Ever wondered why you sometimes have to wait months after an album's launch to get the music on vinyl? It's not necessarily because the label hates vinyl — in many cases, it's because the decades-old manufacturing process can't keep up with the format's resurgence. Relief may be in sight for turntable fans, though. Viryl Technologies is producing a pressing machine system, WarmTone, that should drag vinyl production into the modern era.
Much of WarmTone's improvement rests in its use of modern engineering. It's more reliable when producing the "pucks" that become records, makes it easier to switch out stampers (the negatives that press records) and sports a trimming/stacking system that can better handle large-scale production. Also, there's a raft of sensors -- the machine checks everything from pressure to temperature to timing, so companies will immediately know if something goes wrong.
Logically, the interface has been spruced up as well. Touchscreens help control the pressing machine on-site, and workers can check on the state of the machine from their computer or phone.
Source:
https://www.engadget.com/2017/01/29/vinyl-record-production-tech-upgrade/
(Score: 2) by mcgrew on Monday February 06 2017, @04:29PM
Indeed. A lot of guitarists set a small tube (valve for the Brits) amp, and use a mic to pick up the distorted sound and then amplify it with solid state amps. The reason tubes at clipping levels sound so much better is that transistors cut off abruptly, giving it a true square wave, while a tube at distortion levels have the edges of the square wave rounded.
This stuff's a lot easier to understand and explain with an oscilloscope.
mcgrewbooks.com mcgrew.info nooze.org
(Score: 2) by Grishnakh on Monday February 06 2017, @07:58PM
That isn't true. It has to do with the harmonics. IIRC, transistors driven to clipping have odd-order harmonics, and tubes have even-order harmonics, plus the transformers used in tube amps have a lot to do with the harmonic distortion.
(Score: 2) by mcgrew on Monday February 06 2017, @08:50PM
Have a look at the waveforms on an oscilloscope.
mcgrewbooks.com mcgrew.info nooze.org
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday February 07 2017, @04:14AM
one way to describe a square wave is an infinite series of odd harmonics...
(Score: 1) by purple_cobra on Thursday February 09 2017, @10:32AM
It's certainly what I'd do were I performing again. I'm using a 30 watt Orange combo ATM though will probably downsize that further, assuming my arthritis doesn't stop me playing altogether; the Laney IronHeart series has a couple of 15-watt amps you can pull down to 0.5 and 1 watt, one of those having a USB out to record straight to your DAW. The attraction of lower wattage amps is that it's easier to get the output valves to distort without deafening everyone inside a 2 mile radius. As my hearing is not great anyway - a young and stupid guitarist did not believe in hearing protection and if I had a time machine I would kick him in the balls - then this would be a huge advantage in attempting to get the sound in my head to come out through the speaker. An overdriven valve amp pushing the output valves is the sound of a vengeful god.