Topic: [Style] Use of arrows or greater than signs in lineage to connote signal flow

[morst]

Sometimes I see recording chain details listed with signal flow in reverse, and I’d like to try to explain why it is backwards


When I list my gear used, I begin by mentioning the transducer which converts air motion to electricity, such as the make and model of my microphone system


e.g. Neumann KM140


I then use a “greater than” character in place of a right arrow to denote that the electrical signal flows out of the mic and into the next piece of gear. Then I list the next piece of gear, such as the Zoom F3 recorder.


KM140 > Zoom F3


Sometimes I see lineage listed in reverse and it makes me scratch my head in wonder.


If I wrote it up as F3 > KM140 that would imply that signal from the recorder flows into the microphone, but that is literally the opposite of how the electrical signal moves.


I hope this makes sense, and might help folks to list their gear in the order that the signal proceeds within the circuitry.


As a side note, modern computers are able to generate and display a glyph which is, in fact, a right arrow, to wit: ➡️
Despite this potential, in order to be backwards compatible, I still think it’s best to use the more rudimentary “greater-than” sign, or if desired, a hyphen or dash character followed by the greater than sign character.
->


I am aware that this detail is not terribly important, but my brain has requested that my finger poke at the virtual keyboard to express this pedantic bit of typographic suggestion.


Thank you for reading this.

[vanark]

The reverse order ones I see are a head scratcher.

[nulldogmas]

I just assumed some tapers are unstuck in time.

[VibrationOfLife]

I just assumed some tapers are unstuck in time.

Or dyslexic.

[rocksuitcase]

I Agree morst.
MY pedantic addition to this topic will be:
I DO NOT PREFER seeing into or goes into arrows written as ->, I PREFER them written as morst denotes: >

Reason: as an older dude, back in the day, especially on BB sites such as The Well, you would get "yelled at" if you used too many characters. This is my only reason for what is now a 30+ year obsession with these things. 

[morst]

I Agree morst.
MY pedantic addition to this topic will be:
I DO NOT PREFER seeing into or goes into arrows written as ->, I PREFER them written as morst denotes: >

Reason: as an older dude, back in the day, especially on BB sites such as The Well, you would get "yelled at" if you used too many characters. This is my only reason for what is now a 30+ year obsession with these things. 

on a dial-up account, every character counts!
GratefulDead? NO NO NO it's GD
Phish? WAAAAAY TOO LONG! Call it ph

[grawk]

I don't remember anyone getting complained at for -> instead of > on the well

[rocksuitcase]

I don't remember anyone getting complained at for -> instead of > on the well

You know how some people were back in the internecine day! I got "yelled at" many times about using too many characters.
To be fair, it my not have been -> vs >; however, the netiquette police were prolific on the Well back then.

 I kept my e-mails from that time period on zip drives.   lol
I used to be able to know the convos I had going all the way back to the first post I made.
Miss that place.

[capnhook]

Can't use ">" in YouTube video details 


I switch to "-" to appease the machine 

[morst]

Can't use ">" in YouTube video details :banging:


I switch to "-" to appease the machine 

I do this on purpose in segues on my archive posts. Just in the actual multi-song track titles, not in the info.txt files.
Can't even recall why exactly, but probably to avoid it being interpreted as part of an HTML tag?!

[fanofjam]

On Dime, you could get banned for using -> instead of >.

Just kidding, but then again maybe not.  Dimes moderators suck so bad.

[fobstl]

The backward lineage has always been a head scratcher for me too. Good to see I'm not the only one!

[Gutbucket]

Yes, agreed.  Didn't know about the ghost in the machine pushing substitution of - for >, thanks.
 
My long-standing meta-take: musical volition > vibrations > voltages > numeric values > voltages > vibrations > virtual teleportation time-machine experience