Like many music lovers today, I have a huge digital library and even though I've now converted much of my vinyl collection to MP3, I still return to my racks often. I've not really considered the possibility of converting my MP3/OGG/FLAC files into 12-inch records ... until now. While exploring the limits of today's 3D-printing technology, digital music tinkerer Amanda Ghassaei has come up with a technique for converting digital audio files of virtually any format into 3D-printed, 33.3 RPM records that can be played on any ordinary turntable.
When playing a gorgeous slab of black vinyl, a stylus moves along a groove cut into the surface of the record spinning at a constant speed (33.3 RPM for albums and 45 RPM for singles). As the stylus hits tiny bumps along the groove, it vibrates to produce an audio signal. This is amplified and routed through speakers to get you up and dancing. The 3D-printed disc behaves in a similar fashion.
To convert the digital audio files into records, 3D modeling files were produced using a custom algorithm authored in an open-source programming environment called Processing. Conversion calculations were performed on raw audio data to generate the 3D groove patterns on the disc, and this information was saved as an STL file and sent to the 3D printer.
The final discs were printed using an Objet Connex500 UV-cured resin printer to an X/Y resolution of 600 dpi (and 16 microns on the Z axis), which is a good deal more accurate than desktop extrusion printers like the Replicator or the Cubify, but nowhere near the microgroove resolution of modern records.
Ghassaei has detailed the process on her Instructables page, which includes links to download the files needed to experiment with your own digital files (assuming you have access to a high-resolution 3D printer). Each of the test prints featured is roughly a minute long, although the system is said to have the potential to produce about six minutes of audio per disc.
For the moment, the quality of the end product isn't really tempting me to seek out the nearest high-res 3D printer but as resolutions improve, there's a good chance that my ancient turntable could find itself treated to the odd slice of digital gold.
Source: Amanda Ghassaei via Hackaday
This is the same as making the wheel square so that it can be made round again at a later date.
This isn't about resurrecting LPs and 45s. She was just seeing how much detail 3D printing can really create. If she really wanted to cut new records, she could get a vinyl blank and cut a new audio groove into it, the way Edison did the earliest recordings by cutting a groove into a wax cylinder.
The fact is that most of us aren't wedded to the past. Some people claim they can hear the wonders of vinyl, but I doubt they can prove that in blind testing. Meanwhile, the advantages of modern digital music are very hard to ignore. No wear, no need to clean records or handle with care, no need to organize records on shelves or swap them on the turntable, the ability to carry thousands of tunes in the palm of your hand. The age of hi-fi stereos taking up entire shelves is over for most people and it will never return.
P.S. Those who can't hear the difference between analog or digital recordings, or for that matter mp3 , should get a different hobby.
3d printing the metal plates used to press vinyl might be more useful, but I suspect it is actually easier to cut a blank with a laser than print the whole thing.
The age of hi-fi stereos taking up entire shelves might be over, but some people will never get over it... ;)
A few years ago I've bought a kindle for my mom. She really reads a lot. The walls of my parents house is covered by shelves, full of books. She said that that the Kindle was probably the most wonderful gift she ever got, but it also made her sad. If you can store thousand of books on a single handheld device, it makes all those book that she collected during her entire life useless. And it made her sad.
So I think some people require the feeling, to own things in a physical form. To be able to put them on a shelf. To actually surround themselves with the tings they like. Not because they provide a better quality, but because they are tangible.