Olivier Berger
Tech TangentsWhat every self respecting software engineer is thinking inside as they watch AI wreck everything.
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"Look! We used AI to remove vocals from songs!"
*meanwhile in the 80s*
"We accidentally got some wires backwards and realized we could usually remove the vocals, so here's that in a box"
From: https://books.google.com/books?id=0AAAAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA122#v=onepage&q&f=false
chat ๐โโฌโฆ@TechTangents why their logo changing fonts 3 fricking times
Lux 
@neko @TechTangents because even their designer is an AI?
Dec [{(
)}]@TechTangents
PAiA also made one:
"All vocal eliminators start with the assumption that the lead vocal in a recording is in the center of the stereo field - which means that it is equal amplitude and phase in both left and right channels. Subtracting one channel from the other removes this highly correlated signal while leaving the uncorrelated signals in the channels unchanged."
https://www.abcelectronique.com/annuaire/montages/cache/1210/zappeur-vocale.html
Gregly@TechTangents Iโm guessing they did something like outputting left + inverted right to the left speaker, and right + inverted left to the right speaker, since most vocals would be panned to center? Would be interesting to see a schematic.
@gregly @TechTangents
The PAiA Vocal Zapper 6730 (from the 1980s or possibly even the 1970s) used a very simple circuit.
(schematic on page 10 of the PDF)
https://web.archive.org/web/20240318064953/https://paia.com/manuals/docs/6730-vocazman.pdf
The PAiA website is "currently offline due to unforeseen health-related circumstances" - I hope everyone involved is OK.
VWestlife@TechTangents Here is the demo disc for the Thompson Vocal Eliminator: https://youtu.be/3NmUq0CpOuI
Thompson Vocal Eliminator 1980 demo flexidisc
Christopher Snowhill@vwestlife @TechTangents Doesn't that 80s solution only work if the vocals are perfectly center panned, and also ruins the stereo image of the audio?
@chris @vwestlife @TechTangents I think that in a karaoke session, you don't care that much for stereo.
@orange_lux @vwestlife @TechTangents True. I think the vocal remover they made with AI was harvested from some tech that was actually made for quality manipulation, but it was so cheap to license, they shoved it in an expensive karaoke box.
Charles โญ 
is a Green@chris @orange_lux @vwestlife @TechTangents
Huh, I'd always assumed these were band pass filters.
If you have the original left and right signals and the difference, can you reconstruct the stereo by passing the AND of the channel and the difference? This wouldn't work on a sample by sample basis but maybe it would with FFTs?
@celesteh @orange_lux @vwestlife @TechTangents
Ah, yeah, real band pass filter would probably be a lot better.
I was thinking of the dumbass wiring mistake that would make one think of this sort of processing in the first place, where you disconnect the common line and the stereo image collapses. But that would only affect centered vocals if they were somehow inverse phase between channels, now that I think about it.
Man, I really should not try thinking about this sort of stuff.
@orange_lux @vwestlife @TechTangents Also, part of me wonders why they'd bother shoving such precision tech into a karaoke box, I was thinking in the mindset of someone who's done lazy music processing and splitting. Unless they somehow think the segment of AI techbros will just snap up that overpriced and overkill tech. Could even be a better grift if it's just the 80s tech in disguise.
Chloรฉ Raccoon@TechTangents There's a few IT people who have moved into farming... ;)
gloriouscow@TechTangents i'm moving to vermont and buying a planer
so many cabinets
(๐ฌ๐ซ). โ^. .^โโ@TechTangents The first thing you make is a nice handle.. for the hammer to smash all the smart appliance screens with.
Sam Livingston-Gray@discatte @TechTangents or make the whole hammer (technically a dead blow mallet, but with enough mass...)
keirFox@TechTangents Just wanna grow things or take film photographs or sail a boat or catalog wild edible plants in a sketchbook.
TomGwozdz@TechTangents same, except machining.
Andrew (Television Executive)@TechTangents we dropped out of the industry, opened a machine shop and started injection molding toys.
Christopher 
Unless the bubble pops soon, we're heading to an Max Headroom world where it will be illegal to turn off AI in your home or office. 
LilFluff@Christopher @TechTangents Every day AI and enshitificaton make the old bit, "Programmers / Engineers: The most recent piece of technology I own is a printer from 2004 and I keep a loaded gun ready to shoot it if it ever makes an unexpected noise." less and less a joke and more and more a sane precaution.
Fritz Adalis@TechTangents
Oh yeah baby, spread that Tung oil.
Oh yeah baby, spread that Tung oil.
TommyTorty10@TechTangents that reminds me, I gotta finally put my foot down with myself and decide how Im gonna cut some threads on a project I started procrastinating a month ago
Hein Ragas@TechTangents @venite I know two people who switched from tech to woodworking. They now make bespoke furniture and are much happier.
The tech to woodworking pipeline is real.
Samuel Smith@heinragas @TechTangents @venite My dad and I watched The Simple Life of Noah Dearborn a few months ago. I wasn't interested in it at first, but he said it was a good movie.
It was!
One of the funny/inspirational bits was when one of the lawyers, who was trying to get Mr Dearborn to sign away his land, "helped" him cut wood, trying to ingratiate himself. But, he ended up quitting the law practice to start a winery in California after trying Dearborn's apple jack.
Mr Dearborn was a master carpenter, and an inspiration to everyone around him. Honestly, all the woodworkers I've known in real life were inspiring. Maybe one day I'll put down the keyboard and pick up the plane.
efscher
Jon A. Cruz@heinragas @TechTangents @venite /me eyes the router table, portable table saw, and drill press sitting out it the garage...
dasgrueneblatt@heinragas Me too! Two former colleagues who now make furniture 
Virginicus@heinragas @TechTangents @venite If my chop saw had a control-Z on it, Iโd switch jobs in a minute.
Mx. Eddie R@TechTangents
I used to be a carpenter.
It was nice.
D2@TechTangents had a sr programmer / mentor that fled to do this 15 yrs ago.
Nicole ParsonsI have true admiration for the nerds reverse engineering the spyware being embedded in household appliances, jailbreaking HP printers, and blocking surveillance tech in our devices.
Salute!
https://cybernews.com/security/engineer-finds-backdoor-implanted-in-robot-vacuum/
https://stribs.medium.com/is-your-vacuum-cleaner-spying-on-you-20e4195bc970
The corporate trend towards "buying isn't owning" needs to be thwarted.
https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2025/03/hp-avoids-monetary-damages-over-bricked-printers-in-class-action-settlement/
https://www.vice.com/en/article/latest-hp-printer-update-bricks-printers/
https://www.jalopnik.com/tesla-full-self-driving-computer-failures-are-bricking-1851734447/
https://www.wired.com/story/john-deere-tractor-jailbreak-defcon-2022/
hanhaiwen
Howard Gees@TechTangents I'm stockpiling my woodworking projects. Probably going to start with building a new work bench, then maybe the boxes I've been holding onto scrap wood for years for.
Bring on the cyber meltdown so I've got the time.
Bring on the cyber meltdown so I've got the time.
Kevin Karhan 
@TechTangents Or IDK, start herding Ostriches, Rheas or Emus in the woods or something...
HTPC NZ@TechTangents all i have heard is "junior developers are bad for using AI for vibe coding, senior devs know what they are doing so should use AI tools for make lives easier, yeah tools do weird stuff but will get exponentially better, however won't ever get good enough to to replace the senior roles". Only thing that went through my head is, these guys have never dealt with even a gm type let alone c suites...
Indie Adama@TechTangents to be honest, AI is just unmasking the people that are trying very hard, for a long time to bully me into woodworking.
Captain Observant@TechTangents I think this explains the wood finishing obsession I went through earlier this year..
sidereal@TechTangents This is me. I used to work in tech and I am currently in trade school studying carpentry because of this AI shit. Many of my former colleagues are currently: unemployed. No regrets. Only problem is I was shocked to realize there are AI boosters in the trades.
Hydrian@TechTangents @thomasfuchs Metalworking is my goto. Basically the same thing. Louder and more aggression relief.
The Turtle@TechTangents they also remember those little ads in the back of magazines when they were kids: "LEARN MEATCUTTING AT HOME."
Felix ๐ข (what is normality)@TechTangents @Spark ich war ganz kurz in einer Folge Pumuckl, das sieht schon sehr nach der Werkstatt von Meister Eder aus ๐
Spark@thegcat @TechTangents Ja da ist was dran. ๐
BjoernAusGE@TechTangents sometimes inreally wish i would have become a carpenter. But thats was already befor AI hit the road.
Peter Sommerlad@TechTangents
I know at least one who went there...iirc
/\ndy@PeterSommerlad @TechTangents Yes! Music also. Been spending time in workshop and studio. No AI in either...
MisterMaker@TechTangents Why I basically stopped coding on Freecad. ๐
Frank Meerkรถtter@TechTangents tbh I am mostly thinking about rock climbing, but still ...
Willow@TechTangents
Don't forget teachers. May need to start practicing woodworking.
Don't forget teachers. May need to start practicing woodworking.