1.
Red (color)
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Red is the color at the longer-wavelengths end of the spectrum of visible light next to orange, at the opposite end from violet. Red color has a predominant light wavelength of roughly 620–740 nanometers, light with a longer wavelength than red but shorter than terahertz radiation and microwave is called infrared. Red is one of the secondary colors, resulting from the combination of yellow. Traditionally, it was viewed as a primary colour, along with yellow and blue, in the RYB color space and traditional color wheel formerly used by painters. Reds can vary in shade from light pink to very dark maroon or burgundy. Red is the color of cyan. In nature, the red color of blood comes from hemoglobin, the red color of the Grand Canyon and other geological features is caused by hematite or red ochre, both forms of iron oxide. It also causes the red color of the planet Mars, the color of autumn leaves is caused by pigments called anthocyanins, which are produced towards the end of summer, when the green chlorophyll is no longer produced. One to two percent of the population has red hair, the color is produced by high levels of the reddish pigment pheomelanin. Since red is the color of blood, it has historically been associated with sacrifice, danger, modern surveys in the United States and Europe show red is also the color most commonly associated with heat, activity, passion, sexuality, anger, love and joy. In China, India and many other Asian countries it is the color of symbolizing happiness, since the 19th century, red has also been associated with socialism and communism. The word red is derived from the Old English rēad, the word can be further traced to the Proto-Germanic rauthaz and the Proto-Indo European root rewdʰ-. In Sanskrit, the word means red or blood. In the Akkadian language of Ancient Mesopotamia and in the modern Inuit language of Inuit, the words for colored in Latin and Spanish both also mean red. In Portuguese the word for red is vermelho, which comes from Latin vermiculus, in the Russian language, the word for red, Кра́сный, comes from the same old Slavic root as the words for beautiful—красивый and excellent—прекрасный. Thus Red Square in Moscow, named long before the Russian Revolution, in heraldry, the word gules is used for red. Red can vary in hue from orange-red to violet-red, and for each hue there is a variety of shades and tints. Red hematite powder was found scattered around the remains at a grave site in a Zhoukoudian cave complex near Beijing
2.
Manufacturing
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Manufacturing is the value added to production of merchandise for use or sale using labour and machines, tools, chemical and biological processing, or formulation. Manufacturing engineering or manufacturing process are the steps through which raw materials are transformed into a final product, the manufacturing process begins with the product design, and materials specification from which the product is made. These materials are modified through manufacturing processes to become the required part. Manufacturing takes turns under all types of economic systems, in a free market economy, manufacturing is usually directed toward the mass production of products for sale to consumers at a profit. In a collectivist economy, manufacturing is more directed by the state to supply a centrally planned economy. In mixed market economies, manufacturing occurs under some degree of government regulation, modern manufacturing includes all intermediate processes required the production and integration of a products components. Some industries, such as semiconductor and steel manufacturers use the term fabrication instead, the manufacturing sector is closely connected with engineering and industrial design. Examples of major manufacturers in North America include General Motors Corporation, General Electric, Procter & Gamble, General Dynamics, Boeing, Pfizer, examples in Europe include Volkswagen Group, Siemens, and Michelin. Examples in Asia include Sony, Huawei, Lenovo, Toyota, Samsung, in its earliest form, manufacturing was usually carried out by a single skilled artisan with assistants. In much of the world, the guild system protected the privileges. Before the Industrial Revolution, most manufacturing occurred in rural areas, entrepreneurs organized a number of manufacturing households into a single enterprise through the putting-out system. Toll manufacturing is an arrangement whereby a first firm with specialized equipment processes raw materials or semi-finished goods for a second firm, manufacturing provides important material support for national infrastructure and for national defense. On the other hand, most manufacturing may involve significant social and environmental costs, the clean-up costs of hazardous waste, for example, may outweigh the benefits of a product that creates it. Hazardous materials may expose workers to health risks and these costs are now well known and there is effort to address them by improving efficiency, reducing waste, using industrial symbiosis, and eliminating harmful chemicals. The negative costs of manufacturing can also be addressed legally, developed countries regulate manufacturing activity with labor laws and environmental laws. Across the globe, manufacturers can be subject to regulations and pollution taxes to offset the costs of manufacturing activities. Labor unions and craft guilds have played a role in the negotiation of worker rights. Environment laws and labor protections that are available in developed nations may not be available in the third world, tort law and product liability impose additional costs on manufacturing
3.
Electronics
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Electronics is the science of controlling electrical energy electrically, in which the electrons have a fundamental role. Commonly, electronic devices contain circuitry consisting primarily or exclusively of active semiconductors supplemented with passive elements, the science of electronics is also considered to be a branch of physics and electrical engineering. The ability of electronic devices to act as switches makes digital information processing possible, until 1950 this field was called radio technology because its principal application was the design and theory of radio transmitters, receivers, and vacuum tubes. Today, most electronic devices use semiconductor components to perform electron control and this article focuses on engineering aspects of electronics. Components are generally intended to be connected together, usually by being soldered to a circuit board. Components may be packaged singly, or in more complex groups as integrated circuits, some common electronic components are capacitors, inductors, resistors, diodes, transistors, etc. Components are often categorized as active or passive, vacuum tubes were among the earliest electronic components. They were almost solely responsible for the revolution of the first half of the Twentieth Century. They took electronics from parlor tricks and gave us radio, television, phonographs, radar, long distance telephony and they played a leading role in the field of microwave and high power transmission as well as television receivers until the middle of the 1980s. Since that time, solid state devices have all but completely taken over, vacuum tubes are still used in some specialist applications such as high power RF amplifiers, cathode ray tubes, specialist audio equipment, guitar amplifiers and some microwave devices. The 608 contained more than 3,000 germanium transistors, thomas J. Watson Jr. ordered all future IBM products to use transistors in their design. From that time on transistors were almost exclusively used for computer logic, circuits and components can be divided into two groups, analog and digital. A particular device may consist of circuitry that has one or the other or a mix of the two types, most analog electronic appliances, such as radio receivers, are constructed from combinations of a few types of basic circuits. Analog circuits use a range of voltage or current as opposed to discrete levels as in digital circuits. The number of different analog circuits so far devised is huge, especially because a circuit can be defined as anything from a single component, analog circuits are sometimes called linear circuits although many non-linear effects are used in analog circuits such as mixers, modulators, etc. Good examples of analog circuits include vacuum tube and transistor amplifiers, one rarely finds modern circuits that are entirely analog. These days analog circuitry may use digital or even microprocessor techniques to improve performance and this type of circuit is usually called mixed signal rather than analog or digital. Sometimes it may be difficult to differentiate between analog and digital circuits as they have elements of both linear and non-linear operation, an example is the comparator which takes in a continuous range of voltage but only outputs one of two levels as in a digital circuit
4.
Tokyo
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Tokyo, officially Tokyo Metropolis, is the capital of Japan and one of its 47 prefectures. The Greater Tokyo Area is the most populous area in the world. It is the seat of the Emperor of Japan and the Japanese government, Tokyo is in the Kantō region on the southeastern side of the main island Honshu and includes the Izu Islands and Ogasawara Islands. Formerly known as Edo, it has been the de facto seat of government since 1603 when Shogun Tokugawa Ieyasu made the city his headquarters. It officially became the capital after Emperor Meiji moved his seat to the city from the old capital of Kyoto in 1868, Tokyo Metropolis was formed in 1943 from the merger of the former Tokyo Prefecture and the city of Tokyo. The Tokyo metropolitan government administers the 23 Special Wards of Tokyo, the metropolitan government also administers 39 municipalities in the western part of the prefecture and the two outlying island chains. The population of the wards is over 9 million people. The prefecture is part of the worlds most populous metropolitan area with upwards of 37.8 million people, the city hosts 51 of the Fortune Global 500 companies, the highest number of any city in the world. Tokyo ranked third in the International Financial Centres Development IndexEdit, the city is also home to various television networks such as Fuji TV, Tokyo MX, TV Tokyo, TV Asahi, Nippon Television, NHK and the Tokyo Broadcasting System. Tokyo ranked first in the Global Economic Power Index and fourth in the Global Cities Index. The city is considered a world city – as listed by the GaWCs 2008 inventory – and in 2014. In 2015, Tokyo was named the Most Liveable City in the world by the magazine Monocle, the Michelin Guide has awarded Tokyo by far the most Michelin stars of any city in the world. Tokyo ranked first in the world in the Safe Cities Index, the 2016 edition of QS Best Student Cities ranked Tokyo as the 3rd-best city in the world to be a university student. Tokyo hosted the 1964 Summer Olympics, the 1979 G-7 summit, the 1986 G-7 summit, and the 1993 G-7 summit, and will host the 2020 Summer Olympics, Tokyo was originally known as Edo, which means estuary. During the early Meiji period, the city was also called Tōkei, some surviving official English documents use the spelling Tokei. However, this pronunciation is now obsolete, the name Tokyo was first suggested in 1813 in the book Kondō Hisaku, written by Satō Nobuhiro. When Ōkubo Toshimichi proposed the renaming to the government during the Meiji Restoration, according to Oda Kanshi, Tokyo was originally a small fishing village named Edo, in what was formerly part of the old Musashi Province. Edo was first fortified by the Edo clan, in the twelfth century
5.
Japan
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Japan is a sovereign island nation in Eastern Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies off the eastern coast of the Asia Mainland and stretches from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea, the kanji that make up Japans name mean sun origin. 日 can be read as ni and means sun while 本 can be read as hon, or pon, Japan is often referred to by the famous epithet Land of the Rising Sun in reference to its Japanese name. Japan is an archipelago consisting of about 6,852 islands. The four largest are Honshu, Hokkaido, Kyushu and Shikoku, the country is divided into 47 prefectures in eight regions. Hokkaido being the northernmost prefecture and Okinawa being the southernmost one, the population of 127 million is the worlds tenth largest. Japanese people make up 98. 5% of Japans total population, approximately 9.1 million people live in the city of Tokyo, the capital of Japan. Archaeological research indicates that Japan was inhabited as early as the Upper Paleolithic period, the first written mention of Japan is in Chinese history texts from the 1st century AD. Influence from other regions, mainly China, followed by periods of isolation, from the 12th century until 1868, Japan was ruled by successive feudal military shoguns who ruled in the name of the Emperor. Japan entered into a period of isolation in the early 17th century. The Second Sino-Japanese War of 1937 expanded into part of World War II in 1941, which came to an end in 1945 following the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Japan is a member of the UN, the OECD, the G7, the G8, the country has the worlds third-largest economy by nominal GDP and the worlds fourth-largest economy by purchasing power parity. It is also the worlds fourth-largest exporter and fourth-largest importer, although Japan has officially renounced its right to declare war, it maintains a modern military with the worlds eighth-largest military budget, used for self-defense and peacekeeping roles. Japan is a country with a very high standard of living. Its population enjoys the highest life expectancy and the third lowest infant mortality rate in the world, in ancient China, Japan was called Wo 倭. It was mentioned in the third century Chinese historical text Records of the Three Kingdoms in the section for the Wei kingdom, Wa became disliked because it has the connotation of the character 矮, meaning dwarf. The 倭 kanji has been replaced with the homophone Wa, meaning harmony, the Japanese word for Japan is 日本, which is pronounced Nippon or Nihon and literally means the origin of the sun. The earliest record of the name Nihon appears in the Chinese historical records of the Tang dynasty, at the start of the seventh century, a delegation from Japan introduced their country as Nihon
6.
High fidelity
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Ideally, high-fidelity equipment has inaudible noise and distortion, and a flat frequency response within the intended frequency range. Bell Laboratories began experimenting with a range of recording techniques in the early 1930s. Performances by Leopold Stokowski and the Philadelphia Orchestra were recorded in 1931 and 1932 using telephone lines between the Academy of Music in Philadelphia and the Bell labs in New Jersey. Some multitrack recordings were made on sound film, which led to new advances used primarily by MGM. RCA Victor began recording performances by several orchestras using optical sound around 1941, during the 1930s, Avery Fisher, an amateur violinist, began experimenting with audio design and acoustics. He wanted to make a radio that would sound like he was listening to a live orchestra—that would achieve high fidelity to the original sound. After World War II, Harry F. Olson conducted an experiment whereby test subjects listened to a live orchestra through a variable acoustic filter. The results proved that listeners preferred high fidelity reproduction, once the noise, the advent of the 33⅓ rpm Long Play microgroove vinyl record, with lower surface noise and quantitatively specified equalization curves as well as noise-reduction and dynamic range systems. Classical music fans, who were leaders in the audio market, quickly adopted LPs because, unlike with older records. FM radio, with wider bandwidth and less susceptibility to signal interference and fading than AM radio. Better amplifier designs, with attention to frequency response and much higher power output capability. New loudspeaker designs, including suspension, developed by Edgar Villchur. In the 1950s, audio manufacturers employed the phrase high fidelity as a term to describe records. Audiophiles paid attention to technical characteristics and bought individual components, such as turntables, radio tuners, preamplifiers. Some enthusiasts even assembled their own loudspeaker systems, in the 1950s, hi-fi became a generic term for home sound equipment, to some extent displacing phonograph and record player. Records were now played on a stereo, the consumer did not have to select and assemble individual components, or be familiar with impedance and power ratings. Purists generally avoid referring to systems as high fidelity, though some are capable of very good quality sound reproduction. Audiophiles in the 1970s and 1980s preferred to buy each component separately and that way, they could choose models of each component with the specifications that they desired
7.
Consumer electronics
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Consumer electronics or home electronics are electronic or digital equipment intended for everyday use, typically in private homes. Consumer electronics include devices used for entertainment, communications, and home-office activities, in British English, they are often called brown goods by producers and sellers, to distinguish them from white goods such as washing machines and refrigerators. Radio broadcasting in the early 20th century brought the first major consumer product, later products included telephones, personal computers, MP3 players, audio equipment, televisions and calculators. In the 2010s, consumer electronics stores often sell GPS, automotive electronics, video game consoles, electronic instruments, karaoke machines, digital cameras. Stores also sell digital cameras, camcorders, cell phones, some consumer electronics stores, such as Best Buy have also begun selling office and baby furniture. Consumer electronics stores may be bricks and mortar retail stores, online stores. The CEA estimated the value of 2015 consumer electronics sales at US$220 billion, for its first fifty years the phonograph turntable did not use electronics, the needle and soundhorn were purely mechanical technologies. However, in the 1920s radio broadcasting became the basis of production of radio receivers. The vacuum tubes that had made radios practical were used with record players as well, television was soon invented, but remained insignificant in the consumer market until the 1950s. The transistor, invented in 1947 by Bell Laboratories, led to significant research in the field of semiconductors in the early 1950s. The transistors advantages revolutionized that industry along with other electronics, by 1959 Fairchild Semiconductor had introduced the first planar transistor from which come the origins of Moores Law. Integrated circuits followed when manufacturers built circuits on a substrate using electrical connections between circuits within the chip itself. One overriding characteristic of consumer products is the trend of ever-falling prices. This is driven by gains in manufacturing efficiency and automation, lower costs as manufacturing has moved to lower-wage countries. Semiconductor components benefit from Moores Law, a principle which states that, for a given price. While consumer electronics continues in its trend of convergence, combining elements of many products, there is an ever increasing need to keep product information updated and comparable, for the consumer to make an informed choice. Style, price, specification, and performance are all relevant, there is a gradual shift towards e-commerce web-storefronts. Many products include Internet connectivity using technologies such as Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, products not traditionally associated with computer use now provide options to connect to the Internet or to a computer using a home network to provide access to digital content
8.
Brand
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A brand is a name, term, design, symbol, or other feature that distinguishes one seller’s product from those of others. Brands are used in business, marketing, and advertising, however, the term has been extended to mean a strategic personality for a product or company, so that ‘brand’ now suggests the values and promises that a consumer may perceive and buy into. Branding is a set of marketing and communication methods that help to distinguish a company from competitors, the key components that form a brands toolbox include a brand’s identity, brand communication, brand awareness, brand loyalty, and various branding strategies. Brand equity is the totality of a brands worth and is validated by assessing the effectiveness of these branding components. To reach such an invaluable brand prestige requires a commitment to a way of doing business. A corporation who exhibits a strong brand culture is dedicated on producing intangible outputs such as customer satisfaction, reduced price sensitivity and customer loyalty. A brand is in essence a promise to its customers that they can expect long-term security, when a customer is familiar with a brand or favours it incomparably to its competitors, this is when a corporation has reached a high level of brand equity. Many companies are beginning to understand there is often little to differentiate between products in the 21st century. Branding remains the last bastion for differentiation, in accounting, a brand defined as an intangible asset is often the most valuable asset on a corporation’s balance sheet. The word ‘brand’ is often used as a referring to the company that is strongly identified with a brand. Marque or make are often used to denote a brand of motor vehicle, a concept brand is a brand that is associated with an abstract concept, like breast cancer awareness or environmentalism, rather than a specific product, service, or business. A commodity brand is a associated with a commodity. The word, brand, derives from Dutch brand meaning to burn and this product was developed at Dhosi Hill, an extinct volcano in northern India. Roman glassmakers branded their works, with Ennion being the most prominent, the Italians used brands in the form of watermarks on paper in the 13th century. Blind Stamps, hallmarks, and silver-makers marks are all types of brand, industrialization moved the production of many household items, such as soap, from local communities to centralized factories. When shipping their items, the factories would literally brand their logo or insignia on the barrels used, Bass & Company, the British brewery, claims their red-triangle brand as the worlds first trademark. Another example comes from Antiche Fornaci Giorgi in Italy, which has stamped or carved its bricks with the same proto-logo since 1731, cattle-branding has been used since Ancient Egypt. The term, maverick, originally meaning an un-branded calf, came from a Texas pioneer rancher, Sam Maverick, use of the word maverick spread among cowboys and came to apply to unbranded calves found wandering alone
9.
Ernst & Young
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EY is a multinational professional services firm headquartered in London, United Kingdom. EY is one of the largest professional services firm in the world and is one of the Big Four accounting firms, the organisation operates as a network of member firms which are separate legal entities in individual countries. It has 231,000 employees in over 700 offices around 150 countries in the world and it provides assurance, tax, consulting and advisory services to companies. The firm dates back to 1849 with the founding of Harding & Pullein in England, the current firm was formed by a merger of Ernst & Whinney and Arthur Young & Co. in 1989. It was known as Ernst & Young until 2013, when it underwent a rebranding to EY, the acronym EY was already an informal name for the firm prior to its official adoption. In 2016, Fortune magazine ranked EY as 49th of the 100 Best Companies to Work For, EY is the result of a series of mergers of ancestor organizations. The oldest originating partnership was founded in 1849 in England as Harding & Pullein, in that year the firm was joined by Frederick Whinney. He was made a partner in 1859 and with his sons in the business it was renamed Whinney Smith & Whinney in 1894, in 1903, the firm of Ernst & Ernst was established in Cleveland by Alwin C. Ernst and his brother Theodore and in 1906, Arthur Young & Co. was set up by the Scotsman Arthur Young in Chicago. As early as 1924, these American firms allied with prominent British firms, Young with Broads Paterson & Co. in the year 1979, this led to the formation of Anglo-American Ernst & Whinney, creating the fourth largest accountancy firm in the world. Also in 1979, the European offices of Arthur Young merged with large local European firms. In 1989, the four firm Ernst & Whinney merged with the then number five, Arthur Young. The merger plans were abandoned in February 1998 due to client opposition, antitrust issues, cost problems, EY had built up its consultancy arm heavily during the 1980s and 1990s. In 2002, EY took over many of the ex-Arthur Andersen practices around the world, although not those in the UK, China, in 2010, EY acquired Terco, the Brazilian member firm of Grant Thornton. In 2013, EY changed its name from Ernst & Young to EY. EY expanded further and acquired all of KPMG Denmarks operations including its 150 partners,1500 employees and 21 offices. In 2015, EY opened its first ever global Security Operations Centre at Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala in India, in 2017 EY announced it was opening an executive support center in Tucson, Arizona, creating over 125 new jobs. In 2017 the company looking for a location for a new, $4.35 million professional services center in Louisville, Kentucky, creating 125 new jobs
10.
Reel-to-reel audio tape recording
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Reel-to-reel or open-reel audio tape recording is the form of magnetic tape audio recording in which the recording medium is held on a reel, rather than being securely contained within a cassette. Reel-to-reel systems use a tape that is 1⁄4 inches in width and this compares to 0.15 inches wide and 1.875 inches per second for a cassette. By writing out the audio signal across more tape, reel-to-reel systems offer much higher fidelity. In spite of the tapes, less convenient use and generally higher cost media. Studer, Stellavox and Denon still produced reel to reel tape recorders in the 1990s, but as of 2014, only Nagra, Otari, originally, this format had no name, since all forms of magnetic tape recorders used it. The earliest machines produced distortion during the process which German engineers significantly reduced during the Nazi era by applying a bias signal to the tape. In 1939 one machine was found to make consistently better recordings than other ostensibly identical models, and when it was taken apart a minor flaw was noticed. It was introducing an AC signal to the tape, and this was adapted to new models using a high-frequency AC bias that has remained a part of audio tape recording to this day. American audio engineer Jack Mullin was a member of the U. S. Army Signal Corps during World War II and he acquired two Magnetophon recorders and 50 reels of I. G. Farben recording tape and shipped them home, over the next two years, he worked to develop the machines for commercial use, hoping to interest the Hollywood film studios in using magnetic tape for movie soundtrack recording. Crosby invested $50,000 in an electronics company, Ampex. Ampex went on to develop the first practical videotape recorders in the early 1950s to pre-record Crosbys TV shows, inexpensive reel-to-reel tape recorders were widely used for voice recording in the home and in schools before the Philips compact cassette, introduced in 1963, gradually took over. Cassettes eventually displaced reel-to-reel recorders for consumer use, however, the narrow tracks and slow recording speeds used in cassettes compromised fidelity. Columbia House carried pre-recorded reel-to-reel tapes from 1960 to 1984, even today, some artists of all genres prefer analog tapes musical, natural and especially warm sound. Due to harmonic distortion, bass can thicken up, creating a fuller-sounding mix, in addition, high end can be slightly compressed, which is more natural to the human ear. It is common for artists to record to digital and re-record the tracks to analog reels for this effect of natural sound. In addition to all of these attributes of tape, tape saturation is a form of distortion that many rock, blues. For the first time, audio could be manipulated as a physical entity, Tape editing is performed simply by cutting the tape at the required point, and rejoining it to another section of tape using adhesive tape, or sometimes glue
11.
Tuner (radio)
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More complex transmissions like PAL/NTSC, DAB, DVB-T/DVB-S/DVB-C etc. use a wider frequency bandwidth, often with several subcarriers. These are transmitted inside the receiver as an intermediate frequency, the tuner can also refer to a radio receiver or standalone audio component that are part of an audio system, to be connected to a separate amplifier. The verb tuning in radio contexts means adjusting the radio receiver to receive the radio signal carrier frequency that a particular radio station uses. The simplest tuner consists of an inductor and capacitor connected in parallel and this creates a resonant circuit which responds to an alternating current at one frequency. Combined with a detector, also known as a demodulator, it becomes the simplest radio receiver, older models would realize manual tuning by means of mechanically operated ganged variable capacitors. Often several sections would be provided on a capacitor, to tune several stages of the receiver in tandem. A later method used a potentiometer supplying a variable voltage to varactor diodes in the oscillator and tank circuits of front end tuner. Modern radio tuners use a superheterodyne receiver with tuning selected by adjustment of the frequency of a local oscillator and this system shifts the radio frequency of interest to a fixed frequency so that it can be tuned with fixed-frequency band-pass filter. Still later, phase locked loop methods were used, with microprocessor control, in a self-contained radio receiver for audio, the signal from the detector after the tuner is run through a volume control and to an amplifier stage. The amplifier feeds either a speaker or headphones. In a tuner component of a system, the output of the detector is connected to a separate external system of amplifiers and speakers. The broadcast audio FM band is around 100 times higher in frequency than the AM band and this bandwidth is sufficient to transmit both stereo channels with almost the full hearing range. Sometimes, additional subcarriers are used for unrelated audio or data transmissions, FM stereo allows left and right channels to be transmitted. The availability of FM stereo, a quieter VHF broadcast band, in many instances the tuner may be modified to improve performance. A growing hobby trend is the electronics specialists that buy, collect, the restoration usually begins with replacing the electrolytic capacitors that may age over time. The tuner is outfitted with improved tolerance and better sounding upgraded parts, prices have increased relative to the increasing demand for the older audio tuners. Those with the most value are the best sounding, most rare, the best DX capable, most of the early tuner models were designed and manufactured to receive only the AM broadcast band. As FM became more popular, the limitations of AM became more apparent, in Europe, where a second AM broadcast band is used for longwave broadcasting, tuners may be fitted with both the standard medium wave and the additional longwave band
12.
Compact Cassette
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The Compact Cassette or Musicassette, also commonly called cassette tape, audio cassette, or simply tape or cassette, is an analog magnetic tape recording format for audio recording and playback. It was released by Philips in 1962, having developed in Hasselt. Compact cassettes come in two forms, either already containing content as a cassette, or as a fully recordable blank cassette. Its uses ranged from portable audio to home recording to data storage for early microcomputers, the first cassette player designed for use in car dashes was introduced in 1968. Between the early 1970s and the early 2000s, the cassette was one of the two most common formats for prerecorded music, first alongside the LP record and later the compact disc. Compact Cassettes contain two miniature spools, between which a magnetically coated, polyester-type plastic film is passed and wound and these spools and their attendant parts are held inside a protective plastic shell. This reversal is achieved either by flipping the cassette, or by having the machine itself change the direction of tape movement. In 1935, decades before the introduction of the Compact Cassette, AEG released the first reel-to-reel tape recorder and it was based on the invention of the magnetic tape by Fritz Pfleumer, which used similar technology but with open reels. These instruments were expensive and relatively difficult to use and were therefore used mostly by professionals in radio stations. In 1958, following four years of development, RCA Victor introduced the stereo, quarter-inch, reversible, however, it was a large cassette, and offered few pre-recorded tapes. Despite the multiple versions, it failed, consumer use of tape only took off in the early 1960s, after playback machines reached a comfortable, user-friendly design. This was achieved primarily by the introduction of transistors which replaced the bulky, fragile, reel-to-reel tape then became more suitable to household use, but still remained an esoteric product. The team at Philips was led by Lou Ottens in Hasselt, Philips was competing with Telefunken and Grundig in a race to establish its cassette tape as the worldwide standard, and it wanted support from Japanese electronics manufacturers. However, the Philips Compact Cassette became dominant as a result of Philips decision to license the format free of charge, Philips also released the Norelco Carry-Corder 150 recorder/player in the US in November 1964. By 1966 over 250,000 recorders had been sold in the US alone, by 1968,85 manufacturers had sold over 2.4 million players. By the end of the 1960s, the business was worth an estimated 150 million dollars. In the early years sound quality was mediocre, but it improved dramatically by the early 1970s when it caught up with the quality of 8-track tape, the Compact Cassette went on to become a popular alternative to the 12-inch vinyl LP during the late 1970s. The mass production of blank Compact Cassettes began in 1964 in Hanover, prerecorded music cassettes were launched in Europe in late 1965
13.
Amplifier
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An amplifier, electronic amplifier or amp is an electronic device that can increase the power of a signal. An amplifier functions by taking power from a supply and controlling the output to match the input signal shape. In this sense, an amplifier modulates the output of the power supply based upon the properties of the input signal, an amplifier is effectively the opposite of an attenuator, while an amplifier provides gain, an attenuator provides loss. An amplifier can either be a piece of equipment or an electrical circuit contained within another device. Amplification is fundamental to modern electronics, and amplifiers are used in almost all electronic equipment. Amplifiers can be categorized in different ways, another is which quantity, voltage or current is being amplified, amplifiers can be divided into voltage amplifiers, current amplifiers, transconductance amplifiers, and transresistance amplifiers. A further distinction is whether the output is a linear or nonlinear representation of the input, amplifiers can also be categorized by their physical placement in the signal chain. The first practical device that could amplify was the triode vacuum tube, invented in 1906 by Lee De Forest. Vacuum tubes were used in almost all amplifiers until the 1960s–1970s when the transistor, invented in 1947, today most amplifiers use transistors, but vacuum tubes continue to be used in some applications. Before the invention of electronic amplifiers, mechanically coupled carbon microphones were used as amplifiers in telephone repeaters. After the turn of the century it was found that negative resistance mercury lamps could amplify, the first practical electronic device that could amplify was the Audion vacuum tube, invented in 1906 by Lee De Forest, which led to the first amplifiers around 1912. The terms amplifier and amplification were first used for this new capability around 1915 when triodes became widespread, the amplifying vacuum tube revolutionized electrical technology, creating the new field of electronics, the technology of active electrical devices. It made possible long distance lines, public address systems, radio broadcasting, talking motion pictures, practical audio recording, radar, television. For 50 years virtually all electronic devices used vacuum tubes. Early tube amplifiers often had positive feedback, which could increase gain but also make the amplifier unstable, much of the mathematical theory of amplifiers was developed at Bell Telephone Laboratories during the 1920s to 1940s. Other advances in the theory of amplification were made by Harry Nyquist, the vacuum tube was the only amplifying device for 40 years, and dominated electronics until 1947, when the first transistor, the BJT, was invented. Today most amplifiers use transistors, but vacuum tubes are used in some high power applications such as radio transmitters. All amplifiers have gain, a factor that relates the magnitude of some property of the output signal to a property of the input signal
14.
Microphone
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A microphone, colloquially nicknamed mic or mike, is a transducer that converts sound into an electrical signal. Several different types of microphone are in use, which employ different methods to convert the air pressure variations of a wave to an electrical signal. Microphones typically need to be connected to a preamplifier before the signal can be recorded or reproduced, in order to speak to larger groups of people, a need arose to increase the volume of the human voice. The earliest devices used to achieve this were acoustic megaphones, some of the first examples, from fifth century BC Greece, were theater masks with horn-shaped mouth openings that acoustically amplified the voice of actors in amphitheatres. In 1665, the English physicist Robert Hooke was the first to experiment with an other than air with the invention of the lovers telephone made of stretched wire with a cup attached at each end. German inventor Johann Philipp Reis designed an early sound transmitter that used a strip attached to a vibrating membrane that would produce intermittent current. Better results were achieved with the transmitter design in Scottish-American Alexander Graham Bells telephone of 1876 – the diaphragm was attached to a conductive rod in an acid solution. These systems, however, gave a poor sound quality. The first microphone that enabled proper voice telephony was the carbon microphone and this was independently developed by David Edward Hughes in England and Emile Berliner and Thomas Edison in the US. Although Edison was awarded the first patent in mid-1877, Hughes had demonstrated his working device in front of many witnesses some years earlier, the carbon microphone is the direct prototype of todays microphones and was critical in the development of telephony, broadcasting and the recording industries. Thomas Edison refined the carbon microphone into his carbon-button transmitter of 1886 and this microphone was employed at the first ever radio broadcast, a performance at the New York Metropolitan Opera House in 1910. In 1916, E. C. Wente of Western Electric developed the next breakthrough with the first condenser microphone, in 1923, the first practical moving coil microphone was built. The Marconi Skykes or magnetophon, developed by Captain H. J. Round, was the standard for BBC studios in London and this was improved in 1930 by Alan Blumlein and Herbert Holman who released the HB1A and was the best standard of the day. Also in 1923, the microphone was introduced, another electromagnetic type, believed to have been developed by Harry F. Olson. Over the years these microphones were developed by companies, most notably RCA that made large advancements in pattern control. With television and film technology booming there was demand for high fidelity microphones, electro-Voice responded with their Academy Award-winning shotgun microphone in 1963. During the second half of 20th century development advanced quickly with the Shure Brothers bringing out the SM58, digital was pioneered by Milab in 1999 with the DM-1001. The latest research developments include the use of optics, lasers and interferometers
15.
Radio receiver
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In radio communications, a radio receiver is an electronic device that receives radio waves and converts the information carried by them to a usable form. It is used with an antenna, the antenna intercepts radio waves and converts them to tiny alternating currents which are applied to the receiver, and the receiver extracts the desired information. The information produced by the receiver may be in the form of sound, a radio receiver may be a separate piece of electronic equipment, or an electronic circuit within another device. The most familiar form of radio receiver is a broadcast receiver, often just called a radio, the sound is produced either by a loudspeaker in the radio or an earphone which plugs into a jack on the radio. The radio requires electric power, provided either by batteries inside the radio or a cord which plugs into an electric outlet. All radios have a control to adjust the loudness of the audio. The frequency of radio stations is usually listed prominently in their advertising, in order to select a particular station to receive, the radio is adjusted to the frequency of the desired transmitter. In some radios this is done by the user turning a tuning knob until the station is heard in the radios loudspeaker. In most countries radio broadcasting is permitted using two different methods of modulation, that is, methods of adding the signal to the radio wave, AM and FM. In amplitude modulation the strength of the signal is varied by the audio signal. AM broadcasting is permitted on AM broadcast bands between 148 and 283 kHz in the low range and 526 and 1706 kHz in the medium frequency range of the radio spectrum. In frequency modulation the frequency of the signal is varied slightly by the audio signal. FM broadcasting is permitted in the FM broadcast bands between about 65 and 108 MHz in the high frequency range. The exact frequency ranges vary somewhat in different countries, radios sold in each receive the correct frequency range for that country. Most broadcast radios, called AM/FM radios, can receive both AM and FM bands, and have a switch to select which band to receive. Limited AM broadcasting is permitted in parts of the high frequency band called the shortwave band. Shortwave listening requires a receiver that can receive these bands, called a shortwave receiver, at these frequencies, radio waves transmitted into the sky can reflect from a layer in the atmosphere called the ionosphere, returning to earth at transcontinental distances. So shortwaves are used for long distance international broadcasting, often by governmental public service broadcasting organizations like the BBC, due to their lower frequency, AM radio stations can often be received at longer distances than FM stations, at hundreds of miles
16.
Phonograph
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The phonograph is a device invented in 1877 for the mechanical recording and reproduction of sound. In its later forms it is called a gramophone. To recreate the sound, the surface is rotated while a playback stylus traces the groove and is therefore vibrated by it. In later electric phonographs, the motions of the stylus are converted into an electrical signal by a transducer. The phonograph was invented in 1877 by Thomas Edison, while other inventors had produced devices that could record sounds, Edisons phonograph was the first to be able to reproduce the recorded sound. His phonograph originally recorded sound onto a sheet wrapped around a rotating cylinder. A stylus responding to sound vibrations produced an up and down or hill-and-dale groove in the foil, in the 1890s, Emile Berliner initiated the transition from phonograph cylinders to flat discs with a spiral groove running from the periphery to near the center. Later improvements through the years included modifications to the turntable and its system, the stylus or needle. The disc phonograph record was the dominant audio recording format throughout most of the 20th century, from the mid-1980s on, phonograph use on a standard record player declined sharply because of the rise of the cassette tape, compact disc and other digital recording formats. Records are still a favorite format for some audiophiles and DJs, vinyl records are still used by some DJs and musicians in their concert performances. Musicians continue to release their recordings on vinyl records, the original recordings of musicians are sometimes re-issued on vinyl. Usage of terminology is not uniform across the English-speaking world, in more modern usage, the playback device is often called a turntable, record player, or record changer. When used in conjunction with a mixer as part of a DJ setup, the term phonograph was derived from the Greek words φωνή and γραφή. The similar related terms gramophone and graphophone have similar root meanings, the roots were already familiar from existing 19th-century words such as photograph, telegraph, and telephone. In British English, gramophone may refer to any sound-reproducing machine using disc records, the term phonograph was usually restricted to machines that used cylinder records. Gramophone generally referred to a wind-up machine, after the introduction of the softer vinyl records, 33 1⁄3-rpm LPs and 45-rpm single or two-song records, and EPs, the common name became record player or turntable. Often the home record player was part of a system that included a radio and, later, from about 1960, such a system began to be described as a hi-fi or a stereo. In American English, phonograph, properly specific to machines made by Edison, was used in a generic sense as early as the 1890s to include cylinder-playing machines made by others
17.
Videocassette recorder
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Use of a VCR to record a television program to play back at a more convenient time is commonly referred to as timeshifting. VCRs can also play back prerecorded tapes, in the 1980s and 1990s, prerecorded videotapes were widely available for purchase and rental, and blank tapes were sold to make recordings. These features began as simple mechanical counter-based single-event timers, but were replaced by more flexible multiple-event digital clock timers. In later models the multiple timer events could be programmed through a menu interface displayed on the playback TV screen and this feature allowed several programs to be recorded at different times without further user intervention, and became a major selling point. The history of the recorder follows the history of videotape recording in general. Ampex introduced the Quadruplex videotape professional broadcast standard format with its Ampex VRX-1000 in 1956 and it became the worlds first commercially successful videotape recorder using two-inch wide tape. Due to its price of US$50,000, the Ampex VRX-1000 could be afforded only by the television networks. In 1959 Toshiba announced a new method of recording known as helical scan, first implemented in reel-to-reel videotape recorders, the Telcan, produced by the UK Nottingham Electronic Valve Company in 1963, was the first home video recorder. It could be bought as a unit or in kit form for £60, however, there were several drawbacks, it was expensive, not easy to assemble, and could only record 20 minutes at a time. It recorded in black-and-white, the format available in the UK at the time. The half-inch tape Sony model CV-2000, first marketed in 1965, was their first VTR intended for home use, Ampex and RCA followed in 1965 with their own reel-to-reel monochrome VTRs priced under US$1,000 for the home consumer market. The EIAJ format was a standard format used by various manufacturers. EIAJ-2 used a cartridge that contained a supply reel, the reel was part of the recorder, and the tape had to be fully rewound before removing the cartridge. In 1972, videocassettes of movies became available for home use, Sony demonstrated a videocassette prototype in October 1969, then set it aside to work out an industry standard by March 1970 with seven fellow manufacturers. The result, the Sony U-matic system, introduced in Tokyo in September 1971, was the worlds first commercial videocassette format. Its cartridges, resembling larger versions of the later VHS cassettes, used 3/4-inch tape and had a playing time of 60 minutes. Sony also introduced two machines to use the new tapes, U-matic, with its ease of use, quickly made other consumer videotape systems obsolete in Japan and North America, where U-matic VCRs were widely used by television newsrooms schools and businesses. But the high cost - US$1,395 in 1971 for a combination TV/VCR, in 1970, Philips developed a home video cassette format specially made for a TV station in 1970 and available on the consumer market in 1972
18.
Loudspeaker
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A loudspeaker is an electroacoustic transducer, which converts an electrical audio signal into a corresponding sound. The most widely used type of speaker in the 2010s is the speaker, invented in 1925 by Edward W. Kellogg. The dynamic speaker operates on the basic principle as a dynamic microphone. Besides this most common method, there are several technologies that can be used to convert an electrical signal into sound. The sound source must be amplified or strengthened with a power amplifier before the signal is sent to the speaker. Speakers are typically housed in an enclosure or speaker cabinet which is often a rectangular or square box made of wood or sometimes plastic. The enclosures materials and design play an important role in the quality of the sound, where high fidelity reproduction of sound is required, multiple loudspeaker transducers are often mounted in the same enclosure, each reproducing a part of the audible frequency range. In this case the individual speakers are referred to as drivers, drivers made for reproducing high audio frequencies are called tweeters, those for middle frequencies are called mid-range drivers, and those for low frequencies are called woofers. Smaller loudspeakers are found in such as radios, televisions, portable audio players, computers. Larger loudspeaker systems are used for music, sound reinforcement in theatres and concerts, the term loudspeaker may refer to individual transducers or to complete speaker systems consisting of an enclosure including one or more drivers. To adequately reproduce a range of frequencies with even coverage, most loudspeaker systems employ more than one driver. Individual drivers are used to different frequency ranges. The drivers are named subwoofers, woofers, mid-range speakers, tweeters, the terms for different speaker drivers differ, depending on the application. In two-way systems there is no mid-range driver, so the task of reproducing the mid-range sounds falls upon the woofer and tweeter, home stereos use the designation tweeter for the high frequency driver, while professional concert systems may designate them as HF or highs. When multiple drivers are used in a system, a network, called a crossover. Loudspeaker driver of the type pictured are termed dynamic to distinguish them from earlier drivers, or speakers using piezoelectric or electrostatic systems, or any of several other sorts. Johann Philipp Reis installed an electric loudspeaker in his telephone in 1861, it was capable of reproducing clear tones, alexander Graham Bell patented his first electric loudspeaker as part of his telephone in 1876, which was followed in 1877 by an improved version from Ernst Siemens. In 1898, Horace Short patented a design for a loudspeaker driven by compressed air, he sold the rights to Charles Parsons
19.
Mitsubishi Electric
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Mitsubishi Electric Corporation is a Japanese multinational electronics and electrical equipment manufacturing company headquartered in Tokyo, Japan. It is one of the companies of Mitsubishi. Mitsubishi Electric manufactures electric and architectural equipment, and is a worldwide producer of photovoltaic panels. The corporation was established on 15 January 1921, in the United States, products are manufactured and sold by Mitsubishi Electric United States headquartered in Cypress, California. Malaysia Singapore South Korea Thailand Mitsubishi Electric Saudi Ltd, televisions The companys most notable products in the United States come from the large-screen HDTV division. Competitors in this market are Sony, Pioneer, Panasonic, JVC, Samsung, Daewoo, LG, the company manufactured direct-view CRT televisions until 2001. The last notable size in this field was a 40 tube size, Mitsubishi manufactured LCD TVs until 2008. Mitsubishi manufactured DLP High Definition TVs until December,2012, the company is now focusing on professional and home theater DLP projection applications, and is no longer manufacturing televisions for the consumer market. Air conditioners EcoCute heat pump water heaters Dehumidifiers Uninterruptible Power Supply systems Mobile phones, Mitsubishi quit the mobile phone business in Apr 2008 after decrease in shipments. They estimated a loss of 17 billion Yen in income before income taxes. The Corporation claims to have achieved the worlds first transmission at 10 Gbit/s between relay equipment boards set at a distance of 500 mm apart, Mitsubishi also previously made Video Cassette Recorders known as the Mitsubishi Black Diamond VCR
20.
Tandberg
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Tandberg was an electronics manufacturer located in Oslo, Norway and New York City, United States. The company began in the field, but became more widely known for their reel-to-reel tape recorders. The original company went bankrupt in 1978 after a financial downturn. The following year, the company re-formed whilst their data division was split off as Tandberg Data, including the recording division. Over time the original Tandberg company became involved in the teleconferencing systems. The companys main competitor was Polycom and other competitors were HP, Sony, Radvision, VTEL, Cisco Systems acquired Tandberg on 19 April 2010. Tandberg Data is now officially a German company, and continues to make computer tape storage systems, the company was founded by Vebjørn Tandberg as Tandbergs Radiofabrikk in Oslo in 1933. The companys first radio was named Tommeliten, and used only earphones and this was followed by the Corona with a loudspeaker. In 1934, the first Huldra radio was launched, followed in 1936 by the Sølvsuper, during the early years, radios, loudspeakers and microphones were the main output from the factory. The Sølvsuper and the Huldra radios became the foundation for Tandbergs success, in the early 1950s, Tandberg opened a branch plant at Kjelsås to produce reel-to-reel tape recorders. Their first model was the TB1, introduced to the market in 1952, over the next decade, Tandberg quickly incorporated a number of leading-edge concepts, the TB2 Hi Fi of 1956 had three tape transport speeds, allowing improved high-frequency response. The TB3 Stereo from 1957 was Tandbergs first stereo system, in the 1960s Tandberg introduced the cross-field recording technique in the TB-6X model, allowing their recorders to handle higher frequencies than competing models. Tandberg licensed the concept to Akai, who used it widely in the 1970s and 80s in their Akai, Tandberg tape recorders dominated the Norwegian market, and had a reputation for advanced technology and high quality at reasonable prices. It was on Tandberg reel-to-reel machines that President John F. Kennedy recorded many meetings in the Cabinet Room of the White House, the Kjelsas factory also started producing TV sets in 1960, and in 1966 a second TV plant was opened in Kjeller in Skedsmo. Colour TVs were added to their lineup in 1969, in 1972, Tandberg purchased Radionette, another large Norwegian electronics firm now focusing on televisions. By 1976, TVs were Tandbergs major product and their factories employed 3,500, however, that same year a major economic downturn seriously disrupted the company, and by 1978 it was insolvent. A shareholder revolt removed Vebjørn Tandberg from control of the company, in December, the company declared bankruptcy. In the aftermath of the bankruptcy, the original Tandberg was split into two parts, under the control of Siemens, Tandberg Data took over the computer terminal and tape recording parts of the company, moving the latter purely into the computer storage field
21.
Electronic musical instrument
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An electronic musical instrument is a musical instrument that produces sound using electronics. Such an instrument sounds by outputting an electrical signal that ultimately drives a loudspeaker. An electronic instrument might include a user interface for controlling its sound, often by adjusting the pitch, frequency, all electronic musical instruments can be viewed as a subset of audio signal processing applications. Simple electronic musical instruments are called sound effects, the border between sound effects and actual musical instruments is often hazy. Electronic musical instruments are now used in most styles of music. Development of new musical instruments, controllers, and synthesizers continues to be a highly active. In the 18th-century, musicians and composers adapted a number of instruments to exploit the novelty of electricity. The former instrument consisted of an instrument of over 700 strings. The latter was an instrument with plectra activated electrically. However, neither instrument used electricity as a sound-source, the first electric synthesizer was invented in 1876 by Elisha Gray. The Musical Telegraph used steel reeds oscillated by electromagnets and transmitted over a telephone line, Gray also built a simple loudspeaker device into later models, which consisted of a diaphragm vibrating in a magnetic field. A significant invention, which later had an effect on electronic music, was the audion in 1906. This was the first thermionic valve, or vacuum tube and which led to the generation and amplification of signals, radio broadcasting. Other early synthesizers included the Telharmonium, the Theremin, Jörg Magers Spharophon and Partiturophone, Taubmanns similar Electronde, Maurice Martenots ondes Martenot, only two models of this latter were built and the only surviving example is currently stored at the Lomonosov University in Moscow. It has been used in many Russian movies—like Solaris—to produce unusual, Hugh Le Caine, John Hanert, Raymond Scott, composer Percy Grainger, and others built a variety of automated electronic-music controllers during the late 1940s and 1950s. In 1959 Daphne Oram produced a method of synthesis, her Oramics technique, driven by drawings on a 35 mm film strip. In 1897 Thaddeus Cahill patented an instrument called the Telharmonium, using tonewheels to generate musical sounds as electrical signals by additive synthesis, it was capable of producing any combination of notes and overtones, at any dynamic level. This technology was used to design the Hammond organ
22.
Society of Motion Picture and Television Engineers
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SMPTE Membership is open to any individual or organization with interest in the subject matter. SMPTE standards documents are copyrighted and may be purchased from the SMPTE website, standard documents may be purchased by the general public. Significant standards promulgated by SMPTE include, All film and television formats and media. The society sponsors many awards, the oldest of which are the SMPTE Progress Medal, the Samuel Warner Memorial Medal, SMPTE also has a number of student Chapters and sponsors scholarships for college students in the motion imaging disciplines. A group within the standards committees has begun to work on the definition of the SMPTE 3D Home Master. SMPTE, instituted in 1999, a committee for the foundations of Digital Cinema. The SMPTE presents awards to individuals for outstanding contributions in fields of the society, James Cameron Edwin Catmull Birney Dayton Clyde D. Smith Roderick Snell Dr. Kees Immink Stanley N. Baron William C. Miller Bernard J. Lechner Ray Dolby Harold E. Edgerton Vladimir K. Zworykin John G. Frayne Walt Disney Chuck Pagano James M. DeFilippis Bernard J. Lechner Stanley N. Baron William F. Schreiber Adrian Ettlinger Joseph A. Flaherty, goldmark W. R. G. Baker Albert Rose Charles Ginsburg Robert E. Shelby Arthur V. Loughren Otto H. Recent recipients are Andrew Laszlo James MacKay Dr. Roderick T. Swartz
23.
Dbx (noise reduction)
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Dbx is a family of noise reduction systems developed by the company of the same name. The most common implementations are dbx Type I and dbx Type II for analog recording and, less commonly. A separate implementation, known as dbx-TV, is part of the MTS system used to provide sound to North American. The company – dbx, Inc. – was also involved with Dynamic Noise Reduction systems, the original dbx Type I and Type II systems were based on so-called linear decibel companding - compressing the signal on recording and expanding it on playback. It was invented by David E. Blackmer of dbx, Inc. in 1971, dbx marketed the PPA-1 Silencer, a decoder that could be used with non-dbx players such as the Sony Walkman. A version of this chip also contained a Dolby B-compatible noise reduction decoder, described as dbx Type B noise reduction, dbx Type I and Type II are types of companding noise reduction. Companding noise reduction works by first compressing the source materials dynamic range in anticipation of being recorded on a relatively noisy medium, upon playback, the encoded material, now contaminated with noise, is passed through an expander which restores the original dynamic range of the source material. The contaminating signal is heavily attenuated and/or masked by the expansion process. Because dbx Type I and Type II are broadband companders, they are susceptible to audible noise modulation, to deal with this, both Type I and II use very strong high-frequency pre-emphasis of the audio signal in both the recording path and the control signal path. The dbx Type-II disc setting on consumer dbx decoders adds an additional 1–3 dB of low-frequency roll-off in both the path and control path. This protects the system from audible mistracking due to record warps, dbx Type I was widely adopted in professional recording, particularly used with what is referred to in the industry as semi-pro formats such as half-inch 8 track and one-inch 16 track. Tascam incorporated dbx Type II in their Portastudio four-track cassette recorders, tascams Portastudio family of 4 track cassette recorders became a standard for home hobbyists. Undecoded dbx playback also exhibited large amounts of dynamic error, with audio levels going up, dbx was also used on vinyl records, which were known as dbx discs. While the earliest release is from 1971, their numbers peaked between 1977 until around 1982, billboard noted in August 1981 that the total number of releases with dbx encoding was expected to approach 200 albums. When employed on LPs, the dbx Type-II system reduced the audibility of dust and scratches, reducing them to tiny pops and clicks, dbx encoded LPs had, in theory, a dynamic range of up to 120 dB. In addition, dbx LPs were produced only the original master tapes, with no copies being used. Most were released in limited quantities with premium pricing, yet another similar noise reduction system, called CX, was introduced by CBS Laboratories in 1981. Undecoded playback of CX discs was less objectionable than undecoded playback of dbx-encoded material and it did, however, find widespread use in LaserDiscs and stereo SelectaVision CED video discs
24.
Akai AX80
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The AX80 is a polyphonic analogue keyboard synthesizer manufactured by Akai Professional in 1984. It was Akais first venture into the electronic musical instrument market. The AX80 used digitally controlled oscillators and filter circuitry based on the Curtis Electronics CEM3372 integrated circuit and this electronic keyboard is an 8-voice polyphonic, digitally controlled analogue synthesizer. It has 64 memory locations for sounds, arranged in two banks of 32 each, plus a bank of 32 factory preset sounds, the instrument has basic MIDI implementation, but lacks the ability to save or restore sounds except by using cassette tape. The case is metal with fluorescent displays to indicate the status of different synthesis parameters. The back panel is unusual in that it is tilted from vertical so that the connectors can be seen from the front of the instrument, the keyboard is five octaves and is unweighted. It has velocity, but not aftertouch, sensitivity, the output MIDI velocity values span the full range, but only discrete steps are used. The synthesizer voices are similar to those found in the Roland JX-3P or Teisco SX-240. These oscillators are controlled digitally with analog circuitry used only to create the sawtooth waveshape, oSC2 can be synchronized to OSC1, or the two oscillators can be cross-modulated. The OSCs can be separated by semitone intervals and detuned, there is pulse-width modulation of the square wave of OSC1 and a square-wave sub-oscillator that is fixed at one octave lower. OSC2s pitch can be modulated by one of the two ADSR envelope generators, which are dedicated to VCA volume and VCF cutoff frequency, the filter is a 24dB/octave resonant lowpass type, and there is also a separate 12 dB/octave highpass filter that is not envelope controlled. Tracking of filter cutoff frequency with keyboard position is fully variable, Keyboard velocity can affect volume and/or filter cutoff. The modulation section of this synthesizer features four low-frequency oscillators, three of these each have four available waveforms, and these LFOs are dedicated to filter cutoff, and pitch of each of the two oscillators. These also have a delay before their effect sets in. The fourth LFO is dedicated to pulse-width modulation of OSC1, and only its rate, there is also a programmable output level for each patch, to help balance loud and soft sounds. Notably missing from the architecture are white noise and portamento. There are various switches to select modulation destinations controlled by the wheel, to enable chord memory or infinite sustain of notes. The pitch-bend and modulation wheels also have knobs governing the depth of the effect of each, footswitches can control sustain or switch sounds by moving up one patch at a time
25.
Akai AX60
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The AX60 is a polyphonic analogue keyboard synthesizer manufactured by Akai Professional in the mid-1980s. It was Akais answer to the popular Roland Juno series synthesizers, the AX60 uses voltage-controlled analogue oscillators and filter circuitry based on the Curtis Electronics CEM3394 integrated circuit. This electronic keyboard is a 61 key, 6-voice bitimbral polyphonic and its keys are unweighted and not velocity-sensitive. It has 64 memory locations for sounds, the instrument has limited MIDI implementation, and lacks the ability transmit or receive Sysex data. The AX60s front panel is designed with a control for each of its editable parameters. In addition to the plethora of control faders, there is a small LED screen which indicates patch numbers, a series of switches controls the chorus effect, arpeggiator, modulation routing, and other features. The position of switch and fader is stored digitally in one of 64 patches which can be recalled or edited at any time. It also has inputs for use with Akais S612, S700. The keyboard is five octaves, is unweighted, and is not velocity-sensitive, the AX60 uses voltage-controlled analogue oscillators and filter circuitry based on the Curtis Electronics CEM3394 integrated circuit. The same chip is used in several Sequential Circuits synthesizers, including the Six-Trak, Max, Multi-Trak. Each of the AX-60s 6 synthesizer voices consist of a single oscillator, interestingly, pulse-width modulation is available for all four waveforms, with a dedicated low-frequency oscillator for this parameter. Pitch can be modulated by an LFO or the VCF cutoff frequency ADSR envelope generator, the AX-60s filter is a 4-pole resonant lowpass type. The AX-60s VCFs cutoff frequency can be made to track the keyboard, the modulation section of this synthesizer features a low-frequency oscillator with four available waveforms which can be routed to VCF cutoff, VCO pitch or VCA amplitude. These also have a delay before their effect sets in. A second LFO is dedicated to pulse-width modulation, and only its rate, notably missing from the voice architecture is portamento. The AX-60 is bitimbral with 6 voice polyphony, the keyboard can be split to play two patches independently. The assignment of voices to each side can be 0-6, 2-4, 4-2. Splits where no voices can be used for half of the keyboard are useful when the AX-60 is expanded with an Akai sampler, each side of the split responds to a different MIDI channel
26.
Roland Juno-106
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The Roland Juno-106 is an analog polyphonic synthesizer released by Roland Corporation in February 1984. It features digitally controlled oscillators for tuning stability and digital envelope generation along with analog filters, the Roland Juno-106 is relatively simple in terms of its synthesis architecture. The central tone-generating component of the instrument is a set of 6 digitally controlled oscillators capable of producing sawtooth, the instruments VCA can be switched between simple note gating or envelope-controlled loudness with a switch. The same envelope can also modulate the filters cutoff frequency, in normal or inverted polarity, the filter cutoff can also track the keyboard to allow high harmonics to be heard on higher-pitched notes. The Juno-106 features an analog stereo chorus effect, which is a fairly distinctive aspect of the instruments sound. The Juno-106s chorus is based on a set of bucket brigade delay lines similar to other Roland products of the time including guitar pedals. The Juno-106 also contains 128 internal memory slots for patch storage as well as surprisingly complete MIDI implementation - a rarity for any synthesizers of the time, furthermore, this synthesizer features polyphonic portamento, also rather rare for a 1984 analog instrument. The Juno-106 was the third in the Juno series of analog synthesizers, the Juno-106 also featured MIDI connectivity, rather than the proprietary Roland Digital Control Bus found on the Juno-60, along with much higher patch storage. Roland also produced a Juno-106 variant with built-in speakers and a slightly redesigned enclosure, in Japan, this version was called the Juno-106S, and elsewhere in the world it was called the HS-60. The Juno-106 was one of the last vintage synthesizers to feature all of its controls as buttons, the Juno-106 also featured DCOs with an analog signal path including VCFs. This allowed for perfectly tuned pitch with the warmth of analogue waveshaping and filters and it is because of this balance of analogue and digital that there really is no other synth quite like the Juno-106 and it is still a staple in many studios today. The Juno-106 and its predecessors are traded among synthesizer aficionados with relative frequency, thus, they are more easily obtainable than a number of other synthesizers with similar features and traits. Junos are considered to be very, instantly, musical sounding instruments with a sweet spot. Overall, these combine to make one of the most desirable vintage analog synths on the second hand market and many users appreciate them for their ease of use. A common problem nowadays are dead voice chips, in one or more of the 6 available notes fail and sound silent, quiet. The Juno-106 contains a hybrid integrated circuit for each of its six voices. Over time, these ICs tend to become intermittent or fail outright, because they are no longer manufactured, third-party substitutes have become available. In recent years, some people have successfully repaired these hybrid ICs by removing the coating of resin that is sometimes implicated in their failure
27.
Sampler (musical instrument)
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The samples are loaded or recorded by the user or by a manufacturer. These sounds are played back by means of the sampler program itself. Because these samples are stored in digital memory, the information can be quickly accessed. A single sample may often be pitch-shifted to different pitches to produce musical scales, often samplers offer filters, effects units, modulation via low frequency oscillation and other synthesizer-like processes that allow the original sound to be modified in many different ways. Most samplers have polyphonic capabilities – they are able to more than one note at the same time. Many are also multitimbral – they can play back different sounds simultaneously, prior to computer memory-based samplers, musicians used tape replay keyboards, which store recordings on analog tape. When a key is pressed the tape head contacts the moving tape, to change sounds a new set of tapes had to be installed in the instrument. The emergence of the sampler made sampling far more practical. Bruce Haack built a digital sampler which he demonstrated on Mister Rogers Neighborhood in 1967, the home made synthesizer device included a built-in sampler which recorded, stored, played back and looped sounds controlled by switches, light sensors and human skin contact. EMS Musys system, developed by Peter Grogono, David Cockerell, the system ran on two mini-computers, Digital Equipment PDP-8s. These had 12,000 bytes of memory, backed up by a hard drive of 32k. EMS equipment was used to control the worlds first digital studio, the E-mu SP-1200 percussion sampler progressed Hip-Hop away from the drum machine sound upon its release in August 1987, ushering in the sample-based sound of the late 1980s and early 1990s. Akai pioneered many processing techniques, such as crossfade looping and time stretch to shorten or lengthen samples without affecting pitch, during the 1980s, hybrid synthesizers began to utilize short samples along with digital synthesis to create more realistic imitations of instruments than had previously been possible. Examples are the Korg M1, Roland U-110, Yamahas SY series, samplers, together with traditional Foley artists, are the mainstay of modern sound effects production. Using digital techniques various effects can be pitch-shifted and otherwise altered in ways that would have required many hours when done with tape, usually a sampler is controlled by an attached music keyboard or other external MIDI controller or source. Each note-message received by the sampler accesses a particular sample, often multiple samples are arranged across the keyboard, each assigned to a note or group of notes. Keyboard tracking allows samples to be shifted in pitch by an appropriate amount, each group of notes to which a single sample has been assigned is often called a keyzone, and the resultant set of zones is called a keymap. For example, in Fig 1, a keymap has been created four different samples
28.
Floppy disk
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Floppy disks are read and written by a floppy disk drive. Floppy disks, initially as 8-inch media and later in 5¼-inch and 3½-inch sizes, were a form of data storage and exchange from the mid-1970s into the mid-2000s. These formats are usually handled by older equipment and these disks and associated drives were produced and improved upon by IBM and other companies such as Memorex, Shugart Associates, and Burroughs Corporation. The term floppy disk appeared in print as early as 1970, in 1976, Shugart Associates introduced the first 5¼-inch FDD. By 1978 there were more than 10 manufacturers producing such FDDs, there were competing floppy disk formats, with hard- and soft-sector versions and encoding schemes such as FM, MFM and GCR. The 5¼-inch format displaced the 8-inch one for most applications, the most common capacity of the 5¼-inch format in DOS-based PCs was 360 kB and in 1984 IBM introduced the 1.2 MB dual-sided floppy disk along with its PC-AT model. IBM started using the 720 kB double-density 3½-inch microfloppy disk on its Convertible laptop computer in 1986 and these disk drives could be added to older PC models. In 1988 IBM introduced a drive for 2.88 MB DSED diskettes in its top-of-the-line PS/2 models, throughout the early 1980s, limitations of the 5¼-inch format became clear. Originally designed to be practical than the 8-inch format, it was itself too large, as the quality of recording media grew. A number of solutions were developed, with drives at 2-, 2½-, 3-, 3½-, the large market share of the 5¼-inch format made it difficult for these new formats to gain significant market share. A variant on the Sony design, introduced in 1982 by a number of manufacturers, was then rapidly adopted. By the end of the 1980s, 5¼-inch disks had been superseded by 3½-inch disks, by the mid-1990s, 5¼-inch drives had virtually disappeared, as the 3½-inch disk became the predominant floppy disk. Floppy disks became ubiquitous during the 1980s and 1990s in their use with computers to distribute software, transfer data. Before hard disks became affordable to the population, floppy disks were often used to store a computers operating system. Most home computers from that period have a primary OS and BASIC stored as ROM, by the early 1990s, the increasing software size meant large packages like Windows or Adobe Photoshop required a dozen disks or more. In 1996, there were a five billion standard floppy disks in use. Then, distribution of packages was gradually replaced by CD-ROMs, DVDs. External USB-based floppy disk drives are available, many modern systems provide firmware support for booting from such drives
29.
Akai S1000
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The Akai S1000 is a 16-bit 44. 1kHz professional stereo digital sampler, released by Akai in 1988. The S1000 was among the first professional-quality 16-bit stereo samplers and its abilities to splice, crossfade, trim, and loop music in 16-bit CD-quality sound made it popular among producers of this era. The S1000 also had the ability to time-stretch, a feature allowed the musics tempo to be adjusted without its pitch being altered. The sampler used 24-bit internal processing, had digital filters and a send and return. A keyboard variant, the S1000KB, included room for an 80MB hard disk, the advent of the S1000 paved the way for Jungle music, which later evolved into Drum and Bass. The ease with which it could be used and the sound quality that it produced created an evolution from the rougher Hardcore genre that preceded Jungle. The S1100, released in 1990, is an expanded and enhanced version of the S1000, modulations, A History of Electronic Music. New York, Caipirnha Productions Inc.2000
30.
CD-ROM
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A CD-ROM /ˌsiːˌdiːˈrɒm/ is a pre-pressed optical compact disc which contains data. The name is an acronym which stands for Compact Disc Read-Only Memory, computers can read CD-ROMs, but cannot write to CD-ROMs which are not writable or erasable. From the mid-1990s until the mid-2000s, CD-ROMs were popularly used to distribute software for computers, some CDs, called enhanced CDs, hold both computer data and audio with the latter capable of being played on a CD player, while data is only usable on a computer. An early CD-ROM format was developed by Sony and Denon, introduced at a Japanese computer show in 1984 and it was an extension of Compact Disc Digital Audio, and adapted the format to hold any form of digital data, with a capacity of 540 MiB. The Yellow Book is the standard that defines the format of CD-ROMs. One of a set of books that contain the technical specifications for all CD formats. CD-ROMs are identical in appearance to audio CDs, and data are stored and retrieved in a similar manner. Discs are made from a 1.2 mm thick disc of polycarbonate plastic, data is stored on the disc as a series of microscopic indentations. A laser is shone onto the surface of the disc to read the pattern of pits. This pattern of changing intensity of the beam is converted into binary data. Several formats are used for data stored on discs, known as the Rainbow Books. The Yellow Book, published in 1988, defines the specifications for CD-ROMs, the CD-ROM standard builds on top of the original Red Book CD-DA standard for CD audio. Other standards, such as the White Book for Video CDs, the Yellow Book itself is not freely available, but the standards with the corresponding content can be downloaded for free from ISO or ECMA. There are several standards that define how to structure data files on a CD-ROM, ISO9660 defines the standard file system for a CD-ROM. ISO13490 is an improvement on this standard which adds support for non-sequential write-once and re-writeable discs such as CD-R and CD-RW, as well as multiple sessions. The ISO13346 standard was designed to address most of the shortcomings of ISO9660, and a subset of it evolved into the UDF format, which was adopted for DVDs. The bootable CD specification was issued in January 1995, to make a CD emulate a hard disk or floppy disk, is called El Torito, data stored on CD-ROMs follows the standard CD data encoding techniques described in the Red Book specification. This includes cross-interleaved Reed–Solomon coding, eight-to-fourteen modulation, and the use of pits, the structures used to group data on a CD-ROM are also derived from the Red Book
31.
Hard disk drive
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The platters are paired with magnetic heads, usually arranged on a moving actuator arm, which read and write data to the platter surfaces. Data is accessed in a manner, meaning that individual blocks of data can be stored or retrieved in any order. HDDs are a type of storage, retaining stored data even when powered off. Introduced by IBM in 1956, HDDs became the dominant secondary storage device for computers by the early 1960s. Continuously improved, HDDs have maintained this position into the era of servers. More than 200 companies have produced HDDs historically, though after extensive industry consolidation most current units are manufactured by Seagate, Toshiba, as of 2016, HDD production is growing, although unit shipments and sales revenues are declining. While SSDs have higher cost per bit, SSDs are replacing HDDs where speed, power consumption, small size, the primary characteristics of an HDD are its capacity and performance. Capacity is specified in unit prefixes corresponding to powers of 1000, the two most common form factors for modern HDDs are 3. 5-inch, for desktop computers, and 2. 5-inch, primarily for laptops. HDDs are connected to systems by standard interface cables such as PATA, SATA, Hard disk drives were introduced in 1956, as data storage for an IBM real-time transaction processing computer and were developed for use with general-purpose mainframe and minicomputers. The first IBM drive, the 350 RAMAC in 1956, was approximately the size of two medium-sized refrigerators and stored five million six-bit characters on a stack of 50 disks. In 1962 the IBM350 RAMAC disk storage unit was superseded by the IBM1301 disk storage unit, cylinder-mode read/write operations were supported, and the heads flew about 250 micro-inches above the platter surface. Motion of the head array depended upon a binary system of hydraulic actuators which assured repeatable positioning. The 1301 cabinet was about the size of three home refrigerators placed side by side, storing the equivalent of about 21 million eight-bit bytes, access time was about a quarter of a second. Also in 1962, IBM introduced the model 1311 disk drive, users could buy additional packs and interchange them as needed, much like reels of magnetic tape. Later models of removable pack drives, from IBM and others, became the norm in most computer installations, non-removable HDDs were called fixed disk drives. Some high-performance HDDs were manufactured with one head per track so that no time was lost physically moving the heads to a track, known as fixed-head or head-per-track disk drives they were very expensive and are no longer in production. In 1973, IBM introduced a new type of HDD code-named Winchester and its primary distinguishing feature was that the disk heads were not withdrawn completely from the stack of disk platters when the drive was powered down. Instead, the heads were allowed to land on an area of the disk surface upon spin-down
32.
Music Production Controller
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Akai MPCs are a popular series of electronic musical instruments originally designed by Roger Linn and produced by the Japanese company Akai from 1988 onward. Intended to function as a kind of drum machine, the MPCs drew on design ideas from machines such as the Sequential Circuits Inc. Studio 440 and the Linns own Linn 9000, combining a powerful MIDI sequencer with the ability to sample ones own sounds. A major influence to Roger Linns design was his love of rubber pads and how they could be pushed, prodded, and banged, Linn also had a passion for squares, thus, no round pads on the MPC Series. Later models feature increasingly powerful sampling, storage, interfacing and sound manipulation facilities, the original MPC60 was the first result of an alliance between Roger Linn and Akai to design products similar to those of Linn Electronics. He developed the design, including the panel layout and software/hardware specifications. He then created the software with a team of engineers, the hardware electronics were designed by English engineer David Cockerell and his team. Cockerell was a member of the synthesizer firm EMS. Shortly after the MPC60s release, the MPC60-II was designed, released in 1991, the MPC60-II offered most of the same features as the MPC60, with an added headphone output and a plastic housing replacing the original metal one. In 1994, Akai released the MPC3000, which boasted 16-bit,44 kHz sampling, 32-voice polyphony, Akai tried to save money by dropping Roger Linn, the brainchild behind the MPC, to whom they would have to pay royalties on future models. The company developed and released the MPC2000 without Linn in 1997, the MPC2000 came with 2 MB of RAM, an optional effects board, and a 100,000 note 64-track sequencer. The MPC2000 was replaced by the MPC2000XL in 2000, the MPC2000XL added an improved 300,000 note sequencer, a 64-track mixer and time-stretch and resample features. Four limited edition models of the MPC2000XL were released, in 2002 Akai unveiled the MPC4000, the most powerful MPC ever made. The MPC4000 featured 8 assignable outputs, a drive and CD-ROM drive. The MPC4000s memory could be expanded to up to 512 MB of RAM, only two years after the release of the MPC4000, Akai released the MPC1000, which was the smallest in the MPC product line at the time of its release. It was also the first MPC to utilize CompactFlash memory, both the MPC2500 and the MPC500 were added to the Akai MPC series in 2006. The MPC2500 is a mid-range MPC with 8 assignable outputs and CompactFlash storage, designed for portability, the MPC500 features 1 MIDI In/Out and CompactFlash storage, and can be powered by 6 AA batteries. At NAMM in 2012 Akai unveiled a line of controllers named the MPC Renaissance, additionally they unveiled the MPCFly, an iPad 2 and iPad controller which runs on the iPad MPCFly app, available from the Apple app store
33.
Music sequencer
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This software also improved on the quality of the earlier sequencers which tended to be mechanical sounding and were only able to play back notes of exactly equal duration. Software-based sequencers allowed musicians to program performances that were more expressive and these new sequencers could also be used to control external synthesizers, especially rackmounted sound modules, and it was no longer necessary for each synthesizer to have its own devoted keyboard. As the technology matured, sequencers gained more features, such as the ability to record multitrack audio, Sequencers used for audio recording are called digital audio workstations. Many modern sequencers can be used to control virtual instruments implemented as software plug-ins and this allows musicians to replace expensive and cumbersome standalone synthesizers with their software equivalents. Today the term sequencer is used to describe software. Workstation keyboards have their own proprietary built-in MIDI sequencers, drum machines and some older synthesizers have their own step sequencer built in. There are still also standalone hardware MIDI sequencers, although the demand for those has diminished greatly due to the greater feature set of their software counterparts. Music sequencers are often categorized by handling data types, as following, or, the phrase samplers including Groove machines, etc. Also, music sequencer can be categorized by its construction and supporting modes, realtime sequencers record the musical notes in real-time as on audio recorders, and play back musical notes with designated tempo, quantizations, and pitch. For editing, usually punch in/punch out feature originated in the recording is provided. For detailed editing, possibly another visual editing modes under graphical user interface may be more suitable, anyway, this mode provides usability similar to the audio recorder already familiarized by musicians, and it is widely supported on software sequencer, DAW, and built-in hardware sequencers. Analog sequencers are typically implemented with analog electronics, and play the musical notes designated by a series of knobs or sliders corresponding to each musical note and it is designed for both composition and live performance, users can change the musical notes at any time without regarding recording mode. And also possibly, the time-interval between each note can be independently adjustable. Typically, analog sequencer is used to generate the repeated minimalistic phrases which is reminiscent of Tangerine Dream, on the bass machines, select a step note from a chromatic keypads, then select a step duration from a group of length-buttons, sequentially. In general, step mode, along with roughly quantized semi-realtime mode, is supported on the analog drum machines, bass machines. Software sequencer is a class of application software providing a functionality of music sequencer, the features provided as sequencers vary widely depending on the software, even an analog sequencer can be simulated. The user may control the software sequencer either by using the user interfaces or a specialized input devices. The early music sequencers were sound producing devices such as musical instruments, music boxes, mechanical organs, player pianos
34.
Digital synthesizer
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A digital synthesizer is a synthesizer that uses digital signal processing techniques to make musical sounds. This in contrast to older analog synthesizers, which produce music using analog electronics, and samplers, some digital synthesizers emulate analog synthesizers others include sampling capability in addition to digital synthesis. The very earliest digital synthesis experiments were made with general-purpose computers, in 1975, the Japanese company Yamaha licensed the algorithms for frequency modulation synthesis from John Chowning, who had experimented with it at Stanford University since 1971. Early commercial digital synthesizers used simple hard-wired digital circuitry to implement techniques such as additive synthesis and FM synthesis, other techniques, such as wavetable synthesis and physical modeling, only became possible with the advent of high-speed microprocessor and digital signal processing technology. Two of the earliest commercial digital synthesizers were the Fairlight CMI, introduced in 1979, the Fairlight CMI was the first sampling synthesizer, while the Synclavier was originally an FM synthesizer, not adding sampling synthesis until the 1980s. The Fairlight CMI and the Synclavier were both expensive systems, retailing for more than $20,000, in the early 1980s, in 1980, Yamaha eventually released the first FM digital synthesizer, the Yamaha GS-1, but at an expensive retail price of $16,000. The cost of digital synthesizers soon began falling rapidly in the early 1980s, e-mu Systems introduced the Emulator sampling synthesizer in 1982 at a retail price of $7,900. Although not as flexible or powerful as either the Fairlight CMI or the Synclavier, its lower cost, introduced in 1983, the Yamaha DX7 was the breakthrough digital synthesizer to have a major impact, both innovative and affordable, and thus spelling the decline of analog synthesizers. It used FM synthesis and, although it was incapable of the synthesis of the Fairlight CMI, its price was around $2,000. The DX-7 was also known for its key scaling method to avoid distortion and it became indispensable to many music artists of the 1980s, and would become one of the best-selling synthesizers of all time. In 1987, Roland released its own influential synthesizer of the time and this popular synth broke new ground in affordably combining short samples and digital oscillators, as well as the innovation of built-in digital effects. Roland called this Linear Arithmetic synthesis and this instrument is responsible for some of the very recognisable preset synthesizer sounds of the late 1980s, such as the Pizzagogo sound used on Enyas Orinoco Flow. It gradually became feasible to include high quality samples of existing instruments as opposed to synthesizing them, in 1988, Korg introduced the last of the hugely popular trio of digital synthesizers of the 1980s after the DX7 and D50, the M1. This heralded both the increasing popularisation of digital sample-based synthesis, and the rise of workstation synthesizers, after this time, many popular modern digital synthesizers have been described as not being full synthesizers in the most precise sense, as they play back samples stored in their memory. However, they still include options to shape the sounds through use of envelopes, LFOs, filters, the Yamaha Motif and Roland Fantom series of keyboards are typical examples of this type, described as ROMplers, at the same time, they are also examples of workstation synthesizers. With the addition of sophisticated sequencers on board, now added to effects and other features. These always include a multi-track sequencer, and can record and playback samples. As there was still interest in synthesizers, and with the increase of computing power, over the 1990s another type of synthesizer arose
35.
Alesis
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Alesis products are designed in the United States and manufactured in China. Alesis Studio Electronics was founded in 1984 by Keith Barr in Hollywood, leveraging his ability to design custom integrated circuits, Barrs company was able to introduce products with feature sets that, up to that time, had been extremely expensive. Alesis products were within the realm of most project studios, making them very successful, Alesis first product was the XT Reverb. Introduced in 1985, the XT Reverb was a reverb that carried an unprecedented low price of $799. Barr recruited Russell Palmer as Operations Manager and Robert Wilson to handle international sales so that Barr could continue to focus on engineering, in 1986 Alesis produced the first under-$1000 16-bit professional effects processor, the MIDIverb. Next, after teaming up with Marcus Ryle, Alesis introduced the MMT8 hardware sequencer, the Alesis SR-16 was made and released in probably 1990. At the 1991 Winter NAMM show, Alesis introduced the ADAT digital tape recorder, each ADAT could record 8 tracks of 16-bit audio on an S-VHS videocassette tape, and up to 16 ADATs could be connected together to record 128 tracks of audio simultaneously. Fast Forward Designs was co-founded by Marcus Ryle and Michel Doidic, for the next 10 years, Alesis created a wide variety of innovative and affordable products such as the QuadraSynth synthesizer, DM5 drum module and Monitor One studio monitors. In 1997, Alesis Semiconductor was formed, again taking advantage of Barrs custom integrated circuits to produce, a series of chips were introduced that ranged from digital signal processors for audio effects to low cost analog-to-digital and digital-to-analog converters. By 2001, however, the business suffered as market trends changed. In the subsequent restructuring, Jack ODonnell acquired the company, in 2012, Alesis, together with the rest of ODonnells companies, was acquired by inMusic Brands. Under ODonnells direction, Alesis expanded into new categories such as electronic drums, mixers, portable PA speakers. Some time-tested Alesis products remain, including the SR-16 drum machine, today, Alesis is the fastest-growing brand in drums, and it continues expansion into new product categories in mobile music-making, recording, video, and live sound. Alesis founder Keith Barr died of an apparent heart attack on August 24,2010, the products manufactured by Alesis are mainly for studio and live performance use and are now targeted at professional and semi-professional musicians
36.
Citizens band radio
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Citizens band radio is, in many countries, a system of short-distance radio communications between individuals typically on a selection of 40 channels within the 27 MHz band. Citizens band is distinct from other personal radio service allocations such as FRS, GMRS, MURS, UHF CB, in many countries, CB operation does not require a license, and it may be used for business or personal communications. Like many other radio services, citizens band channels are shared by many users. Only one station may transmit at a time, other stations must listen and it is customary for stations waiting to use a shared channel to broadcast the single word Break during a lull in the conversation. This informs people using the channel that others are waiting, a number of countries have created similar radio services, with varying technical standards and requirements for licensing. While they may be known by names, such as the General Radio Service in Canada, they often use similar frequencies, have similar uses. Although licenses may be required, eligibility is generally simple, some countries also have personal radio services in the UHF band, such as the European PMR446 and the Australian UHF CB. The citizens band radio service originated in the United States as one of personal radio services regulated by the Federal Communications Commission. These services began in 1945 to permit citizens a radio band for personal communication, in 1948, the original CB radios were designed for operation on the 460–470 MHz UHF band. There were two classes of CB radio, A and B, Class B radios had simpler technical requirements, and were limited to a smaller frequency range. Al Gross established the Citizens Radio Corporation during the late 1940s to manufacture Class B handhelds for the general public, ultra-high frequency radios, at the time, were neither practical nor affordable for the average consumer. On September 11,1958 the Class D CB service was created on 27 MHz, there were only 23 channels at the time, the first 22 were taken from the former amateur radio service 11-meter band, and channel 23 was shared with radio-controlled devices. Some hobbyists continue to use the designation 11 meters to refer to the Citizens Band, part 95 of the Code of Federal Regulations regulates the Class D CB service, on the 27 MHz band, since the 1970s and continuing today. Most of the 460–470 MHz band was reassigned for business and public-safety use, Class B CB is a more distant ancestor of the Family Radio Service. The Multi-Use Radio Service is another two-way radio service in the VHF high band, an unsuccessful petition was filed in 1973 to create a Class E CB service at 220 MHz, which was opposed by amateur radio organizations. There are several classes of personal radio services for specialized purposes. During the 1960s, the service was popular among small businesses, truck drivers, CB clubs were formed, a CB slang language evolved alongside 10-codes, similar to those used in emergency services. After the 1973 oil crisis the U. S. government imposed a nationwide 55 mph speed limit, One leader was able to almost single-handedly coordinate an interstate highway blockade of hundreds of tractor-trailers in eastern Pennsylvania using the citizens band radio in his truck
37.
Richter-tuned harmonica
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The Richter-tuned harmonica, or 10-hole harmonica or blues harp, is the most widely known type of harmonica. It is a variety of diatonic harmonica, with ten holes which offer the player 19 notes in a three-octave range, the standard diatonic harmonica is designed to allow a player to play chords and melody in a single key. Because they are designed to be played in a single key at a time. Harps labeled G through B start below middle C, while Harps labeled D♭ through F♯ start above middle C, here is the layout for a standard diatonic harmonica, labeled C, starting on middle C. Although there are three octaves between 1 and 10 blow, there is one full major scale available on the harmonica. The lower holes are designed around the tonic and dominant chords, the most important notes are given the blow, and the secondary notes, the draw. The valved diatonic is one of the most common ways of playing chromatic scales on diatonic harmonicas, while chromatic is available, valved diatonic is also common, and there are reasons to use a valved diatonic rather than chromatics. It does not have an assembly, and it has a wider tonal range. As well, it has a size and is much more suitable to use with microphone. Alternatively, one can buy a factory-made valved diatonic such as the Suzuki Promaster Valved. The disadvantage of the valved diatonic is that it not require one to develop proper embouchure in order to bend the notes accurately. Also, many of the reached by bending are nearer just intonation. This limits the number of notes available when playing classical repertoire when compared with that of jazz or blues. Another thing worth noting is that, due to the bends being one-reed bends, the sound is less full than traditional bends. One way to address this is by having an additional reed that activates when one bends a note, aside from bending, Richter-tuned harmonicas are modal. Playing the harmonica in the key to which it is tuned is known as straight harp or first position playing, for example, playing music in the key of C on a C-tuned harmonica. More common is crossharp or second position playing which involves playing in the key which is a fourth below the key of the harmonica. This is because the notes of the G pentatonic scale are easily accessible on a C-tuned harmonica
38.
HVAC
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Heating, ventilation and air conditioning is the technology of indoor and vehicular environmental comfort. Its goal is to provide comfort and acceptable indoor air quality. HVAC system design is a subdiscipline of mechanical engineering, based on the principles of thermodynamics, fluid mechanics, Refrigeration is sometimes added to the fields abbreviation as HVAC&R or HVACR, or ventilating is dropped as in HACR. Ventilation removes unpleasant smells and excessive moisture, introduces outside air, keeps interior building air circulating, ventilation includes both the exchange of air to the outside as well as circulation of air within the building. It is one of the most important factors for maintaining acceptable indoor air quality in buildings, methods for ventilating a building may be divided into mechanical/forced and natural types. HVAC systems can be used in domestic and commercial environments. HVAC systems can provide ventilation, reduce air infiltration, and maintain pressure relationships between spaces, the means of air delivery and removal from spaces is known as room air distribution. In modern buildings the design, installation, and control systems of functions are integrated into one or more HVAC systems. For very small buildings, contractors normally estimate the capacity, engineer, for larger buildings, building service designers, mechanical engineers, or building services engineers analyze, design, and specify the HVAC systems. Specialty mechanical contractors then fabricate and commission the systems, Building permits and code-compliance inspections of the installations are normally required for all sizes of building. HVAC is based on inventions and discoveries made by Nikolay Lvov, Michael Faraday, Willis Carrier, Edwin Ruud, Reuben Trane, James Joule, William Rankine, Sadi Carnot, heaters are appliances whose purpose is to generate heat for the building. This can be done via central heating, such a system contains a boiler, furnace, or heat pump to heat water, steam, or air in a central location such as a furnace room in a home, or a mechanical room in a large building. The heat can be transferred by convection, conduction, or radiation, heaters exist for various types of fuel, including solid fuels, liquids, and gases. Another type of source is electricity, normally heating ribbons composed of high resistance wire. This principle is used for baseboard heaters and portable heaters. Electrical heaters are used as backup or supplemental heat for heat pump systems. The heat pump gained popularity in the 1950s in Japan and the United States, heat pumps can extract heat from various sources, such as environmental air, exhaust air from a building, or from the ground. In the case of heated water or steam, piping is used to transport the heat to the rooms, most modern hot water boiler heating systems have a circulator, which is a pump, to move hot water through the distribution system
39.
Vacuum cleaner
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The dirt is collected by either a dustbag or a cyclone for later disposal. Specialized shop vacuums can be used to suck up both dust and liquids, although vacuum cleaner and the short form vacuum are neutral names, in some countries hoover is used instead as a genericized trademark, and as a verb. The name comes from the Hoover Company, one of the first, the device is also sometimes called a sweeper although the same term also refers to a carpet sweeper, a similar invention. The vacuum cleaner evolved from the carpet sweeper via manual vacuum cleaners, the first manual models, using bellows, were developed in the 1860s, and the first motorized designs appeared at the turn of the 20th century, with the first decade being the boom decade. In 1860 a carpet sweeper was invented by Daniel Hess of West Union, Iowa that gathered dust with a rotating brush, another early model was the Whirlwind, invented in Chicago in 1868 by Ives W. McGaffey. The bulky device worked with a belt driven fan cranked by hand that made it awkward to operate, a similar model was constructed by Melville R. Bissell of Grand Rapids, Michigan in 1876. The company later added portable vacuum cleaners to its line of cleaning tools, the end of the 19th century saw the introduction of powered cleaners, although early types used some variation of blowing air to clean instead of suction. One appeared in 1898 when John S. Thurman of St. Louis, thurmans system, powered by an internal combustion engine, traveled to the customers residence on a horse-drawn wagon as part of a door to door cleaning service. Corrine Dufour of Savannah, Georgia received two patents in 1899 and 1900 for another blown air system that seems to have featured the first use of an electric motor. In 1901 powered vacuum cleaners using suction were invented independently by British engineer Hubert Cecil Booth, Booth also may have coined the word vacuum cleaner. Kenneys was a stationary 4,000 lb. steam engine powered system with pipes and hoses reaching into all parts of the building. The first vacuum-cleaning device to be portable and marketed at the market was built in 1905 by Walter Griffiths. In 1906 James B. Kirby developed his first of many vacuums called the Domestic Cyclone It used water for dirt separation. In 1907 department store janitor James Murray Spangler of Canton, Ohio invented the first portable vacuum cleaner. Crucially, in addition to suction from a fan that blew the dirt and dust into a soap box and one of his wifes pillow cases. Their first vacuum was the 1908 Model O, which sold for $60, subsequent innovations included the beater bar in 1919, disposal filter bags in the 1920s, and an upright vacuum cleaner in 1926. In Continental Europe, the Fisker and Nielsen company in Denmark was the first to sell vacuum cleaners in 1910, the design weighed just 17.5 kg and could be operated by a single person. The Swedish company Electrolux launched the innovative Model V in 1921 that was designed to lie on the floor on two thin metal runners and this innovation, conceived by Electrolux founder Axel Wenner-Gren, became a standard feature on generations of future vacuum cleaners
