards preservation of the (worthless!) works of L. Ron Hubbard

https://www.colinsjamjar.com/p/scientologists-jumpstarted-th...

focused around things like laser engraving and phonograph records made of durable materials such that people would be able to read them with whatever technology we have in the future.

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

#173

Post by adw »

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…

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

In pop music this has been true since the 60s. For independent music it has mostly never been true. This hasn't changed much.

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

#174

Post by embedding-shape »

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?

Maybe a more producer/DJ-focused way of finding new music, I use the "Most Recent" view for my favorite genres on Beatport, literally listen through / skim all of it, particularly for the more niche genres. Then also follow smaller music labels on Bandcamp (that some of my favorite artists are signed with sometimes too), as they tend to specialize in some niches, and basically does the discovering for you.

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

#176

Post by taylodl »

MrBuddyCasino wrote: post #162
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…

There is another reason some people prefer vinyl, which is that they often used a different master than later releases. The medium, be it AAC, vinyl or CD really doesn't matter as much as what master has been used. There are CD pressings that don't sound as good as the vinyl, because they used a different master tape. A lot of this was the result of the loudness wars and the resulting reduced dynamic range, or even d…

I was talking about modern mastering, not what had been done back in the analog era when digital media had first been introduced.

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

#177

Post by gwbas1c »

lebuffon wrote: post #160
gwbas1c wrote: post #149

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> 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 fe…

I still wonder if the circuitry was analog or digital, though. That could have been an analog "computer".

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

#178

Post by bigyabai »

fragmede wrote: post #86
copperx wrote: post #69

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It seems to me that Teenage Engineering's greatest achievement is the wholesale adoption of Jobs's reality distortion field. If you re-read your own comment, do you experience cringe? If the answer is no, that's worrying and worth looking into.

Do you like anything? Or have any enthusiasm for life? Is your whole bit just calling other people’s enthusiasm cringe?

Do you accept everything? Are you enthusiastic for scammers that prey on rich sycophants?

The parent comment is right. Their logic is cyclical, they acknowledge that Teenage Engineering is widely accepted to be overpriced hipster crap, and then refuse to defend their conclusion that it's not made for the hipster audience. They do not posit what their "amazing inventions" are, or qualify their justification for buying two (!!!) OP-1 models, or link to the music that could only be made with the OP-1. They are responding to marketing, which is not a healthy habit of consumption in any market. For musicians, it's called Gear Acquisition Syndrome (chronic GAS).

In essence, you are criticizing someone for challenging a rich snake-oil customer.

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

#179

Post by waffletower »

Given Teenage Engineering's long history of premium boutique pricing, I don't see this device being priced for individuals outside of the 1% demographic. My price estimate: $25,000 US. But to their credit, even this cost would be far cheaper than purchasing a traditional vinyl pressing machine (~$200,000)

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

#180

Post by scherlock »

ndiddy wrote: post #148
taylodl wrote: post #131

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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…

> 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. Most vinyl record buyers buy records as a collectable to show that they like a certain album, not because they're deluded audiophiles who are trying to eliminate everything digital from their audio path. Half of all record buyers d…

I buy vinyl because I like the tangibleness if the medium. Seeing the tracks on the record, the liner notes, lyric sheets, photos, etc. It's great when the artist really embraces the format and goes all out. My player is a low end unit with built in speakers, but my youngest can listen to his records easily. We go to a local record store once a month and walk out with random records, some new some used.
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