I don't post here often, but I am a die-hard Devin Townsend fan, and own every CD, go to every show in my area, etc., for the last 10 years.

I've also become a vinyl enthusiast as of late, and I'm excited about this news, however what others have said is right - if these vinyl releases are simply rips of the 16 bit, 44.1 khz stereo masters used for the CDs, then they will be no better than the CDs. I'd assume that like myself and most other musician/producers, Devin records at 24 bit and perhaps a higher sample rate than 44.1. In any case, it's very likely that higher resolution masters of these albums exist - but that the labels in question may not possess them - in other words, Devin Townsend himself is likely the ONLY person with the high resolution masters, if they exist at all.

So Dev, if you know off hand - it would be interesting to know what bit rate and sample rate past albums such as City, Ocean Machine, Terria, etc. were recorded and mixed at, and if above-CD resolution masters ever left your studio?

Amazon.UK just sent me an email confirming everything has shipped (including the new Die So Fluid album, yay!) except for Infinity. I'll post impressions when everything arrives about the sound quality but not until my new cartridge arrives as my current one is bunk.

Whelp, it arrived. The packaging is nice. Shame I can't listen to it until my cartridge arrives. I might take them to work tomorrow and listen to them there.

i was recently in contact with Steve Beatty from Back on Black /Plastichead. i asked him about the sources they use for the vinyl they make, and this was his answer:

Steve Beatty <steve@plastichead.com>
to [me]
date Fri, Jul 16, 2010 at 12:02 PM
subject RE: Back on Black - Source question
Hi
Been on vacation.

We use the pre master from the studio where possible , it’s a last resort to use production CD’s and our engineer does a great job to prepare for vinyl should we have to. Sometimes people don’t have the original masters anymore…

Steve

he also mentioned in a subsequent email that they "don't keep track" of which releases do or don't use the CD master, so i dunno if the lackluster Puritanical Euphoric Misanthropia vinyl edition was sourced from the CD or not.

If you can't tell by ear, you can do a quick rip of a section of the vinyl and look at the spectral.

i was recently in contact with Steve Beatty from Back on Black /Plastichead. i asked him about the sources they use for the vinyl they make, and this was his answer:

Steve Beatty <steve@plastichead.com>
to [me]
date Fri, Jul 16, 2010 at 12:02 PM
subject RE: Back on Black - Source question
Hi
Been on vacation.

We use the pre master from the studio where possible , it’s a last resort to use production CD’s and our engineer does a great job to prepare for vinyl should we have to. Sometimes people don’t have the original masters anymore…

Steve

he also mentioned in a subsequent email that they "don't keep track" of which releases do or don't use the CD master, so i dunno if the lackluster Puritanical Euphoric Misanthropia vinyl edition was sourced from the CD or not.

What a fucking load of horseshit. How can they not keep track? I think what he meant to say is that we cut from CD's all day everyday, until someone tries to call us on it.

Whelp, it arrived. The packaging is nice. Shame I can't listen to it until my cartridge arrives. I might take them to work tomorrow and listen to them there.

Any pics? Thanks.

Amazon.UK just sent me an email confirming everything has shipped (including the new Die So Fluid album, yay!) except for Infinity. I'll post impressions when everything arrives about the sound quality but not until my new cartridge arrives as my current one is bunk.

Any pics? Thanks.

Was just about to write the same thing

Took a few photos:



The records in their shrink-wrapped glory.

Here's Addicted in detail to give you an idea of what you get:





Above you can see a printing error with some of Ziltoid's text REPLACEed into Addicted's.



Disc one in red vinyl.



Disc two but there's an abnormality; the disc is more opaque and pinkish in colour rather than red although it's hard to tell in the photo.




I also had a listen to Ki, Addicted and Synchestra at work and although it's with equipment inferior to mine at home I'm all but certain the records sound a good deal better than their CD counterparts. I'll know for sure by Saturday as that's when my yummy new cartridge will arrive.

Hhhoooly crap, they look amazing!

They look beautiful, I've just ordered Synchestra. The rest will probably follow in the next few months, when I can scrape together the cash

They look very nice indeed. Weird printing error there! I like the way it has Addicteds lyrics though, wish the cd booklet did.

[Octillus]

So gorgeous.

When I have a big boy job, these will be mine.

YouFool, very nice! Your review of the sound quality is gonna decide whether or not I drop some dollars on some vinyl (namely Synchestra) + a decent player and sound system, I'm really close to doing so

Thanks for taking those pics, YouFool. I might order some of these if a US retailer can get them. It's just way too expensive for me to order from Plastichead.