The farmer and his plow - When I set out to build a record cutter

[farmersplow]

Cutterhead - CH9 - Audio samples


It turns out that I'm not good at mastering. I can't manage to compress a 100dB original sound to a distortion-free 70dB. And I also need to get better at EQ. But that takes practice and time (like everything else).

I can't remember if I've mentioned it before, but I'd like to make it clear at this point. I have the highest respect for vinyl mastering engineers. I tried for a long time to improve the sound for the cut. But I'm not good enough for that. The time I spent on it was just enough to recognize the big challenge. A good mastering engineer can certainly do it better. My admiration!

Nevertheless, I'm finally happy with the sound this cutting head produces.

Here I finally have a few audio samples.

All tracks were recorded in one continuous track (on a 12’ vinyl disc blank).
33 rpm
No stylus heating
EEQ (monobass) 150Hz
20Hz - 15kHz
Record blank temperature 35°C
Cut Volume 0dB (5cm/sec)
No post-processing!

-Alex M.O.R.P.H. - 4Ever

Alex M.O.R.P.H. - 4Ever.mp3

.
.
-B.B. King - The Thrill Is Gone

B.B. King - The Thrill Is Gone.mp3

.
.
-Bob Walsh - Slightly Hung Over

Bob Walsh - Slightly Hung Over.mp3

.
.
-Grandmaster Flash - The Message

Grandmaster Flash - The Message.mp3

.
.
-Johnny Rivers - Secret Agent Man

Johnny Rivers - Secret Agent Man.mp3

.
.
-Santana - Singing Winds

Santana - Singing Winds.mp3

.
.
-Skrillex - Make It Bun Dem

Skrillex - Make It Bun Dem.mp3

.
.
-Sofía Reyes - 1, 2, 3

Sofía Reyes - 1, 2, 3.mp3

.
.
-The Blue Square - Mama

The Blue Square - Mama.mp3

.
.
-Tomoyasu Hotei - Battle Without Honour Or Humanity

Tomoyasu Hotei - Battle Without Honor Or Humanity.mp3

.
.

What do you think?

Greetings from Austria
Thomas

[zdenek]

the sound [ Battle Without Honour Or Humanity ] is acceptable for duplicates, it is not suitable for mastering and is not suitable for pressing records, as the high tones will drop by a few dB after pressing the record, especially the last track, the mains noise comes from the engine, the frequency response is 10kHz -20dB [it should be at least 0dB ],15kHz is not audible on the analyzer,signal to noise ratio worse than 20 dB for the entire band [needs a minimum of 40 dB], so you can hear that it doesn't blow my ass off....
There seems to be still a lot to do and a long way to good quality, but certainly not with the transducers you used in your head, you can push them out a bit more, but they won't go far.

[zdenek]

spectrum signal for
-Tomoyasu Hotei - Battle Without Honour Or Humanity

[farmersplow]

... but certainly not with the transducers you used in your head, you can push them out a bit more, but they won't go far.

as usual...

[zdenek]

Farmer It's good, there is no tragedy, you can hear it yourself, you need to add capacitors to the motor power supply stabilizer, 50Hz is very audible, or it's vibrations from the vacuum pump
ok! ,it's good, but it should be much better, ok Farmer?

[farmersplow]

...50Hz is very audible...

Motor problem and turntable drive problem have been recognised. Lathe is in progress.

[zdenek]

yes, it's a serious problem, it can be muted by adding large capacity capacitors to the DD power supply of the 10,000 micro Farad 50V motor, the hum will drop, it will decrease a bit, you can't hear it when playing records, because the motor consumes little current, when cutting 12-inch vinyl, almost I can hear the full power of the engine, I threw the mains transformer outside the turntable housing , but 50Hz still passed from the motor through the coils to the magnets and to the platter, there is a problem with that.

[Thelatheofus]

Amazing results mate, congrats !

The stereo sounds wide, balance sounds natural, I can't hear any noticeable distortion and the overall result sounds nicely detailled. I didn't cranck my volume loud so I didn't ear the 50hz hum, but on some tracks the flutter is pretty evident.
I would be curious to hear louder tests. All your remaining problems seem to come from the turntable, so this cutting head sounds like a success to me !

[farmersplow]

Amazing results mate, congrats !

The stereo sounds wide, balance sounds natural, I can't hear any noticeable distortion and the overall result sounds nicely detailled. I didn't cranck my volume loud so I didn't ear the 50hz hum, but on some tracks the flutter is pretty evident.
I would be curious to hear louder tests. All your remaining problems seem to come from the turntable, so this cutting head sounds like a success to me !

Thank you very much! I can't see any problems with the cutterhead either.
You're right about the synchronisation of the turntable. That's my main problem at the moment. I'm now so happy with the cutterhead that I can concentrate fully on the lathe.
And yes, there is a 50Hz noise. I think I'll have it fixed soon, as it wasn't there before and has only appeared now. My cable routing is not perfect on my breadboard. Something like this can occur.
I've also been working on the turntable problem for a long time and I want to make no compromises here either.
I have made a powerful drive unit and a conical high-precision turntable. Here is a picture and video as a foretaste. I will report on this in more detail if it is interesting.
.
.

93a_01.jpg

.
.

93a_02.jpg

93a_03_1M.mp4

.
.
Thomas

[farmersplow]

Cutterhead - CH-9 “SALIERI”

Finally, after more than three years of work on cutterheads, it's done. I was able to develop a cutterhead that fulfills my expectations. It has good stereo characteristics, a well functioning feedback, an excellent frequency range and a main resonance of 1250Hz (over 1000).
In addition, this cutting head is extremely stable! With fuses of 500mA I manage +5dB cutting (5cm/s) without ever blowing a single coil. And I have loaded it really hard and overloaded it many times.
That was important to me because I don't want this thing to break!
In addition, this cutting head has a rake angle of only 2°! This means that the “braking pressure” on the turntable is very low, resulting in little distortion and protecting the diamond.
And because I am now finally satisfied with the result, the cutting head should also be given a name:

CH-9 SALIERI
.
.

94_01.jpg

.
.
SPECIFICATIONS:
Moving coil feedback stereo cutterhead
1:20 (Neuman SX) cutting stylus mount
VCA: 20° (vertical cutting angle)
Rake angle (Stylus): 2°
1st Main Resonance at 1250Hz (+/- 5%)
2nd Resonance at 9500Hz (+/- 5%)
Driver coils: 2x 20 Watt / 4 Ohm
Recommended fuse: 0.5A fast blow. (check for low fuse resistance. <=0.2 ohm)
Feedback coils: 2x 9 Ohm
Drive /FB magnets: NdFeB
Stylus heating terminal (max. 500mA)
LED stylus lighting (12V=)
.
.
CONNECTOR:
2-row 15-pin socket (D-SUB DB15 female)
.
.
DIMENSIONS:
Width: 117mm
Height: 61mm
Depth: 66mm (96mm incl. Adapter)
Weight: 930 Gramm
Cylindrical adapter 18mm
Height from center line of the connection cylinder to stylus tip: 46mm
Distance from rear contact surface to stylus tip: 31.5mm
Body material: Grey anodized aluminium
.
.
Greetings from Austria
Thomas

[farmersplow]

FBCA-9 - POWER IS NOTHING WITHOUT CONTROL

Feedback Compensation Amplifier 9 - Suitable for the CH-9 Salieri.

I have already reported on feedback amplifiers. It's already built into my lathe. But I also wanted to develop an external amplifier for a friend.

Let me briefly explain again why such a feedback amplifier is needed:
Every cutting head has resonances (natural resonances). The first main resonance is usually between 600Hz and 1000Hz (rarely higher). This means that the cutting head cuts louder there than in the other frequency ranges. Therefore, this frequency range is usually lowered with an EQ (equalizer) before the signal is then amplified and sent to the driver coils.
Unfortunately, there are other resonances in other frequency ranges and this means that EQ has to be applied in all these frequency ranges.
As soon as you work with a different cutting depth (contact pressure), these resonance curves change. This means that, strictly speaking, you always have to change the EQ correction. (Sometimes volume changes or a new diamond stylus also result in a different resonance curve).
Anyone who has studied the subject is familiar with this curve and the problem (image from 2023_05):
.
.

95_01 White Noise.jpg

.
.
This is where the Feedback Compensation Amplifier (FBCA) comes into play.

Small feedback coils in the cutterhead measure the actual movement of the drivers (one coil per channel). If you now compare the signal from these feedback coils (ACTUAL signal) with the input signal from the driver coils (TARGET signal), they should be the same at all frequencies. However, there is a difference between the TARGET and ACTUAL signals due to resonances. And that at all frequencies.
Sometimes more and sometimes less.
The FBCA compares TARGET with ACTUAL and in turn compensates for the input signal. Ideally, you get a nice straight line without any further EQ!
So much for the theory. In practice, the result is “almost” perfect. However, the high frequencies (above 7000 Hz) usually need to be corrected a little because the voltages generated by the feedback coils are usually so low that perfect correction is not possible. An EQ must then be used. In this way, the rise curve up to the maximum resonance and the subsequent fall curve are adjusted. The result should be a “triangle” (rise-top-descent) with equal angles. After that, a smaller EQ adjustment is easier.

For an external feedback amplifier, in addition to the two compensation boards (stereo), you also need a regulated power supply, interference suppression and, of course, an enclosure.

For the housing, I chose a high-quality aluminium housing (polished and anodized) with an 8 mm front panel:
.
.

95_02.jpg

.
.
I then printed and drilled (and milled) the front panels:
.
.

95_03.jpg

.
.
For the power supply (+/-15V) I wanted to have a high quality and stable voltage without compromises:
.
.

95_04.jpg

.
.
So the main component boards are finished. I bought the interference suppression filter externally. No high-frequency voltages should get into (or out of) the device:
.
.

95_05.jpg

.
.
Greetings from Austria
Thomas

[PLD]

I just had a listen to a few of the files. Ignoring the platter drive (the 50hz and some flutter, particularly on the Santana recording) and concentrating on the actual sound, I think you've done an amazing job. The only real faults I can hear are going to be due to the material (sibilance on The Message etc.) and you'll figure more out about all that the more you cut. I'll take two of them!

[farmersplow]

I just had a listen to a few of the files. Ignoring the platter drive (the 50hz and some flutter, particularly on the Santana recording) and concentrating on the actual sound, I think you've done an amazing job. The only real faults I can hear are going to be due to the material (sibilance on The Message etc.) and you'll figure more out about all that the more you cut. I'll take two of them!

Thank you very much for your expert assessment. Santana was indeed the first song and therefore recorded on the very outside (12"), where the turntable's torque was required the most. I am still working on my 50Hz problem and I will also improve my mastering skills. I will also take care of de-esser, better audio material and so on. In any case, it shouldn't be down to the cutterhead. The next step is to improve my lathe.

[farmersplow]

FBCA-9 - Finishing

Everything fits very well in the housing:
.
.

96_01.jpg

.
.
Once everything is wired up, there isn't much space left at all. This is mainly due to the fact that I only used high-quality, multi-pole shielded cables. After all, we are working with very sensitive signals here:
.
.

96_02.jpg

.
.
The IEC plug and the mains switch (230V~ / 115V~) are located at the rear:
.
.

96_03.jpg

.
.
In addition to the illuminated power switch (stainless steel), I used gold-plated cinch sockets for signal IN, signal OUT and dB monitor:
.
.

96_04.jpg

.
.
I used dual sockets (Neutrik) for the sensitive FB inputs. Either a 6.35 mm jack plug or an XLR plug can be connected here.
The precision potentiometers for adjusting the feedback amplifier are located behind the 6 holes.
And on the far right is a switch with which the IRIAA amplification can be switched on:
.
.

96_05.jpg

.
.
When IRIAA = ON, the signal is amplified from 1 kHz (~+20dB at 20kHz) according to the (inverse) RIAA characteristic.

Here are my two finished devices (I made two).
.
.

96_06.jpg

.
.
Greetings from Austria
Thomas

[oldsyd]

I don't really have anything of value to add to the conversation besides that I'm really enjoying seeing the results of your work. It's a very clean design and I think you don't take anything for granted. Magnificent!

[farmersplow]

I don't really have anything of value to add to the conversation besides that I'm really enjoying seeing the results of your work. It's a very clean design and I think you don't take anything for granted. Magnificent!

Thank you for your contribution. I'm always happy when someone comments on my thread. At least then I know that someone is reading the stuff.

By the way, I read that you are interested in quadrophony. This is an interesting topic when it comes to CD4 methods (i.e. true quadrophony). I find matrix and pseudo-quadrophony less interesting because of the errors.
Here, channels 3+4 are recorded in frequency ranges of (theoretically) 30-60kHz and transposed back to the 20Hz to 20kHz range during playback using special needles. In practice, I think channels A+B were only recorded up to 15kHz and channels B+C 15kHz-30kHz. The recordings were significantly quieter because it was very difficult to cut such high frequencies with the cutterhead...! Perhaps half-speed recording was used?
Perhaps you could open a separate thread to discuss this topic? I would be interested.

THX
Thomas

[farmersplow]

I want to see what I hear! - Microscope

It's been a while since I built my microscope to look at the grooves. But I haven't reported on it yet. That's why I want to do it now.

Until now, I had only ever looked at my grooves with a digital handheld microscope. This was very inconvenient because the microscope was connected to my notebook with a cable and I either had to move the notebook to the lathe or carry the record to the notebook. Viewing while cutting was very difficult.

I have to change that!


So I bought a digital microscope with a 10’ HDMI screen, several lenses and a remote control. I thought I'd take a whole set so I could also use some of the mounting elements and height adjustment.

97_s01.jpg

97_s02.jpg

97_s03.jpg

Greetings from Austria
Thomas

[farmersplow]

I want to see what I hear! - Microscope

Unfortunately, things usually turn out differently than you think.

The microscope is good and so are the lenses. You can save the images and videos with a memory card!

Unfortunately, I can only use the height adjuster of the entire mount construction.
.
.

97_s04.jpg

.
.
So I set about building the rest.

First I build the retaining ring and a support arm. The aim is to make the construction stable and mobile at the same time.

First I turn the retaining ring:
.
.

97_01.jpg

.
.
Then the arm part 1 on the milling machine:
.
.

97_02.jpg

.
.

97_02_video.mp4

[/b]
.
.
This arm part should then be connected to the height adjustment:
.
.

97_03.jpg

.
.

97_04.jpg

.
.
Greetings from Austria
Thomas

[farmersplow]

I want to see what I hear! - Microscope

And on it goes.

Here I am building arm part 2 on the milling machine:
.
.

97_07.jpg

.
.
This part is mounted on the edge of my lathe on a bolt that is inserted in a holding bush. This allows me to swivel the entire part.
.
.

97_05.jpg

.
.

97_06.jpg

.
.
Greetings from Austria
Thomas

[farmersplow]

I want to see what I hear! - Microscope

Ready?

The entire construction now looks like this:
.
.

97_09.jpg

.
.

97_08.jpg

.
.

97_10.jpg

.
.
Not finished!

Unfortunately, it turned out that although it works in principle, it is awkward to adjust in practice. The microscope itself has a roller for focussing. This is good for basic adjustment, but is difficult to operate above the turntable. And the ‘height adjuster’ is also difficult to operate. When adjusting it, the position above the groove changes immediately.
So the only part I could use from the kit is also not useful.

I have to redo it - differently - better!

Greetings from Austria
Thomas