[PD] CVs

[Simon Wise]

On 09/05/11 19:08, Billy Stiltner wrote:

> I have come to the conclusion that all audio is discrete. probably
> everything measureable in the universe is discrete for that matter. There is
> no such thing as continuous only in our experience when we can not discern
> the difference between a change from one value to the next do we think of
> something being continuous. Imagine if you will a tuning peg with notches
> fitted in a notched hole. Now imagine a whammy bar fixed with the smoothest
> bearings and axle known. Now imagine the atomic structure of the axle and
> bearing. Isn't the whammy bar going to stop at little steps at the flat
> spots where any 2 atoms of the bearings line up with any 2 atoms of the
> axle? Would this not be discrete. Only our perception of sound hears the
> whammy bar as being continuous. If we had a fast enough sample rate we could
> slow down the recording of the use of such a whammy bar and see that it is
> indeed discrete.

The noise in the system made with many atoms and electrons etc is probably 
inevitably much bigger than the inevitable discreteness imposed by atoms and 
electrons in the axle. The discreteness imposed by the discrete nature of most 
physical things is on a very small scale indeed in most circumstances and is 
only observable in very noise free situations which also amplify the 
discreteness. Is an unmeasurable theoretical discreteness in a measurable 
quantity a discreteness in that quantity? Lots of semantics and definitions here.

Simon