Re: [ARSCLIST] Restoration Software

[Jon Noring <jon@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

Brandon Burke wrote:

> Forgive me if this comes across as snippy, because I really don't mean it
> that way, but I could have sworn that Kurt's question was about software
> programs and "not outboard modules".  I take this to mean a simple set of
> plug-ins that one can incorporate into his/her current DAW, not an
> altogether different machine -- and a $30,000+ machine at that.

Yes, rereading Kurt's request, he is simply looking for *software* to
restore vintage (mostly 78 rpm) recordings. We can also assume he
means Windows-based, although Mac is probably also acceptable. He
explicitly said no add-on hardware.

For many years, when PCs were much lower horsepower than those of
today, it made more sense to have add-on hardware optimized for
digital audio processing, especially if the processing needed to be
done in real time, such as for broadcast purposes. Of course, by its
nature and limited market, such equipment is, and will probably always
be, quite *expensive*.

Today's PCs are very powerful, compared to yesteryear. With the right
software most can easily do *anything* the hardware-based digital
processing solutions can do provided real-time processing is not a
requirement (even on this, PC+software can probably match the hardware
of just a few years ago for realtime processing...)

For 78 restoration, hardware solutions are an anachronism, in my
opinion (they certainly are great at thwarting software piracy! which
may be one reason they still exist.) One would only consider them if
they provided some important feature or quality of processing that no
one has yet bothered to write software to do. (Or they also provide
some wanted analog processing.)

Of course, maybe I'm all wet and missing something fundamental here,
and if so, I will gladly stand corrected. So, I await correction.
<smile/>

Jon