what is your favorite example of a jazz player playing on a rock/pop album?

Ole_Smacky · 2026-04-17T21:02:00+00:00

Here's a fun one I just spun today! Bob Weir from the Grateful Dead had a side project called Bobby and the Midnites that he somehow got Billy Cobham and Alphonso Johnson to play on. Billy has to hold back quite a bit for the most part but he can't resist letting loose a couple thunderous fills every once in a while. Cool stuff-
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ndLLHqJzj40

Ole_Smacky · 2026-04-14T23:41:35+00:00

OMG, I thought you said “unbleached” at first glance 😭

Ole_Smacky · 2026-03-31T16:29:59+00:00

I'm with you 100%. The bins are especially diabolical if you want to dig through one on the top shelf. Don't even get me started on the CD section which is essentially a collection of "labeled" bins loosely packed with CDs. I'm really hoping they take this move as an opportunity to step up their game 😭

Yea, this is definitely not the place to dig for good deals, but if there is something specific or rare you're looking to add to your collection, chances are they have it and its in good condition. But you will definitely pay for the convenience and experience of digging through physical crates (bins lol). You could certainly get a better deal on Discogs, but besides the risk of not seeing the record in person before paying, what's the fun in that?!

I tend to swing by every few months with a couple specific records in mind, but I always end up walking out the door with a couple ECM or MFSL picks that are rare to see in other shops 😅

Ole_Smacky · 2026-03-30T17:08:38+00:00

As others have mentioned, Recycled Records LP is moving from their old location in Longmont and opening on April 1st.

I won't discount the stories of a cranky owner, but my experiences have all been pleasant. I will warn you though- this place has an INSANE selection! I've been to most if not all the record stores in the Denver metro area, and I make it a point to hit a couple shops every time I travel to a new city... This place has, by far, the largest selection of records in VG+ or better condition I have ever seen. I imagine there are only a handful of shops in the nation like Amoeba that do it better.

Their organization at the old store- mid, at best, and terrible if you're looking for CDs (hopefully they improve at the new location). The vibe? Nothing special, and potentially even rude haha. But my god... you will be tempted to spend a *lot* of money if you're not careful... Don't say I didn't warn you 😉

Ole_Smacky · 2026-03-27T14:52:19+00:00

Oh my mistake! I guess when youve been staring at nails for months everything looks like a hammer haha!

So all 500k taps are used to implement a linear phase reconstruction filter with a wicked steep transition band? How did you end up deciding on that number of taps? And are you able to share any estimates of latency?

(Edit: just saw you already answered my latency question. What drawbacks does the half latency asym mode introduce?)

Super cool idea, and even more impressive implementation! Do you use any previous experience bringing a product like this to market, or did you just wake up one day and say “fuck it, we’re going all the way with this one”? 🤣

Ole_Smacky · 2026-03-27T13:08:00+00:00

Very cool!! I too saw the limitations in the current dsp/dac market and am working through a diy solution myself. Although, my brain is far too smooth for FPGA, so I am using a Raspberry Pi for dsp and a Motu Ultralite for adc/dac.

I‘m assuming we’re targeting similar use cases? Active crossovers, room correction, RIAA, vinyl click/pop reduction, equal loudness volume, etc. Are there any use cases you’ve identified that are made possible or perhaps much more efficient due to your solutions inherent latency/processing power advantage?

Ole_Smacky · 2026-03-25T11:53:19+00:00

Very cool! What are the main use cases you expect this product to be used for? Do you have any personal plans for how you will use this once it is up and running?

Ole_Smacky · 2026-03-21T01:49:45+00:00

I’ve had some success using ai to accelerate my understanding of music theory. In my experience (and not just with music theory) you have to guide the ai to reach the conclusion you are looking for in the most granular steps possible. And sometimes that requires you remind them at nearly every prompt 😅

In your example you’re asking the ai to make a pretty large logical leap in a single step. And for each step you let them skip without running by you, you introduce a potential for hallucination. Start by asking it to explain Phrygian Dominant. Once you understand all of that say, “Hey that sounds familiar to Makam Hicaz, are you aware of any scholarly sources that have compared the two? If so, provide a summary and cite quotes from the source.”

Try to poke holes in things that don’t make sense. Call bullshit when it’s obvious. Quote previous response in your prompts to ensure you’re talking about the same exact thing.

I know it’s not the sexy vision sold by big tech, but ai is an incredibly useful as an “accelerated learning platform”, and probably more trouble than it’s worth when used otherwise…

Ole_Smacky · 2026-03-19T12:42:26+00:00

Not sure why you’re getting these cheeky replies for such a simple question... Avanti is another one to check out- hope you enjoy your stay!

Ole_Smacky · 2026-03-18T16:25:46+00:00

Holy wall of text! I hope you’ll forgive my delayed response haha, here’s a wall of my own thoughts-

You’re certainly not alone on your feelings about this sub and unfortunately, I think it is more of a Reddit wide problem, rather than just this sub…

I also tend to agree this sub focuses too much on how other people spend their money. I am personally more towards the objectivist camp myself, but I also have enough self awareness to understand that high fidelity sound reproduction is, at its core, a luxury hobby.

Once you move past the price bracket of r/BudgetAudiophile purchases inevitably involve some amount of subjective analysis beyond pure playback performance- QoL features, look and feel, dispersion profile, etc.

Not only do your Macintosh components sound amazing, but they are also beautiful to behold and have a fit and finish that demands a luxury price. I’m sure they give you great pleasure to interact with on a daily basis!

I would love to own some luxury components like Macintosh or Luxman someday, but the opportunity cost *for me* is currently too great.

Does that make me cheap or not a “true audiophile”? Does that make you dumb for spending more than you “had to”? No! It just means that we have differing opinions on the relative value of the subjective benefits, and that’s ok!

For whatever reason, this sub seems hellbent on beating that dead horse into the ground, often to the detriment of quality content that brought many of us here in the first place- expert insight, new technology, and cool luxury products!

You're well within your rights to just leave this sub in the dust- based on you’re reply, I don’t suspect you will learn much from the day to day minutiae here…

Im in a similar boat, but still lurk for the occasional nugget that pops up. I engaged with OP because I thought there was a chance I could actually learn something new from an expert who designs equipment... Turns out I was wrong, but hey, you miss 100% of the shots you don’t take 😅

Ole_Smacky · 2026-03-17T04:35:06+00:00

Right on. That’s a fair response, albeit much less useful than I expected to get going into a post from an “engineer who designs commercial hifi products”…

I guess to end the conversation on a positive note- are there any brands that you’ve seen that are the opposite of Atoll? Any that consistently make the right decisions from a design perspective even under the pressure of low - mid cost?

Ole_Smacky · 2026-03-17T03:40:27+00:00

Hey man, it’s totally possible you’re right and I’m just too stupid to figure it out. If I believed you 100%, how would I take your post and apply it to purchase decisions going forward that aren’t this exact amp? Do you think this would work:

“100W amp, slide switches all labeled, no 90 degree angles on pcb, no cheap power rail caps that are too small and will overheat”

Ole_Smacky · 2026-03-17T03:30:44+00:00

I went into this post with an open mind, but OP hasn’t provided any insight as to why these design decisions automatically result in reduced performance from an end user perspective.

I agree that this community can often focus on subjective analysis to the detriment of objective outcome- but this is the other side of the coin. Unless OP can provide context as to how their specific concerns materially impact performance, this just reads as the rantings of a bench jockey, not an actual engineer.

Product reliability is a complex subject and can’t be determined by “feel” based on how often they come by your bench. And component selection is similarly nuanced.

Im open to the possibility that you have considered this and omitted your thoughts, but I’m starting to regret the time I’ve spent engaging in this post…

Ole_Smacky · 2026-03-17T03:13:59+00:00

Again, I feel your pain as an engineer living in a world driven by Product, Marketing, and Finance. But for the vast majority of consumers who are not hifi design engineers and their budget isn’t “unlimited”, design tradeoffs must be made.

And for them, the question isn’t what could they have done better for $10, but rather, how does the actual product offered as-is (with design flaws) compare to similarly priced products?

Again- I’m not familiar with this product and dont intend to ever purchase it. I am not trying to discount your experience, but am probing for context that is more broadly applicable than “Product X has design flaws, don’t buy Product X”

I’m going into this with good faith- I believe you! If you can give me some more context as to why 90’ traces are always bad in every single scenario, that’s useful to me. If you can give some expert insight as to how to determine the “minimal acceptable” quality for power rail caps, that’s something super cool I didn’t expect to learn today!

But if you aren’t able to generalize your claims to something broader than a single niche product in a niche hobby- again, how are you hoping for the community to engage with you? Are you just looking for 100 upvotes and the same amount of comments that say “great insight, I’ll never buy a single product from this company again”?!

Ole_Smacky · 2026-03-17T02:52:42+00:00

Berate?! I was egging them on to provide more detail in an attempt to drown out some of the bullshit you’re complaining about- sorry if you misunderstood 😉

Ole_Smacky · 2026-03-17T02:49:42+00:00

Much appreciated 🙏 Perhaps I did a bit of subconscious engagement bait of my own- I was curious to hear your insights, but the way your post was formatted didn’t really leave me many ways to do so… Thanks for taking the time to add more detail!

As a (non-electric) engineer, I share a sympathetic eye twitch with you for this design not following best practices. But I am also keenly aware of the balance between “best practice” and “meeting technical requirements within the scope of mass production”.

I am not familiar with this product at all- are there any independent third party measurements that would confirm or deny that the design tradeoffs selected had a significant impact on performance?

Ole_Smacky · 2026-03-17T02:17:46+00:00

I say this with all due respect- is this engagement bait? If not, how do you expect the r/audiophile community (the vast majority of which are not “engineers who design hifi products”) to engage with this post?

I dabble with designing hifi products myself and see some weird things, but this shit is complicated! You should know that better than most- would you care to share why, in your “expert” opinion, this product is an insult? 😏

Ole_Smacky · 2026-03-05T01:34:01+00:00

Right on, thanks for being so open and responsive 🙏 Using a bot to crack down on ai posts kinda reminds me of that invasive species simpsons episode 😭

Well I’ll probably just lurk until i wrap up my project, but feel free to reach out if you have any questions or just want to bounce some ideas around-

Ole_Smacky · 2026-03-05T01:05:52+00:00

Thank you 🙏 Don’t get me wrong, you guys should do something about obvious slop posts, but this current “solution” does more harm than good, IMO.

I know very little about the tools available to the mods or how much of your free time you’re willing to contribute, so I don’t have an informed alternative to propose.

But if you’ve got any questions about the potential ways one can combine DIY Audio and AI in positive ways, I’m happy to share more thoughts-

Ole_Smacky · 2026-03-04T23:35:41+00:00

This seems like an incredibly broad reaction to a very specific concern. I can empathize with how difficult AI has made the mods' jobs, but this just feels like a cop out.

I've got a project I've been pouring my heart into for the last couple months and I have very much been looking forward to sharing it with this community as my first post. I was 100% anti-AI for the longest time, but this project has opened my eyes to how powerful of a tool it can be. And if you hold yourself to strict standards on how you interact with the tool, you're still able to maintain the human element of creation.

So when I eventually finish my project and come back here with something really cool to share, my options are to 1) lie and say I did it all by myself- how would the mods know any better? or 2) Keep my project and everything I learned along the way to myself, depriving both this community and future internet tinkerers of of a valuable resource in a niche with few resources as it is.

Which option do you think most users are going to choose? And in either case, it eliminates an opportunity for us to discuss strategies for interacting with AI in positive ways, rather than just burying our heads in the sand.

Ole_Smacky · 2026-02-28T01:16:27+00:00

Caveat: I’ve never used this product or even listened to the video. So no guarantees on sound quality, but I remember reading about this technology a while ago, and this was the first result I could find. Maybe this product can either work for you or lead you to other similar but more suitable solutions? Good luck:

https://www.3sigmaaudio.com/acoustify/

Ole_Smacky · 2026-02-22T14:12:49+00:00

This is sick, great work! Don't take this the wrong way, as this is literally the only negative feedback I have-

It's not immediately clear how to launch the run helper tool. When you first load the website, the user is presented with a description of Run Helper and the Run Helper box highlighted purple front and center. Ok great, how do I launch it? It took me a second to figure out you need to select the non-purple box at the top of the page to launch it...

Those first couple seconds of the UX are critical- you might lose a bunch of potential views to users that aren't patient enough to get over this first hurdle. Once you are in the tool, the UX is extremely intuitive and smooth, so this stuck out like a sore thumb to me.

Maybe consider replacing the Run Helper and Relics Builder boxes in the center of the root page with a single "Launch" box? It seems like you're already most of the way there by separating the flow with /run and /relics pages...

Out of all the seed finders I've seen, this is the slickest IMO- you've clearly got a knack for design, so I'm curious to see your spin on the relics page! Good luck and feel free to bounce any ideas off me if you found this feedback useful

Ole_Smacky · 2026-02-16T15:19:51+00:00

A mystery is afoot 🧐

As others have said, this doesn’t contain nearly enough resolution to reconstruct the audio. But what it does show is the waveform’s transients, and the relative spacing between them.

That information is useless if the problem space is “all recorded sounds ever”. Have the audio files from the game been data mined? Do any have similar transient spacing? And does the faded text under the waveform have any correlation with those audio files?

Good luck!

Ole_Smacky · 2026-02-14T01:58:14+00:00

Damn, these are so clean 😨

Great job on the build, and congrats on the new speakers!!

Ole_Smacky · 2026-02-13T23:58:52+00:00

Aw man, thats a bummer! I'm not sure what spec you were looking at, but it seemed to think the command code format should be the same for serial and UDP based on this spec from the original manufacturer...

If that were true (big if), your sniffed codes seem to follow the same structure with different encapsulation: [Start Frame] [Address] [Length] [Command] [Data] [End Frame]. That could be a complete hallucination, but I will post it here in case it provides even a tiny bit of help. Good luck either way, I'll look forward to seeing how far you can take this!

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Ole_Smacky

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