I can feel the delay in a digital signal response

Before I start this blog I'd like to say that I'm not being negative about digital metal detectors, both my blog and Youtube are dedicated to the machines I like to use and how I like to approach my metal detecting. Let's remember that none of what I'm saying is assumption - what does this mean? I've used digital machines extensively so this puts me in the position to give a balanced opinion on both analog and digital platforms.  Remember that this is my opinion, not fact.

Sensory Perception

I'm going to go around the houses to get to my main point, those that read my blogs should be well aware of how I like to write. Sensory perception comes from a place of non-thinking, when I use to get asked about how I came up with drum parts I always made the point of saying that it comes from a place of 'non-thinking'. The second I started thinking about the drums the 'state of flow' would get interrupted and the ideas I had started to prison themselves within the confines of rules. The rules being, what's acceptable and what isn't, there's a group of people within every subject that like to put rules on things. In their minds this elevates them to the master level of 'said subject'. There are no rules in music and there are no rules when sensory perception is involved. We're receiving messages every waking second of our lives, many aren't aware of this because they're not listening - or should I say they're not "feeling' these messages.

Constantly Connecting

When I've turned around and said that I can feel the lag in the response on the digital detectors that I've used, I get told that this is not possible. Or I get hate from the fan boys that swing their Manticores and Deus 2's around like penises. People need to pay very close attention to the language I've used here. I don't hear the lag, I feel it, in the same way that I can feel if the drums are out of tune. It's not a science it's a sense, I've explained many times before that for me metal detecting is an audible/sensory experience. Drum playing was very much the same, yes, I obviously heard what I was playing but the driving force was feel. Below is a rhythm track that was recorded live with minimal equipment, it was a wild live take where I was firing solely on instincts. No digital beat replacement or manipulation has taken place other than some reverb. "Press Pause On The Player Once You've Listened To The Track"

If you were to 'beat replace' the rhythm track above it would lose all its soul, there would be a synthetic feel with very little dynamics and nuance. The communication between me and each drum hit is instantaneous, let me break down the sentence above highlighting "a synthetic feel with very little dynamics and nuance" is the best way that I can describe how I feel the audio response when swinging digital detectors. I can relate it to playing on an electronic drum kit, for years Roland has developed V-Drum kits to both sound and feel like real acoustic drums. They hit a wall with both the realism and sound of the samples that they use so now they concentrate of the way these kits look. You have electronic drum kits that look like real drums but a few important points are missing, they don't sound or feel like real drums at all. 

Electronic Drums Have Hit A Wall With Their Technology

Just like with electronic drum kits, I believe digital metal detectors have hit a wall with their performance, so manufactures are now concentrating on what I call the 'optics', which is the way things look, wireless capability, ergonomics etc, clocks, lights basically elements that don't actually help you find more in the actual ground. I would rather swing an analog detector with zero gimmicks that performs brilliantly and gives me instant feedback as opposed to a detector full of settings and options that don't really contribute to finding me more in the ground. Multiple tonal options might be fun to mess with but are you really going to find more using them?

Human Instinct Can't Be Overridden By Synthetic Stimulation

Does Any Of This Actually Matter? I guess the answer to that question is NO, for a huge amount of people they just want to switch a machine on with very little thought and find some cool stuff. I've stated many times before that all the machines on the market today will find a huge amount of treasure, this is being proven every day. I've also stated that I believe that most targets are between 4 to 8 inches down so that puts them in the realms of pretty much every machine out there. BUT .. going back to the main point I'm making in this blog, for me personally, metal detecting is an art form and its the connection between me and the feel of the machine I'm swinging.

A Panoramic Perspective

I could've stayed swinging one brand of machine becoming the master of my own birdcage but I realised that I needed to use a number of different detectors both digital and analog to start to build a realistic view of the overall capabilities. Everything I've written in this blog has come about through hours and hours of hunting with all my different detectors. I find those that come at me with their nasty bullshit are the ones that have a very narrow perspective and knowledge base in regards to the detectors they've used. Empty Vessels Make The Most Noise

Conclusion

For me personally there is a delay and disconnect between digital audio and analog audio, this isn't just in metal detecting, it meshes into music as well. In the scheme of things it's really no big deal but it's important for me to try and explain my point of view. Audio on a machine is a language and for me analog is the most nuanced and instant, nothing about this hobby is visual. This is where the disconnect comes in for me nowadays, manufactures have hit a wall so they're desperately trying to come up with gimmicks and distractions that keep people focusing on all the wrong things.