[Trevor]

On 20/04/2018 10:43 PM, Scott Dorsey wrote:
Mat Nieuwenhoven wrote:
On 17 Apr 2018 14:53:23 -0400, Scott Dorsey wrote:
wrote:
And to make
things more difficult, there's the RIAA equalization curve that boosts
the highs and cuts the lows when cutting, and does the opposite on
playback.

and that has the effect of making the system approximately displacement based rather than velocity based.

Right, until you get to the top end and then rate limiting hits you again.
You can draw a profile curve of frequency vs amplitude and see how you are
hit by displacement limitations in one direction, rate in another direction,
and (with all but the fanciest Neumann cutters) heating in a third. Sort of
a safe operating area curve for audio.

If a cutter would work at half the speed, wouldn't that fix these
problems? Never mind that no playback cartridge could play it...

I said precisely that earlier in this thread.
I don't have the pulleys and the EQ module for half-speed mastering, but
they exist, and folks have used them.

Yep, half speed mastering and direct metal mastering were just a couple
of techniques used to try and get vinyl to approach something resembling
true HiFi back in the day. Cartridges like the Shure V15VMR did a good
job of tracking them if you could afford them, and the regular cost of a
replacement stylus. Then we got a distribution format with far more
dynamic range, much flatter frequency response, MUCH less distortion, no
wow or flutter, no rumble, no surface noise, no pinch effect.......
Naturally some preferred the inferior format, and still do of course :-)

Trevor.