(See link for the shape idea, closest I could find.)
This is a regular vinyl record but shaped like an amorphous blob. When the master is being cut the pattern of the record is copied into a guide for the cutting stylus so it follows the pattern. No modification is necessary for the record player and the music will play as it was recorded, but the play arm will swing in and out wildly like it's stoned, like you were when you purchased this thing.
Great for re-issues of classic psychedelic rock.-- doctorremulac3, May 10 2020 Best I could find, but let me find something better. https://images.app....l/gKpDzQqkzDZPf2WeA [doctorremulac3, May 10 2020] Yeaaa, more like this, still not what I'm picturing. https://images.app....l/uJ8MD8NoRfwJCXFGA [doctorremulac3, May 10 2020] Inspired by this obviously. https://images.app....l/AhPTWS3LHsatfM4h9 [doctorremulac3, May 10 2020] Silver_20Surfer_20Cartridge [xenzag, May 11 2020] One shape and color scheme might be an homage to these light shows. https://www.youtube...watch?v=XUxyV1sw4Rg [doctorremulac3, May 11 2020] This is pretty interesting. M_f6bius_20Record_20PlayerMobius strip record. [doctorremulac3, May 12 2020] This is also pretty cool. https://www.youtube...fY&feature=youtu.beMobius strip music box. [doctorremulac3, May 12 2020] I have a feeling we have discussed non-tangential tracking issues here before? I think it works but there are issues to do with side-loading the needle and wear on the groove wall perhaps? I'm feeling vague this afternoon.-- pocmloc, May 10 2020 If there were an issue the cutting stylus could have an algorithm to compensate for it but I doubt it would be necessary.
We're talking 33 1/3rd RPM, it's not going very fast. I see that there would be movement imparted to the playback needle that you don't get with a round, progressively smaller spiral path, but again, it would be worth it for the cool look.-- doctorremulac3, May 10 2020 Like [pocmloc], I'm feeling some déja vu here.-- pertinax, May 11 2020 Very cool links, but these are all just spiral groove configurations put in the center of weird shapes.
This idea is for the grooves to follow the shape of the record.
By necessity, the shapes would need to be rounded. I'm thinking those blobs they'd have projected at the back of the stage during 1960s rock concerts. (link)-- doctorremulac3, May 11 2020 I see what your saying but I'm not sure it would appreciably affect the sound of the playback. If you're looking at it like a car on a road, the regular record is a relatively straight round track. This would be turning right and left and hitting the needle like a car reacts driving a curvy racetrack. Hard left turn, the car and needle, gets more pressure on the right hand side, hard right turn, more pressure on the left hand side.
So I see that but I think you could have that compensated for. For the left turn the left vibration smoothes out a bit and the side receiving less pressure, the right side expands. So you'd compress and expand as the record turned left and right. You'd do this by doing a test track letting the sound get crushed by the record's turns and twists, and use that to use your compressors and expanders to compensate.
Maybe.
Or you could have shock absorvers and dampers on the needle giving it a little give. Actually scratch that, it would have to work on a standard record player.
So cut the disk, play it back into an audio analyzing program and make whatever modifications to the next cut that would reduce the curvy path effect. Does the high end get reduced because the needle is getting pressured? Turn the high end up.
Whatever it's doing, compensate.
Or better yet, just let the record sound weird.-- doctorremulac3, May 11 2020 //Like [pocmloc], I'm feeling some déja vu here.//
Ditto.A posting from [FarmerJohn] involving a train or somesuch...-- 2 fries shy of a happy meal, May 12 2020 // No modification is necessary for the record player
Where's the fun in that? I think it's possible to create a turntable with a 90° bend in the middle, perhaps out of linked wedges that will flop over or ride up an obstacle.-- tatterdemalion, May 12 2020 Was going to suggest a mobius strip record but already done of course. (link)-- doctorremulac3, May 12 2020 A toroidal "record" which "rolled" around its circumferential axis would replay endlessly ; but the material would need to be an elastomer, which would make groove geometry very challenging.-- 8th of 7, May 12 2020 Would it be possible to make some kind of mechanical pantograph-like contraption which engaged with the turntable platter and base unit, and through a set of very thin linkages shifted the centre of rotation of the record back and forth so that the contact point of the needle and groove remained static? I imagine this all engineered into a 2mm thick record disc, so that you simply pick up the record, plop it on the turntable, and a little hinged foot falls down outside the radius of the platter to sit on the surface of the record deck.-- pocmloc, May 12 2020 This gives me an idea...-- 2 fries shy of a happy meal, May 15 2020 wait... no it doesn't... well I mean it did, but then a Spirograph record player has already been discussed on another posting so it's redundant.
<heavy sigh>-- 2 fries shy of a happy meal, May 15 2020 random, halfbakery