My next turntable

analog music reproduction discussion

My next turntable

Postby Shannon Parks » Thu Jul 19, 2007 11:59 am

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Postby SteveH » Thu Jul 19, 2007 12:18 pm

That is awesome. Why not just use a laser though ?
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Postby nineno » Thu Jul 19, 2007 6:45 pm

SteveH wrote:That is awesome. Why not just use a laser though ?


In fact, there is a company that makes a laser scan turntable. The name of the company is ELP: http://www.elpj.com/

The technology was developed perhaps as much as 20 years ago and I assume that it's relatively robust. However, for an organization like the Library of Congress I suspect that the results that they achieve are better than the ELP device, while producing a much more flexible system.

First, I presume that when the article says a "camera linked to a computer" they actually mean a white-light scanning device or, as you suggested, a laser scanner that acquires the entire record side nearly instantaneously rather than a "laser stylus" like the ELP. These scanning techniques are the same exact tools that are used in industry to reverse engineer designs; inspect manufactured part accuracy, etc, etc.

The beauty of this application is that these guys are using well developed and continually maturing technology (light scanning hardware) on the front end, and then developing the software that takes the raw data (usually an STL file) and extracting an audio track that they can repair and clean up in a method perhaps superior to even the best audio editing tools (like ProTools, etc).

For now, I'll stick with old school mechanical reproduction. I am pleased to see a portion of my tax dollars funding something like this, though.
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Postby wiredbecker » Fri Oct 05, 2007 3:19 pm

We got the ELP turntable in for review here at Wired and the damn thing skipped like crazy! Records had to be in absolute pristine condition in order for them to play. The manufacturer even went so far as to ship a record vacuum cleaner along with it in the hopes that it would help the 'stylus' track properly.

All it took was one speck of dust to cause a skip!

It'll be a few years before they get it right..
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Postby dcriner » Sun Oct 14, 2007 4:47 pm

I'm aware of the ELP laser pickup for records.

I wonder about something. Is it possible that conventional cartridges and preamps are somehow designed to match the idiosynchracies of a normal pick-up? With the mechanical momentum of the original cutting and the turntable's mechanical pick-up? If so, maybe a laser that directly "reads" the groves of the record might produce an unfaithful fidelity?

Just a theory.
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Postby TomMcNally » Sun Oct 14, 2007 7:16 pm

Like anything digital - it can be processed and corrected
in the software. I think the laser idea is dead, but the
camera technique seems like a good way to go.
No moving parts ... lay the disc (even broken ones) on
the table - take a pic of the grooves and process it !
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Postby EWBrown » Mon Oct 15, 2007 9:39 am

Hmmm..... where'd I post that little toy VW microbus, which ran around the record and played it... Yellow_Light_Colorz_PDT_04

Black & Decker's Record Wrecker... Yellow_Light_Colorz_PDT_07

/ed B in NH
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Postby TomMcNally » Mon Oct 15, 2007 10:00 am

Hey ! That thing has great specs - here is mine being tested.

Image
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Postby EWBrown » Mon Oct 15, 2007 10:07 am

That's the one! As I remember, they had one version, encrusted with fake diamonds...

I would imagine that one of these could get the resudial remains of the Coca-Cola footprint dug out of the "Night Moves" grooves in fairly short order...

/ed B in NH

(and I still have that permanently-1968-Pontiac-Tempest-Rear-Seat-Sitting-In-The-Sun deformed album in my collection) Yellow_Light_Colorz_PDT_04
Real Radios Glow in the Dark
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Postby TomMcNally » Mon Oct 15, 2007 11:31 am

The VW tracks amazingly well ... but there is this strange
Doppler-effect sound ... like a Leslie speaker, as the speaker
rotates. A nice enhancement would be to add a little
2.4 ghz transmitter to send the audio to the amplifier.
There isn't much room inside the bus, so I was thinking
of putting the transmitter and batteries in a trailer.

Whaddya think ? Yellow_Light_Colorz_PDT_07
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Postby EWBrown » Tue Oct 16, 2007 8:04 am

You could put a little "bluetooth" transmitter chip inside (do thay make analog in and BT out versions?)

Or, if you took out the speaker, there'd be room for an "analog" 2.45 GHz transmitter.

Do these "nanobus" record players only do 33 1/3 RPM?

I'd imagine that the centrifugal forces, oversteer, and doppler shift could be a bit squirrely at 78 RPM Yellow_Light_Colorz_PDT_09 :o Yellow_Light_Colorz_PDT_03


/ed B in NH
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Postby TomMcNally » Tue Oct 16, 2007 10:40 am

true - taking the speaker out would lighten it up ...
I'm going to look for another one to experiment with,
I paid too much for that original one to break it !
They only play LP's ... not sure how well the inner
tracks play ... I usually just demo it to people for
a minute and turn it off.
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Postby wiredbecker » Tue Oct 16, 2007 8:45 pm

I always wanted a 'vinyl killer'. Does it live up to its nickname Tom?
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Postby TomMcNally » Wed Oct 17, 2007 10:00 am

I have a old well worn radio station copy of
Crosby Still and Nash ... dated 1973 on the
jacket ... I've plopped the bus down for a
few dozen demos and let it play, and it's
no scratchier than it was !

It's a cool toy, I wish I could have it here
at work, but I don't have that much desk
space free to lay down an LP ! haha
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