best cheap/free scores 1.1

[Topcat]

Re: best cheap/free scores 1.1

I lived through the record era.....I have no desire to relive it. Good riddance!!

[Curious.George]

Re: best cheap/free scores 1.1

I lived through the record era.....I have no desire to relive it. Good riddance!!

+42 -- for reasons that are almost innumerable to address!

Though I still have a couple score of vinyl bootlegs that I need to (eventually) digitize. And, hundreds of audio tapes in similar need.

There's something inherently wrong with a recording/playback technology that destroys (erodes) the very information (music) that it is purporting to preserve!

[goontron]

Re: best cheap/free scores 1.1

Well, i got this a yesterday.


Anybody wanna give a shot at telling me what the hell it is? It came from USDOT.

The heavy/large case it came in.

[stj]

Re: best cheap/free scores 1.1

it looks like it checks the resistance or capacitance of a fixed volume of liquid.

[goontron]

Re: best cheap/free scores 1.1

^ Thats what i was thinking too. But, i pulled apart that little woodgrain box and it has a stopwatch in it, a few logic gates, and a multivibrator on a circuit board. Nothing special in the stopwatch either.

[stj]

Re: best cheap/free scores 1.1

maybe it generates a field on one electrode and you take a timed reading from the second one?

does it smell of anything - fuel for example?

[dmill89]

Re: best cheap/free scores 1.1

There's something inherently wrong with a recording/playback technology that destroys (erodes) the very information (music) that it is purporting to preserve!

If you're using a modern diamond stylus with a low tracking force (as most of the "better" non-DJ cartridges are) the wear is minimal to non-existent. Now if you're using a cheap ceramic cartridge (what comes on most of the cheap "retro" record players and also common on actual older turntables), a DJ cartridge with ridiculously high tracking force, or god-forbid steel needles (in the case of 78s) there will be some wear.

There were also laser turntables made in the 80s/90s for truly 0 wear but they were rare and expensive (and still are if you can find a used one).

[goontron]

Re: best cheap/free scores 1.1

maybe it generates a field on one electrode and you take a timed reading from the second one?

does it smell of anything - fuel for example?

Smells of the 1980's, but thats about it. Im going to try that with some water. It runs at 4.5V, what's the worst that could happen?

EDIT: Yep. Water touches the middle and upper electrode and it starts counting. When it leaves the middle one it stops. I guess its a flow meter of some kind. This is the only patent i can find describing it. https://patents.google.com/patent/US.../en?oq=4070903

[stj]

Re: best cheap/free scores 1.1

strange flow meter!
all the ones i'v seen use a rotor with a magnet & reed switch.

[Agent24]

Re: best cheap/free scores 1.1

Here's a picture of it operating on the testbed. Sorry for the grain, had to drop the lights and open the exposure to get a picture of the display. Its really dim behind that front plastic. The VFD looks great without it!

Ghetto-tastic! Haha!

[Curious.George]

Re: best cheap/free scores 1.1

If you're using a modern diamond stylus with a low tracking force (as most of the "better" non-DJ cartridges are) the wear is minimal to non-existent.

Sure, but it's still a contact medium, has to be kept clean (dust is abrasive; fingerprints deposit oils on the surface which allows dust to cling), etc.

And, when you use a low tracking force, walking on wooden floors can cause the player to jump tracks (I used to keep my turntable on the concrete floor in the fireplace). Ditto for acoustic coupling (big speakers), etc.

These problems go away when you avoid mechanical storage/replay mechanisms -- to say nothing of the portability issue!

[goontron]

Re: best cheap/free scores 1.1

^ Im with the monkey here. Not to mention the lack of dynamic range. Not much of an issue back then, but music now can have such high DR that even tape distorts. Let alone records which have none to begin with!

[brethin]

Re: best cheap/free scores 1.1

Any 3dfx stuff (agp or pci)? I'll always relieve someone of that old junk!

I will look but I think most of what I have are PCIE 9800 GTX+ cards and cards in that area, I do have a box of old pci and agp stuff I will open and look to see.

[momaka]

Re: best cheap/free scores 1.1

I only "listen to music" when I am actively "mixing audio" or creating soundtracks for multimedia presentations -- in which case, I use my Senny HD800's.

I guess we're different in nature then.
I usually don't enjoy listening to music unless I am doing it actively. If anything, blasting music while doing everyday work/tasks wears me out even more, even if it's just barely loud enough to cover the background noise.

Why buy something "cheap"? I think I paid almost $200 for the MA750's

I'm not saying that you should. Just merely stating that earbuds are crap and that even the cheapest pair of over-the-ear or on-ear headphones usually beats them in sound quality.

I only want "background music" to block out the other ambient sounds (in the office/lab/exercising).

But earbuds don't make "background music", they simply make more background noise

Plus a massive stack of stuff I don't care for (mostly junk, but there's some nice stuff there too).

Well, if you get any 90's oldschool drum 'n' bass "junk" (or newer dnb too), let me know
(though I doubt you would, as most people who are in this type of music rarely let got of their collection stuffs).

I lived through the record era.....I have no desire to relive it. Good riddance!!

I wouldn't say that I want to live though something like that too, as digital media (computer) is just too convenient these days. But every once in a while, I do like to crack an old cassette tape in the deck , even if it sounds inferior and you can't easily jump/skip "tracks".

Also fun to show to my nephews - those spinning reels used to hypnotize me when I was a kid, and now I can see it does it to them too... or at least keeps them away from their phones/tablets for more than 5 minutes, which I view as a success in my book.

Any 3dfx stuff (agp or pci)? I'll always relieve someone of that old junk!

Who wouldn't?

I think almost everyone knows nowadays that those cards are "valuable" (or at least worth a lot of money on eBay and similar sites). So they tend not to make it to the scrap pile as much as other stuff.

[dmill89]

Re: best cheap/free scores 1.1

I think almost everyone knows nowadays that those cards are "valuable" (or at least worth a lot of money on eBay and similar sites). So they tend not to make it to the scrap pile as much as other stuff.

The sad thing is I chucked a ton of them back in the early XP days, since 3dfx had gone belly up and there were no XP drivers available (at least official/reliable ones) any system I upgraded to XP with a 3dfx card got it replaced with an ATI/Nvidia one with compatible drivers and since everyone thought the 3dfx cards were just "old unsupported junk" back then so there was no reason to keep them and they went to the recyclers. Now with the insane prices they're going for I wish I hung onto a few.

[Curious.George]

Re: best cheap/free scores 1.1

^ Im with the monkey here. Not to mention the lack of dynamic range. Not much of an issue back then, but music now can have such high DR that even tape distorts. Let alone records which have none to begin with!

Vinyl (and, other media) are purely analog mechanisms with analog interfaces. I.e., the more you try to process (or even distribute) the signal, the worse it gets.

When I bought my Dragons, I repurchased all of my vinyl (at least the titles that were still available) so I knew I was starting with media that was in the best condition it would ever likely be (no scratches, finger oils, warping from storage, etc.)

Then, spent a fair bit of effort cabling the source (B&O 8000) to the recorder (Dragon). Used good quality, NIB tape. One pass through each album to get the levels right (don't want to waste any headroom). Then, a final pass to actually make the recording.

Remove shrink-wrap cover from album jacket. Place in loose-fitting poly sleeve. Place one red ("virgin playback") and one green ("another playback") self-adhesive dot on the sleeve to record how much play the album has received. Stand album on end in a 14x17 hanging file folder. Place folder in 14x17 file cabinet to adjacent albums never exert pressure on each other.

Duplicate cassette (hence the need for the second Dragon) so I have a "working copy" that I can use without degrading the original copy (I've a TD1200 for the car). I now have access to ~90 minutes of music that is more portable/resilient than the vinyl.

Each play degrades the medium (tape or vinyl) AND the player (turntable or tape deck).

By contrast, with an all digital signal path, I can manipulate the audio, duplicate the audio, listen to the audio, etc. and never be any worse off than the quality of the original.

And, I can store 1000CD's under my bed (in case I ever have to re-rip them). With the digital copies residing (in duplicate) on a pair of TB drives.

By contrast, the 14x17 file cabinet (think: hospital XRay storage) in which I stored the vinyl weighed several hundred pounds and was like having a refrigerator in your living room (large and unsightly).

When I have free time (ha! is that like "extra money"?), I'll design an interface for the 8000 so I can grab digital right off the cartridge and do all of the equalization, processing and recording in software without fear of signal degradation. (maybe a little box with a button, light and SD card so I don't even have to have the "intentional radiator" of a PC around in the process)

Let's see... 24/96 needs ~30MB/min so an "album" would need less than 1GB/side. Even a small SD card (or onboard FLASH) could easily handle that.

And, if you just store "raw" data -- no compression or other processing -- you can run the logic really slow to cut down on power and RFI. Then, upload to a host where you can leisurely process it as required.

[Curious.George]

Re: best cheap/free scores 1.1

I guess we're different in nature then.
I usually don't enjoy listening to music unless I am doing it actively. If anything, blasting music while doing everyday work/tasks wears me out even more, even if it's just barely loud enough to cover the background noise.

I use music to help me cut the ties to the environment around me.

Whether I'm writing code, designing a circuit, wiring a prototype, jogging the neighborhood or even reading a book (!), background music isolates me from the distractions around me.

I don't hear the fans in the servers. Or, the phone ringing. Or, my other half tinkering in the kitchen.

The music is predictable (because I've heard it all so many times that it's committed to memory) -- unlike background activities which have their own "personalities". I pick what I want to listen to based on what I am likely going to be doing -- the "tempo" of the music has to match the tempo of my activity or thought process (writing code or jogging tend to need faster tempos than reading a novel).

I never use the "randomize" feature of my players as that adds uncertainty. I've listened to all of my albums countless times so I know what "comes next" before the player does! And, without having to consciously think about "what's coming up next?".

I will deliberately avoid pieces that I know are likely to pull my attention away from my activity (in those cases where my attention may be essential -- surely not when jogging, etc.) E.g., I know that Alice's Restaurant (or Billy the Mountain) will drag me into a lengthy "sing-along" so I'll either plan on taking a break when that comes along or simply avoid it, entirely (the beauty of being able to push the NEXT button without having to manually reposition the stylus on a platter!)

Contrast that with FedEx coming to the door; or the phone ringing; or someone vacuuming the house; or rain pelting the roof; or a neighbor's dog barking; or a car driving by; or... all, unpredictable distractions to which I'd otherwise have to react!

[RJARRRPCGP]

Re: best cheap/free scores 1.1

After wondering if the Matty wet electrolytic caps are quietly taking a shit in the Antec High Current Pro 1200W PSU...

FML, I said "Matty", when it's loaded with Rubies.

[dmill89]

Re: best cheap/free scores 1.1

A few recent scores.

Dell OptiPlex 790 SFF for $20:




Epson LX350 9-Pin dot-matrix printer with 2 new ribbons for $15:



IBM Thinkpad T40 for $10:



In case you're wondering what on earth I'd do with such an ancient laptop, IBM actually released Windows 9x drivers for these so with a 1.5 Ghz. Pentium M, 512 MB ram, and a mobility-Radeon 7500 it makes a nice Win 9x system and will even run most games from that era well.

[stj]

Re: best cheap/free scores 1.1

you can probably put an M770 in that.
they are worth money to mercedes engineers btw, they have a good serial port for star diagnostics.