| Recently analog audio has had a resurgence of | | | | to the light bulb was boosted and amplified! |
| interest. A good market indicator of this is the recent | | | | Now we could usher in the recorded music. The |
| climb in vinyl record sales. For example, many classic | | | | phonograph with its enhanced wax disc's and amplified |
| albums are being reproduced and sold as new. Many | | | | through vacuum tubes and sums of these |
| audiophiles maintain that while digital audio media has its | | | | components brings us to an age of practical |
| benefits, analog still has a more natural and rich tone. | | | | recordings. |
| This has creates a division and conflict of interest in | | | | Now with the advent of the transistors by Bell Labs, |
| the audio community. Throughout the course of this | | | | back in'47 a new alternative to the vacuum tube was |
| article we examine the argument and points of view | | | | born. The bipolar transistor change the landscape of |
| from both the digital and analog prospective and as it | | | | every electronic device. Smaller, cheaper, faster was |
| applies to musicians and music in general. The | | | | the new mode of the electronics industry. More |
| subcategories are consumer electronics, mp3's, cd's, | | | | advanced computer's could be housed in significantly |
| records, musical instruments and audio recording | | | | smaller enclosures. The transistor was replacing the |
| methods. | | | | tube. The floor guitar effects pedals entered the |
| So what is analog sound first of all? Sound as it | | | | market from Gibson with their fuzz box known as the |
| relates to analog, is defined as a concussion vibration | | | | Fuzz Tone just in time for the Rolling Stones "Can't |
| of physical matter that is achievable by the person | | | | Get No Satisfaction". The Seventies introduced digital |
| ears general between 1 hertz up to and including | | | | pedals, and they were astonishingly expensive. Now |
| 20,000 hertz or 20k hz. And yet we owe the very first | | | | the records we're tapes and coded magnetic torrents |
| inventor of a device to record sound to the nearly | | | | of data a sorta of hybrid of analog and zero's and |
| deaf American inventor Thomas Edison. Edison is the | | | | ones. Then the laser disc, a friction free recording |
| creator of the first phonograph, hence the beginning of | | | | medium, and optically encoded data registering from |
| the recorded analog sound was born. | | | | reflections off the disc. This of course is not a natural |
| As the lead cylinder rotated, the operator shouted into | | | | sound, but capable of greater band width and storage |
| the cone that also doubled up as a speaker later for | | | | room. Like I-pods and a-like. This friction free approach |
| play back. Edison had released a technology that far | | | | poses a problem. Remember that pressure or shock |
| ahead of its time, many people couldn't believe it was | | | | wave with physical matter? Its now stored as a digital |
| real. The future of audio took that essential small step | | | | simulation of that sound. Most experts would agree |
| and a large leap. Its benefits needed additional | | | | that the sound from digital devices doesn't have that |
| technology like amplification and recording density. | | | | natural sound to it. While others say that white ambient |
| The lead tin film had to go for the technology to play a | | | | noise can be reduced with digital filters? So what do |
| good tune, and it to have full duration of the sound, not | | | | make of all this? |
| just a couple seconds. | | | | While digital has a greater storage capacity the analog |
| Edison also accidentally discovered another side effect | | | | signal clearly has a sound quality advantage because it |
| of his famous light bulb. He noticed that over time the | | | | doesn't simulate a "S" wave, it captures it! In the final |
| light bulb had a residue that would adhere to the | | | | analysis the definition of good sound depends the |
| insides of the glass bulb. He quickly patented what | | | | person's subjective option. I hope sheds some light on |
| came to known as the 'Edison effect'. It would take his | | | | understanding the difference between the analog and |
| rival, Nicola Tesla to unravel its mysteries and to his | | | | digital. |
| amazement he found that the electrical current applied | | | | |