by Roger Nichols
I have started working on the Roger Nichols Plug-In for Pro Tools. The code that I was writing took up about 30 pages of source code and needed about half a Gazillion bytes of memory to run. It contained some of the same routines that were in Wendel (the sampling drum machine used on "Gaucho"). I thought that the original version took a lot less code and memory to perform the same task. I decided to check it out.
I dug into my storage shed where I have kept everything I ever owned. I still have the 6" reflector telescope that I built in the summer of 1956. I found a box of canceled checks from 1964. I guess I went in too deep. I was getting closer, I found a pair of speaker cabinets I built from JBL blueprints in 1972. Nice three-way systems the size of a VW bug. I finally found what I was looking for, my first computer from 1976. A 1.8mHz 8080 based computer with 64 character by 16 line text only display. I found the floppy disk with my original program on it, and the printer that whipped along at a blinding 30 characters per second. I also stumbled on the Mother Load! Sitting right there where I left them was a 20 year old carton of Hostess Twinkies, still sealed in their original wrappers. All of the preservatives had kept them in better condition that my 8" floppy disks.
I opened a package and broke open a Twinkie. The creamy white center was bigger than a Quarter. It felt much more substantial than the Twinkies of today. I remembered the good old days when Twinkies were the staple of any late night programmer's diet. Only last week I bit into a Twinkie (it was forced upon me by my daughter) and couldn't even find the cream filled center.
I think that studio maintenance personnel fit into the same category as computer programmers. A nerd of the nerdiest kind. The obligatory pocket protector, coke-bottle-bottom glasses, pizza stained shirt, and overflowing trash can. A long burned out desk lamp, a glaring computer monitor radiating green text at bloodshot eyes, and a printer ribbon that was so over used that you couldn't read what was printed on the back side of used computer forms. Floppy disks used for drink coasters. A fast food drink cup that had exceeded its half life, refilled with Jolt Cola and was leaking from the bottom.
Yes, this could be why the quality of computer software and studio maintenance has become sloppier. The Twinkies on which they have depended on for sustenance for a generation, are inferior. Would you expect your dog to fetch the paper or wash your car if you rewarded him with substandard treats? I think not.
Bler
No, it is not cold outside. Bler stands for the raw Block Error Rate that occurs while a CD player or CD-ROM drive tries to read a CD. I bring this up because you may be creating CDs that are much worse than you think.
Over the last year there has been plenty of press about the differences between pthalo-cyanine (gold colored) and cyanine (green colored) CD-Rs. As the dust settled, most users seem to think that the gold discs are safer for storing precious masters, and with the correct recorder and storage conditions this may be correct. What nobody seemed to pay much attention to was the fact that the recorder adjusts its laser power to be optimum for recording the CD-R within parameters set by the recorder manufacturer. The range and incremental adjustments required for green discs is different than that required for gold disks.
As a point of reference, I used the Yamaha CDR-100 4x CD-R recorder to record various brands of blank media. This Yamaha drive and its 2x little brother, the CDR-102, seem to be in the most wide spread use. The recorded discs were then checked on the Stage Tech EC-2 CD error checker. When gold discs were cut at any speed, 1x, 2x, or 4x, the Bler error rates were between 200 and 220 errors per second. These errors were correctable at this level and did not generate any decoding errors further down the line, but they were right at the level where most CD plants and Warner Bros. Records start rejecting masters. The green CDs on the same recorder reported Bler error rates of only 15 to 20 errors per second. This is 10 times better than that shown with the gold CDs. I repeated this test on four different record machines and six different sources of blank CD-Rs with consistent results.
The gold discs, however showed the same low error rates when recorded on a Kodak recorder, so it is not the fault of the disc or the recorder, it is the combination that you have to watch out for.
The bottom line is that it you should use the discs that your drive manufacturer suggests to get the best results. As for the Yamaha drive, the green cyanine based discs that are available from 3M, Sony, TDK and others, work out much better than the gold pthalo-cyanine discs from Kodak, Apogee, Quantegy and BASF.
I am planning a comprehensive report on which blanks work best with which drives at what recording speeds. It looks to be a very interesting adventure.
In My Trunk
Oh, if you remember from last year, I made six green CDs that I put into the CD changer in the trunk of my car. They have been there for over two years now, and playing just fine. I checked the error rate on them just for kicks. I made a seventh CD that has been stored in its CD case in my studio for the same amount of time. CD number seven showed an error rate of 12 to 18 Blers per second. All six of the CDs from my trunk now show errors of 2,000 to 3,000 Blers per second with interpolations and un-correctable errors subsequent to de-interleave. In other words, the trunk of your car is probably not the best place for long term storage of Master CD-Rs.
By the way, I didn't eat the Twinkie from my storage shed. I did feed
it to my dog and have been watching him closely for the last week. He seems
OK, but I'm finding him sneaking around my computer. I personally won't
eat a Twinkie that is more than 10 years old, unless I'm really hungry or
unknowingly buy one at the snack bar at the NAMM show.