zvukofor

Photoshop For Sound

2011-06-28T17:21:00.003+03:00

Spectral Layers from DIVIDE FRAME on Vimeo.

See More Here: http://www.divideframe.com/?p=spectrallayers

Little Improvisation

2011-06-28T07:54:00.002+03:00

Clearcut Play Live 21 2011-06-16 11 by zvukofor

DIY Goes Wild

2011-06-26T11:31:00.002+03:00

Monotribe x12

2011-06-23T19:39:00.000+03:00

Old School Instruments, New Music

2011-06-20T09:29:00.000+03:00

Elektrokosmos Music Instrument

2011-04-13T20:19:00.000+03:00

Star Trek Theme played on a Musical Saw

2011-03-21T18:29:00.000+03:00

NAMM 2011 news

2011-01-13T20:23:00.000+03:00

Прямо тут: http://matrixsynth.blogspot.com/search/label/NAMM

C новым годом!

2011-01-01T02:34:00.002+03:00

Railway Relay

2010-12-28T08:44:00.000+03:00

No doubt you are wondering what's all this about. In short: a group of dedicated djs who found a new family at DI.fm forums decided to put together a soundtrack for this beautiful 7 hour footage of the famous Bergensbanen line in Norway. There are 13 segments in total with 13 different ideas of a perfect soundtrack. If you enjoyed this video please share it with your friends.

This video contains footage from Bergensbanen in HD. For more information please visit: http://nrkbeta.no/bergensbanen>

Prosumer=Producer+Consumer

2010-12-06T02:06:00.001+03:00

The growth of this trend can be largely attributed to the Internet and economic globalization for increasing individual access to tools, techniques, and materials. Things may be designed anywhere, be manufactured in the same factories that major brands use, and shipped anywhere…if it’s even a physical product at all. A prosumer can build pro-level anything in his or her own home by ordering parts from anywhere in the world.

via noisejockey

Street Musician 2010

2010-09-28T19:05:00.003+03:00

The First iPad Street Musician? from Alex Shpil on Vimeo.

Street musician caught playing sitar on ipad.
She apparently used app Seline HD for her performance.
Also, sound was recorded using binaural microphones

Russian Sequencer 1988

2010-09-18T23:17:00.000+03:00

A new XL

2010-09-11T21:24:00.001+03:00

One more visualisation

2010-08-22T20:35:00.002+03:00

Chladni Singing from meara o'reilly on Vimeo.

Sound looking

2010-08-22T20:27:00.000+03:00

Tubes

2010-08-14T13:40:00.004+03:00

Via Matrixsynth

Dave of http://umop.com/ (The Packrat, Parallax, Retarded Animal Babies, and much more) sent this one (from Toothpaste for Dinner) to me and Eric Barbour of Metasonix. It's a funny comic and the connection to Metasonix and tubes is obvious. Eric replied with the following and gave me the OK to post it, so here it is. It also reminds me of the analog vs. digital debate. In my opinion sound is sound and it's all what you make of it. It's as simple as it gets - everyone likes what they like.

"Okay guys....yeah, it's funny.

Um, do I try to claim 'warmer sweeter tone' or 'vintage sound' for my products? Forgive me for ranting, but I keep having to make these points.

There have been long and often-incoherent lectures on 'tube tone' over the last 40-plus years. Speaking personally, I've long suspected this 'tube tone' crap to be based on people's vague memories of early tube hifi and radio equipment--which usually had poor frequency response and high second- harmonic distortion, either due to poor design or an attempt to keep the item below a certain retail price. ....

Please let me talk about my personal observations of 'tube tone'. I've heard tube amps that were as accurate as any solid-state amp you can think of (we are talking about high-end home audio, not guitar amps or pro audio, because that's the area where "tube tone" is the biggest hypefest).

And I've heard modern tube amps that were so shrill and ugly sounding, they made me think they were badly-designed transistor amps. I've also seen, used, and repaired a long long list of vintage hifi, radios, and guitar amps. They were all over the place in sound quality, though generally pre-WWII and cheap gear had that soft, indistinct 'vintage-stereotype' sound. Plus, I've heard transistor amps that were so damn good, they made me wonder why so much ink was wasted on blubbering about 'tube tone'.

My considered opinion: people who mumble about 'tube tone' are full of shit, and/or simply regurgitating catch-phrases they've been hearing for years. There are good tube amps and there are bad tube amps. Simply being a tube amp does not guarantee anything except a marketing handle that can be used to wheedle the clueless rabble into paying too much money for it.

At the CES ten years ago, I heard a brand-new, very costly ($8000) stereo tube hifi amp that was claimed to be 'the ultimate in high-end tone'. It was so shrill, lacking in bass, distorted, and otherwise ugly-sounding, it drove people out of the room. Even so, it ended up on the cover of major high-end magazines. (Later I was told by other people in the business that the company founder had severe high-frequency hearing loss, and was literally unable to discern that the amp sounded bad to most people. Nor was he willing to admit as much. He wound up telling the designer what to do, based on his own ears. Because he was an egotistical fool, who refused to acknowledge that his hearing was bad.) I'd tell you his name but it was an embarrassing incident and better forgotten. That firm went bankrupt recently, as his sales 'went off a cliff', and I'm not sure he deserves the extra abuse.

This also goes a long way toward explaining why I don't make tube hifi gear, hopefully. High-end audio is more like a freak show than a 'market'. It's full of arrogant over-50 man-boys who are obsessed with 'accuracy', yet usually have no idea what that means.

Guitar amps are starting to be similar to high-end in the sheer snobbery and idiocy. I've heard tube simulation devices, like the Line 6 products, that are as close to sounding like real vintage tube gear as one could possibly want. There are now quite a few tube amp simulators, made by various firms, that are basically as 'perfect' as can be. I've also heard 'real vintage style' tube amps, usually invented by idiots who wanted to take advantage of the 'tube tone fad', that sounded like broken transistor amps.

Yet guitarists keep demanding tube amps. And nowadays, they are paying extremely stiff prices for real tube amps with major brands like Marshall or Vox or Fender. Have you priced a Marshall JCM2000 amp head lately? Right now, despite a massive global recession, this 'standard for heavy rock' will cost you about $3000, with an 'official' Marshall speaker cab. Marshall and Vox belong to Korg, which is deliberately using these old brandnames to sell high-priced product to people who still think those firms are the same as they were in the 1960s. They aren't......the amps don't even sound like the old ones, mainly due to the poor quality of the tubes being made today. But it doesn't matter. They, like Gibson, Fender, and many other old brandnames that were around at the dawn of rock & roll, are simply trading on nostalgic warm tone feelings for bygone days.

It's why I find people who complain about Metasonix's 'high prices' to be pathetic. Those same people are often willing to pay $4000 for a modern reissue Gibson guitar, or $2500 for a 30-year-old TB303, or $75,000 for a Fairchild 670 limiter, because those things 'have the magic'. Whatever the hell that means.

My 'marketing', such as it is, doesn't focus on 'warm vintage tube tone'. Because it's not a real thing, it's a buzzword. Metasonix sounds different from everything else on the market and that's all I try to claim. It's the most 'real analog' possible--class A tube circuits. They might sound warm and soft, they might sound like a broken vacuum cleaner being shoved up your ass. It's more a question of the circuit design and the user's choices.

No one else had the guts to make tube synthesizer circuits, and to this day, if you ask a mainstream synth builder if they can design a tube synth circuit, they claim it is physically impossible or horribly impractical and costly. (Dieter Doepfer immediately comes to mind, because I've personally seen him tell people exactly that. And based on his marketability standards, he's right. Tubes are hell to deal with--costly, flaky, difficult to source, wasteful of power.)"

Little improvisation

2010-08-06T00:57:00.003+03:00

Waning crescent 24 by zvukofor

Solaris by Bowen

2010-08-04T13:19:00.000+03:00

All of the videos via YouTube

A new instrument

2010-07-08T02:26:00.000+03:00

Crazy Recording Techniques

2010-06-28T13:44:00.002+03:00

"Okay folks... as discussed in another thread, give us your wildest and scariest ideas for getting sounds. Use your imagination; anything goes, no wrong answers. I think we could all learn some stuff and perhaps have a laugh doing it.

Some of my own eclectic moments to start you off:
1) I sometimes plant a mic in a cupboard in the live room to get that "down the hall" sound on the drums.
2) I sometimes cram a mic into each end of an industrial size vacuum cleaner tube for a weird stereo room tone.
3) I have a metal CD stand which I've often used as a reverb.
4) Once we forced an Audio Technica Pro37-R into the neck of a Culligan water bottle and hung it in front of an amp to deliberately make it sound cheap and crappy.
5) We once constructed a raised floor with a C617 underneath it and a couple of e22s above so we could capture the sound of a guy doing this ethnic Ukrainian dancing thing.
6) I taped two C451s to a rain tube to get some crazy stereo.

So what else have you guys done or would like to try? Don't hold back. ...."

at Move the Mics

Psychedelic or experimental production techniques

2010-06-28T13:37:00.006+03:00

"..I recall a Jefferson Airplane interview where they talked about working on Surrealistic Pillow and how much of it boiled down to their being drenched in acid and simply grabbing and turning all the pretty knobs.

My guess is that's a fairly effective way of making it happen.

I can't imagine trying to create a stoner mix while not being stoned. ..."

at Gearslutz forums

The God of samling

2010-05-27T20:40:00.000+03:00

Impressions 1961

2010-05-20T11:06:00.001+03:00

Swish!

2010-05-14T22:04:00.001+03:00

SWISH from tim prebble on Vimeo.
SWISH: to audibly cut the air

Так работают они: http://hissandaroar.com

Спинтроника после электроники

2010-05-14T20:46:00.002+03:00

В большинство электронных устройств используются электрическиe заряды электронов. Зарождающаяся технология – спинтроника (spintronics) – использует не только заряды электронов, но и их спин (вращение).
Спин электронов тесно связан с явлением магнетизма, и первые спинтронические устройства представляли собой головки для считывания информации с магнитных носителей информации и магнитные запоминающие устройства с произвольной выборкой (MRAM – Magnetic Random Access Memory); последние сохраняют данные даже в том случае, когда они обесточены. Создание более сложных устройств, таких как компьютерные чипы, использующие технологию спинтроники, пока невозможно, в отличие от запоминающих устройств с произвольной выборкой и считывающих головок, поскольку они могут быть созданы только на базе полупроводников, а существующие полупроводники не обладают свойствами магнетизма в условиях комнатной температуры. Тем не менее несколько исследовательских групп уже достигли значительного прогресса в этом направлении.

Одним из наиболее изученных типов магнитных полупроводников являются полупроводники, созданные из материала на базе арсенида галлия, легированного марганцем. В 1998 г. группа, возглавляемая Хидео Оно (Hideo Ohno) из Университета Тохоку, показала, что этот материал может сохранять ферромагнитные свойства даже при температуре, составляющей 110 градусов по Кельвину (–163 градуса по Цельсию). «Ферромагнетизм» – технический термин, используемый для обозначения явления магнетизма, которое существует даже при отсутствии прилагаемого поля. При температуре жидкого азота этот материал уже давно используется в таких устройствах, как светоизлучающие диоды (LED), которые излучают свет, поляризованный в результате спин-поляризации (spin polarization) электронов и электронных дыр, которые его генерируют.

В конце 2002 г. Масааки Танака (Masaaki Tanaka) и его коллеги из Токийского университета сообщили, что применение относительно простого процесса отжига к арсениду галлия, легированнму марганцем, значительно увеличили рабочую температуру до температуры, известной как точка Кюри (температура, выше которой исчезает самопроизвольная намагниченность доменов ферромагнетиков и ферромагнетик переходит в парамагнитное состояние). Часто точкой Кюри (температурой Кюри) называют температуру любого фазового перехода второго рода.) и составляющую 172 градуса по Кельвину. Но это все еще значительно ниже комнатной температуры, хотя результат, по словам эксперта в области спинтроники Дэвида Ошалома (David D. Awschalom) из Калифорнийского университета в Санта-Барбаре, представляет собой «подлинную веху».

Материал, созданный группой из Токийского университета, имеет гетерогенную структуру: он состоит из набора слоев, тщательно нанесенных один за другим с помощью молекулярного луча. Этот процесс называется лучевой молекулярной эпитаксией (molecular beam epitaxy); эпитаксия – ориентированный рост одного монокристалла на поверхности другого; материалы могут быть одинаковые – автоэпитаксия или различные – гетероэпитаксия. Толщина легированного марганцем слоя, расположенного между двумя слоями нелегированного арсенида галлия, составляет всего 3 атома; каждый такой «сэндвич» размещается над слоем, легированным с бериллием. Ранее удавалось достичь температуру Кюри, составляющую 1500 Кельвина, путем отжига арсенида галлия, легированного с марганцем, не создавая сложных гетероструктур.

Значительно более высокую температуру точки Кюри наблюдали Артур Гебард (Arthur F. Hebard) и его коллеги из Флоридского университета. Его команда использовала фосфид галлия, легированный углеродом, к которому марганец добавлялся посредством ионного луча высокой энергии. Магнитные свойства сохранялись при температуре около 300 градусов Кельвина, то есть при комнатной температуре. Для практического использования этого эффекта в устройствах необходимо провести еще много опытов с различными материалами, используя более управляемый процесс, такой как лучевая молекулярная эпитаксия. Гебард указывает, что фосфид галлия хорошо подходит для соединения с силиконом, поскольку расстояние между атомами в этих двух материалах приблизительно одинаково. Есть предположение, что подобный высокотемпературный ферромагнетизм может быть достигнут в сплавах индия и алюминия с фосфидом галлия, который используется для производства светоизлучающих диодов (LED).

Появляются сообщения о том, что уже разработаны полупроводники, которые могут работать в условиях, значительно превышающих температуру Кюри.

Например, исследова- тельская группа, возглавляемая Хиденобу Хори (Hidenoby Hori) из Института современной науки и технологий в Японии, сообщила о том, что достигнута температура, составляющая 940 градусов Кельвина, экстраполируемая от измерений, проводимых с 750 градусами Кельвина. Эти материалы представляют собой нитрид галлия, тоже легированный марганцем, но на этот раз созданный с помощью лучевой молекулярной эпитаксии. Тем не менее необходимо провести дополнительные исследования, чтобы подтвердить, что в действительности ферромагнетизм работает при таких высоких температурах.

Исследование свойств материалов, с которыми ученые работают в настоящее время, требует значительных усилий инженеров для того, чтобы перейти от демонстрации возможностей полупроводников к реализации их в реальных устройствах. «Доказательством возможности создания такого «пудинга» станет когда-нибудь сконструированое полезное устройство», – заявил Гебард.

"Магнитные полупроводники могут работать при более высоких температурах"
Грэхем Коллинз

Физика и восприятие

2010-05-14T20:39:00.003+03:00

Задумайтесь:
в 2 метрах от человека мы слышим его в 4 раза тише и на 3 миллисекнды позднее, чем если бы мы были в 1 метре от собеседника.

И так далее, с силой обратно пропорциональной квадрату расстояния, и с линейной временной задержкой порядка 3 миллисекунд на метр...

Речь в общении?

Эффект Доплера?

Крик птицы в горах, anyone?

303 to 909 progress

2010-05-04T14:58:00.000+03:00

Давно пора было. Шарманка в лучшем виде, текущее время.
Для iPhone.

Walter Sear's Analog Rules

2010-05-01T00:21:00.003+03:00

"...The producers didn’t understand the capabilities of the instrument—and they still don’t. It takes imagination to think of a sound no one has ever heard before. The Moog could have been a contender, but I didn’t sell what it could do hard enough. Then again, it all started in the 13th century, with the invention of the hurdy-gurdy, the first instrument designed to eliminate musicians..."
at stereophile magazine

Walter Sear (1930-2010)

Вопросы

2010-04-30T20:08:00.006+03:00

Задавайте нам вопросы любого характера

Мы с радостью делимся информацией и знаниями, которых у нас немало, просто так.

Даже если просто хотите купить кабель — мы знаем о кабелях всё, в том числе где их достать. )

Мы знаем о технике всё, что вы могли-бы знать, но боялись спросить™

И, само собой, мы ответим на любые вопросы о ремонте, рассчитаем стоимость работ.

Так или иначе — мы рады помочь всем.

Профилактика

2010-04-30T18:22:00.015+03:00

Друзья, не стесняйтесь — несите технику на профилактику.

Это много дешевле чем ремонт "потом", когда уже поздно профилактировать. )
То, что сейчас "немного шуршит" может в любой момент стать камушком преткновения.

Мы рады когда техника вас не беспокоит™, потому как спокойствие идет исключительно на пользу процессу создания музыки или работы со звуком. Мы это знаем по себе.

Именно по причине спокойствия не стоит забывать следующие важные вещи:

• Большинство приборов и инструментов требуют чистки/профилактики не менее одного раза в год-два, особенно при мобильном или плотном использовании.
Это правило также касается владельцев ноутбуков.

Не стоит ждать пока что-то сломается — профилактика и чистка, как обязательная часть бережного ухода в разы дешевле устранения поломки.

• Совершенно естественна привычка обслуживать прибор или инструмент перед записью или выступлением — подобного рода услуги обычно делают инженеры при музыкантах, такие как мы, например.

Друзья, не откладывайте "на потом" уход за инструментов, это может выйти боком в неподходящий момент.

• Есть основная, не столь очевидная причина, ведущая к износу и становящаяся причиной поломок: несоблюдение простейших, описанных в инструкции, требований по содержанию и использованию инструментов.
Друзья, RTFM! Читайте инструкции.

Берегите технику от пыли, влаги и вибрации.

Modular Cookbook

2010-04-28T00:44:00.003+03:00

"Advanced Programming Techniques for Modular Synthesizers"

This document is intended to provide the advanced user of the Clavia Nord Modular synthesizer with a toolbox of techniques for creating complex and interesting patches. Although the emphasis is on the Nord Modular, the techniques described in this document can be applied to any modular synthesizer, from a modular Moog to the Native Instruments Reaktor softsynth...

(pdf, Google docs, 19.7Mb)

Tubes VS transistors

2010-04-27T17:08:00.006+03:00

Статья 1973 года о разнице ламп и транзисторов в применении в усилителях звука. Пожалуй, одна из лучших доступных статей на эту тему, после которой (73 год!) любые споры на этом поприще бессмысленны.

Engineers and musicians have long debated the question of tube sound versus transistor sound. Previous attempts to measure this difference have always assumed linear operation of the test amplifier. This conventional method of frequency responce, distortion, and low noise measurment has shown that no significant difference exists.
This paper, however, points out that amplifiers are often severely overloaded by signal transients. Under this condition there is a major difference in the harmonic distortion components of the amplified signal, with tubes, transistors and operational amplifiers separating into distinct groups...

(pdf, Google docs, 1.1Mb)

iPad: способ третий — groovebox

2010-04-27T13:50:00.000+03:00

iPad: способ второй

2010-04-27T13:46:00.002+03:00

iPad: способ первый

2010-04-27T13:40:00.000+03:00

Man-Machine Orchestra

2010-04-23T19:12:00.004+03:00

KarmetiK Machine Orchestra Live at REDCAT from KarmetiK on Vimeo.

A short clip of the premiere of the KarmetiK Machine Orchestra at Walt Disney Hall, Los Angeles, January 27, 2010.

"Global music forms meet the digital surge of the 21st century as the KarmetiK Machine Orchestra, directed by Ajay Kapur, convenes an international lineup of musicmakers, engineers and digital artists who use custom-built robotic instruments and new and expressive interfaces in live music performance. This one-of-a-kind performance features new compositions melding musical tradition with modern engineering."

Music Director, Co-Creator: Ajay Kapur
Production Director, Co-Creator: Michael Darling
Guest Electronic Artists: Curtis Bahn & Perry Cook
World Music Performers: Ustad Aashish Khan, Pak Djoko Walujo, & I Nyoman Wenten
Multimedia Performer-Composers: Charlie Burgin, Dimitri Diakopoulos, Jordan Hochenbaum, Jim Murphy, Owen Vallis, Meason Wiley, and Tyler Yamin
Visual Design: Jeremiah Thies
Dance: Raakhi Sinha & Kieran Heralall
Lighting Design: Tiffany Williams
Sound Design: John Baffa
Production: Lauren Pratt

www.machineorchestra.com

Follow KarmetiK on Facebook and Twitter

Guide To Mix Compression

2010-04-23T18:51:00.002+03:00

The SOS Guide To Mix Compression by Will Haas.
Compressing the stereo bus can give your music coherence, smoothness and, above all, punch — but there are plenty of pitfalls for the unwary. We lead you through the minefield that is mix compression.

at Sound On Sound magazine

Everything about Levels

2010-04-23T18:32:00.004+03:00

dB on not dB by Bruce Bartlett.
In a recording studio, "level" originally meant power, and amplitude referred to voltage. Nowadays, many audio people also define "level" in terms of voltage or sound pressure, even though this terminology is not strictly correct. You should know both definitions in order to communicate. Audio level is measured in decibels (dB).
One dB is the smallest change in level that most people can hear — the just-noticeable difference. Actually, the just- noticeable-difference varies from 0.1 dB to about 5 dB, depending on bandwidth, frequency, program material, and the individual. But 1 dB is generally accepted as the smallest change in level that most people can detect. A 6 to 10 dB increase in level is considered by most listeners to be"twice as loud." Sound pressure level, signal level, and change in signal level all are measured in dB....

at tape.com

Take it to the limit

2010-04-23T18:23:00.004+03:00

Concise Guide To Compression and Limiting by Paul White at Sound On Sound Magazine.

Compression and limiting have been covered in SOS before, but like the brown mould that you blitz every few months in the bathroom only to watch gradually return, questions on the subject steadily build up again, mere months after we explain the basic principles in an article such as this one!

On the one hand, musicians are encouraged to give an enthusiastic and dynamic performance, while on the other, their levels must be controlled to some extent, if we are to create musically acceptable mixes. One tool that is vital in helping us to do this is the compressor, but before looking at how they work, I'd like to outline the types of problems they are designed to solve.

at Sound On Sound magazine

Война громкостей Loudness war

2010-04-23T17:58:00.004+03:00

The loudness war, also referred to as the loudness race, is a publicized criticism of the recording industry's practice of digitally mastering albums with progressively increasing levels of loudness and reduced dynamic range.

The phenomenon developed as the result of the widespread adoption of the compact disc digital music format. The recording process of early CD releases differed from prior analog methods that had no set ratio of minimum to maximum level of perceived loudness. Dynamic range was dictated by the playback limitations of analog equipment, including vinyl record and cassette players. With the advent of CDs, music was encoded to a digital format with a clearly defined 16 bit dynamic range, equal roughly to 96 dB. Since most musical performances have a smaller dynamic range than that afforded by CDs, their recordings rarely approached the maximum possible levels. The loudest parts of a musical performance, the peak levels, serve to contrast with quieter passages which determine the initial volume setting chosen by the listener. With time, members of the music industry sought to promote their recordings by amplifying the average volume of a performance to fit a greater portion of the overall dynamic range of CDs. This method set recordings apart by offering listeners a subjectively "louder" listening experience....

at Answers.com

Octopussy

2010-04-20T18:07:00.000+03:00

Новый прибор для работы вживую предлагает нам швединговая контора Elektron:

• 8 audio tracks
• 4 audio ins, 4 audio outs plus headphone out
• USB 2.0, CF reader
• Optical fader
• 2 effect blocks per track

Парадигма

2010-04-20T17:57:00.002+03:00

”We shape our tools and thereafter our tools shape us.”
Marshall McLuhan

by Paul Frindle - II. О записи.

2010-04-20T01:52:00.001+03:00

Кое что о записи в наш век

"Actually (at the risk of putting the cat amongst the pigeons) I can suggest a simple experiment people can do themselves to illustrate this in action in the most graphic way, which should dispel any lingering doubt that it's important.

The aim is to show that what looks like a legal 'signal' way below any red light in your system can still represent something that cannot pass even remotely correctly out of your digital mixer at full level. And also to illustrate how this may affect your sound quality in practice when mixing ITB. It's a kind of worst case scenario - but it illustrates the problem.

You need a W/S like ProTools, a signal generator plug-in that has a good filter section that actually goes flat to 20KHz and rolls off at 24dB/oct or so.

- In Pro tools get a mono channel up,

- stick the PT generator plug-in at the beginning of the channel and set it for sine at say 1-2KHz.

- Follow this with a good filter plug-in set for the max slope at 20KHz. (For example the Oxford EQ plug-in has 36dB/oct at 20KHz and illustrates this well - any other good HF filter should work as well).

- As an initial test set the channel fader at 0dB and note that the PT meters shows the sinewave signal at -6dBr and that putting the filter plug-in in and out using bypass has no effect.

- OK now switch the signal genny to white noise and note that the level on PT is still -6dBr.

- Now un-bypass the filter plug-in and watch the signal level rise dramatically!! In the case of the Oxford 36dB/oct filter the meter level will rise a full 5dBr to nearly flat out.

Ok so what's happening - how is this possible? Well the digital genny plug-in produces sinewaves correctly - but when in noise setting it is just a random number generator driving the output. So although when set to -6dB peak value no sample ever gets to be greater than 50% modulation - a reconstruction of the undecoded SAMPLE VALUES produces nearly full level SIGNAL. Reconstruction means filtering and so the filter plug-in is acting like a partial reconstruction filter (much like a DAC) - which in turn is now feeding a more legitimate SIGNAL which the sample value only meter can read more correctly.

Ok now if this SAMPLE train is passing out of your DAC it too is being reconstructed correctly - so this -6dBr noise from the genny would a produce nearly full modulation SIGNAL if you fed this to the DAC directly - even though no sample gets to be bigger than 50% and no reading say's it's bigger than -6dBr.

If your filter is a good one you should be able to switch it in and out and hear no difference in the sound of the signal from your DAC - despite the PT meter reading wildly different. The filter has neither added nor taken anything significant out of the intended audio signal - but you have nearly doubled the sample values within the PT channel!

Ok, now wind the genny level up to say -2 or -3dB (still less than only 75% full level) and do the same thing. What happens? Well it now clips when the filter is in (samples bigger than flat out) - now the sound definitely changes when you switch the filter in and out - because it is mathematically limited and in error when the filter is in - cos it cannot pass through TDM slot at the output of the filter!!

That is what would be happening in your DAC, it would saturate if you sent this at only 3dB setting on the genny - reading -3dBr within the mixer itself, straight to the output!!

Ok now what does this mean for a mix? Well with all those mixed signals, cymbal crashes, HF EQ and limiting etc.. how close do you imagine the output signal can get to being a bit like white noise in places within a real production - even if none of the contributing channels hit the red light? Is this not the exact register of what we term as 'air' and 'resolution'? And people are aiming at max possible mix output levels on meters that do not show SIGNAL.

So why does an OTB mixer apparently sound better than an ITB mixer when you are modulating your digits close to 0dBr (sample value) all over the place? Well all those DACs (flawed as they may be) are acting to legitimately reconstruct your programme - before - you mix them all together and produce too many illegal signals that cannot pass out of your digital mixer! Paradoxically, the loss of sound quality due to all those converters is not as bad as the illegal signals created within the digital mixer by the 'too hot' signals you are trying in vain to pass out of the system.

It is not a summing issue at all (the one thing digits CAN do is add up almost perfectly). It's an illegal output problem caused by the fact that there are no meters that display actual SIGNAL in your whole mixing environment - you simply never see it happening.

So - go back and get your fav test mix back up on your W/S, re-mix the whole thing making sure that at every place in all chains (including between all plug-ins) never gets bigger than -6dBr. Make sure your final output after any limiting etc also never peaks beyond -6dBr. Now do the comparison between this ITB mix and a similar OTB mix. You might have a big surprise.

___________
Paul Frindle has 35 years' experience in the pro audio and music industries. He has worked as a studio engineer in Oxford and Paris, and was a design engineer at SSL with responsibilities for E and G-series analogue consoles, emerging assignable consoles and nascent digital audio products. As one of the original team that became Sony Oxford, he is responsible for many revolutionary aspects of the Sony OXF-R3 mixing console. More recently he was responsible for product design and quality assurance at Oxford Plugins.

by Paul Frindle - I

2010-04-20T01:33:00.011+03:00

Передовой инженер цифровой записи проясняет мозг пользователям.

Originally Posted by Paul Frindle

Ok here goes, my second (somewhat attenuated and bleary) attempt to answer these very good points. After dinner and a half bottle of wine with notepad at the ready - cos I'll be logged out again when I finish. Let's hope I don't bugger this one up :-)

You are making some very good points here that deserve a proper answer, because they hit right at the heart of the matter for most people - thanks for raising this.

In fact many of the most creative engineers I worked around in the 70's and 80's knew absolutely zilch about what was going on technically in their systems. But this did not stop them creating whole new fashions of production and defining new eras in our art. These people are my friends and I have always had the greatest respect for them. Suggesting that we should be deprived of their contribution based on their lack of technical knowledge and being 'clueless' would have been a crime to our art and a terrible loss to our industry. No block diagram was needed - and no block diagram would have done anything other than put these people off doing what they did best - which was to create art.

I totally agree that what we have now is a zoo of confusion, largely caused by a combination of aggressive consumer style marketing and a naivety that has plagued this new technology from the outset, which somehow started on the wrong foot and has never been able to admit it. I agree entirely that the industry is awash with misinformation and confusion. Much of this is generated by marketing initiatives and people 're-employing' words and sound-bites in a totally inappropriate manner (the stock in trade of consumer marketing).

But since these concepts are so compelling (because that is what they are designed to be) to anyone armed with simple common sense and just an honest desire to learn stuff, they are incredibly difficult to unseat - even if they are totally inappropriate and quite misleading. You only have to witness just how many posts are still running on about 'resolution', as though a digital audio signal were something like a PC monitor or a digital photo, to see how such ideas stick so effectively. :-(

Added to this, we have developed a production style based on maximum loudness which has evolved at the behest of yet more industry marketing perceptions, that is almost guaranteed to produce 2 dimensional results lacking in dynamic range and punch - and operating levels based on clipping only which will almost certainly result in errors.

No wonder the users are confused - hell, despite being in this industry as a designer for 35 years or so - I am confused! Each time someone asks a question about this stuff I am forced to think it through and work it out again for myself. What chance does a typical user have - knowing this stuff is not even their profession?!

Ok, to illustrate the point let's just go through your mentioned situation facing users about whether or not a fader can be used to recover from overs, on say a typical professional Pro Tools rig. This is what happens:

1. The signal comes into PT from an ADC as fixed point data. Fixed point can only represent a max data value of (nearly) +/-1.0 - but this is ok because and ADC can only produce max data of +/-1.0 - so no clipping here..

2. If there are no plugs in the channel and the signal gets straight to the mix buss; the PT processor has a 24bit native data width and a 48bit accumulator with 8 bits of overflow - so no trouble summing here either. You can add things at your heart's content up to very high levels and bring it back down with the master fader without clipping.

Earlier systems however needed to break out back into 24bt domain to communicate with other processors - when the mixer got bigger than what would fit in one IC, and so there could be clipping under some bussing and routing conditions for data getting bigger than +/-1.0. But we'll ignore that for now... It's history.

3. If you insert an RTAS plug-in in the channel, it runs on the host processor (your MAC) in floating point (because all general purpose processors are FP). The data is converted to float and processed in float - and converted back to 24bit fixed into the PT mixer. So clipping can occur here for values greater than 0dBfs. Can you recover from this by reducing the fader? No.

4. If you follow the RTAS plug-in with another RTAS plug they will both run in the host floating point processor and can pass floating point between them. So no clipping happens out of the first plug however large the data gets - and providing the second plug brings the signal back down to below 0dBfs it will be ok. Can you recover this with a fader? Yes.

5. However if you place a TDM plug-in in the channel, data passing in and out of it is fixed point 24bits - because that's the TDM buss format. If the process (say an EQ) increases the level it will clip - regardless of whether the next plug is RTAS - and even if the next plug reduces the level below 0dBfs. Can you recover from this with the faders? No..

6. If you pass data into an external helper processor (like Powercore) the data will be passed at 24bit fixed point (because of the interfaces) and can clip - regardless of whether the external processor is running float or not. Can you recover from this? No.

If your pass your data to any digital external outboard gear the same will happen because the interfaces are 24bit fixed point.

7. Ok so you've got your rough mix together understood all this stuff and got all the red lights out. Are you out of trouble? Not at all. Your meters are reading sample values only - and not signal at all..

You decide to put an EQ into a channel somewhere. If this is an oversampling EQ design it partially decodes intersample peaks (those that exist at higher signal rates between samples that approach max). Now parts of this track can peak at +3dB (usually, but can be higher) - even though it's set to flat and no loudness increase has occurred - you haven't even started to EQ yet!

If the this is an RTAS plug and the next one is also and RTAS plug that reduces the level again you are ok - you can recover from it.

If the plug is TDM you have had it. If the plug drives anything external whether fixed or float, you've had it. Can you recover from this? No - the only thing to do is to reduce the gain of the track into the plug and re-do your whole mix to compensate for the lower contribution of this track :-(

8. Of course other things can result in bigger than 0dBFS samples. Looking at the simple EQ, boosting any freq range will produce bigger values that may clip. You can indeed have multiple bands some in boost and some in cut that give a valid signal out. An RTAS plug should cope, but what if the plug is TDM fixed point? Are the values clipping internally? Have they got it right inside there, what is the order of the sections? DO you really know and how can you tell? Are you sure you can recover from it with a fader down line? No.

Even cutting can produce larger peak values (up to +6dBFS for heavily saturated sounds) as you are changing the waveform shape. Can you recover from this without destroying your balance? No..

9. Ok so you have avoided all this stuff by operating in RTAS or host only - no TDM and no outboard digital processors or add-on cards in sight:-). The occasional red light doesn't matter? Surely you safe now? Not a bit of it :-(

You introduce a compressor (no matter if TDM or RTAS) - a process that has to have a knowledge of real world signal level in order to function. If there is any deliberate non-linearity in this process it will be based on some operating level (most usually flat out as this IS currently the only operating level for digital audio).
If you hit something like this with signal at +10dBFS it may sound like hell :-( Can you recover from this without destroying you balance - or accepting inappropriate sound qualities from the plug-in? No..

10. Ok so finally you've understood all the above and all the possible pitfalls and you've got you final mix together, no red lights are on and it sounds great.

You stick in your fave buss comp/limiter to get the required level and punch and you are done - yes? No not a bit of it :-(

Your meters are still reading sample data values and not signal itself. The comp has bought up parts of the sound that was quiet in the recording adding some nice sounding distortion and the limiter has rounded off some of the peaks producing a greater number of them at higher values.

You are now back in intersample peak land - when your data hits your DAC it is reconstructed into signal and in parts produces levels up to +3dBfs (even as much as +5dBfs for very heavy program with lots of HF). What will your DAC do? What will the user's DAC do? What will happen if it's coded MP3, AAC or another lossy coding format? Will it clip, will it fold over with 'splats'? How can you know if you are hearing what the customer will hear?

I could go on and on but this is getting tedious. Do I think I have covered all major combinations? No not in the least - how can I know all possible combinations of these things - I am only a designer of the stuff which I have designed?

So what about the users - how are they ever to know? How can they ever be other than 'clueless' by definition.

Do you think a block diagram of anything less than a whole book would help you out of this?

So whilst people are struggling away with all this stuff wondering this and fearing that, another engineer has simply given up even trying to understand this shit. He hasn't the time or inclination to figure out what combination of this or that, in this or that order, under these or those conditions, may or may not produce an error he might or might not hear - which his customers may or may not suffer from.

He's put aside the dire fears about the much-dreaded concept of 'resolution' - and simply trims the gain down at the head of every track - to produce something like the headroom analogue system enjoyed (for good reason) - and gets on the with the business of producing art - which is after all, what he's paid to do :-)

This is the issue IMVHO :-)

Мы делаем вот что:

2010-04-19T02:35:00.016+03:00

Технический сервис:

● Ремонт, профилактика и настройка электронных музыкальных инструментов и звуковых приборов — от синтов и гитар до компов и усилков

● Установка и настройка звукового софта и железа для Mac

● Помощь по оснащению музыкантов и студий — подбор инструментов и эффектов, коммутация, решения по транспортировке оборудования и инструментов

● Обучение работе с разнообразными системами создания и обработки звука

Мастерская:

● Настройка управления инструментов/приборов любыми физическими контроллерами — Lemur, iPad, BCR2000; разные Novation, Korg, Akai

● Моддинг и кастом-шоп музыкальных приборов и инструментов — покраска, переделка под нужды пользователя

● Изготовление приборов на заказ — эффектов, контроллеров, синтезаторов

Конструкторы звука:

● Настройка (создание "пресетов") в любых синтезаторах, по заданию музыканта — собственно прикладной sound design

● Звуковой синтез — эффекты, фоны, инструменты для сэмплеров и всё остальное

● Электронная музыка и звук для кино и художественных инсталляций

● Настройка звука в аранжировке — подбор тембров, модуляции, эффекты и штрихи

● Запись, сведение и post-production электронной музыки

Узнавайте подробности и задавайте вопросы почтой или в скайпе

Мы уже рады работе со следующими людьми:
introcoda,
Re'sequence,
куронькоскор,
гистерезис и корпускулы,
птица-107,
itsari,
ком студия,
режиссер Дмитрий Слюсарчук

The Future of Multi-Touch

2010-04-17T04:58:00.000+03:00

Большая статья на английском про будущее интерфейсов, Lemur и прочее

Музыкант и iPad

2010-04-17T04:49:00.001+03:00

Что нас ждёт

2010-04-17T04:45:00.000+03:00

Подробнее тут

The reason for iPhone/iPad

2010-04-17T04:35:00.006+03:00

iPad vs Lemur?

2010-04-17T04:29:00.000+03:00

LiveControl for the iPad/iPod from ST8 on Vimeo.

Musiс of patterns/moire

2010-03-08T19:56:00.017+03:00

Новые архивы живых выступлений:
Часть 1 (38:43, mp3 320kbps, 88.6Mb)
Очевидное Невероятное - Vibration 01. Live@Siberia - 2009

Live performance archives:
Part 1 (38:43, mp3 320kbps, 88.6Mb)
Incredible Obvious - Vibration 01. Live@Siberia - 2009

The Instrument as it should be

2009-10-17T15:54:00.001+03:00

Производитель устройства
Device manufacturer

User Interface as it should be

2009-10-14T11:40:00.002+03:00

Not so much alternatives here at this time:

Jazzmutant Lemur

No comments — collaborative music art

2009-05-20T21:13:00.001+03:00

http://www.inbflat.net/

Vinyl iPod

2009-04-19T13:46:00.000+03:00

Nada Brahma

2009-04-10T23:21:00.001+03:00

Now that we are experiencing another rising urge for change worldwide and humans are beginning to look into new ways of developing sustainable societies, it becomes inevitable for us music makers to take on the responsibility which comes along with the unbelievable gift of being able to do so.

Improvisation by Skot Wiedmann and his own-build untitled instrument

2009-03-25T13:34:00.003+03:00

Improvisation from Skot Wiedmann on Vimeo.

Everybody to the power of one by Joseph Malloch. Performed on T-Stick

2009-03-25T13:33:00.001+03:00

Everybody to the power of one from Joseph Malloch on Vimeo.

Психоделия тудей! | Psychedelia today!

2009-02-05T15:08:00.003+03:00

Вот и оно — архивы нашей музыки на last.fm
itsari (1996-1998)
гистерезис и корпускулы (1999-2001)
птица 107 (2001-2002)

And here it is — our musical archives at last.fm
itsari (1996-1998)
hysteresis and corpuscles (1999-2001)
bird 107 (2001-2002)

iKraftwerk

2008-09-18T00:37:00.001+03:00

Всё в мире | All in the world

2008-08-15T02:43:00.003+03:00

WE COME TO ASSIST YOUR WORLD.

WE DO NOT COME TO TAKE OVER.

WE DO NOT COME TO DESTRUCT.

WE COME TO GIVE YOU HOPE.

Читаем (английский!) *** Read it all

The moon of Alabama

2008-08-15T00:41:00.002+03:00