Digital Vinyl Simulation... for dummies.

- Introduction -

	The introduction of digital audio has kickstarted a paradigm-shift in the music industry.  Besides the

substantial increase in fidelity, a most obvious departure from the analog realm has been the delivery of sound from

its creation to the listener.  Audio tapes and vinyl records have been supplanted (initially) by compact discs and

compressed-audio music players.  For the lowly DJ, these changes have spurred the invention of numerous tools to

convert a sequence of ones and zeros to a vibe that rocks eardrums throughout the landscape.  These tools include

Professional DJ CD players and MP3 decks.

	There is, however, a cross-section of professional DJs, especially those that are self-proclaimed hip-hop

aficionados, who maintain their loyalty to the analog vinyl format.  Kool Herc, Grandmaster Flash, and Q-Bert have

graced 1200s with their mastery using vinyl.  There are only a handful major vinyl production houses left in the

U.S.  This, along with the unfortunate effect of degradation among the entire vinyl portfolio, leaves the loyal

vinyl DJ with a dilemma: accept the future and migrate to a digital format, or be stubborn and never accept

innovation (some argue, however, that demand for vinyl is increasing). Alas, the engineering world would never

resort to those options.  Thusly, through the magic of signal processing, you have a little something called

"Digital Vinyl Simulation." or DVS.  Sure, bridging the gap between the analog realm, where a touch correlates to

a sound, to the digital realm where reaching exactness is an exercise in masochism, is merely prolonging the

inevitable.  Cushioning the fall is, in a sense, much more desirable.


- In A Nutshell -

	DVS bridges the gap between a domain known as "analog" and a domain known as "digital."  The differences

between analog and digital are essentially the same as those with clocks.  In analog, there is a notion of something

"in-between," while digital is very absolute, and I mean  very .  For those that are mathematically inclined,

consider the fraction 1/3 and it's equivalent 0.33333.  1/3 can be seen as the analog version and 0.33333 as the

digital version.  The philosphical implications are left to the reader to stress over.

... more to come ...

- sm