Comment by cannam | Hacker News Reader

Comment by cannam | Hacker News Reader

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I wonder how many individuals there are in the world who have sufficient space for this, something to use it for, and the ability to maintain it? A bit like musing about the potential global demand for high-end yachts.

It's not on anything like this scale, but I recently acquired (sort of by accident) a Revox A700 reel-to-reel tape deck from the mid-1970s. Even though it works, it could be the most useless object I've ever possessed. It only does one thing (I guess two if you count recording and playback separately) and that thing can be done with higher fidelity by a free smartphone app. It weighs 25kg, draws a lot of power, is fiddly to use, and is probably one of the most complex pieces of consumer electronics ever made in terms of the number of distinct components it contains that can fail. What is the purpose of it, today?

If you're looking to creates something that sounds like it came from the mid-70s, you can either try to fiddle with a bunch of different settings in your DAW of choice to simulate the distortion that a reel to reel provides, or you get a reel to reel from the 70s and not have to worry about if it sounds right for the era/emotions you're trying to catch.

A console like this? It's probably going to end up as the centerpiece of someone's collection, much like Nathan Myhrvold's Difference Engine. It'll be well loved, admired, but rarely if ever actually used. I'd love to be proven wrong though, and have it end up being used as a console for a boutique studio for its unique sound. There's a ton of studio equipment that's kept around "just in case" because sometimes what you're working on calls for something out of the ordinary.

> I wonder how many individuals there are in the world who have sufficient space for this, something to use it for, and the ability to maintain it? A bit like musing about the potential global demand for high-end yachts.

I can see someone like Wayne Coyne buying it and getting plenty of use out of it, but I'm not sure if he's got quite "fuck you money" enough to pay the inevitable selling price.

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