professional

Yamaha M20P (1990 – mid 1990s)

The Yamaha M20P digital audio tape cassette was introduced in 1990 for use with the Yamaha DMR8 digital mixer/recorder and the DRU8 digital recorder.

The DMR8 was an integrated mixer and recorder that could store digital audio on 8 tracks on the M20P cassette. The DRU8 was a standalone recorder unit, also using the M20P cassette, that could be linked to the DMR8 to increase the number of tracks to 16, or increase recording time to 40 minutes. A second DRU8 could also be linked to offer 24-track recording.

The DMR8 was claimed to be the first multitrack recorder to offer 20 bit recording.

The M20P tape cassette used a proprietary shell with metal particle 8 mm tape, and could store up to 22 minutes of audio at 44.1 kHz/20 bits, or 20 minutes at 48 kHz/20 bits. The recorder used an 8-track stationary head (S-DAT) that required high tape speeds.

The DMR8 and DRU8 were discontinued by 1995 as they couldn’t compete with the cheaper Alesis ADAT and Tascam DTRS systems.

Figures

Dimensions: 11.8 cm × 7.7 cm x 1.6 cm

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Akai MK (1984 – early 1990s)

The MK cassette was introduced in 1984 by Akai for use in its MG1212 analogue 12-track recorder. This was a 12-channel/12-track recorder aimed at the home music recording market (it was marketed at the time as a ‘micro studio’) and it used the MK audio cassette for recording. The MTR on the slip cover stood for Multi-Track Recording.

The MK cassette was a proprietary Akai design using ½-inch wide tape, and was adapted from the Akai VK video cassette of 1977.  Although it looks similar to a Betamax video cassette, they are not related.

The MK cassette offered up to 20 minutes of recording time when used at 3¾ ips (9.5cm/s), or just 10 minutes at 7½ ips (19cm/s). The only tape length offered appears to be the 20 minute MK20J version.

In 1987, the MG1212 was replaced with the MG1214 that also used the MK cassette, and the MG14D, a rack-mounted version of the MG1214. It’s unclear how long these were marketed for.

During the 1990s, digital audio tape recording formats such as DAT, ADAT and DTRS/DA-88 became available.

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Emidisc (1946 – mid 1970s)

Emidisc was a brand of lacquer disc (sometime known as acetate or instantaneous disc) that was introduced to the UK market perhaps as early as 1946 (when the Emidisc name was trademarked) by EMI. They were made under license from the Pyral company in France that had invented the nitrocellulose lacquer-coated disc in 1934 and that also licensed the process to Audio Devices, Inc. for their Audiodisc brand in the US.

Emidiscs appear to mostly have been used by by recording studios either as master discs or to give to clients to hear at home what they had recorded in the studio. Some had an extra drive pin hole to prevent slippage on simpler cutting machines that lacked a vacuum to hold the disc in place. Like many other lacquer discs, the core of an Emidisc is made of aluminium, making the disc much heavier than a standard shellac or vinyl record.

Emidiscs may have typed or handwritten information on the label, and can be difficult to date. The lacquer coating wears much quicker than standard shellac or vinyl records, and a chipped stylus can damage the disc in one play.

The Emidisc brand appears to have been in use for lacquer discs until around the mid-1970s, judging by entries on Discogs, and the Emidisc label was used from 1970 by EMI in Europe for budget record releases.

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Digital-S / D-9 (1995 – early 2000s)

Digital-S (or D-9) was a professional digital video tape cassette format introduced by JVC in 1995.

The cassette shell was very similar to JVC’s VHS format, but despite this Digital-S is not compatible with the later consumer D-VHS format as the tape formulation and data format are different.

Digital-S competed with other professional formats such as DVCAM, DVCPRO and Digital Betacam, and was a commercial failure. However, it saw some use in the US, Asia, and Europe, including at the BBC.

Digital-S was given the designation D-9 by the SMPTE in 1999. A high-definition version, D-9 HD, was announced but doesn’t appear to have been launched.

D-9 doesn’t appear to have lasted much beyond the early 2000s.

Figures

Dimensions: 18.7 cm × 10.2 cm × 2.5 cm

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DASH (Digital Audio Stationary Head) (1982 – mid-1990s)

Sony introduced the DASH (Digital Audio Stationary Head) in 1982 for use in professional recording studios. The DASH system could record two-channel audio on ¼-inch tape, or 24 or 48 tracks onto ½-inch tape, and DASH recorders were produced by Sony, Studer and TASCAM.

The tape itself looked identical to standard NAB open reel analogue tape, but tape for use in DASH and the competing (and incompatible) ProDigi format systems used metal-particle tape which was not suitable for use in analogue systems due to the faster wear on the heads. Several companies produced open reel metal-particle tape for digital audio systems, and some examples included 3M Scotch 275, Ampex 467, EMTEC 931 and Sony own-brand tape. Metal-particle tape was even more expensive than oxide-based tape for analogue systems.

Unlike some other digital audio recording systems using tape such as DAT or U-Matic which used helical scanning, the DASH and ProDigi systems used a stationary recording head.

The audio was encoded as PCM, and included error correction, and all DASH recorders were capable of using 16-bit resolution with a 44.1 or 48 kHz sampling rate, with a couple of models capable of 24-bit 48 kHz operation.

DASH and ProDigi were the two main open-reel digital audio recording systems in use from the early-1980s to the mid-1990s, but eventually the falling price of hard-disk space, as well as more compact systems such as ADAT, made them less viable.

Although DASH was a digital system, it still had the disadvantage of having to wind through the tape to find a particular point, and wear could still be a problem. Poorly maintained machines or tape, dust, or fingerprints could render tapes unusable despite the error correction system.

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ADAT (Alesis Digital Audio Tape) (1992 – 2003)

ADAT was a digital audio recording format, and was aimed at the professional studio market. It was introduced by Alesis and the first recorders were shipped in 1992.

ADAT could record up to 8 tracks, but multiple machines could be connected and synchronised to create recordings with up to 128 tracks. At the time, the only alternatives were 2 track DAT machines, the expensive Yamaha DMR8, or very expensive digital open reel (DTRS was introduced a year later). ADAT was very sucessful, partly due to its affordability, and over 110,000 ADAT recorders were sold worldwide.

The recorder used S-VHS cassettes as the recording medium. Although intended for analogue video recording, these tapes were ideal for ADAT, with their width allowing for 8 tracks, good quality, and easy availability at the time. Although specially made S-VHS cassettes were available for the ADAT format, any premium-quality S-VHS video cassette could be used, though it was recommended to be no more than 120 minutes long (when used for ADAT, up to 40 minutes per tape was possible).

The first generation of ADAT recorders (also known as ‘Blackface’) recorded at 16 bits per sample (ADAT Type I). Later generations supported 20 bits per sample (ADAT Type II) but were backward compatible with recordings from the first generation.

ADAT was discontinued in 2003, but the name lived on in the ADAT HD24, a hard-drive based recorder.

Figures

Dimensions: 18.7 cm × 10.2 cm × 2.5 cm

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DTRS (Digital Tape Recording System) / DA-88 (1993 – 2012)

DTRS (Digital Tape Recording System) was a magnetic tape format for professional digital audio recording. It was introduced by TASCAM in 1993 for use in the DA-88 digital multitrack recorder.

The DA-88 and later models could record up to eight tracks, but devices could be combined to record 16, 24 or more tracks. The first models in the range recorded at 16-bit resolution, with later models recording at 24-bit resolution. Sony also produced a DTRS recorder.

The tape itself was simply Hi8 video tape (an analogue video format) that was used to store audio in the digital DTRS format, and it allowed long continuous recording times. The format was considered to be affordable and reliable.

DTRS was discontinued in 2012, as recording studios have moved to hard-drive recording.

Figures

Dimensions: 95 mm × 62.5 mm × 15 mm

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1-inch Type C video tape (1976 – mid-1990s)

1-inch Type C video tape was an open reel magnetic tape format for professional analogue video recording.

It was introduced by Ampex and Sony in 1976, and replaced the then standard 2-inch Quadruplex video tape in broadcast use, and the Ampex 1-inch Type A format. In fact, the last Type A machine, the Ampex VPR-1, could be converted to Type C by Ampex and many were.

1-inch Type C is capable of functions such as still, shuttle, and variable-speed playback, including slow motion that 2-inch Quadruplex and 1-inch Type B videotape machines lacked, due to the manner in which they recorded video tracks onto the tape.

Despite being a composite video format like U-matic or VHS, 1-inch Type C has very high video quality, approaching that of component video formats like Betacam. It became a mainstay in television and video production for almost 20 years, before being supplanted by more compact videocassette formats like Betacam, DVCAM, D1, D2 and DVCPro. It was also widely used as the master videotape format for mastering of the first generation of LaserDisc titles released, until being replaced in the late 1980s by D2.

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Preservation / Migration

Media Stability Rating

Media Stability Rating 5 - Very High Risk

Obsolescence Rating

Obsolescence Rating 5 - Extinct or Very High Risk