Originally Posted by
vintagesteve
A lot of questions. Like, why bother? when we already have more than enough perfectly good digital storage systems for musical recordings such as CD, DAT, hard disc etc etc. The whole point of the 'record deck' is that it is purely analogue, and people like that. They like the sound (not sure everyone who claims to can hear a difference, but that's another story!) the equipment, the technology, the 'vibe', the looks and so on.
Current state of digital audio is based on the deductive approach. Meaning, it is based on the mathematical equation. It is a pure top-down model, where a sampling rate is chosen upfront and then the continuous signal is chopped up in little discrete particles/pieces.
The reason we like this approach is because it simplifies many things (but introduces a few complications in the process as well). However, technology progress never sleeps, and today, 40 years later, we have access to much more sophisticated technology that is becoming mainstream. This is due to the commoditization of the computing power (i.e. the 'cloud').
To cut the long story short, enter Machine Learning (ML). What ML specializes in is the ability to learn inductively, without being given any blueprint upfront. It's a bottom-up approach, the exact opposite from the old school top-down (deductive) approach.
I won't bore you with technical details here, but wanted to point out the ability to let machines observe some phenomenon (such as microscopic movement of a stylus/cantilever combo mounted on a well tempered turntable). After observing that phenomenon, machines could learn how to emulate such phenomenon. Sort of like observing skilled calligrapher do his craft, and learning how to produce similarly beautiful calligraphy.
If you think that is outlandish, not so fast -- three years ago I've worked on a project where we were teaching machines to learn our handwriting, and they learned quickly and were capable of perfectly emulating anyone's handwriting.
Don't you just hate it when you cannot detect where the post ends and a signature line begins?
Alex.