I read an interview recently with a famous and working pop producer who said
he really likes DASH machines and still uses them on his projects all the
time. Maybe he doesn't want anybody doing remixes in 5 or 10 years.
Just a data point: I've had trouble with other brands, but I have dozens of
Fuji DAT tapes that are 15 - 20 years old that play without any problems.
They've just been stored in a box, in a closet. I transferred a bunch of
them last summer and was surprised to find no dropouts or transport
problems. Error rates were low on my 3800. I'm reluctant to even put another
brand of tape into the machine.
Carl
-----Original Message-----
From: Association for Recorded Sound Discussion List
[mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Tom Fine
Sent: Friday, February 03, 2012 1:55 PM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: [ARSCLIST] Baking Digital Audio tapes
Regarding DASH and similar multi-track tape digital formats, I never saw the
appeal. The equipment
cost a fortune and was semi-reliable (a slave to how well the tape
manufacturer did their job, how
well the tape happened to be moving on a given day at a given temperature
and a given humidity
level, etc). Meantime, analog multi-track tape technology had advanced to
where the electronics were
very quiet, tape formulations allowed a high operating level (low relative
noise floor) and Dolby SR
was available to those who just can't stand to hear any hiss. Output was
quite close to input on the
late-generation analog recorders, and you had 50 years of technological
evolution to call on. Plus
the equipment was cheaper, at first. I can definitely understand why the
world has moved to
DAW-based production, there are serious cost-saving advantages and also
workflow speed advantages.
Also, digital conversion, in and out, has advanced since the days of DASH,
so a typical professional
rig operating at a high resolution setting should do output equal to input
for all intents and
purposes to any human hearing.
-- Tom Fine
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