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MakerBot Introduces Printable Vinyl Records

Posted by Soulskill on from the countdown-to-takedown dept.

An anonymous reader points out great news for audiophiles soundsnobs musicians zombies , hackers, and anybody who's tired of having to pay for physical music media. MakerBot Industries has now demonstrated the capability of the MakerBot to print out listen-able vinyl records of your favorite tunes. With a microphone webcam pacemaker PDF attachment, it can even record new audio in real-time. "Using the MakerBot Generation 4 Electronics microstepping capacity, the AudioNozzle modulates the amount of plastic deposited too to two tu create a high-fidelity waveform. The results often surpass the dynamic range of 24 48 96 pi -bit recordings and can contain frequencies up to 57khz — even higher than the Nyquil Nyquist Dayquil Triamenic frequency for 96khz digital recording."

59 of 89 comments (clear)

  1. actually, I wanted to read real news by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Insightful

    oh, yes, that is funny too. keep them coming. Actually don't.

    It would be more clever if there were just one fake article.

    On Slashdot, Apr 1 is the day to find another source of interesting news.

    Get off my lawn.

    1. Re:actually, I wanted to read real news by Coren22 · · Score: 1, Insightful

      If you don't like them, don't read. It is rather redundant to read people bitching on every story that they don't like the April fool's news, don't read if you don't like it, no one is making you.

      --
      APK likes to ask for responses to the same things over and over. Maybe he just likes the responses?
    2. Re:actually, I wanted to read real news by blair1q · · Score: 4, Insightful

      But we now know what they've been doing with their UI budget instead of fixing the fucking thing.

    3. Re:actually, I wanted to read real news by MORB · · Score: 1

      April's fools is not about making jokes, it's actually about trolling. Slashdot's strategy of spamming rubbish fake news is actually quite effective for that, as people whine about it in every thread.

    4. Re:actually, I wanted to read real news by thePowerOfGrayskull · · Score: 1

      Actually, I wanted to read real comments. Instead I just see whining about how you all hate reading news sites this day. Let's call it even and both stop bitching about it.

    5. Re:actually, I wanted to read real news by 19thNervousBreakdown · · Score: 1

      Actually, it's been so annoying for so long it's starting to get funny again. The fact that they keep doing it despite nobody really enjoying it and massively reduced postscounts just makes it better. You'll get it eventually, it's hilarious.

      --
      <xml><I><am><so><damn>Web 2.0</damn></so></am></I></xml>
    6. Re:actually, I wanted to read real news by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      This joke is particularly bad, because the imaginary thing they're hawking kind of actually exists.

    7. Re:actually, I wanted to read real news by oldmac31310 · · Score: 1

      Acetate cutters have been around for donkey's years. At least the early 1960s. Actually I found the prank more amusing than the rest of the lame efforts today.

      --
      http://www.acetonestudio.com
    8. Re:actually, I wanted to read real news by blair1q · · Score: 1

      I meant /.

      The UI script behaviors are haphazard and irritating and vary from platform to platform.

    9. Re:actually, I wanted to read real news by Belial6 · · Score: 1

      What would be funnier would be to not post a single fake article, and watch as everyone tries to figure out which one of the real articles is fake.

    10. Re:actually, I wanted to read real news by LS · · Score: 1

      No, it's about ACTUALLY fooling people. This is fooling no one. Also, it's about fun. This is not fun.

      --
      There is a fine line between being a cultivated citizen and being someone else's crop. - A. J. Patrick Liszkie
    11. Re:actually, I wanted to read real news by RoFLKOPTr · · Score: 1

      No, it's about ACTUALLY fooling people. This is fooling no one. Also, it's about fun. This is not fun.

      Actually, CmdrTaco is sitting in a hilariously-oversized recliner chair laughing at all the people whining in the comments. April 1st is about fun for the people pulling the pranks and pain and misery for the people they're directed at. The more suffering for the second group, the more hilarity for the first. Physics, son.

  2. STOP IT! by Timmmm · · Score: 1, Insightful

    Is there no actual new for today?

    1. Re:STOP IT! by mat+catastrophe · · Score: 1

      There is, but you wouldn't believe it if I told you.

      --
      sig not found
    2. Re:STOP IT! by BJ_Covert_Action · · Score: 1

      Nope, none. The world agreed to stop doing anything interesting worth reporting on April Fool's Day. Didn't you get the memo?

      --
      Motorcycles, Robots, Space Gossip and More!
    3. Re:STOP IT! by 19thNervousBreakdown · · Score: 1

      Really? That's incredible. It's a shame that they can agree to something like this but refuse to come together for world peace, though.

      --
      <xml><I><am><so><damn>Web 2.0</damn></so></am></I></xml>
  3. First pony! by Spliffster · · Score: 1

    First pony!

  4. april fool by versificator · · Score: 1

    posted at 1:55pm so that would be AFTER 12-noon.

  5. Pff, vinyl... by SockPuppetOfTheWeek · · Score: 1

    Wake me up when they invent one that can print listen-able audio CDs.

    1. Re:Pff, vinyl... by tom17 · · Score: 1

      You didn't watch the video then? He clearly states that you can use it in your CD-ROM drive.

  6. Can't wait until midnight by hoggoth · · Score: 1

    Can't wait until midnight for this to be over.

    Or do I actually enjoy this and this post is a parody of my true feelings. Today, who can tell?

    --
    - For the complete works of Shakespeare: cat /dev/random (may take some time)
  7. Re:The one day of the year Slashdot becomes useles by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    And instead of just ignoring it, you have to post paragraphs of lipsum to every article today. That shows dedication to being a douchebag.

  8. Re:The one day of the year Slashdot becomes useles by Hatta · · Score: 1

    *ONE* day of the year?

    --
    Give me Classic Slashdot or give me death!
  9. If only it were true! by SoftwareArtist · · Score: 1

    You know, when I saw this story, my first thought was, "That's a great idea!" Then I realized it was a joke and I was disappointed.

    --
    "I'm too busy to research this and form an educated opinion, but I do have time to tell everyone my uninformed opinion."
    1. Re:If only it were true! by oldmac31310 · · Score: 1

      Acetate cutters are still to be had, and they have been around for a long time, so it is perfectly possible to cut a disc if you have the machine. Why do you think it is called cutting a disk in the first place? Cutting the groove is obviously tried, tested and proven to work very well indeed but I can't imagine any real way of printing the grooves.

      --
      http://www.acetonestudio.com
    2. Re:If only it were true! by Rary · · Score: 1

      The ones I know of cost about $10,000. Are there cheaper ones that you're aware of?

      --

      "You cannot simultaneously prevent and prepare for war." -- Albert Einstein

    3. Re:If only it were true! by _0xd0ad · · Score: 2

      I can't imagine any real way of printing the grooves.

      You wouldn't print the groove, you'd print up the surface on either side of it with a 3D printer. The 3D printer would have to be very fast and accurate to print in real-time, obviously.

      Also, making a master (negative) with a 3D printer might be easier and more practical than directly making a vinyl disk with one (for one thing, it'd only have to print a single ridge as it traveled around, instead of two with a groove between them). The master could then be used to stamp vinyl copies. If a relatively cheap 3D printer was capable of producing a master, it might be cheaper and more practical than the current methods of making a master.

    4. Re:If only it were true! by oldmac31310 · · Score: 1

      No clue about the price of the machine but I think it shouldn't be too hard to find someone offering the service for one-off acetates. There is still a demand for them in certain genres of music where 'exclusives' or 'specials' are highly regarded.

      --
      http://www.acetonestudio.com
  10. I love 4/1 on slashdot by geekoid · · Score: 1

    really. I find the stories to be amusing. The only think the confuses me is why the hell people who don't like it come here and whine about it.

    --
    The Kruger Dunning explains most post on /. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dunning%E2%80%93Kruger_effect
    1. Re:I love 4/1 on slashdot by Coren22 · · Score: 1

      Bugs the crap out of me too. If you don't like it, don't read and let the rest of us enjoy the hilarity.

      --
      APK likes to ask for responses to the same things over and over. Maybe he just likes the responses?
    2. Re:I love 4/1 on slashdot by veganboyjosh · · Score: 1

      Is it too soon to start complaining about the complaints about the complainers?

    3. Re:I love 4/1 on slashdot by oldmac31310 · · Score: 1

      They can be amusing but on the whole there is unfortunately not much display of inherent comedic talent in most of the 'stories'. The whining seems to come from the obsessively geeky/nerdy crowd who can't stand to have their routine altered even slightly. Hell, it's one day in the year. No big deal.

      --
      http://www.acetonestudio.com
  11. A word about Vinyl by dimethylxanthine · · Score: 1

    Though it's April 1st it doesn't mean every piece of news has to be complete twoddle. It's no news that sound quality of vinyl is far superior to anything that has or is currently on the market. If this is serious, and there is no reason this could be technologically impossible, this would be a massive treat for anybody who appreciates the quality sound of music. Now, I'm not an audiophile to the extent that can spot the difference in quality between AAC and MP3 (though not WMW, admittedly) - the first time I heard contemporary vinyl records spin back in 2004 I was completely blown away!

    Take note, young scuts - vinyl is going to stick around yet - even if not in tabletop-recorder factor just this month...

    1. Re:A word about Vinyl by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      I can't tell if you are taking the piss out of audiophiles or not, but I see enough of them in my business to know most don't know what the fuck they are talking about.

      The problem is that the wax substrate does not allow for the types of frequency and dynamics they think it does. This is why every phono has an EQ and filter curve set up in it as suggested by the RIAA. Good ones will have an expander to go against the compressor needed to keep the needle in the groove on rhythmatic pieces because it just can't deal with much in the way of dynamics. Don't even get me on how stereo was compromised to work in this solution.

      What does being on vinyl give us? Warmth...in the form of distortion. Its NICE distortion. I like the way it feels. A few mixes I've done for friends over the years, we've burned tracks to vinyl and recoded it for digital to get this (and then generally recorded more afterwards...for the baselayers and support).

      As for CDs? Why did they ever get the reputation they got? Back in the day, people were putting out masters that had been engineered for vinyl and had the curves and EQ in them formatted to keep the needle from jumping out of the curve -- without realizing that CD players don't have to recompensate for the media. Sounded cold and weak in comparison. 20 years later, people STILL refer to these earlier works as why vinyl is better...if you want the warmth...record it into your product -- don't let the medium do it for you. There are plugins that can do it easier than my burn a song to vinyl solution (and thats the funny thing about the makerbot joke...you could cut your own records for YEARS...I guess the joke is that it isn't cutting it, but building it from 3d).

    2. Re:A word about Vinyl by antispam_ben · · Score: 2

      It's true most audiophiles have little technical knowledge, and they have little or no clue why they like the LP sound. and likewise for the younger crowd rediscovering "vinyls." LP's (vacuum-cleaned and played with a good cartridge and turntable) are at least as good as music played back with lossy encoding through portable players, the way most people listen to music thesedays (this psychoacoustic data compression should not be confused with the topic I address below, dynamic range compression).The quality of recordings has less to do with the medium and more to do with how music production and mastering have changed over the decades.

      The RIAA EQ has nothing to do with the sound (other than appropriately shaping the max signal at different frequencies and the S/N ratio). Tape (in use for many decades, still used for some recordings) has recording and playback EQ as well, and for similar reasons.

      The stereo compromise for LP's (this is actually where the term mastering originated) is mainly making the bass mono, which was done anyway for pop record starting in the late '60's with the bass guitar and kick drum mixed "in the middle" for maximum power through both stereo speakers. LP's are also made with a dropoff below 40 Hz to keep from exciting the stylus suspension/arm resonance, but very little pop music (as performed live and recorded on CD's) has anything below 40Hz either. The lowest note on the common 4-string bass guitar, the E, is 41Hz.

      The REAL compression started in the '80's and became extreme in the '90's with hypercompression, the "LOUDNESS WARS" and actual signal clipping on CD. That, perhaps more than anything else, is why many people like the sound of LP's - despite its limitations, the recordings made on records have more dynamics than on modern CD's. One CD held as the epitome of this production technique was Rush's Vapor Trails: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vapor_Trails

      It's such an irony. When CD's were announced it was touted as such a great innovation, recordings would have greatly increased dynamic range over LP's, and certainly the potential was there, but the exact opposite happened.

      --
      Tag lost or not installed.
  12. The day that children run the internet by RapmasterT · · Score: 2

    I've made a point of saying this every year. If you want to go wild with fake news stories on April 1, that's fine...but don't expect anyone to take you seriously the other 364 days of the year. The fake stuff doesn't go away you know...do I really have to tell people this? It's out there FOREVER..you will FOREVER be attached to FAKE news stories, even on days when it's not April 1st.

    Grow up...or don't...but don't complain when people want mature sources and go elsewhere.

    1. Re:The day that children run the internet by jokermatt999 · · Score: 1

      Yeah, I don't trust the BBC after that bull they made up about spaghetti harvests.

  13. Re:not another one! by blair1q · · Score: 1

    They did. Four stories ago.

  14. If you're tempted to do a 4/1 joke, remember this: by RevWaldo · · Score: 3, Insightful

    "If you don't have a sense of humor, don't try to be funny."

    - Pope David Meyer, Church of the SubGenius

    .

    --
    Prisencolinensinainciusol. Ol Rait!
  15. Re:The one day of the year Slashdot becomes useles by blair1q · · Score: 1

    The rest of the year it's still good for wrapping fish.

  16. 24-bit? pshaw by he+who+meows · · Score: 1

    If you drink enough Nyquil even 4-bit sounds good...

  17. Re:First pony! by piripiri · · Score: 1

    Is it pink?

  18. Re:If you're tempted to do a 4/1 joke, remember th by hedwards · · Score: 1

    That was largely my thought, the drop boxes make the summaries hard to read and the gag itself isn't really funny to begin with.

  19. Re:If you're tempted to do a 4/1 joke, remember th by RevWaldo · · Score: 1

    Also (2nd bite at the apple I know - apologies): this kind of gag is a lot funnier if the product actually works.

    .

    --
    Prisencolinensinainciusol. Ol Rait!
  20. Scanning vinyl albums? by jbarr · · Score: 1

    I thought I read an article a while back about a company or some researcher or someone who did non-intrusive laser scans on vinyl record albums and processed the resulting scans to re-create the sound? The intent was to record the sound without harming the physical vinyl.

    A quick Google search returns an article about this as well as a "touchless" laser turntable.

    Anyone else remember this?

    --
    My mom always said, "Jim, you're 1 in a million." Given the current population, there are 7000 of me. God help us all!
    1. Re:Scanning vinyl albums? by _0xd0ad · · Score: 1

      I remember something like that too - probably it was about either this, this or this.

    2. Re:Scanning vinyl albums? by Tx-0 · · Score: 1

      There's also this old slashdot article dating back to 2002

  21. Re:Vinylphiles by oldmac31310 · · Score: 1

    Huh? If I could afford it I'd buy vinyl records (I used to when I could afford it) and my system is nothing special and cost very little. I just enjoy the experience of playing vinyl. Something wrong with that?

    --
    http://www.acetonestudio.com
  22. Thingivers will fill with pirated LP's! by antispam_ben · · Score: 1

    ...and become the target of what remains of the RIAA.

    (LP's, or do the youngun's call 'em "vinyls" thesedays?)

    --
    Tag lost or not installed.
  23. How are those cables working out? by Fujisawa+Sensei · · Score: 1

    How are those Anjou cables from Pear working out for you?

    --
    If someone is passing you on the right, you are an asshole for driving in the wrong lane.
  24. Re:Back in the 80's.... by _0xd0ad · · Score: 1

    And.. They were only able to get a good result for about 10-15 minuts in the beginning of the disc..

    Sounds like their device didn't compensate for the increased circumferential distance the farther out you move on the disc.

  25. Comment removed by account_deleted · · Score: 1

    Comment removed based on user account deletion

  26. These would sound sweet with ... by Fippy+Darkpaw · · Score: 1

    ... some $500 Monster Cables.

  27. Re:Disappointingly absent slashtweak: by _0xd0ad · · Score: 1

    Here you go:

    javascript:void((d=(d=document.getElementsByTagName('select')[0])[d.length-1]).innerHTML=d.value='pedophiles');

  28. I figured it out. by kyrio · · Score: 1

    The articles on every other day of the year are so bad because the /. authors are hard at work coming up with this shit.

  29. Re:not another one! by scottrocket · · Score: 1
    "Please end the April fools jokes. Please?"

    They did, back in '99. 1 April stories are created for ACs ;)

  30. Bats love it! by Tisha_AH · · Score: 1

    I have been working with this technology for quite some time. Anything from Nirvana causes the bats to collide into a bloody mass over the cornfield.

    --
    Tisha Hayes
  31. even if it were real by sixsixtysix · · Score: 1

    what would be the point? doesn't all that so-called warm analog goodness go right out the wind once it is digitized (in any step of the process)? most people would be using sources containing those digital jaggies, thus mooting the entire point.

    --
    ...
  32. RELAX! by jfengel · · Score: 1

    This is a tech news site. If you have to hear about the Debian 4.3.2.4.0001 release tomorrow instead of today, I'm pretty sure you'll live. Slashdot isn't about breaking news, or anything you need to act on right this minute. Tech changes fast, but not that fast.

    This site is fundamentally about entertainment. Your job does not depend on it. It's what you do to take a break from the code. Today, you do it a little differently than yesterday. Don't worry, all the breaking news will be back tomorrow, and you'll find that you didn't really miss anything.