[78-L] Record collecting

[Mike Harkin]

--- On Sun, 12/30/12, Don Cox <doncox at enterprise.net> wrote:

From: Don Cox <doncox at enterprise.net>
Subject: Re: [78-L] Record collecting
To: 78-l at klickitat.78online.com
Date: Sunday, December 30, 2012, 1:37 PM

On 30/12/2012, Mike Harkin wrote:

> 
> 
> --- On Sun, 12/30/12, Kristjan Saag <saag at telia.com> wrote:
> 
> From: Kristjan Saag <saag at telia.com>
> Subject: Re: [78-L] Record collecting
> To: "78-L Mail List" <78-l at klickitat.78online.com>
> Date: Sunday, December 30, 2012, 9:38 AM
> 
> The Roman Musician's Union knew all about that, but managed to keep it
> secret for another two thousand years. Caesar Petrillus (A.D. 42):
> "Wax is doing a job against us". Kristjan
> 
> 
> On 2012-12-30 10:28, Don Cox wrote:
>> It is surprising that acoustic recording was not invented much
>> earlier. The Romans or Greeks could have recorded through a horn onto
>> a wax disc, and used lost-wax casting to make a replica in bronze.
>> The tricky bit, for them, would be getting a constant speed. A
>> falling-weight drive, with the weight falling through oil or honey,
>> might work.
> 
> They certainly had the technology and the engineering skill, if only
> some Cleverus Diccus had got the bright idea to put it all together as
> you do. only problems I see would be standardising the weight of the
> rocks for rec and playback, and the size the thing would have to be.
> Would you want - could you even fit - one in your living room?
> 
I think the falling weight would be lead. 

The playback machine wouldn't be much larger than a 20C acoustic disc
player. Maybe not larger at all. 

Winding the weight back up again is a pain, but so is winding up a
spring.

Wouldn't you need a fairly long fall first to reach the right speed and then to have any kind of actual recording time before the weight bottomed out?

BTW did you see that somebody has made a record with a 3D printer ?

Don't recall that specifically, but have seen several stories of getting sound out of
old sources by various means; the Frenchman using lampblack on glass comes to mind.  Actually, getting sound ou of a wavy line at all boggles my techno-
challenged mind!

m in p

Regards
-- 
Don Cox
doncox at enterprise.net

_______________________________________________
78-L mailing list
78-L at klickitat.78online.com
http://klickitat.78online.com/mailman/listinfo/78-l