That Optigan disc scan came back from TIS last week and I printed a copy on transparency last night. Unfortunately, I’m still having the same problem with the copied disc playing back at the same volume as the original. It could be an issue of registration, since my center hole cutting was kind of sloppy. I’ll also take a look at the .tiff file in Photoshop tonight to check the resolution of the waveforms. In previous scans, the waveforms were kind of pixilated. But this last scan was at 1,500dpi, so I’m guess the jags won’t be as pronounced as in the past. The other thing I need to check is printer preferences for the laserjet. It should be outputting the file at 1,200dpi, but I have a sneaking suspicion it’s printing at 600dpi for some reason. I don’t know if printing the file at a higher resolution will make a difference, but it’s worth a try.

Really, this whole disc copying thing is just a starting point. The issue of resolution may not come into play if I’m ever able to make my own discs with original sounds, since those waveforms will be vector files (no jags). But I’m also starting to wonder now about the transparency stock I’m using. It’s thinner than the original Optigan discs, so there is some concern it won’t playback as reliably.

I was looking for some information on the Optigan light sensor and came across these original patents. Fascinating stuff.

Light Collector for Optical Organ
http://www.google.com/patents

Endless Record Audio Signal Generator and Means for Playing Record
http://www.google.com/patents

Cabinet for Keyboard Instrument
http://www.google.com/patents

Musical Recording with Re-Entry Track
http://www.google.com/patents

It’s been a slow week here at the Optigan Project. I have a disc at TIS waiting for scanning, so there is not much to do. Just for the hell of it, here is a list of all my Optigan discs:

Nashville County
Latin Fever
Big Top Marching Band
Bossa Nova Style
Polynesian Village
Big Organ and Drums
Guitar in 3/4 Time
Pop Piano plus Guitar
Rock and Rhythm
Organ Sing-Along
Walz Time
Banjo Sing-Along
The Blues Sweet and Low
Bluegrass Banjo

I’m going to have Technical Imaging Services here in Portland scan one of my Optigan discs on their drum scanners with the goal of printing a usable copy off the digital image file. I’ve successfully scanned and printed copies at lower resolutions (300dpi) using a copier scanner here at work, but they don’t playback as well as the originals. If I can successfully print a high resolution copy and get it to playback at a decent fidelity, I’ll continue my quest to create original discs.

I’ve also been thinking about how to convert .wav files to vectors suitable for use in Adobe Illustrator and I’m thinking about just doing screen captures in whatever audio editing software I choose to use and then convert the image of the .wav file to vector in something like Flash. I’d still like to find software that will export .wav files to some kind of image file directly, but that’s probably a dead end.

Creot Radio: Volume 65 - Optigan Creot. A podcast with songs made using the Optigan.
http://media-c02.libsyn.com/podcasts

National Public Radio recently aired a story about the Optigan as part of their SoundClips series. For some bizarre reason they kept referring to it as the “Optigon” instead of the Optigan.

Grooving to the Sound of an Optigon
http://www.npr.org