#Computer & Electronics

[jcmarchi]

New transistor’s superlative properties could have broad electronics applications

New Post has been published on https://thedigitalinsider.com/new-transistors-superlative-properties-could-have-broad-electronics-applications/

New transistor’s superlative properties could have broad electronics applications

In 2021, a team led by MIT physicists reported creating a new ultrathin ferroelectric material, or one where positive and negative charges separate into different layers. At the time they noted the material’s potential for applications in computer memory and much more. Now the same core team and colleagues — including two from the lab next door — have built a transistor with that material and shown that its properties are so useful that it could change the world of electronics.

Although the team’s results are based on a single transistor in the lab, “in several aspects its properties already meet or exceed industry standards” for the ferroelectric transistors produced today, says Pablo Jarillo-Herrero, the Cecil and Ida Green Professor of Physics, who led the work with professor of physics Raymond Ashoori. Both are also affiliated with the Materials Research Laboratory.

“In my lab we primarily do fundamental physics. This is one of the first, and perhaps most dramatic, examples of how very basic science has led to something that could have a major impact on applications,” Jarillo-Herrero says.

Says Ashoori, “When I think of my whole career in physics, this is the work that I think 10 to 20 years from now could change the world.”

Among the new transistor’s superlative properties:

It can switch between positive and negative charges — essentially the ones and zeros of digital information — at very high speeds, on nanosecond time scales. (A nanosecond is a billionth of a second.)

It is extremely tough. After 100 billion switches it still worked with no signs of degradation.

The material behind the magic is only billionths of a meter thick, one of the thinnest of its kind in the world. That, in turn, could allow for much denser computer memory storage. It could also lead to much more energy-efficient transistors because the voltage required for switching scales with material thickness. (Ultrathin equals ultralow voltages.)

The work is reported in a recent issue of Science. The co-first authors of the paper are Kenji Yasuda, now an assistant professor at Cornell University, and Evan Zalys-Geller, now at Atom Computing. Additional authors are Xirui Wang, an MIT graduate student in physics; Daniel Bennett and Efthimios Kaxiras of Harvard University; Suraj S. Cheema, an assistant professor in MIT’s Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science and an affiliate of the Research Laboratory of Electronics; and Kenji Watanabe and Takashi Taniguchi of the National Institute for Materials Science in Japan.

What they did

In a ferroelectric material, positive and negative charges spontaneously head to different sides, or poles. Upon the application of an external electric field, those charges switch sides, reversing the polarization. Switching the polarization can be used to encode digital information, and that information will be nonvolatile, or stable over time. It won’t change unless an electric field is applied. For a ferroelectric to have broad application to electronics, all of this needs to happen at room temperature.

The new ferroelectric material reported in Science in 2021 is based on atomically thin sheets of boron nitride that are stacked parallel to each other, a configuration that doesn’t exist in nature. In bulk boron nitride, the individual layers of boron nitride are instead rotated by 180 degrees.

It turns out that when an electric field is applied to this parallel stacked configuration, one layer of the new boron nitride material slides over the other, slightly changing the positions of the boron and nitrogen atoms. For example, imagine that each of your hands is composed of only one layer of cells. The new phenomenon is akin to pressing your hands together then slightly shifting one above the other.

“So the miracle is that by sliding the two layers a few angstroms, you end up with radically different electronics,” says Ashoori. The diameter of an atom is about 1 angstrom.

Another miracle: “nothing wears out in the sliding,” Ashoori continues. That’s why the new transistor could be switched 100 billion times without degrading. Compare that to the memory in a flash drive made with conventional materials. “Each time you write and erase a flash memory, you get some degradation,” says Ashoori. “Over time, it wears out, which means that you have to use some very sophisticated methods for distributing where you’re reading and writing on the chip.” The new material could make those steps obsolete.

A collaborative effort

Yasuda, the co-first author of the current Science paper, applauds the collaborations involved in the work. Among them, “we [Jarillo-Herrero’s team] made the material and, together with Ray [Ashoori] and [co-first author] Evan [Zalys-Geller], we measured its characteristics in detail. That was very exciting.” Says Ashoori, “many of the techniques in my lab just naturally applied to work that was going on in the lab next door. It’s been a lot of fun.”

Ashoori notes that “there’s a lot of interesting physics behind this” that could be explored. For example, “if you think about the two layers sliding past each other, where does that sliding start?” In addition, says Yasuda, could the ferroelectricity be triggered with something other than electricity, like an optical pulse? And is there a fundamental limit to the amount of switches the material can make?

Challenges remain. For example, the current way of producing the new ferroelectrics is difficult and not conducive to mass manufacturing. “We made a single transistor as a demonstration. If people could grow these materials on the wafer scale, we could create many, many more,” says Yasuda. He notes that different groups are already working to that end.

Concludes Ashoori, “There are a few problems. But if you solve them, this material fits in so many ways into potential future electronics. It’s very exciting.”

This work was supported by the U.S. Army Research Office, the MIT/Microsystems Technology Laboratories Samsung Semiconductor Research Fund, the U.S. National Science Foundation, the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation, the Ramon Areces Foundation, the Basic Energy Sciences program of the U.S. Department of Energy, the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science, and the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology (MEXT) of Japan.

[defencecapital]

India DRDO opens centre for Quantum Technology to boost strategic applications capabilities

By A Correspondent New Delhi: India’s military technology agency, Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO), opened a Quantum Technology Research Centre (QTRC) on May 27, 2025, to boost the nation’s capabilities in strategic and defence applications of the emerging technology. DRDO Chairman and Department of Defence R&D Secretary Dr Samir V. Kamat inaugurated the facility at Metcalfe…

[apna04counsellor]

Shah & Anchor Kutchhi Engineering College (SAKEC), Mumbai

Detailed Review of Shah & Anchor Kutchhi Engineering College (SAKEC), Mumbai OverviewShah & Anchor Kutchhi Engineering College (SAKEC), established in 1985, is a renowned engineering institute located in Mumbai, Maharashtra. The college is affiliated with the University of Mumbai and approved by AICTE. SAKEC offers various undergraduate and postgraduate programs in engineering and technology.…

[stevebattle]

ET-2 (1980) by Lour Control, Schaumberge, Illinois. "The ET-2 (Experimental Transmobile with 2 drive motors) consists of a three level frame powered by two separately driven wheels and balanced by a free caster. The lower level contains the drive motors and gearbox, a 32 amp-hour 12V motocycle battery, and two driver electronics boards. The upper levels are available for the installation of user equipment. … The ET-2 may be operated under computer control using only four TTL command lines. Each motor has two control bits, one to turn it on and another to set its direction (by a reversing relay). The driver boards provide the amplification necessary to convert from TTL logic levels to the 12 volt power for the motors and relays. Control of motor speed is obtained by varying the duty cycle (the percentage of time the bit is on) of a low frequency (10-20Hz) square wave signal applied to the motor's drive bit. … ET 2 provides a number of contact sensor switches that can easily be interfaced to the SUPERKIM. These contact sensors, equipped with metal "feelers," can be mounted around the base of the ET-2 to sense contact with an obstacle by means of a switch closure." – SUPERKIM Meets ET-2, Robotics Age, Fall 1980 & May/June 1981.

[dragon-in-a-fez]

I saw the post you did a while back about the electronic dice (firstly, super awesome and I love the way you got the random seeds).

I'm a computer science student but for the most part I only really do software. I have a raspberry pi pico and a breadboard but I've never been able to make it do more than light an LED, and I didn't understand how *that* worked. How do you get into that sort of thing? Or what was your path at least?

I started with software too, then I learned a bunch about mechanical and electrical stuff working on my car, and putting them together was kind of the obvious next step after that.

my early arduino projects were WS2812 LED things and simple single-motor contraptions. then in covid lockdown I built a 3D printer and my tinkering obsession amped up by several orders of magnitude.

[pancakeke]

oh related to wet phones and also my home improvement antics last week, I've been thinking about how fucked it is that most household electronics don't have replaceable fuses. my car and my HVAC have replaceable fuses, but the vacuum? TV? Xbox? computer? one fault and they're fucked.

yeah I know you can plug everything into surge protectors but if electrical faults happen beyond their plugs (so like within the electronics themselves) it's adios.

examples: PC power supplies use cables of the same shape but they are NOT interchangeable between different models. the layouts of their wires are different and will fry your components immediately if you mix them up.

also lots of different consumer devices use power cables with 5.5 mm barrel connectors, but the outputs of their power supplies vary wildly. for example, my network switches and mesh wifi modules all use the same sized power cables but the outputs of their various power supplies are 12 volts / 1 amp, 12 V / 1.2 A, and finally 53.5 V / 1.6 A

when I got the two network switches I'm pretty sure I mixed up their 12V / 1V and 53.5V / 1.6A cords and fried a $60 switch. that could have been avoided with a $2 fuse! if holiday lights can have fuses then so can everything else that draws a current!!

[spreadyovrwings]

64 Oslo Square

"Companion' Middle English. From Old French 'compaignon', literally 'one who breaks bread with another.

Strapped for cash, John gets a job at a bakery as their new delivery boy. Juggling school and Queen and work is exhausting, but it's more than worth it. It's worth it because of you.

Warnings for this chapter: smut! soft sub/dom dynamics, pegging, a vague understanding of electronics, more smut, this is a sordid chapter lads

A/N: and here we have the penultimate chapter! have fun! let me know what you think!

//

Chapter 12

“I knew I liked you for a reason.”

John looked up.

“Mm? What’s that?”

He’d been sitting in the middle of your living room floor for hours now, cross-legged on a cushion, halfway between the sofa and the telly.

John’s work was spread out across your coffee table, a metal jigsaw puzzle that only he knew how to solve. There was a small wooden box, speaker cones, and a brick-sized 9 volt battery that you’d almost mistaken for an actual brick when you came in.

Not so long ago, this would have been a novel sight, but John was now as much a fixture of your home as the furniture. He spent most nights at yours now, and neither of you could’ve been any happier.

Smiling to yourself, you turned the page of your book, letting the fine edge of the paper slide against the pad of your thumb so that it creaked gently.

“Yeah. You’re a cheap date.”

“There’s nothing cheap about me, sweetheart.”

“‘ow long ‘ave you owned that shirt?”

“Since I was-”

“Yeah?”

“Since I was fifteen.”

“There it is.”

John had come up earlier than you, while you were still closing up. He offered to help, like he always did, but you just smiled and waved him on to your flat with a tired smile and the promise that you’d be up soon.

When you got in, just twenty minutes later, John was kneeling on the carpet, pulling what looked like the guts of a car or a computer from his bag. How he’d managed to get it all in the ridiculous basket on the front of his borrowed bike, you’d never know.

Now he was rearranging these frayed wires and twisted scraps of metal into a specific shape, one he’d made a thousand times before.

John’s hands moved with certainty, his gaze focused and keen. He clearly knew what he was doing, even though you couldn’t even begin to interpret these abstract shapes into something solid and real.

“So the dumpster divin’, that’s a regular thing?”

You’d caught him at it the other day. You’d gone out into the alley to meet the delivery driver and found John with his head in the skip, his long legs kicking into the air, just minutes before his shift began.

When you called his name, John lost his balance and he had to shoot out a hand to grab the side of the skip. When he finally lifted his head your way, he grinned and triumphantly held up a bunch of wires attached to a circuit board, like he was lifting the World Cup.

“People throw away tons of good stuff. You never know what you might find, if you know where to look.”

“And that’s good stuff, is it?”

“I know it doesn’t look like much now but these are actually pretty good finds. Parts can be expensive. If someone throws away an old radio or a good size battery, you can do tons with it.”

You cocked your head to the side, frowning at the mess on your table.

“And you’re makin’… Modern art?”

John smiled.

“I’m making an amp.”

“For fun or to use?”

“Both. It’s just to practise with when I’m away from the studio but if it sounds good enough, I might bring it to rehearsals. I can’t really afford to buy one right now.”

“So you decided to make one.” You reached forward and cupped his cheek, tilting his face up to yours so that you could kiss his forehead. “You’re so clever, John.”

John hummed, his eyes sliding closed as you kissed his nose, then the corner of his mouth, your thumb sweeping across his cheek.

“Yeah, well, don’t ask me where any countries are.”

He tilted his head back further, asking for a proper kiss, and grinned when he got his wish.

John scooped up his project and shuffled nearer so that you could see what he was working on.

“Here, look.”

It was only small, completely portable and light enough to be carried with one hand, though he kept both on the little box to keep it safe. John had retro-fitted the circuit board and wiring he’d foraged into a tiny cabinet, then installed two speakers, a quarter-inch input jack and a volume knob.

“I think I’m gonna take that off though,” John grinned. “It sounds better turned all the way up.”

The amp brought out his two sides: the studious, meticulous engineer, and the long-haired rocker looking for a good time. You loved them both, you loved all of him.

“It's very cool, John. Have you always been this good with your ‘ands? Bet the girls were all clamouring over you at school.”

You’d meant it as a joke but John blew out a long breath like a punctured tire.

“God, no. No, never been very clever there either. Didn’t think I’d ever work up the courage to ask you out.”

You snorted.

“Neither did I. Thought I was seeing signs that weren’t there after a while. Half the time, I was sure it was just me.”

John’s hands stilled. He looked up from his work, his expression dawn into such a look of amazement and bewilderment that you had to laugh.

“What!”

“You’re joking. The amount of times I almost died because I thought I’d said something daft or put you off or embarrassed myself in front of you, love, I- I liked you so much. I was an idiot around you.”

“You weren’t!”

“I am! You make me feel…”

He couldn’t seem to find the words. Instead, John put down his project and moved to kneel on the floor between your parted legs.

Cheeks burning, you fought to keep your gaze steady as John took your hand and slipped it up his chest. His rings were cold against your skin, a reminder of your last night together, when you’d felt them pressed against a more sensitive part of you before John thought to pull them off with his teeth.

He pressed his palm against the back of your hand, flattening it over his pounding heart. Steady and reliable, just like the rest of him.

You let the rest of your noisy, ever-changing world melt away and honed in on the firm, strong thump thump thump of John’s heart, feeling it beat just for you.

“Why didn’t you say something sooner?” you asked softly, not wanting to break the sudden fragile stillness.

John shrugged.

“I didn’t know if you liked me too.”

“Oh, give over. I know Mickey told you. And Gladys.”

“And Sandra.”

“Sandra? From next door, Sandra?”

“Yeah.”

“What does she know about anythin’?”

“She popped her head out the door the morning after I had dinner at yours. Apparently, you asked her a million questions. Were you worried about what to make me?”

“No…”

You poked his cheek, trying in vain to make his self-satisfied smile disappear. But John just kept on beaming.

“You were nervous, weren’t you. You wanted to impress me so badly.”

“The point is,” you went on, pressing your hand flat over John’s mouth to hide his smirk. “If you knew I’d say yes, why didn’t you ask me out?”

John rolled his eyes. He tucked his fingers over yours and gently moved them away from his mouth so that he had room to reply, though not far. His lips brushed the pads of your fingers as he spoke.

“I don’t know…”

“John?”

He sighed.

“I don’t have much. I mean, I’m- I’m working on it. I will have- Right now, I’ve got nothing. And you have this place and friends and goals and dreams, and you’re so sure of yourself and I just… I didn’t think I had a lot to offer you.”

Slowly, you began to smile. Oh, he knew how to make you melt. This sweet, smart boy, always thinking ten steps ahead. He didn’t want to even entertain the idea of dating you until he had a life to share with you.

Unable to resist, you slipped your hand around until you held his jaw between your fingers and leaned down.

“Well,” you said, speaking inches from his mouth. “I wouldn’t say you ‘ave nothin’.”

You caught the edge of John’s smile out of the corner of your eye before you kissed him, hoping he’d be able to feel how much you adored him in every moment. He was more than enough. He always had been. He was everything.

John hummed, discontented, when you pulled away. The tip of his nose nudged yours, quietly demanding another kiss, and you happily obliged.

Soon you lifted his head, your fingers still wrapped around his angular jaw, and led him up onto the sofa with you, one of his bony knees pressing into your hip, the other separating your thighs.

Groaning softly, John drew his tongue across your bottom lip, just as you slipped a hand into his hair.

Something shifted.

John pressed more firmly against you. The hand that he wasn’t using to prop himself up against the back of the sofa slipped round your waist, kneading at you persistently.

“Bed?”

“Bed.”

John took your hands and helped you to your feet, though your legs felt bandy and useless as he pulled you towards the bedroom.

You were on your back before you could think to be shy, your clothes gone and your smile wide.

John pulled off his shirt, his grey eyes focused and steady and fixed on you.

You held out your hand and he took it immediately, his smile bright with excitement as you guided him down on top of you.

“Have you been practising?” you asked between breathless, messy kisses. “Like I showed you?”

John nodded, his cheeks flushed.

“Mm, in the shower.”

“You wanna try tonight?”

“I…” John glanced away. “Yeah, okay.”

Smiling, you hooked your hands around his middle and ran your fingertips up and down John’s back, seeking out the angles of his shoulder blades and the soft depression of his spine. His body was second-nature to you no, every part of him was branded onto your memory. You’d know him with your eyes closed, with your hands tied behind your back.

“We don’t have to, love.”

“No, I’d like to!” John pressed a sweet kiss to the corner of your mouth, right on your warm smile. “I want to. But I’d like to make you feel good first, if that’s alright. I think it’ll help me relax to see you… Well, you.”

It was perhaps the fourth or fifth time that he’d initiated intimacy, and your heart began to race just as fast as it did that very first night. He was so sweet, so attentive and keen, you couldn’t recall a boy ever looking at you with such intent, or with such a wicked, excited gleam in his eye at the thought of touching you.

John kissed you slowly, purposefully, as his fingers wrapped around the zip of your trousers and dragged it down.

It made your tongue feel heavy in your mouth but thankfully, you wouldn’t need to do much talking.

“Can I..?”

All you could do was nod, your throat too tight to speak, and watch his fingers slip beneath the band of your underwear to stroke tentatively between your legs. You sighed softly, letting yourself sink into the bed, your hands finding a comfortable resting place on his shoulders.

John boldly dipped two fingers into you, and you tensed at how embarrassingly wet you sounded.

He moaned softly, turning his head and pressing his lips to your shoulder.

“God, love…”

“Sorry,” You buried your face in the crook of his neck, feeling oddly shy all of a sudden. “You’re just so pretty.”

“Don’t be sorry, why on earth would you be- C’mere.”

He didn’t waste any time. John’s long hair swept along his shoulders as he settled down between your legs. His stomach had barely touched the bed when he began to press slow, open-mouthed kisses to the inside of your thigh.

Heat pooled in your underwear instantly, and you had to resist the urge to push your fingers into his hair and pull his mouth to where you needed it.

John had the audacity to graze his mouth along your thigh, then look up at you with his teeth poised to sink into you, tugging his lips back in a grin.

“Any of those idiots you used to date get to see you like this?”

You laughed softly, shaking your head.

“No, they- Ah!”

He made good on his threat and sank his teeth into your inner thigh, still smiling.

“They liked to, er, stay up north,” you admitted, your face heating up.

John frowned. He pressed his nose into your skin, then stamped another kiss to your inner thigh, this time far closer to where you wanted him. You had to sink your teeth into your lip to avoid making any noise.

“Well,” he murmured. “I came down south for a reason.”

It was a dumb joke but it made you laugh. You felt yourself relax, all your nerves melting away with one quick, silly smile from John.

“You’re so daft,” you said fondly.

John practically purred as you ran your fingers through his hair, his eyes sliding shut with a soft sigh.

“Daft about youuu.”

His breath fanned across the inside of your legs, so close to where you wanted him, and you barely stopped your hips from rocking towards him. You shuddered as he nipped at the delicate skin of your inner thigh, balancing bites and kisses, pain and pleasure.

“John…”

Without warning, John sealed his mouth over the damp patch on your underwear, sweeping the flat of his tongue over the wet fabric, and an embarrassingly high-pitched keen tore from your throat before you could stop it.

“Can I-”

“Yesyesyes.”

You lifted your hips so that John could curl his clever fingers into your underwear, slide them down your legs and off your ankles. He barely spared them a glance before chucking them somewhere over his shoulder with the rest of your clothes, his attention fixed on you.

John pressed a single, sweet kiss against your swollen, aching clit, the gentlest, simplest thing but you nearly sobbed at how good it felt to be seen and touched by the boy you loved.

“Oh, fuck…”

Your hips arched instinctively into John’s touch, wanting more and not caring how needy you sounded.

He wrapped one hand around the underside of your thigh, pinning your other leg down with his elbow, smiling and smiling as your body reacted to him.

“God, love,” John smiled up at you between your legs, eyebrows arched with amusement. “If I’d known you’d sound like that, I would’ve asked you out a lot sooner.”

“You were worth the wait.”

Breathless, you briefly considered pushing your fingers back into his hair and pulling him down to fix the mess he’d made, but John raised himself up and out of reach.

“D’you want my fingers or my mouth?”

“Either. Both. I don’t care, John, please jus’ touch me.”

He didn’t need much more encouragement than that, but just when you thought you were finally going to get things started, John sat up on his elbows again.

“Tell me something,”

“John…”

You could have hit him, you really could have. Would anyone blame you? There he was, resting between your spread thighs, his big hands pinning you to the bed, his mouth just inches from you, and he wanted to chat.

“That first night,” he said. “When you gave me your bike. Did you know then that we’d end up here?”

You could feel his breath on your slick heat, he was so close, but he spoke so casually, you would think you were catching up over coffee.

“You had my attention.”

“When then?”

“Eh?”

“When did you know?”

Your patience was spread so thin, it was practically translucent. You sighed and sat up on your elbows.

John’s big grin told one story, the light in his eyes another. This was important to him. Before you went any further tonight, he wanted to know this about you.

You wondered how long he’d been wanting to ask. You wondered why he was asking you now. Most of all, you wondered if you even had an answer for him.

You searched yourself, rifling through the rolodex of your memory, and instead of finding one absolute, you came across a hundred moments where you’d fallen just a little bit in love with John.

“You kept askin’ to help in the kitchen.” You cleared your throat, your voice hoarse from moans caused by his touch, “You wan’ed to learn and you listened to me. You knew why Gladys called us 64 Oslo Square. You let me boss you around and tease you and you never show off about bein’ clever. There wasn’t one moment. You were just there one day and everything got be’er.”

John smiled and sweetly kissed the inside of your knee, pressing his face there for a moment before turning his head and resting his cheek against the inside of your thigh so he could look up at you.

“I’ll take that.”

“What about you?” You didn’t want to keep him talking, not when John’s tongue was inches from being buried inside you, but he’d sparked your curiosity. “When did you know?”

He looked at you like it was obvious.

“I said. That first night, when you gave me your bike.”

“Shu’ uuup.”

“It’s true!”

“I don’ believe you.”

“Not my problem, gorgeous,” John purred the words against your core, making you whimper and bunch the duvet up in your fists.

“John…”

“Sorry, sorry…”

John’s sharp grey eyes locked onto yours as he lowered his head between your thighs. You weren’t certain, but you thought you heard him murmur ‘thank you, love’, but then he dragged his tongue against you and you lost all sense of time and space.

“Oh, God, John…”

He shuffled up the bed, socked feet scrabbling against your sheets, wanting to get as close to you as he could as he licked and flicked at you with his tongue, moaning softly against you when you ground against him in response.

Whimpering softly under your breath, you threw back your head and tried to relax, but it was too much. John’s fingers wrapped around your ankle and gently placed your foot further across the bed, spreading your legs even wider so he could bury his face in you.

“Is this alright?”

His voice was muffled but you just about caught his question through your own haze.

“‘s perfect, John, please don’t stop.”

John groaned in response, shaking his head so that his nose bumped your clit while he enthusiastically ate you out, and whether it was intentional or not, it made your hips jump off the bed.

“Don’t worry, love, I won’t. Wanna make you cum like this.”

Pleasure licked down your spine at his words. John’s rough, low voice, the tight press of his fingertips into the soft flesh of your thighs, his warm tongue, the slight graze of his teeth, it was all-consuming, it was all you could think and see and hear, and you never, ever wanted it to end.

“Fuck,” You couldn’t stop yourself moaning, even if you wanted to. You squeezed your eyes shut, reaching out for his hand. “Fuck, John-”

John slipped his fingers through yours, groaning softly when you gripped him tightly. His eyes rolled closed, and he had to grind his hips against the bed to try and relieve some of the pressure.

His jaw was beginning to ache but he didn’t care, the taste of you on his tongue was enough to push him onward, and when you hooked one leg over his shoulder, your heel digging in between his shoulder blades to pull him closer, he thought he’d died and gone to heaven.

“God, I love you,” John moaned into you.

Your breath caught in your throat as your entire body seized, your grip on John’s fingers so painfully tight, you were probably hurting him, but you lost focus on reality before you could think to do anything about it.

He didn’t let up long after you stopped coming, dragging his tongue slowly over and over through your folds and up against your clit until you eventually had to tug at his hair, whispering for him to stop until John raised his head.

He beamed at you, lips shining, as he clambered over you, almost as breathless as you were.

While you savoured the waves of pleasure still thrumming through you, John carefully settled on top of you, warming your trembling body with the weight of his own. He sweetly touched the tip of his nose to yours and murmured under his breath, asking if you were alright.

Eyes still closed, you pulled John down into a deep kiss, moaning at the taste of yourself on his tongue as your legs locked around his narrow waist.

That was all the answer he needed.

John whimpered into your mouth as you ground against him. Smiling, you realised you could feel a damp spot on the front of his underwear.

John gripped you tight, flushed and needy and at the end of his tether.

“Can I… Please…”

Still smiling, still dazed and practically humming with pleasure, you pulled him in for another deep kiss. You pressed your heels into the bottom of his spine, urging him forward, and unabashedly moaned into his mouth,

“Be a good boy and get on your back.”

Something glinted in John’s eyes as he pulled away. It wasn’t quite a light, it wasn’t a gleam, it was pure electricity.

He held out his hand. You took it, slipping your fingers round his so that he could pull you up. Your body still trembling, you carefully moved around each other, never once parting, even as John took your place on the bed and you slipped between his knees.

“Oh, sweet boy…”

You moved over him, planting your hands either side of his slim shoulders so that you could gaze down at him, your hair falling around your face and framing John’s open, awed expression.

“It’s that easy, is it?”

John gave you a shaky grin as you lowered yourself and drew your lips across where his pulse raced in his neck.

“You’ve no idea how easy I am for you, love.”

You bared your teeth against his skin. He knew just what you wanted to hear. He knew just how to please you. Had he been practising that too? Or had John always been destined to end up here, spread out on your bed, his pretty hair pooling around his head like a meadow, his grin wide and a look in his eyes that said ‘do whatever you want to me’.

“You act so sweet and innocent. You’re a needy li’le thing aren’t you, John?”

As you spoke, you reached for the bedside drawer.

John’s eyes followed your hand, his bottom lip caught between his teeth in anticipation.

You pulled out the harness, then the attachment, and carefully rose so that you could kneel. Cheeks burning under his steady, curious gaze, you stood and stepped into the harness, shimmying it up over your hips and tightening the straps with shaking fingers.

“I could listen to you whine all day…”

John’s face tensed into a scowl, his eyes still locked on your hands as you fixed the strap to the harness and reached for the drawer again.

“I don’t whine.”

“Oh, yes you do.” You grinned, upturning the bottle of lube and pouring some into the centre of your palm. “You’re always so noisy for me, honey. ‘specially when I touch you here…”

John’s back straightened like he’d been electrocuted as you wrapped a hand around him. He gasped, his eyes squeezing shut, his mouth falling open, and whispered your name like a prayer.

Beaming, you slipped your hands round to grip the undersides of John’s thighs, pulling his legs up so that his knees were by your sides. You dug your nails into his skin, not enough to hurt but it had its desired effect.

John groaned, his aching cock pressed tight against his stomach. He’d started to leak all over himself.

You kept your eyes on his, even though your heart was hammering in your chest and the way he was starting to roll his body into yours was almost dizzyingly hot.

“This is…” John huffed, shaking his head. “This is so mental.”

You laughed softly, gently, looking down at him with a quiet fondness.

“We can stop if you like? It’s never too late, y’know.”

“No, no! Don’t stop, it’s just- It’s mental.”

John laughed, shaking his head and making his hair fall around his shoulders so prettily, it was enough to drag your gaze away from his pink, parted lips. He was teasing you, his wicked smile told you so, but John’s voice was edged with trepidation.

“Good mental?” you asked nervously.

“Well, we’ll have to see, won’t we?” John’s smile turned a little more reassuring. “I want this, love. I want you.”

“Oh, I know…” The words dripped from your tongue like honeyed gold, easy and relaxed despite your racing heart. “You’ve almost made a mess of the bed and we’ve barely even star’ed.”

The creases bracketing John’s smile vanished. Wordlessly, he nodded up at you.

You smiled when you felt his fingers dip into your hair and immediately start to tangle themselves at the back of your head. It was something he often did when you were cuddled up on the sofa, watching telly, or when he slung an easy arm around your shoulder at work, not caring who saw how soppy he could be sometimes.

“Can I keep goin’, pretty boy?”

As you spoke, you began to work your hand up and down his length, so delicate and slow that John’s dark eyes appeared to gloss over. When his cock bumped against the strap, he hissed softly, half shy, half too turned on to care.

“Please…” John closed his eyes with a sigh. “Please don’t stop touching me like that. Please.”

You took in his flushed cheeks, his bright eyes, the lovely slope of his nose and the way he sucked his bottom lip into his mouth, catching it between his teeth to stopper the moan sitting in his throat. He really was the prettiest boy you’d ever seen.

You leaned down and kissed his cheek, his jaw, your free hand coming up to cradle his face as you helped him relax.

“You’re so gorgeous, John. Just wanna make you feel so good.”

“I told you ages ago, love. You can do whatever you want with me. I’m yours. You own me.”

He mumbled the words against your skin, his lips, his breath, his slightly slurred speech all hot as he dragged his mouth along your shoulder.

“All mine. And I’m all yours, honey.”

John groaned when you pulled him into a messy kiss, your fingers pressing into his hollowed cheeks as you held his lips against yours.

You dipped your tongue into his mouth, taking what was rightfully yours, and all the while you stroked him, pulling moan after needy moan from his constricted throat.

Once you thought he’d had enough, you moved down John’s body, pressing wet, open-mouthed kisses to his heaving chest.

His rings were cool against your neck. His skin, in contrast, was shockingly warm against yours as you buried your face in his stomach for a moment before continuing your journey downwards.

He was tense at first, as were you, but it didn’t take long for John to relax, not when you were scissoring your fingers inside him with one hand and stroking him with the other.

Flat on his back, his long legs spread, he looked almost sinful as he begged for more and more, until you had three fingers inside him. Even when John raised his head from the pillows and caught you grinning like the Cheshire Cat, he couldn’t stop whimpering and rolling his hips against your hand.

You talked to him sweetly, encouraging him and pressing soft kisses around his bare hips, while your fingers curled inside him.

You were just starting to get tired and almost suggested switching positions, when you happened to drag your fingertips in just the right way and John yelped, his entire body tensing up.

You paused, making sure you hadn’t hurt him, but John immediately began to gabble, begging you not to stop, to please do that again. So you moved your fingers again, brushing against just the right spot, and John melted into the bed like candle wax.

“Oh, God. Oh, fuck…”

You smiled to yourself, self-satisfied and smug, and began to nip at the pale skin of his hips, watching John’s face contort in pleasure as you massaged the area with your fingertips.

“Mm, God, fuck me…” John’s mouth fell open, his long fingers gripping the mattress. “Fuck, I can’t- We need to stop, sweetheart, or you’re gonna make me cum like this.”

You paused with your lips wrapped around the head of his cock, looking up at him daringly, before pulling away with a noise that made John whimper pathetically. That didn’t sound like the worst idea right now. But you were here for a reason.

You took one of his knees, bringing it over your hip, and braced yourself on the bed.

“You ready, handsome? I wanna make you feel so good, love.”

John’s legs were wiry and slim, and as you ran your hand up and down his bare thigh, you could feel his muscles tensed in anticipation.

“We’ll go nice and slow, okay? We’ve got all the time in the world, baby boy.”

Colour rose in John’s cheeks at the nickname. Something coiled in the pit of his stomach, warm and familiar. He could do anything, he decided, if you kept talking to him like that.

You gave him what you hoped was a reassuring smile, but after watching him moan and arch his back for you, the throbbing between your thighs was too much to ignore.

You took the strap in your free hand and pushed in slowly, watching John’s face for any minute change of expression. He’d always been a tough one to read, you didn’t want to miss anything and risk hurting him or make him freeze up.

You needn’t have worried. John’s usually neutral expression tightened, his eyebrows pushing together and his lips parting. He gave a little huff, his eyes squeezed shut, though it was hard to tell if it was out of surprise, discomfort, or pleasure.

“You doin’ okay, sweet boy?”

You squeezed his hip, being careful not to move around too much so as not to jog him.

“I’m good. I’m okay.”

“It doesn’t hurt? You’re nice and comfy?”

“I feel…” John gave his hips an experimental roll, choked, and threw his head back. “Ohhh fuuuck...”

Your hand rose to brush his lovely hair back from his face but you didn’t want to distract him, so you settled for squeezing his hip instead.

“You’re perfect, baby boy. Doing so well for me.”

He gave you a shaky smile, then seemed to take a moment to centre himself. You watched John pull in a long breath, then let it go again, measured and calm.

“That’s it, honey, that’s it.” You rubbed his thighs, moaning softly when John gave a pitiful whine in the back of his throat. “Just like that, pretty boy, you’re doin’ so well for me.”

John was panting, his fingertips pressing into your shoulders every time you moved in just the right way.

Gritting your teeth, you kept going, thighs trembling with the effort. You couldn’t take your eyes off him, the way his pretty face scrunched up in concentration, the way his tongue darted out to wet his parted lips, the way his stomach tensed and relaxed as he rocked more and more on your strap.

You were just about to ask if he needed a break when John’s mouth fell open.

"Ah, Christ."

"Good?"

"Yes- God, yes, good, very good-"

John hissed and bit his lip as he lifted his hips off the strap just a little, his fingers pressing into your sides, then sank back down again.

Your eyes were wide as you watched him repeat the motion again and again, slowly but surely, until John was bouncing on you. This was definitely one of your better ideas.

“Oh God, John, fuck.” Breathless, you kissed his hot cheek. “You look fuckin’ amazin’.”

Despite himself, John smiled. His cheeks were pink and his hair was starting to stick to his forehead. He looked like a dream.

“Is it as good as you imagined, sweetheart? You happy now?”

You matched his grin as you picked up speed. Your other hand slipped around his cock and began to stroke him in time with your thrusts.

“Oh, very happy, honey.”

John whimpered, his hips jerking up into your hand. He arched his back, one hand clinging to your waist for dear life while the other scrabbled at the bed sheets, clawing for grip and not finding a purchase. He swore under his breath, dragging himself up and down the strap, and all the while you watched him with a delighted smile.

“You’re such a good boy, John. Can’ believe how good you look takin’ me, baby boy, I’m absolutely soaked.”

He smiled feebly up at you, pleased with the praise, but then you must have hit some spot inside him because his face fell, his mouth forming a perfect ‘O’ as he froze.

“Oh, God,” he whispered.

John slowly circled his hips, fucking himself deep and slow and deliberate, moaning so obscenely, it actually made you blush.

You stopped stroking him, so in awe you simply forgot. Your hips stuttered, your focus slipping as you watched him groan and shake.

“God, John, look at you. How does it feel?”

He shook his head desperately, almost like it was too much to put into words, and to try and focus on verbalising how he was feeling would distract from the pleasure surging through his veins

“So good, sweetheart,” John managed to get out, his voice tight and hoarse. “You’re so good, it’s so good…”

You hummed, unimpressed, and slowed your thrusts. John gave a meek cry of protest but you didn’t cave. He could do better than that.

“How does it feel havin’ my strap inside you? Fuckin’ y’self for me like this?”

John hissed and bit his lip, circling his hips for any kind of friction, chasing the feeling.

“So fucking good. I can’t- It’s so much, sweetheart.”

You thumbed at his head, then twisted your hand, making John’s hips stutter.

“You look fuckin’ amazin’, Johnny. Look so good with my strap in that pretty little arse.”

His bright eyes met yours. John looked at you like he couldn’t believe you’d just said that. Then he laughed and moaned all at once, like he couldn’t believe how much he loved it.

“Fucking hell, love.”

Grinning, you picked up speed again, moving your hips deeper than before, aiming for that spot that made John see stars.

He tried to move with you until he couldn’t keep his eyes open any longer. He groaned and whimpered, letting out a sweet little ah! ah! ah! sounds that made you feel dizzy.

“Such a good boy for me,” you murmured, mostly to yourself, then dipped your head so that you could press a kiss to the centre of his narrow chest.

John groaned, his free hand coming up to tangle in your hair again.

“Keep talking like that, I’m not gonna last much longer.”

His words were staccato, cut short by little pants and breathy whines that grew steadily higher and higher as you snapped your hips against his.

“Good,” You kiss his throat, shining with a thin sheen of sweat, and grinned when John whimpered again. “I want you to cum for me, sweet boy. You’re not gonna last long at all, are you?”

“Fuck- No, not gonna last.”

“You never do, do you, love?”

“Wh-” John flushed, the colour spreading all the way down to his navel as he shook his head. “You’re just so good, sweetheart. Can’t help it. I- Oh.”

He stilled suddenly, then the hand at your waist squeezed hard, his fingertips sure to leave bruises.

“I think I’m gonna- Oh, God, this is- I didn’t think it would be so- I mean I knew it would be- Oh, God, I’m gonna cum, love, can I please?”

You laughed softly, always so enamoured by how chatty John got when he was close. You rubbed his thigh sweetly, smiling down at him with pride.

“That’s my good boy. Cum for me, John. You always look so pretty like this, honey. Wanna watch you cum all over yourself, sweet boy.”

“Fuck-”

John’s eyes screwed shut, his mouth hanging open as moan after obscene moan fell from him. He kept bouncing on you until, suddenly, he froze and his grip tightened on your waist.

“Oh, God, love-”

Breathless, you thrust your hips forward and stole a kiss just as John bucked his hips a final time, whining your name. He folded in the middle, and with two more strokes of your hand, he came, hard, all over his concave stomach. You gasped for air, your arms trembling, while John moaned so loud, you were sure your neighbours would hear him.

The hand that still clung to your waist pulled you closer until you collapsed on top of him, your bodies burning and heaving together. He was so sensitive, even the slightest movement seemed to make his whole body jolt, so you stayed as still as you could, whispering praise by his ear and stroking his hair until John finally came back down to earth.

When he raised his head, he seemed to see through you for a second, but then his glazed eyes cleared and he blinked at you dreamily. His pretty mouth stayed open as he panted, his warm breath brushing your cheeks.

“Y’okay?” you asked.

John nodded.

“I’m very okay,” he agreed. “Very okay. Forgot who I was for a second. C’mere.”

He pulled you into a kiss that was half sweet and grateful, and half provoking. His tongue slid over yours, then he caught your bottom lip between his teeth.

“So? Thoughts?”

You squeezed John’s hips, trying to ignore how slick and wet your thighs were. This was about him, about making your boyfriend feel good, you could have another turn soon.

“Few and far between at the moment, love, I’ll be honest,” John smiled, tired and sweaty but sated. “But that was amazing. You’re amazing.”

You beamed, but your loving reply was cut short when you tried to sit up and John tensed, both his hands flying to your waist to slow your movements.

Apologising with a soft kiss, you carefully untangled yourself then laid down beside John. He immediately gathered you up in his arms, pressing a sweet kiss to the top of your head, his big hands splayed against your back.

“I’m supposed to be taking you out for dinner, aren’t I?” he mumbled into your hair.

You huffed, turning and burying your face in his clammy chest.

“Tomorrow. Right now, I don’t wanna move from this bed.”

“Thank God, me neither.” John pressed another kiss to your temple, smiling. “I’ll cook though. I think I owe you one after that.”

“You’re going to give me food poisoning to thank for me for making you cum harder than you ever ‘ave in all y’life?”

“I’ll have you know I make fantastic beans on toast.”

“Stop it.”

“I know.”

“You spoil me.”

“Well, you deserve it.”

You reached round and pressed your fingertips into his side, strategically poking at his ribs to make John jolt, his hands pinning you down harder against his chest to stop you doing it again while you both laughed softly.

But there was still something nagging at the back of your mind. Something you’d tucked away for another time. Words you weren’t sure if you should address, but you knew you’d be analysing and agonising and obsessing over them till you had your answer.

“I might be wrong…”

John huffed.

“Oh dear.”

You poked at his side again, beaming when it still made him jump. You could look at him like this all day, relaxed and comfortable, completely bare for you and only you. You wondered if anyone else in the world got to see that smile, that pointed, broad grin that meant John was completely at ease, or if it was only ever just for you.

“Did you say- Just now, I mean… I thought I heard you say that you loved me.”

“Ah.” John looked sheepish. “I was hoping you wouldn’t remember that.”

“Well, you were doin’ a good job of distractin’ me. Why, did you not mean it? It’s okay if you didn’t, I don��t want you to feel like you have to-”

John slipped his fingers under your chin and lifted your head so that he could press his lips to yours. He kissed you slowly, carefully, gently, until you’d almost forgotten what you’d been about to say.

When he pulled away, he cradled your face in his hand, sweeping his thumb across your cheek, back and forth, back and forth, while his gaze traced the shape of your lips, your nose, your eyes.

“I meant it,” he said. “I just didn’t mean to say it then. I was hoping to tell you in a… More romantic way.”

You shrugged, grinning against his palm.

“Worked for me.”

“Well, you didn’t say anything back, so I thought…”

“Well, I wasn’t sure you’d actually said it, y’know, I didn’t wanna embarrass m’self.”

“Right, right.”

John gazed at you, his eyes steady and still. Then his mouth twitched, right in the very corner.

You rolled your eyes.

“Well, I can’t say it now!”

“Why not!”

“You’re looking at me! I feel on the spot!”

“Well,” John sighed and carefully unwrapped his arms from around you. “There are other ways of making you talk.”

“Oh!” You laughed as he clambered over you, his big hands slipping under your back so that you were laying more comfortably. “Wait, let me take this thing off.”

You moved to sit up but John stopped you with a kiss. His hands covered yours, resting together where you’d begun to unbuckle the strap.

“Leave it on,” he murmured against your lips. “Just for a bit? Please?”

“Ohhh,” You grinned as John moved back down your body and carefully parted your thighs. “Good boy.”

/

Master List

[fuzzkaizer]

OBERHEIM - ring modulator

" Mostly known for his synth ventures these days (think Van Halen’s “Jump”), Oberheim grew up studying physics and building amps, which led to his career as a computer engineer. Eventually, he discovered that music gear was his true passion after designing an effect written about by Harald Bode in an issue of Electronics Magazine. He parlayed this passion into a budding career in guitar effects and synthesizers, releasing the first pedal-style ring modulator and phase shifter.

 Now, after surveying the cabinet’s contents, I realize that there is not another piece within it that is even tangentially linked to Bode, and his place in the effects business is small but oh so important. The spirit of this column would be remiss without acknowledging his contributions to the field, so here goes.

Apart from being the first man to publish an article about ring modulators, he was also the first to sell them under his own name. Bode also played a crucial role in the adaptation of tubes to solid-state transistors, as well as the advent of the vocoder, a device now known as “that robot voice effect” but originally used by WW2 intelligence officials to encrypt high-clearance conversations between world leaders. Bode was the man, and don’t you forget it.

So it should come as no surprise that Oberheim’s Ring Modulator is perhaps the most sublime example of the effect—in both aesthetics and tonality—despite being the first “pedal” version with many subsequent contenders to the throne, yet nary a usurper. As far as its modern practicality is concerned, there’s a reason you don’t see any on any pedalboard anywhere, beyond the pedal’s insane price point and collectibility.

For one, the thing is as big as a phone book. If that’s not enough, the two switches in front are—you guessed it—toggles. There’s a jack in the front that one might think is for an auxiliary footswitch, but alas, it is for a “control pedal.” Fortunately, this made the pedal a boon for keyboadists, especially those favoring the Rhodes piano. Jan Hammer of Mahavishnu Orchestra made significant use of one (in addition to other Oberheim-designed goodies) on several tracks, one of which I’ll link below (3:28).

Ring modulators work by using an internal pitch called a carrier frequency, which is derived from a ring of components, which modulates the input signal. Unlike many ring modulators that stick you with one carrier value, Oberheim’s version offers you a plethora of carrier options, with the option to output the oscillator itself to other effects, supply your own carrier oscillator (thereby making the pedal a throughput processor), as well as two switchable carrier frequency ranges and many more options under the hood.

If you know how to dial in ring modulators (sadly, a dying art), you’d be hard-pressed to find a better sounding unit than Oberheim’s original. And because finding one is so hard, there’s a good chance you may never get to play one. True to most geniuses of the craft, Oberheim’s device relied on then-cutting-edge tech, using an MC1495 four-quadrant multiplier chip that has long since crossed over to the tech graveyard.

Lastly, it begs to be mentioned that the Oberheim Ring Modulator may very well feature my favorite pedal art of all time—the whole shebang looks like a Devo album cover. Oberheim’s “muscly note” is simply one of the coolest logos ever, and the incredible and thorough attention to detail give it beauty with brains to match."

cred: catalinbread.com/blogs/kulas-cabinet/oberheim-ring-modulator

[alex99achapterthree]

Phantom Friday...

...is down for maintenance.

-----------------------------------------

Did you ever wonder what is going on inside that shiny black nose?

(press play)

This is the Westinghouse AMP-433 radar in the nose of the F-4 Phantom. The tech standing on the intake is reaching into the rear cockpit where the radar controls are, running the system. The guy in front is operating the "test set" to monitor the performance of the system. The radar would be in a test mode, emitting little or no actual power as standing near the antenna at full power would be dangerous... about like being in front of an open microwave oven. If any problems are found the offending mechanical assembly or electronics "black box" would be swapped out for a spare and the broken part fixed back in the shop.

Modern fighters don't have that dish antenna in the radome thrashing around...

... they have this instead.

The Raytheon APG-84 radar in the nose of this F/A-18 Hornet uses a "phased array" instead of the old moveable dish. Inside the yellow panel are hundreds of small individual antennas that can be turned on and off by computer control to electronically "steer" the beam without anything actually physically moving. Progress.

In most cases tho while the pilots get all the glory it is these guys, the "maintainers", that make it all happen.

[paintcloset]

Plus Plan 2, Electricity Doesn't Make Noise

I realized recently I actually enjoy learning new things. I like thinking and exploring concepts if they intrest me. And I like researching. I started realizing this when writing the assignment for theory about the post soviet influence of Kazakhstan's contemporary art, but due to the limited word count, I didn't have enough space to spread my theoretical writing wings.

On my first flight to make it back to Rotterdam, I started rewatching Evangelion, yes the anime, and remembered how much I like the mysticism of seemingly advanced technology. Same reason for why I liked Akira's aesthetic. When you don't know how a computer works, or in this case a futuristic mecha flesh robot, it may as well be magic. The lines blur when you don't know enough to understand.

Rewatching Evangelion reminded me of the playlist I made years ago, "Shinji's mental breakdown in the cockpit", which is mostly house/electronic music. Music which I associate with feverish tech, unstable electronics as well as with technological mysticism. Not knowing how it work but still going along with it. Very similar to the main character, Shinji, just going along with piloting the giant mecha robot because it's easier to along with what you're told to do. The anime also explores themes of human connection, how we yearn for it yet avoid it out of fear of pain, the hedgehog theory ect.

But where I'm going with this tangent, is that the digital music made me think of visuals that I associate with the sounds that I hear.

None of the following statements are backed up by science that I know of.

Most things make sound. Natural (vs Manmade) objects have sounds that they are predisposition to make certain noise this can be evaluated/ calculated with a visual analysis. Sound doesn't equal Visual, but when you see a piano, you associate it with the sound it makes. You can knock on a table and predict the sound it makes. Physical music can be quite intuitive to make and play and i think also listen to.

But what about digital sound? Digital instruments and digital songs? And how do these unnatural sounds become associated with certain visuals? I feel a certain level of uncertainty when staring into FL Studio, and this feeling has been following since I first got it when I was 13. What do all the commands mean and buttons do? There's no intuition that can help you in a lawless technological mind field.

So I decided for plus weeks I just want to continue researching, thinking, learning and writing about the connections between digital sounds, their associations with visuals. I'm starting from roughly learning about music theory. I played the piano for 7 years and never learned how to it works lol so that would be a nice gap in my knowledge to fill. I will be following the following course:

Understanding Basic Music Theory | Open Textbooks for Hong Kong

It also covers the physics aspects of why music musics which I'm also interested in, and I think it will help me know which aspects to further research to answer my questions. I like learning about physics, i just never had any good teachers to get me interested or teach me anything about it. Fuck you middle school and high school physics teachers!!!!!!!!!!! Maybe I would have been an astrophysicist if not for your dumb fucking asses that don't know how to teach!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I have a very deep and personal grudge towards physics teachers.

Oh yeah I'm also being motivated to do more music related things because I got my first guitar that mine and mine only!! And it's a silent guitar! Which is an electric guitar that you can still play without an amp or headphones and hear it very lightly

I don't know how electric guitars works but I wanna know more cus I love how they sound and I love my new guitar

I don't really know where all of this investigation will lead me but it's something that's grasping my attention and curiosity so I just want to roll with it and see where the research will take me !

physics

[audio-luddite]

Not Bad.

In my wandering around the internoise I find a lot of errors. Errors of fact which in turn lead to confusion and poor assumptions.

I often comment on two dichotomies in the audio world. One is of course tube versus solid state electronics. The other is digital versus analog recording and play back. In both areas either side can provide excellent performance.

I have and appreciate both digital and analog recordings.

I have and appreciate both tube and solid state electronics.

Each are different. I have preferences. Neither is inherently bad.

Other people get wound up and committed to this side or that. Recently I read a person saying that vinyl albums have a limited frequency response so they are obviously inferior just for that. London ffrr recordings claimed up to 16khz which is pretty good, and CDs are good to 22khz ( 1/2 of 44khz or the Nyquist frequency) end of debate, so there.

The CD could easily produce up to the theoretical limit of human hearing. I think all digital methods have a similar limit as even with very high carrier frequencies they are filtered to pass nothing above 20khz. That is to facilitate low slopes in the output filters of Class D amplifiers for example. Academic for me as my hearing quits at 12 khz.

But what is the actual limit of LP frequency response? How about 45 khz. Back in the 1970s several companies tried to make quadraphonic sound. They encoded rear channel signals using a high frequency modulation on top of the normal music signal. It did not work all that well, and there were several competing standards and nobody won. But it did fundamentally work.

They produced stereo phono cartridges and LPs with 45 khz information on them using basically the methods used before and since. They made LPs with ultrasonic signals on them. They developed styli that were finer to track this information such as the Shibata which are still made.

My Signet TK7E cartridge was rated to respond to 45 khz. The better Grado cartridges also go that high. The top of the line Grado is rated to 70 khz. This is vinyl technology we have here with at least double the frequency response of digital methods. So no vinyl is not inferior in terms of frequency response potential.

We are of course talking about best case potential, but they did put this stuff out in the market. It actually worked.

Oh CDs have superior dynamic range, but like 20khz high frequency limit can you even use it? If the information is not on the recording does it even matter? LPs have enough for 95% of the time. I have a single CD with an extreme dynamic range where the quiet is very quiet, but turning it up to hear that part of the music makes the loud bit deafening. (KODO)

More recent digital methods have even better dynamic range. The actual use for that is in the recordings, not the playback.

Analog versus digital quality depends on production more than potential. In terms of best neither is. Oh MP3s suck generally as the priority there was compactness not quality. CDs, DSD, High res streams are fine.

And as far as tube versus solid lumps of semi-conductors well it is kinda the same. Computers and Class D amplifiers use MOSFET materials and those run at gigahertz. There are consumer vacuum tube amps that respond up to 100khz fine, and go down to 10 Hz as well. Either technology has far more potential performance than anyone can use.

Both types can have very low distortion. At normal listening levels the percentage is minuscule. Different voice and such is real but due to other things which to me are almost like black magic. My freshly retubed ARC amp sounds far more clear than before. It is still different than my old SS amp.

This stuff is not bad.

[jcmarchi]

Elaine Liu: Charging ahead

New Post has been published on https://thedigitalinsider.com/elaine-liu-charging-ahead/

Elaine Liu: Charging ahead

MIT senior Elaine Siyu Liu doesn’t own an electric car, or any car. But she sees the impact of electric vehicles (EVs) and renewables on the grid as two pieces of an energy puzzle she wants to solve.

The U.S. Department of Energy reports that the number of public and private EV charging ports nearly doubled in the past three years, and many more are in the works. Users expect to plug in at their convenience, charge up, and drive away. But what if the grid can’t handle it?

Electricity demand, long stagnant in the United States, has spiked due to EVs, data centers that drive artificial intelligence, and industry. Grid planners forecast an increase of 2.6 percent to 4.7 percent in electricity demand over the next five years, according to data reported to federal regulators. Everyone from EV charging-station operators to utility-system operators needs help navigating a system in flux.

That’s where Liu’s work comes in.

Liu, who is studying mathematics and electrical engineering and computer science (EECS), is interested in distribution — how to get electricity from a centralized location to consumers. “I see power systems as a good venue for theoretical research as an application tool,” she says. “I’m interested in it because I’m familiar with the optimization and probability techniques used to map this level of problem.”

Liu grew up in Beijing, then after middle school moved with her parents to Canada and enrolled in a prep school in Oakville, Ontario, 30 miles outside Toronto.

Liu stumbled upon an opportunity to take part in a regional math competition and eventually started a math club, but at the time, the school’s culture surrounding math surprised her. Being exposed to what seemed to be some students’ aversion to math, she says, “I don’t think my feelings about math changed. I think my feelings about how people feel about math changed.”

Liu brought her passion for math to MIT. The summer after her sophomore year, she took on the first of the two Undergraduate Research Opportunity Program projects she completed with electric power system expert Marija Ilić, a joint adjunct professor in EECS and a senior research scientist at the MIT Laboratory for Information and Decision Systems.

Predicting the grid

Since 2022, with the help of funding from the MIT Energy Initiative (MITEI), Liu has been working with Ilić on identifying ways in which the grid is challenged.

One factor is the addition of renewables to the energy pipeline. A gap in wind or sun might cause a lag in power generation. If this lag occurs during peak demand, it could mean trouble for a grid already taxed by extreme weather and other unforeseen events.

If you think of the grid as a network of dozens of interconnected parts, once an element in the network fails — say, a tree downs a transmission line — the electricity that used to go through that line needs to be rerouted. This may overload other lines, creating what’s known as a cascade failure.

“This all happens really quickly and has very large downstream effects,” Liu says. “Millions of people will have instant blackouts.”

Even if the system can handle a single downed line, Liu notes that “the nuance is that there are now a lot of renewables, and renewables are less predictable. You can’t predict a gap in wind or sun. When such things happen, there’s suddenly not enough generation and too much demand. So the same kind of failure would happen, but on a larger and more uncontrollable scale.”

Renewables’ varying output has the added complication of causing voltage fluctuations. “We plug in our devices expecting a voltage of 110, but because of oscillations, you will never get exactly 110,” Liu says. “So even when you can deliver enough electricity, if you can’t deliver it at the specific voltage level that is required, that’s a problem.”

Liu and Ilić are building a model to predict how and when the grid might fail. Lacking access to privatized data, Liu runs her models with European industry data and test cases made available to universities. “I have a fake power grid that I run my experiments on,” she says. “You can take the same tool and run it on the real power grid.”

Liu’s model predicts cascade failures as they evolve. Supply from a wind generator, for example, might drop precipitously over the course of an hour. The model analyzes which substations and which households will be affected. “After we know we need to do something, this prediction tool can enable system operators to strategically intervene ahead of time,” Liu says.

Dictating price and power

Last year, Liu turned her attention to EVs, which provide a different kind of challenge than renewables.

In 2022, S&P Global reported that lawmakers argued that the U.S. Federal Energy Regulatory Commission’s (FERC) wholesale power rate structure was unfair for EV charging station operators.

In addition to operators paying by the kilowatt-hour, some also pay more for electricity during peak demand hours. Only a few EVs charging up during those hours could result in higher costs for the operator even if their overall energy use is low.

Anticipating how much power EVs will need is more complex than predicting energy needed for, say, heating and cooling. Unlike buildings, EVs move around, making it difficult to predict energy consumption at any given time. “If users don’t like the price at one charging station or how long the line is, they’ll go somewhere else,” Liu says. “Where to allocate EV chargers is a problem that a lot of people are dealing with right now.”

One approach would be for FERC to dictate to EV users when and where to charge and what price they’ll pay. To Liu, this isn’t an attractive option. “No one likes to be told what to do,” she says.

Liu is looking at optimizing a market-based solution that would be acceptable to top-level energy producers — wind and solar farms and nuclear plants — all the way down to the municipal aggregators that secure electricity at competitive rates and oversee distribution to the consumer.

Analyzing the location, movement, and behavior patterns of all the EVs driven daily in Boston and other major energy hubs, she notes, could help demand aggregators determine where to place EV chargers and how much to charge consumers, akin to Walmart deciding how much to mark up wholesale eggs in different markets.

Last year, Liu presented the work at MITEI’s annual research conference. This spring, Liu and Ilić are submitting a paper on the market optimization analysis to a journal of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers.

Liu has come to terms with her early introduction to attitudes toward STEM that struck her as markedly different from those in China. She says, “I think the (prep) school had a very strong ‘math is for nerds’ vibe, especially for girls. There was a ‘why are you giving yourself more work?’ kind of mentality. But over time, I just learned to disregard that.”

After graduation, Liu, the only undergraduate researcher in Ilić’s MIT Electric Energy Systems Group, plans to apply to fellowships and graduate programs in EECS, applied math, and operations research.

Based on her analysis, Liu says that the market could effectively determine the price and availability of charging stations. Offering incentives for EV owners to charge during the day instead of at night when demand is high could help avoid grid overload and prevent extra costs to operators. “People would still retain the ability to go to a different charging station if they chose to,” she says. “I’m arguing that this works.”

[mostlysignssomeportents]

This day in history

#20yrsago Internet “Hopkin” meme unravelled https://mike.whybark.com/archives/1951

#20yrsago Full-back HTML tattoo https://web.archive.org/web/20050126081525/http://www.bmezine.com/tattoo/A41118/high/tattoo4.jpg

#10yrsago Gates Foundation mandates open access for all the research it funds https://blogs.nature.com/news/2014/11/gates-foundation-announces-worlds-strongest-policy-on-open-access-research.html

#10yrsago Leaked docs detail Big Oil and Big PR’s plans for a opinion-manipulation platform https://www.vice.com/en/article/a-top-pr-firm-promised-big-oil-software-that-can-convert-average-citizens/

#5yrsago "Out of Home Advertising”: the billboards that spy on you as you move through public spaces https://www.consumerreports.org/electronics-computers/privacy/digital-billboards-are-tracking-you-and-they-want-you-to-see-their-ads-a1117246807/

#5yrsago How to recognize AI snake oil https://www.cs.princeton.edu/~arvindn/talks/MIT-STS-AI-snakeoil.pdf

#5yrsago High prices and debt mean millennials don’t plan to stop renting, and that’s before their parents retire and become dependent on them https://www.businessinsider.com/more-millennials-planning-to-rent-forever-cant-afford-housing-2019-11

#5yrsago Mayor Pete: Obama should have left Chelsea Manning to rot in prison for 35 years https://www.cbsnews.com/amp/news/2020-candidate-pete-buttigieg-troubled-by-clemency-for-chelsea-manning/

#1yrago Naomi Kritzer's "Liberty's Daughter" https://pluralistic.net/2023/11/21/podkaynes-dad-was-a-dick/#age-of-consent

[b33tlejules]

🍕 and 🎹 for Rhan?

🍕 - What is their favorite food?

Rhan's a big fan of spicy food. Their first time having chicken tikka masala was genuinely life changing, they never wanted to go back to bland ass Farm food ever again (bad news). Basically anything that bites back, their tolerance isn't exactly High high.

🎹 - Do they have any hobbies?

At first they got really into disassembling and reassembling electronics, which then evolved into getting interested in DIYing their own electronic instrument set up. So there's a solid corner in their apartment with a lone keyboard (fished out of a dumpster and a ship of Theseus at this point) plugged into a million wires connecting to different amps and pedals all snaking to their computer. Its not the neatest set up but they're having fun.

[gooserecordingstudio]

Week 6 - Sound Recording Reflection + Bassline Comparison

The sound recordings I've made in the past for vocal recordings have been pretty reasonable in terms of actual audio quality; the issues I've faced mostly come with recording guitars through VST amp plugins. My audio interface, as well as the plugins themselves, have plagued the recordings with some computer interference sounds. I've figured out ways to mitigate this. One of them is to face away from my computer monitors (screens) whilst recording the DI for guitar; this is a practice I will definitely consider for my track this semester.

Bassline Comparison

Two dubstep tracks I heard a long time ago in my teens. Having gotten back into electronic music more recently, I thought it would be good to reflect on the sound design and rhythmic characteristics of these two. The bass rhythms from Funk4mation are a little more straightforward but have an interesting sound design. In contrast, Sektor bass is more neutral-sounding but plays with the triplets and is offbeat in the rhythm. Combining the best aspects of both would be a wonderful addition to my track.

[bowmanstudios]

GEAR

Microphones:

Sure sm57

Sure sm58

Audix i5

Sure Beta 52

Blue Snowball

Behringer C-2 (pair)

Samson C01

Rode NT1A

Hardware:

Scarlett 18i0 audio interface

Mackie 1402-VLZ PRO 14 channel mic/line analog mixer

Guitar amps and pedals:

Helix HX STOMP

Ibanez Turbo Tube screamer

Guitars:

Fender GC140SCE Concert Acoustic-Electric

Yamaha FX335C Dreadnought Acoustic-Electric

Ovation 1311 Natural Acoustic

Fender Nashville Telecaster

Fender Squire Bullet Telecaster

Fender Squire Jazz Bass

Mitchell MU40 Soprano Natural Ukulele

Yamaha CGS 102A Classical Guitar

Keyboards:

Nektar Impact LX61+

Roland U-20

Drums and percussion:

1 big tambourine

1 small tambourine

LP Medium twist shakers

Simmons Titan 50 electronic drum set

Sound Monitoring:

JBL Professional Linear Spatial Reference 3 Series powered studio monitors (pair)

Sony Professional MDR-7506 studio headphones

Sennheiser HD 201 studio headphones

KRK Classic 5 studio monitors (pair)

Computers and visuals:

Apple MacBook Pro 13 inch

Dell flat panel monitor

DAW/software:

Logic Pro X

Pro Tools 12

GarageBand

Avid/Apple/Native Instruments/SoundToys/FabFilter/Waves plugins

Helix HX Edit

Plugins:

Digital EQ’s:

Waves V-EQ4

Fabfilter Pro-Q

Digital Reverbs:

Waves Abbey Road Chambers

Waves H-Reverb Hybrid Verb

Waves Renaissance Reverb

Waves Manny Marroquin Reverb

Relab Development LX480 Reverb

Digital Compressors:

Waves Renaissance Compressor

Waves CLA-3A Compressor/Limiter

Waves Smack Attack

Waves DeEsser

Extras:

Waves SSL G-Channel

Waves Nx Ocean Way Nashville

Waves Z-Noise

Waves WLM Plus Loudness Meter

Waves Tune Real-Time

Waves Vocal Bender

Waves Torque

Waves CLA Bass

Waves Abbey Road J37 Tape

SoundToys Echoboy

VST’s:

Spectronics Keyscapes

Native Instruments Battery

Toontrack EZdrummer 3

Native Instruments Kontakt Electric Guitar

Accessories/miscellaneous/other studio features:

4 XLR cables

4 1/4 inch jack cables

Power supply cables

USB outlet strip

High speed internet and free WIFI

Pencils, pens and paper

Wireless printer available

5 mic stands

Shock mount, pop filter, and 3 windscreens

HEAROS Ultimate Softness earplugs

Mini Samsung T.V. with Roku entertainment

RIF6 electric record player with built-in speakers

Dean Markley Pro Mag humbucker pickup

Culilux 1/4” audio splitter

Rioddas external ODD&HDD disc drive

Pack of CDs for burning

Guitar pick maker with appropriate paper

3 microphone clips

Alesis sustain pedal

Radial PRO-DI passive direct box

DeltaLab digital metronome

AKAI MPD218 beat pad

GiveBest electric heater

Behringer ULTRAACOUSTIC AT109 15-WATT acoustic guitar amplifier

OWC thunderbolt USB-C dock

APC surge protector

MOONGEL damper pads

Pick holder filled with guitar picks (floppy and hard) and a set of thumb picks

2 capos and clip on tuner

KORG TM-50 combo tuner and metronome

Mackie 1402-VLZ PRO 14 channel mic/line analog mixer

NEXIGO web cam

Big Knob passive monitor controller

The Bowman Studios, Dallas, Texas

Producers: Mason Bowman