Austrian startup receives funding for 'high-definition vinyl'

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  • Rebeat Innovation has secured almost $5 million for HD vinyl, which could store more music at louder volumes.
  • Austrian startup receives funding for 'high-definition vinyl' image
  • "High-definition vinyl" is one step closer to reality after an Austrian startup received a cash infusion. Pitchfork reports that Rebeat Innovation received $4.8 million in funding for a proposed HD vinyl technology that could be in stores as soon as 2019, according to Rebeat founder and CEO Günter Loibl. We first reported on the idea in 2016, when Rebeat filed a patent for the technology. The new high-definition vinyl records, as laid out on Rebeat's website, would allow for 30% more music to be stored on vinyl, at 30% louder volumes with better sound quality overall. (It would also do away with some of the harsher chemicals used in regular vinyl record production.) HD vinyl would be backwards compatible, meaning any high-definition record would also work on standard turntables. The records would be made with a special laser machine that inscribes a three-dimensional "topographical map" onto the stamper, which then presses the grooves into the record. Loibl told Pitchfork that they've ordered a new laser system that should arrive by July, with the aim to produce and deliver test products by September of this year, eventually presenting them at the Making Vinyl conference the following month.
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