10 ms·
THAT: A brand new analog computer
- sgu999 3y agoIs this showing up here because of a comment made about analog computers on that USB-C charger post? [1] Spending a bit too much time here, I keep on seeing what seems like logical connections in-between comments and posts over a few days. But I guess I may have overlooked this if I didn't read about it a couple days ago. Anyway, I'm now intrigued enough to consider buying one. [1] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=38778943 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=38778943
- codezero 3y agoIt's a common karma harvesting technique but also a good way to get good content onto the front page. I often submit links I see in comments and they tend to get a lot of upvotes because others who think it's interesting submit the link too, and the first submission gets an automatic upvote when others submit it.
- deleted 3y ago[deleted]
- pests 3y agoMy first thought too, and most likely. I wouldn't say there is anything ill-intent about it, just people finding subdiscussions interesting themselves.
- CharlesW 3y agoSubmitter here! I hadn’t seen the post you linked to. This one originally disappeared immediately, but moderators thought it was interesting enough to pluck from the second chance pool. https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=26998308 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=26998308
- aappleby 3y agoMy partner got me one for Christmas after I had oooed and aaaahed over a prototype I saw once. It is a fun and well-made toy, and it feels brain-stretchy in a good way to try and understand how the examples work.
- jamesmurdza 3y agoCool. I've been reading about analog computers recently, and here's a little history: 1936: Water integrator, used in USSR until the '80s: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Water_integrator https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Water_integrator 1940s: Torpedo Data Computer: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Torpedo_Data_Computer https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Torpedo_Data_Computer 1949: MONIAC, another water integrator: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phillips_Machine https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phillips_Machine 1960s: Scanimate, of which there are still a couple in use: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scanimate https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scanimate Modern day: Slime molds, other biocomputers, and domino computer: https://youtu.be/OpLU__bhu2w https://youtu.be/OpLU__bhu2w And of course, quantum computers.
- pkaye 3y agoUS Navy Mechanical Computer training film from 1953. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s1i-dnAH9Y4 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s1i-dnAH9Y4
- bee_rider 3y agoI love the care that goes into the presentation in these old videos. Slow, with plenty of breaks to let your brain catch up, usually filled with a nice graphical example to keep your bring churning. Plenty of “why” explanation, in the beginning. Authoritative, but not condescending. Just the right amount of jargon.
- alexott 3y agoThere are also pneumatic computers. Here is the recent article: https://cacm.acm.org/news/275366-pneumatic-computing-gains-air-of-importance/fulltext https://cacm.acm.org/news/275366-pneumatic-computing-gains-a..., but I remember (around 30 years ago) mentions of them in the field of nuclear reactors…
- acidburnNSA 3y agoHere's one from the 1960s used to determine the power coefficient of reactivity for a sodium-cooled graphite moderated reactor in Nebraska. https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=mdp.39015095040682&view=1up&seq=32 https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=mdp.39015095040682&vi...
- tibbon 3y agoCan I connect this to my eurorack? Only kinda joking
- kgwxd 3y agoLook Mum Analog Computer
- aappleby 3y agoYes
- ano-ther 3y ago> Internally, the THAT represents quantities using a range between -10 and +10 volts. So it looks like you only need to attenuate that a bit to get to Eurorack voltages.
- atoav 3y agoNope that should be fine. Most eurorack modules run on ±12V rails, but the convention for output signals in the maximum ±10V range (with trigger signals at 10V).
- buescher 3y agoSure. You can think of a modular synthesizer as a domain-specific analog computer for audio signals.
- crazygringo 3y agoNot knowing anything about the field, are there any practical uses left for analog computation? Is there anything they can do that isn't done just as effectively digitally by now?
- d_silin 3y agoYou can approximate low-precision digital operations with analog at better energy efficiency. https://mythic.ai/ https://mythic.ai/ is trying.
- deleted 3y ago[deleted]
- einpoklum 3y agoPotentially, lots! Whenever your computation allows for some small error, or is performed on fractional values (e.g. floating-point) - you could instead imagine doing it analogically. Think of the possibilities of zero-cost atomic addition in parallel, for example. Think about having "semi-real" neuronal responses instead of simulating neural network layers via precise binary computations. And then you can go into more exotic things like computing by wave interference patterns and such.
- bee_rider 3y agoIs an analog computer more like a floating point operation, or more like a fixed-point operation (that is; not necessarily one without any decimal place, but maybe one without an exponent field)? IMO it is surprising fixed-point values don’t come up more often… I think we’ve accidentally translated a hardware detail into our software. Floats are only necessary if we have huge dynamic range.
- einpoklum 3y ago> more like a floating point ... or more like a fixed-point ... ? It really depends on what kind of analog hardware you use. Not exactly like either. You would different causes for error: Thermal, inherent indeterminism of interactions, decay/drift of value over time, boundary breaches with values near extrema, etc. > IMO it is surprising fixed-point values don’t come up more often The C++ standard committee has seen a paper on adding those to the language, as a library feature: https://www.open-std.org/jtc1/sc22/wg21/docs/papers/2019/p0037r6.html https://www.open-std.org/jtc1/sc22/wg21/docs/papers/2019/p00... There's a kind-of-popular fixed-point-math library for the language: https://github.com/MikeLankamp/fpm https://github.com/MikeLankamp/fpm and I'm sure they have received some attention in other languages.
- dimal 3y agoThis looks like so much fun. I’m into eurorack, too, and there’s something about patching music that feels so much more conducive to creativity than making music with a computer. I have ideas that I’d never have any other way. And there’s something about manually cobbling together an algorithm with your hands that is satisfying in a way that coding isn’t. Gonna have to try this.
- alexb_ 3y agoLooks interesting but - $520?? Five Hundred and Twenty Dollars????
- beezle 3y agoI was just looking at the pricing... EUR 499 including vat and shipping.. but $520 to US, not including shipping?
- atoav 3y agoMaybe you got no relation, but yep that is what the promised functionality would costs if you built it in analog and wanted to sell it with a markup that does not ruin you. If anything this is actually quite affordable. On first glance this product contains eight potentiometers and two encoders, knobs, 170+ connectors, patch cables, a display, various discrete summers, integrators and differentiators and verly likely power rail managment that is clean enough to do actual calculations with it. Maybe as a reality check try finding the cheapest price for 170 connectors and 8 potentiometers with knobs ; )
- corethree 3y agoThe cost for one unit looks less then 100. Way less than 50 even. Is it truly non profit?
- klysm 3y agoIs there an analog of an FPGA for analog computers? Or is that like what an analog computer is
- _kulang 3y agoDifferential analysers often had components which you would connect to model ODEs. I suppose it is like an FPGA but they weren’t programmable It would be cool if analog computers could be miniaturised as digital computers were. Then maybe they could also be programmed, and you would have your answer
- klyrs 3y agoYes, and they're called FPAAs https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Field-programmable_analog_array https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Field-programmable_analog_ar...
- klysm 3y agoCool! I feel like these could have nifty signal processing applications for hard real time systems.
- zoklet-enjoyer 3y agoI'll wait for the Behringer clone
- kgwxd 3y agoHA! OT but, did you see today's AudioPilz (Bad Gear) episode?
- zoklet-enjoyer 3y agoI saw the notification from YouTube but haven't watched it yet. I got the TD-03 and RD-6 for my birthday present to myself last year. They're really fun!
- TaylorAlexander 3y agoActual photo of the device is here: https://the-analog-thing.org/ https://the-analog-thing.org/
- shrubble 3y agoNot sure if this would count as an analog simulation or not.https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mississippi_River_Basin_Model https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mississippi_River_Basin_Mode.... It was more accurate than many digital computer models for quite some time...
- jiveturkey 3y agothe article is new. the product dates to 2021
- anigbrowl 3y agoActually posted here 2 years ago, but inexplicably overlooked at the time. I had forgotten about this but am glad of the reminder, since in the meantime I've gotten into embedded systems and microcomputing thanks to the ESP32; this suddenly looks a lot more useful for prototyping. Their pro offering seems very expensive in an age of very affordable modular synth tools, but I guess you're paying for the linearity and calibration, which aren't always a priority in devices aimed at the musical market.
- internetter 3y agoInteresting pitch from the company behind this here: https://analogparadigm.com/ https://analogparadigm.com/ The company itself is working on making an analog chip, which is fascinating to me.
- jcpst 3y agoWe figured this out with guitar pedals. Analog circuits sound awesome. Taking one of these analog processors and layering a digital interface on top provides the best of both worlds. You can save presets, program the parameters using MIDI, etc.
- shermantanktop 3y agoAnalog data plane, digital control plane. Yeah, it’s great for some circuits. Digital pots and other bridging tech doesn’t always work well for some especially funky analog circuits, e.g. the Fuzz Face. OTOH, those circuits usually have one good setting anyway.
- ausbah 3y agoi wonder how it will take for someone to chain these together and implement a neural network
- atoav 3y agoAnybody into analog things might be tempted to think this is by THAT Corporation, a company that is loved both for its analog audio ICs and its application notes. But I could not find any link to rhe corporation.
- buescher 3y agoDoesn't appear to be. Wait for the cease-and-desist I guess. The company is https://www.anabrid.com https://www.anabrid.com and they also have a very aesthetically appealing "professional" analog computer for teaching and "research", sort of like the old Comdyna units.
- corethree 3y agoHow safe is this? If I link two nodes that are wrong can I short something? From my experience with circuits you can break shit fast and I'm curious how easy it is to tinker without being careful like you can when programming.
- pringk02 3y agosmall signal ins and outs like this should be perfectly safe. It's when you hook up power supplies without impedence to inputs that you have issues. You won't have access to that part of the circuit on the front panel
- deleted 3y ago[deleted]
- uticus 3y agoRelated, with 130 comments: "The Analog Thing: an open source, educational, low-cost modern analog computer (the-analog-thing.org)" https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=36165513 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=36165513