In a future time, children will work together to build a giant...

February 6, 2007 9:44 AM

Two industrial robots spin records.
posted by phrontist (21 comments total)

It's official: With apologies to Warhol, in the future, everyone will be a superstar DJ.
posted by lekvar at 10:09 AM on February 6, 2007

RJD2
posted by Peter H at 10:11 AM on February 6, 2007

No slipmats?!
posted by mkb at 10:12 AM on February 6, 2007

All that and no coffee breaks. I hate robots.
posted by kuujjuarapik at 10:13 AM on February 6, 2007

Are they just playing bits at random, it seems like it would be difficult to get the aliment down to a track, Or point in time. (not impossible, but difficult.

Btw, how fast can a record spin without damaging a needle?
posted by delmoi at 10:29 AM on February 6, 2007

Computing possible responses:
* The Obvious Pun: Now that's what I call industrial music!!! Ha! Ha!
* The Current Times Reference: I wonder if the DJ Robots have nightmares about missing a beat.
* The Bad Music Joke: Do they have Mr. Roboto on vinyl??! Ha! Ha!
* The Unrealistic Idea: With some software built-in, maybe these guys could get a little more complex: detect the BPM, and perform some live robot mash-ups?
* The Snark: Call me when the robots can do more than make clunking sounds with the records.

End of computation. No valid responses found.

Nice post, phrontist!
posted by Milkman Dan at 10:35 AM on February 6, 2007 [2 favorites]

delmoi: I wondered the same... it sounds to me like the position was not chosen with any degree of precision ahead of time. They probably passed it off as some deep artistic statement about post-modernism in hip-hop.

It would be very cool to have a line of these, triggered by MIDI, that you could play with a controller.
posted by phrontist at 10:36 AM on February 6, 2007

I. A robot may not injure an LP, or, though inaction, allow an LP to come to harm.
posted by vorfeed at 10:37 AM on February 6, 2007 [1 favorite]

I wonder how they'll be able to fit 50 or more of them into a juke box.
posted by notmtwain at 10:37 AM on February 6, 2007

With P.E.A.R.T. and a player piano you could be one hell of a one-man supergroup.
posted by phrontist at 10:40 AM on February 6, 2007

so wait, if a robot spins vinyl, is it still "analog?"

Somewhere in Williamsburg or Silverlake, a hipster's head just exploded.
posted by drjimmy11 at 10:40 AM on February 6, 2007

also...
posted by mds35 at 11:26 AM on February 6, 2007

so wait, if a robot spins vinyl, is it still "analog?"

So, wait. There's been vinyl pressed in the last 10-15 years that wasn't digitally recorded and mastered?

Somewhere in Pasadena or Verdugo Hills, an audiophile's head just imploded.
posted by loquacious at 11:34 AM on February 6, 2007

So, wait. There's been vinyl pressed in the last 10-15 years that wasn't digitally recorded and mastered?

Yeah, there are still guys who record to tape and send it off to Ron Murphy.
posted by mkb at 11:57 AM on February 6, 2007

I. A robot may not injure an LP, or, though inaction, allow an LP to come to harm.

Better:

I. A robot may not drop the beat, or, through inaction, allow the beat to be dropped.
posted by sparkletone at 12:58 PM on February 6, 2007

Mad props for the title.

Wave the flags that the robots made!
posted by Foosnark at 2:23 PM on February 6, 2007

I. A robot may not injure an LP, or, though inaction, allow an LP to come to harm.

Better:

I. A robot may not drop the beat, or, through inaction, allow the beat to be dropped.

And if you consider it, if a robot DJ were to follow rule 1, they could never play a record with a needle, any needle.

Though, the visions of killer robots DJing us all to death aren't very pleasant, either, and I like dancing.
posted by loquacious at 2:49 PM on February 6, 2007

I thought that was cool. Thanks.
posted by dios at 4:10 PM on February 6, 2007

And if you consider it, if a robot DJ were to follow rule 1, they could never play a record with a needle, any needle.

Well, the Asimov books were full of robots that couldn't do this-and-that due to the Laws. Besides, I overheard a C-5 on the expressway strip the other day, and he was saying that those dirty Spacers have laser record players these days!
posted by vorfeed at 6:23 PM on February 6, 2007

and he was saying that those dirty Spacers have laser record players these days!

Yeah, that's a pretty slick trick. Pointless as a playback device but nice for encoding to archives.

Up next, 300GB-2.5TB holographic data discs as well as cards with holographic cells instead of gates. Of course, if you have $10k and $100-200 a pop for discs.
posted by loquacious at 12:35 AM on February 7, 2007

Funny, I was just sitting around spaced out to some music, when I realized it was a pair of pants in the drier laying down a 4/4 beat. They oughta get together.
posted by griphus at 12:54 AM on February 7, 2007