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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

#181

Post by picofarad »

alnwlsn wrote: post #157
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?

Well, mindless self indulgence is very loud and aggresive, so an album that is a single CD is 2 vinyls.

I'd have to use my usb record player and rip some records and determine loudness vs length to get some baseline, though.

Then again, maybe most CD albums are two LPs, I only have a half dozen 2-LP albums, most older stuff is single LP.

Is that because albums have gotten longer, or louder? Both?

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

#182

Post by taylodl »

brookst wrote: post #136
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…

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…

I'm an amateur musician and I've been gigging, playing, and jamming with musicians for decades. There's nothing wrong with today's song writing and compositions. The problem is the tools used to record, and mix (and to a much lesser extent, master). They "encourage" a particular workflow - a workflow that's anathema to music.

Analog is crap - that analog "warmth" is snake oil - but the old analog workflow of recording and mixing yields music that resonates with people. The best of all worlds would be to capture that analog workflow using digital tools.

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

#183

Post by picofarad »

Lio wrote: post #91
Waterluvian wrote: post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I have a real “I was born yesterday” feeling having realized that “Teenage Engineering” has nothing to do with making audio tech accessible to young newcomers.

Is that entirely fair? Their Pocket Operators are pretty cheap and accessible.

They're like $100! That's not affordable for a thing that makes beeps and boops. I can only hope behringer continues to undercut them on things I care about.

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

#184

Post by picofarad »

phodo wrote: post #37
Arainach wrote: post #2

Not even a price listed. I don't understand the market for this - fancy musical instruments for creativity, sure, there's a market, but who wants to own cutting vinyl? How many records would you need to make for this to be more economical than paying a dedicated shop? How many would you need to do to "achieve higher quality"? How consistent are your results?

>> "who wants to own cutting vinyl?" Well, Sega gamers for one: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c744iD0_fWU

There was software distributed by radio and vinyl i believe, which means my query if minidisc could be used was a silly one (in lieu of a tape drive, not for Sega!)

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

#186

Post by mieses »

klodolph wrote: post #5
Arainach wrote: post #2

Not even a price listed. I don't understand the market for this - fancy musical instruments for creativity, sure, there's a market, but who wants to own cutting vinyl? How many records would you need to make for this to be more economical than paying a dedicated shop? How many would you need to do to "achieve higher quality"? How consistent are your results?

Teenage Engineering seems to run partly on hype and halo effect. It makes cool things you can’t afford, and you buy something cheaper. Selling a vinyl cutting machine keeps them in the news, which keeps them in your mind, and then you think about how you always wanted an OP-1 but oh maybe you could buy the EP-133 instead. I’m sure there’s a price at which the vinyl cutter is profitable.

They make cool stuff but it's performance art. They're not a serious product company.

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

#187

Post by fragmede »

bigyabai wrote: post #178
fragmede wrote: post #86

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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…

The problem with snake oil is it didn't work (the back story of snake oil is worth a perusal). You may think this device is overpriced, but if it does actually do what it claims to do, then the label snake oil does not apply.

As far as GAS, it's their money. People can enjoy their hobby how they choose to. If I want to buy a video game and spend all my time customizing my character and not actually playing the actual game part, who're you to criticize how someone wants to enjoy their hobby?

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

#188

Post by l23k4 »

KerrAvon wrote: post #159
l23k4 wrote: post #102

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

I think the odds of a happy person being willing to put in the work to reach the positions those two notoriously unhappy individuals have reached are rather low.

I strongly suspect that the more leisurely rich are overrepresented among Aquanaut-wearers. It's a rather casual piece, popular among the St Barth/Tropez crowd.

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

#189

Post by brookst »

taylodl wrote: post #182
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…

I'm an amateur musician and I've been gigging, playing, and jamming with musicians for decades. There's nothing wrong with today's song writing and compositions. The problem is the tools used to record, and mix (and to a much lesser extent, master). They "encourage" a particular workflow - a workflow that's anathema to music. Analog is crap - that analog "warmth" is snake oil - but the old analog workflow of recordin…

[dead]

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

#190

Post by copperx »

fragmede wrote: post #187
bigyabai wrote: post #178

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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…

The problem with snake oil is it didn't work (the back story of snake oil is worth a perusal). You may think this device is overpriced, but if it does actually do what it claims to do, then the label snake oil does not apply. As far as GAS, it's their money. People can enjoy their hobby how they choose to. If I want to buy a video game and spend all my time customizing my character and not actually playing the actual…

Snake oil worked about 30% of the time, so the comparison is more than apt.
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