9 ms·

PO-80 Record Factory

245 points by bpierre 4y ago

CharlesW 4y ago
Also see VinyGo, a stereo vinyl recorder: https://hackaday.io/project/181401-vinygo-a-stereo-vinyl-recorder https://hackaday.io/project/181401-vinygo-a-stereo-vinyl-rec...
diydsp 4y ago
Listening to the distortion, it sounds like it could possibly be reduced/minimized by experimenting with pre-emphasis curves! I wonder if the existing community around this product's predecessor has worked on that...
- mmastrac 4y ago
  "to get the optimum sound quality for your recordings, use our vinyl mastering tool to pre-process your audio before cutting. created for use with the PO-80 record factory, it applies the desired equalizer curve to your music and makes it easier to achieve good lo-fi sound quality on your custom 5" cuts."
MDGeist 4y ago
Audio quality is about what you'd expect from a lathe cut record. That being said, since it is so hard to get vinyl pressed these days I could see a small run of cut singles being something artists could sell as a novelty for die hard fans. Neat!
- TylerE 4y ago
  The big problem here is that due to how soft the material has to be to cut, the lifespan on these is going to be somewhere in the realm of 1-10 plays.
  - SoftTalker 4y ago
    That's like an acetate "dubplate" that promoters used give to club DJs to get new music out (mostly replaced by digital files now of course). They were good for a small number of plays and used just to gauge the crowd reaction.
    - TylerE 4y ago
      Right, because this is the same process.
    - w0mbat 4y ago
      When you make an actual record you cut an acetate of each side on a record cutting lathe, which this product is a toy miniature version of. Each acetate looks like a one-sided vinyl record only bigger (it's got margin around the edge). You can take that to a club and play it, but normally you take the pair to a pressing plant. They make a metal mould of each one and use them to press the vinyl records. When I was a teenager in 1979 my band made a single on our own indie label. We got to go to see the legendary cutting engineer Porky in London near Oxford Circus and watched him cut the pair of acetates. Like all his work he scratched "A Porky prime cut" into the run out area.
      - TylerE 4y ago
        A normal master is cut in metal, not acetate. That metal positive is then plated and turned into a negative, and then the stampers are made from the negative.
  - dusted 4y ago
    Having listened to the samples they provide, I'll argue that the lifespan is about 0 plays, they're basically DOA.
rkachowski 4y ago
The most surprising thing about this is how low the price is for a teenage engineering product. I don't know anything about LP manufacturing but 150 for an LP reader / writer seems pretty cool.
- tibbon 4y ago
  I can never get a handle on their pricing. Its all either absurdly low (how do they make pocket operators so cheap?!?!?), or absurdly high (why is OP-1 so absurdly high?!). But at this price, hitting buy asap. It will be a neat effect for use in my studio.
  - wahnfrieden 4y ago
    this pricing is still quite high, it’s just a lower priced category. it’s priced at twice the japanese market version.
    - sli 4y ago
      Closer to 3x, if we're not including stuff like shipping. The Japanese version is $55, TE's is $150.
  - cole-k 4y ago
    Are the pocket operators really that cheap for the functionality they provide? I was always of the opinion that Teenage Engineering was ridiculously overpriced, but so much of what they make is so cool that it makes me want to buy anyway. I'm not creative/musical/rich enough to justify buying an OP-1. If I ever was, though...
    - Marazan 4y ago
      The pocket operators are great value, the PO-20 is one of the best all-in-one groove boxes around and the price makes it a total bargin. However, the cases are pure ripoff territory. I wonder if there are 3rd party ones available.
quantumwannabe 4y ago
This appears to be a rebranding (at nearly three times the price) of the Gakken Record Maker (which is still available online for its MSRP of ¥7,980 ($55) [1]). It even comes with a copy of the Gakken magazine! Here's a review of the Gakken record maker (which looks identical to the Teenage Engineering one) [2], the Japanese description from Gakken [3], and an English description from a reseller [4]. Gakken is a Japanese educational company. One of their products is a magazine called "Otona no Kagaku" (Adult Science) which comes with a kit to build a toy version of a mechanical or electronic device. Because they're part of a magazine, the kits are only available for a limited time. Here's some examples of the other issues' kits [5]. Some of the more notable ones are a wax cylinder recorder [6] and a gramophone kit [7]. [1] https://www.cdjapan.co.jp/product/NEOBK-2453544 https://www.cdjapan.co.jp/product/NEOBK-2453544 https://www.amazon.co.jp/exec/obidos/ASIN/4057507221/gkp_shuppan-22 https://www.amazon.co.jp/exec/obidos/ASIN/4057507221/gkp_shu... https://hon.gakken.jp/book/1575072200 https://hon.gakken.jp/book/1575072200 [2] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EB8qtW19nf4 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EB8qtW19nf4 [3] https://otonanokagaku.net/magazine/vol46/index.html https://otonanokagaku.net/magazine/vol46/index.html [4] https://www.turntablelab.com/products/gakken-easy-record-maker-toy-instant-record-cutting-no-returns-please-read-terms-before-purchase https://www.turntablelab.com/products/gakken-easy-record-mak... [5] https://otonanokagaku.net/ https://otonanokagaku.net/ https://www.cdjapan.co.jp/series/2993 https://www.cdjapan.co.jp/series/2993 https://www.adafruit.com/category/269 https://www.adafruit.com/category/269 [6] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t9X2CS4cs8o https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t9X2CS4cs8o [7] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bDdZFFLnsUo https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bDdZFFLnsUo
- vanderZwan 4y ago
  > They've also made a wax cylinder recorder Jan Derogee will be ecstatic to hear that in case he loses his reproducer again. [0] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FNFQkcbY5cQ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FNFQkcbY5cQ
- faefox 4y ago
  The margins on everything Teenage Engineering sells must be insane. Thinking in particular of their "computer-1" itx case which is a handful of pieces of unbent sheet metal and commodity parts, all for a mere *$195*.
alecfreudenberg 4y ago
Sweet :) teenage engineering has some of my favorite technical documentation
severak_cz 4y ago
This is peak of audio hipsterism! Audio quality is crap. Better to record on cassette with some boombox. Also see this DIY project - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8y7osjazhLE https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8y7osjazhLE
- colechristensen 4y ago
  In the age of AI fakes and perfect high fidelity available to anybody, the “crap” noise and distortion of this kind of thing is going to become a signal of reality that will be sought after.
  - LegitShady 4y ago
    Ya they just invented distortion no one does that in music right? It's not like they make pedals and plugins specifically for distortion. Instead you should pay TE for this revolutionary rebranding of an existing device. It's nonsense sir.
    - throwing_away 4y ago
      It's really no more nonsense than lo-fi tracks having rain sounds in the background or hiphop producers running old school beats through a 12-bit sampler to crush it up a bit. Producers use a ton of subtle tricks to make you unknowingly enjoy their work more with a touch of nostalgia. My Roland sampler has a "simulate vinyl" effect that's trying to do the same as this product, but in software.
      - LegitShady 4y ago
        Yes as I said there are already many distortions and bit crushers in use by people making music today, this little overpriced record cutter isn't revolutionizing anything because of distortion.
- tibbon 4y ago
  It is bad audio quality - but I find it potentially an interesting effect. I could see myself using it in the studio; not for final master of course, but as an effect for a section of a song or instrument. Compared to a guitar pedal, the price is right.
pdntspa 4y ago
A higher quality version of this could potentially revive dubplate culture As a producer walking into a set with vinyl of music I've made and cut earlier in the day would be DOPE. Impressive AF
tyrnnsrs 4y ago
got my order in! this will be really fun to play around with
vitaflo 4y ago
As someone with a 7” portable turntable used for scratching (Numark PT01) this thing looks awesome for making my own scratch records. The question of course is how deep the cuts are. If they’re super shallow then that won’t be as nice, but I also won’t be as worried about wearing out a record cuz I could just cut another one.
deworms 4y ago
Something's broken with the design of the website, it looks zoomed in and zooming out doesn't even work.
kleer001 4y ago
needs a mic
andrewmcwatters 4y ago
Aside from the fact that this is a rebrand effort and probably not TE's manufacturing, their mainline products have particularly high quality design. I've been watching a lot of AvE[1] lately, and his BOLTR series features him breaking down hardware and talking about the manufacturing. While Teenage Engineering wank is definitely not his category of analysis, it's probably not far off, considering he highlighted how spotty the Dyson product line is. I'd love to see him disassemble something like the OP-1. Edit: Missing link reference. [1]: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UChWv6Pn_zP0rI6lgGt3MyfA https://www.youtube.com/channel/UChWv6Pn_zP0rI6lgGt3MyfA Apparently, OP-1s use CNC'd solid block aluminum machining![2] [2]: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8mqO7pVBxRQ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8mqO7pVBxRQ
- lukevp 4y ago
  What’s AvE? You left off the link. Sounds interesting, want to watch the Dyson teardown!
  - andrewmcwatters 4y ago
    Sorry about that! Thanks for pointing it out. Viewer discretion: language. [1]: DYSON ANIMAL BALLS | It blows! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NPTzNJMd19A https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NPTzNJMd19A
- alangibson 4y ago
  It's a shame he doesn't do many BOLTRs anymore. His output slowly petered out during COVID.
  - LegitShady 4y ago
    I think he got enough patreon types that he basically moved all his effort over there. He bought a CNC machine for the channel and then focused on the people who gave him the money for it.
    - alangibson 4y ago
testmzakrzewska 4y ago
JansjoFromIkea 4y ago
Price wise this seems alright to me, I imagine it's a bit cheaper than their usual things because it'll become a thing a decent number of people use to make things like rewards for Patreon supporters, zine bonuses, etc. Production costs of £2 plus postage per (potentially) personalised 5" seems pretty good to me for all involved. A tangent but it's crazy how bad their LED matrix for IKEA is, I like the speakers and all on an ornamental level (especially with the 3D printer potential) and the matrix could be super neat (even with the lack of dimming options) but the patterns and sound responsiveness are so terrible it's a bit baffling they let it go out in the condition it went out with... I'd actively keep it away from the rest of the set so I didn't have to underwhelm people by showing how bad it is (until I get around to modding it, anyway)
- tyrnnsrs 4y ago
  I applied a colour film over my matrix light because it was so bright
nammi 4y ago
If you're interested in how records are cut, Amanda Ghassaei had a really cool project 3D printing records that goes into detail. She later used laser cutting https://amandaghassaei.com/projects/3D_printed_record/ https://amandaghassaei.com/projects/3D_printed_record/ https://amandaghassaei.com/projects/laser_cut_record/ https://amandaghassaei.com/projects/laser_cut_record/
deleted 4y ago
[deleted]
Severian 4y ago
Good for scratching, not so much for listening. "Real" vinyl is going to be pressed. The etching comes first on the master platter using a lacquer on an aluminum disc. Then that master is electroplated. Then that copy is electroplated (several times depending on production) too to make the pressing disk. Basically a mold of a mold to get the grooves.
rbanffy 4y ago
As much as I think this is a bad way to record audio (or data), the idea of an audio recording media that can be played without electricity or electronics is appealing.
dorfsmay 4y ago
> experience the warmth of lo-fi audio. I wonder if what some people think of warmth of lo-fi is connected to the effect of white/pink/brown noises discussed earlier today at https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=32998960 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=32998960
- bayindirh 4y ago
  It’s a combination of RIAA equalization, mastering suited to vinyl, some distortion, and some surface noise (mostly unobtrusive clicks and pops), according what my ears report me while listening to vinyl.
  - dorfsmay 4y ago
    Do you find it "warm"? Is it because you are used to it, feeding nostalgia? Or could it have to do with noise (distortion, clicks and pops) being soothing to the brain?
    - bayindirh 4y ago
      No, I really find it "warm". I'm listening to the same Hi-Fi system since I'm six. I have both vinyl and CD versions of some albums (I only buy vinyls of albums which I like a lot, and listen it with a coffee or tea), and they really sound different. I don't think it's because it's feeding the nostalgia, because I can feel the same things regardless of the medium and system I listen to these albums/songs. I don't think soothing the brain angle is valid either. I get the same enjoyment and relaxation from both mediums. For me, CD brings the enjoyment of a well brewed coffee, but vinyl brings the same feeling when you (sometime accidentally) brew that elusive perfect coffee for you. It needs some time and intention to appreciate. I'm an ex-orchestra player though, so my experience may not reflect the views of bigger audiophile crowd.
adius 4y ago
Listening to a vinyl emits much more CO2 than listening to a digital recording. I wish people would keep that in mind.
- wyldfire 4y ago
  Can you put that in some perspective with just an order of magnitude? Somehow it feels like next to auto or plane travel, or consuming beef - audio playback of any kind would seem like it isn't very significant. Hmm actually I wonder now if this was a joke and I just got suckered.
  - Applejinx 4y ago
    No, Benn Jordan got into that a while back. It's not the listening part, it's the manufacturing that isn't 'green', though I'm not sure quite how the math works: for instance, whether they're counting the trucking of boxes of vinyl circles all over the place rather than just uploading bits locally. Some of that would apply to CDs, too, but CDs are about as relevant as vinyl records are.
    - wyldfire 4y ago
      > it's the manufacturing that isn't 'green' If this is really the case then it probably doesn't belong in this thread about a usb-powered (!!) "factory".
      - randomvalues 4y ago
        But the vinyl blanks for this device have to be manufactured, with similar processes to the vinyl for professional releases. Also, cleaning the disk after you cut it, hoovering up the swarf etc. is surely more energy efficient when done in bulk in a factory? Factories use more energy than a home device, but when divided by the number of units produced?
    - SeanLuke 4y ago
      Also worth mentioning that vinyl records cannot be recycled.
odiroot 4y ago
Friendly reminder: you don't really want to do it. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aZ2czFuIYmQ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aZ2czFuIYmQ
entaloneralie 4y ago
That website is so bloated, if you're on roaming data, don't even bother.
Diapason 4y ago
"THIS PRODUCT IS NOT SUITABLE FOR YOUNG CHILDREN AS IT CONTAINS SHARP METAL AND OTHER SMALL PARTS." Yet they show a super young child on their page. "give your favorite 7" records new life". No thanks, I like them as they are.
dusted 4y ago
But it's so bad... It's so strictly in the "toy" category it's not even funny.. Somehow this fits well with teenageengineerings line of very overpriced products with a tremendously high focus on novelty and high markup and not much else.

245 points by bpierre 4y ago

Also see VinyGo, a stereo vinyl recorder: https://hackaday.io/project/181401-vinygo-a-stereo-vinyl-recorder https://hackaday.io/project/181401-vinygo-a-stereo-vinyl-rec...

diydsp 4y ago

Listening to the distortion, it sounds like it could possibly be reduced/minimized by experimenting with pre-emphasis curves! I wonder if the existing community around this product's predecessor has worked on that...

mmastrac 4y ago
"to get the optimum sound quality for your recordings, use our vinyl mastering tool to pre-process your audio before cutting. created for use with the PO-80 record factory, it applies the desired equalizer curve to your music and makes it easier to achieve good lo-fi sound quality on your custom 5" cuts."

MDGeist 4y ago

Audio quality is about what you'd expect from a lathe cut record. That being said, since it is so hard to get vinyl pressed these days I could see a small run of cut singles being something artists could sell as a novelty for die hard fans. Neat!

TylerE 4y ago
The big problem here is that due to how soft the material has to be to cut, the lifespan on these is going to be somewhere in the realm of 1-10 plays.
- SoftTalker 4y ago
  That's like an acetate "dubplate" that promoters used give to club DJs to get new music out (mostly replaced by digital files now of course). They were good for a small number of plays and used just to gauge the crowd reaction.
  - TylerE 4y ago
    Right, because this is the same process.
  - w0mbat 4y ago
    When you make an actual record you cut an acetate of each side on a record cutting lathe, which this product is a toy miniature version of. Each acetate looks like a one-sided vinyl record only bigger (it's got margin around the edge). You can take that to a club and play it, but normally you take the pair to a pressing plant. They make a metal mould of each one and use them to press the vinyl records. When I was a teenager in 1979 my band made a single on our own indie label. We got to go to see the legendary cutting engineer Porky in London near Oxford Circus and watched him cut the pair of acetates. Like all his work he scratched "A Porky prime cut" into the run out area.
    - TylerE 4y ago
      A normal master is cut in metal, not acetate. That metal positive is then plated and turned into a negative, and then the stampers are made from the negative.
- dusted 4y ago
  Having listened to the samples they provide, I'll argue that the lifespan is about 0 plays, they're basically DOA.

rkachowski 4y ago

The most surprising thing about this is how low the price is for a teenage engineering product. I don't know anything about LP manufacturing but 150 for an LP reader / writer seems pretty cool.

tibbon 4y ago
I can never get a handle on their pricing. Its all either absurdly low (how do they make pocket operators so cheap?!?!?), or absurdly high (why is OP-1 so absurdly high?!). But at this price, hitting buy asap. It will be a neat effect for use in my studio.
- wahnfrieden 4y ago
  this pricing is still quite high, it’s just a lower priced category. it’s priced at twice the japanese market version.
  - sli 4y ago
    Closer to 3x, if we're not including stuff like shipping. The Japanese version is $55, TE's is $150.
- cole-k 4y ago
  Are the pocket operators really that cheap for the functionality they provide? I was always of the opinion that Teenage Engineering was ridiculously overpriced, but so much of what they make is so cool that it makes me want to buy anyway. I'm not creative/musical/rich enough to justify buying an OP-1. If I ever was, though...
  - Marazan 4y ago
    The pocket operators are great value, the PO-20 is one of the best all-in-one groove boxes around and the price makes it a total bargin. However, the cases are pure ripoff territory. I wonder if there are 3rd party ones available.

quantumwannabe 4y ago

This appears to be a rebranding (at nearly three times the price) of the Gakken Record Maker (which is still available online for its MSRP of ¥7,980 ($55) [1]). It even comes with a copy of the Gakken magazine! Here's a review of the Gakken record maker (which looks identical to the Teenage Engineering one) [2], the Japanese description from Gakken [3], and an English description from a reseller [4]. Gakken is a Japanese educational company. One of their products is a magazine called "Otona no Kagaku" (Adult Science) which comes with a kit to build a toy version of a mechanical or electronic device. Because they're part of a magazine, the kits are only available for a limited time. Here's some examples of the other issues' kits [5]. Some of the more notable ones are a wax cylinder recorder [6] and a gramophone kit [7]. [1] https://www.cdjapan.co.jp/product/NEOBK-2453544 https://www.cdjapan.co.jp/product/NEOBK-2453544 https://www.amazon.co.jp/exec/obidos/ASIN/4057507221/gkp_shuppan-22 https://www.amazon.co.jp/exec/obidos/ASIN/4057507221/gkp_shu... https://hon.gakken.jp/book/1575072200 https://hon.gakken.jp/book/1575072200 [2] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EB8qtW19nf4 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EB8qtW19nf4 [3] https://otonanokagaku.net/magazine/vol46/index.html https://otonanokagaku.net/magazine/vol46/index.html [4] https://www.turntablelab.com/products/gakken-easy-record-maker-toy-instant-record-cutting-no-returns-please-read-terms-before-purchase https://www.turntablelab.com/products/gakken-easy-record-mak... [5] https://otonanokagaku.net/ https://otonanokagaku.net/ https://www.cdjapan.co.jp/series/2993 https://www.cdjapan.co.jp/series/2993 https://www.adafruit.com/category/269 https://www.adafruit.com/category/269 [6] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t9X2CS4cs8o https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t9X2CS4cs8o [7] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bDdZFFLnsUo https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bDdZFFLnsUo

vanderZwan 4y ago
> They've also made a wax cylinder recorder Jan Derogee will be ecstatic to hear that in case he loses his reproducer again. [0] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FNFQkcbY5cQ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FNFQkcbY5cQ
faefox 4y ago
The margins on everything Teenage Engineering sells must be insane. Thinking in particular of their "computer-1" itx case which is a handful of pieces of unbent sheet metal and commodity parts, all for a mere *$195*.

alecfreudenberg 4y ago

Sweet :) teenage engineering has some of my favorite technical documentation

severak_cz 4y ago

This is peak of audio hipsterism! Audio quality is crap. Better to record on cassette with some boombox. Also see this DIY project - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8y7osjazhLE https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8y7osjazhLE

colechristensen 4y ago
In the age of AI fakes and perfect high fidelity available to anybody, the “crap” noise and distortion of this kind of thing is going to become a signal of reality that will be sought after.
- LegitShady 4y ago
  Ya they just invented distortion no one does that in music right? It's not like they make pedals and plugins specifically for distortion. Instead you should pay TE for this revolutionary rebranding of an existing device. It's nonsense sir.
  - throwing_away 4y ago
    It's really no more nonsense than lo-fi tracks having rain sounds in the background or hiphop producers running old school beats through a 12-bit sampler to crush it up a bit. Producers use a ton of subtle tricks to make you unknowingly enjoy their work more with a touch of nostalgia. My Roland sampler has a "simulate vinyl" effect that's trying to do the same as this product, but in software.
    - LegitShady 4y ago
      Yes as I said there are already many distortions and bit crushers in use by people making music today, this little overpriced record cutter isn't revolutionizing anything because of distortion.
tibbon 4y ago
It is bad audio quality - but I find it potentially an interesting effect. I could see myself using it in the studio; not for final master of course, but as an effect for a section of a song or instrument. Compared to a guitar pedal, the price is right.

pdntspa 4y ago

A higher quality version of this could potentially revive dubplate culture As a producer walking into a set with vinyl of music I've made and cut earlier in the day would be DOPE. Impressive AF

tyrnnsrs 4y ago

got my order in! this will be really fun to play around with

vitaflo 4y ago

As someone with a 7” portable turntable used for scratching (Numark PT01) this thing looks awesome for making my own scratch records. The question of course is how deep the cuts are. If they’re super shallow then that won’t be as nice, but I also won’t be as worried about wearing out a record cuz I could just cut another one.

deworms 4y ago

Something's broken with the design of the website, it looks zoomed in and zooming out doesn't even work.

kleer001 4y ago

needs a mic

andrewmcwatters 4y ago

Aside from the fact that this is a rebrand effort and probably not TE's manufacturing, their mainline products have particularly high quality design. I've been watching a lot of AvE[1] lately, and his BOLTR series features him breaking down hardware and talking about the manufacturing. While Teenage Engineering wank is definitely not his category of analysis, it's probably not far off, considering he highlighted how spotty the Dyson product line is. I'd love to see him disassemble something like the OP-1. Edit: Missing link reference. [1]: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UChWv6Pn_zP0rI6lgGt3MyfA https://www.youtube.com/channel/UChWv6Pn_zP0rI6lgGt3MyfA Apparently, OP-1s use CNC'd solid block aluminum machining![2] [2]: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8mqO7pVBxRQ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8mqO7pVBxRQ

lukevp 4y ago
What’s AvE? You left off the link. Sounds interesting, want to watch the Dyson teardown!
- andrewmcwatters 4y ago
  Sorry about that! Thanks for pointing it out. Viewer discretion: language. [1]: DYSON ANIMAL BALLS | It blows! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NPTzNJMd19A https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NPTzNJMd19A
alangibson 4y ago
It's a shame he doesn't do many BOLTRs anymore. His output slowly petered out during COVID.
- LegitShady 4y ago
  I think he got enough patreon types that he basically moved all his effort over there. He bought a CNC machine for the channel and then focused on the people who gave him the money for it.
  - alangibson 4y ago

testmzakrzewska 4y ago

JansjoFromIkea 4y ago

Price wise this seems alright to me, I imagine it's a bit cheaper than their usual things because it'll become a thing a decent number of people use to make things like rewards for Patreon supporters, zine bonuses, etc. Production costs of £2 plus postage per (potentially) personalised 5" seems pretty good to me for all involved. A tangent but it's crazy how bad their LED matrix for IKEA is, I like the speakers and all on an ornamental level (especially with the 3D printer potential) and the matrix could be super neat (even with the lack of dimming options) but the patterns and sound responsiveness are so terrible it's a bit baffling they let it go out in the condition it went out with... I'd actively keep it away from the rest of the set so I didn't have to underwhelm people by showing how bad it is (until I get around to modding it, anyway)

tyrnnsrs 4y ago
I applied a colour film over my matrix light because it was so bright

nammi 4y ago

If you're interested in how records are cut, Amanda Ghassaei had a really cool project 3D printing records that goes into detail. She later used laser cutting https://amandaghassaei.com/projects/3D_printed_record/ https://amandaghassaei.com/projects/3D_printed_record/ https://amandaghassaei.com/projects/laser_cut_record/ https://amandaghassaei.com/projects/laser_cut_record/

deleted 4y ago

[deleted]

Severian 4y ago

Good for scratching, not so much for listening. "Real" vinyl is going to be pressed. The etching comes first on the master platter using a lacquer on an aluminum disc. Then that master is electroplated. Then that copy is electroplated (several times depending on production) too to make the pressing disk. Basically a mold of a mold to get the grooves.

rbanffy 4y ago

As much as I think this is a bad way to record audio (or data), the idea of an audio recording media that can be played without electricity or electronics is appealing.

dorfsmay 4y ago

> experience the warmth of lo-fi audio. I wonder if what some people think of warmth of lo-fi is connected to the effect of white/pink/brown noises discussed earlier today at https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=32998960 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=32998960

bayindirh 4y ago
It’s a combination of RIAA equalization, mastering suited to vinyl, some distortion, and some surface noise (mostly unobtrusive clicks and pops), according what my ears report me while listening to vinyl.
- dorfsmay 4y ago
  Do you find it "warm"? Is it because you are used to it, feeding nostalgia? Or could it have to do with noise (distortion, clicks and pops) being soothing to the brain?
  - bayindirh 4y ago
    No, I really find it "warm". I'm listening to the same Hi-Fi system since I'm six. I have both vinyl and CD versions of some albums (I only buy vinyls of albums which I like a lot, and listen it with a coffee or tea), and they really sound different. I don't think it's because it's feeding the nostalgia, because I can feel the same things regardless of the medium and system I listen to these albums/songs. I don't think soothing the brain angle is valid either. I get the same enjoyment and relaxation from both mediums. For me, CD brings the enjoyment of a well brewed coffee, but vinyl brings the same feeling when you (sometime accidentally) brew that elusive perfect coffee for you. It needs some time and intention to appreciate. I'm an ex-orchestra player though, so my experience may not reflect the views of bigger audiophile crowd.

adius 4y ago

Listening to a vinyl emits much more CO2 than listening to a digital recording. I wish people would keep that in mind.

wyldfire 4y ago
Can you put that in some perspective with just an order of magnitude? Somehow it feels like next to auto or plane travel, or consuming beef - audio playback of any kind would seem like it isn't very significant. Hmm actually I wonder now if this was a joke and I just got suckered.
- Applejinx 4y ago
  No, Benn Jordan got into that a while back. It's not the listening part, it's the manufacturing that isn't 'green', though I'm not sure quite how the math works: for instance, whether they're counting the trucking of boxes of vinyl circles all over the place rather than just uploading bits locally. Some of that would apply to CDs, too, but CDs are about as relevant as vinyl records are.
  - wyldfire 4y ago
    > it's the manufacturing that isn't 'green' If this is really the case then it probably doesn't belong in this thread about a usb-powered (!!) "factory".
    - randomvalues 4y ago
      But the vinyl blanks for this device have to be manufactured, with similar processes to the vinyl for professional releases. Also, cleaning the disk after you cut it, hoovering up the swarf etc. is surely more energy efficient when done in bulk in a factory? Factories use more energy than a home device, but when divided by the number of units produced?
  - SeanLuke 4y ago
    Also worth mentioning that vinyl records cannot be recycled.

odiroot 4y ago

Friendly reminder: you don't really want to do it. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aZ2czFuIYmQ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aZ2czFuIYmQ

entaloneralie 4y ago

That website is so bloated, if you're on roaming data, don't even bother.

Diapason 4y ago

"THIS PRODUCT IS NOT SUITABLE FOR YOUNG CHILDREN AS IT CONTAINS SHARP METAL AND OTHER SMALL PARTS." Yet they show a super young child on their page. "give your favorite 7" records new life". No thanks, I like them as they are.

dusted 4y ago

But it's so bad... It's so strictly in the "toy" category it's not even funny.. Somehow this fits well with teenageengineerings line of very overpriced products with a tremendously high focus on novelty and high markup and not much else.