Re: [ARSCLIST] Abraham Lincoln -- recording star???

[Don Cox <doncox@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

On 24/07/04, Mike Richter wrote:
> At 08:21 PM 7/24/2004 +0000, robert wasserman wrote:
>> Here's a thought, is it possible today to take these phonoautographs
>> and scan and convert them to digital waveforms, as seen in most
>> editing programs, and now reproduce sound from them, albeit low
>> resolution?
>
> If any survive, they could certainly be tried. However, lampblack on
> glass or paper would be rather fragile - and 147 years is a loooong
> time.
>
> There are interesting images at http://www.phonautograph.com/ -
> including two of a recording. Judging from them, recognizable sound
> may not be forthcoming.

I think people were interested then in researching the tuning and timbre
of various instruments, so they only needed the waveform of a couple
of notes. The aim was to make sound waves visible for study.

It is difficult now to imagine a time when nobody had seen a sound wave
displayed as a wiggly line.

I doubt if it occurred to anybody to record a whole speech when there
was no way to play it back.

Helmholtz gives an example of a Phonoautograph recording in his book "On
the Sensations of Tone" (Dover Books), and also discusses a "vibration
microscope", which is basically an early oscilloscope.

Regards
--
Don Cox
doncox@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx