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Comment by calibas | Hacker News Reader

> For Japanese soundtrack producer Nujabes, the “lofi” sound wasn’t an aesthetic choice. It was an artifact of creating such forward thinking music with the dusty equipment from 20 years ago.

I trying to figure out where the author got this from? Audio hardware/software hasn't changed that much in 20 years, and Nujabes' lofi aesthetic seems intentional.

According to Wikipedia, it originated from an effect button on Roland samplers: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lofi_hip-hop

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> Nujabes' lofi aesthetic seems intentional.

He was using old equipment such as the MPC60 and SP1200. The SP1200 in particular has a "sound" due to its 12-bit architecture. And when Nujabes was writing said music in the mid 2000s, that gear was 20ish years old. MPC60 was 1988, SP1200 was 1987.

This is due to sampling limitations in old machines. The hiphop producers would record samples from vinyl playing as fast as possible on the turn table and then pitch down in the sampler. This to get around memory restriction.

An sp-1200 can record less than a minute if i remember correctly.

The resulting sample rate reduction creates a crunchy vibe to the sound.

>I trying to figure out where the author got this from?

I laughed at this too. Oh yeah, back in 2005 there was no way to get good sound from that dusty old equipment.

I mean, some of the best sounding albums of all time are 50+ years old.

No, when he was making it twenty years ago the equipment was then 20 years old so it's now 40 year old equipment.

> I mean, some of the best sounding albums of all time are 50+ years old

That is.. arguable

I'd count Tom Waits' Nighthawks at the diner as such an album. Do you disagre on some other ground than it being just almost fifty years old?

Some Steely Dan albums are 50 and over. Say what you want about the music but their albums are sonically incredible.

The Dark Side of the Moon will be 52 years old next month.

Are we talking the original recording or one of the many remasters because to my not 50 year old ears the originals for most old super-famous music sound terrible. Musically great but seemingly limited by the technology of the time.

Those 50+ year old albums weren't using samplers.

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