DAT-Heads Digest #530

Contents:

What decks would you get if... (Phil Johnson) Re: OKM mics (thomas westphal) Re: CD-R (graham@rbg.informatik.th-darmstadt.de) AKG 461 Power & Preamp needed ("William R. Hoy") Sony TCD-D3 DAT: excessive (non-)service time (Peter Adamson) Email bouncing (Kurt Kemp) Re: Antennas (Don Borowski) (Daniel Pepper) Multiple Digital Connections (David Minches) japanese dat heads (Chris Bold) DA-P1 warming up problems. (RKB4%ERF%EbrFacErf@go50.comp.pge.com) DAT vs. Audio Cassette (TristTom@aol.com) Sony TCD-D3 DAT: excessive (non-)service time (Peter Adamson) tip for posting to dat-heads (Andy Bensky) DAT tape 150 meter length ("John R. Vanderpool") Concerning my DAT page (David Landsberger) Ratdog AZ show (Kurt Kemp) Sony DTC-1000es and Sony PCM-2500 ("Wayne D. Correia")
From: Phil Johnson <pj@unlinfo.unl.edu> Subject: What decks would you get if... Date: Mon, 4 Dec 1995 00:35:52 -0600 (CST) Well, after reading the FAQs and this list for a few months, I'm about to try to set up an audio workstation in a university multimedia development lab (90% Mac). I want one portable DAT (maybe D8, maybe not), and one other (portable or not) that can manipulate or defeat SCMS. Some clients might be using these to master CDs, such as an "auditory stimuli" CD for research. We have a Kodak PCD-200. I wish I could say that money's no object, but it is. If anyone wants to try to influence my decision on what to get - please do. Anyone wanting to send price lists or advice or cautions can reach me at pj@unl.edu - and I'll be most grateful. Phil
From: thomas westphal <westphal@acc.bessy.de> Subject: Re: OKM mics Reply-To: westphal@acc.bessy.de Date: Mon, 4 Dec 95 13:20:30 CET >Can someone give me the address/phone for OKM mics in Germany? > >Has anyone here used their OKM-2 models? > >Thanks alot, > >Jay Hi! The address is: Soundman Shop Urbanstr. 112 D 10967 Berlin Germany Phone: ++49 30 6913718 I would like to know myself if the OKM mics are comparable to Core Sound's. Thomas. <westphal@acc.bessy.de>
From: graham@rbg.informatik.th-darmstadt.de Subject: Re: CD-R Date: Mon, 4 Dec 95 14:19:21 MEZ I just wanted to say that at the moment, it is not clear how long CD, CD-R, DAT, MD or computer storage mediums last. What we know is, that a LP lasts defenitly 100 years and more - LPs from 1900 are stil playable but magnetic based mediums like DAT, MD or even hard disc have worked out to be not as reliable as everybody seems to think. IBM gives a warranty of - I think it was - 5 years on there hard discs. 30 year old computer tapes from the GDR are getting unreadable because of magnetic fields and tape oxidation. And nowadays we're saving much more data on a square inch than 30 years ago ! It's getting very easy to lose lots of bits. Just give your CD some sun and the alluminium coat on the back side will start to do some oxidations. Just a little hole in this coat and a lot of data will be lost. I thinks THAT is the big problem with all the digital storage. If only some bits turns out to be bad (only one if it's compuer stuff) the whole data can get useless. Analog tapes will still be playable in a hundred years, but the quality may get worse (2" 24 track tapes won't get that worse I guess). Just my $.02. What I wanted to point out is that I would not bet for a CD or CD-R to be usefull in hundred or even only 15 years. Alex ======================================================== Alexander Graham Informatik TH-Darmstadt "You can say what you want - but it doesn't change anything." NMA
From: "William R. Hoy" <whoy@ee.wpi.edu> Subject: AKG 461 Power & Preamp needed Date: Mon, 4 Dec 1995 09:26:32 -0500 (EST) Hi, I have a pair of AKG 461 mics with the CK3 hypercardiod capsules. I have some money around Christmas time, so I am looking for a good power supply and preamp package, or just power supply package. Can anyone suggest some products I could look into, and where they might be found. I have heard the Oade's supply & preamp is excellent. I'd like to look into the smallest device I can, in case it needs to be used for stealth. Any suggestions would be much appreciated. Also, is there any way you can separate the mic capsule from the mic body? Do you need what is called the "active cable?" I thought I heard someone say around here that those cables were tough to come by. Thanks, Bill whoy@ee.wpi.edu
From: Peter Adamson <pga@st-and.ac.uk> Subject: Sony TCD-D3 DAT: excessive (non-)service time Date: 4 Dec 1995 15:08:52 GMT (apologies for cross-posting -- I'm not sure where best to post this) I am looking for advice and comments on the following problem which I have experienced with a Sony TCD-D3 DAT machine (bought January 1992). On 1 July I took the TCD-D3 to my local Sony Centre for service to correct the following problems: (a) Faltering on forward wind: towards the end of some tapes, the machine repeatedly stopped (as though having discovered the end of the tape) and then restarted, stopped, started etc (with much mechanical fussing). For a short (e.g. 15min.) tape, this problem tended to occur near the beginning of the tape (which is of course also near the end). The problem seemed to be getting worse, and made forward winding often effectively impossible and likely to wear out the mechanisim. Rewind was fine, and any problem tapes were also fine on other DAT machines I tried (including another TCD-D3). Tapes were of various lengths (15min. to 180min.), by Maxell, Sony, TDK, HHb. (b) The CAUTION indicator very occasionally came on when I tried to eject a tape. The machine was sent by the Sony Centre to their usual service company, who decided the problem was too specialised, and in due course it was sent to a specialist service company. In late August, I finally heard that it needed a new head drum assembly, because the motor was found to have an intermittent fault. Because of the great cost of this (about * $450 *), I queried the assumption that it would cure the forward-wind problem, but was assured that that was what was needed. And so I reluctantly agreed to the proposed repair. Needless to say, when I went in early October to collect the machine, the forward-wind problem (a) remained, and so the machine was returned to the service company forthwith, with a 15min. tape as demonstration of the problem. To cut a long story short: after much argument, two letters to Sony (UK), and an unhappy hour spent demonstrating in the Sony Centre that only 4 out of 19 tapes did NOT give the fault, we have reached an uncomfortable deadlock. The service company currently have the machine (with its mains power supply), and insist that it now performs to specification; I suspect that they have never actually witnessed the forward-wind fault, which is puzzling. I have not yet paid for the head drum assembly replacement. I should welcome suggestions about: 1 a possible cause of the forward wind fault (and perhaps its cure) 2 what Sony9s attitude should be towards this situation 3 what I should do next >> I have now been without the DAT machine for OVER FIVE MONTHS << Peter Adamson
From: Kurt Kemp <KKEMP@ibm.mtsac.edu> Subject: Email bouncing Date: Mon, 04 Dec 95 07:11:47 PST If any of you tried to get in touch with me over the weekend, only to see your email bounce back to you, there was some problem with the school's main server here, which has now been fixed. Please give 'er a 2nd try. Peace, Kurt
From: Don Borowski <borowski@spk.hp.com> Subject: Re: Antennas Date: Mon, 4 Dec 95 7:37:53 PST BFREDKIN@cmcvax.mckenna.edu wrote: >for picking up fm radio signals, what is the best antenna to use: >the soft wire ones that you tape to a wall in the form of a T, or >rabbit-ears antenna that can also be used for TV reception? >thanks, >BriAn The soft wire type is a better impedance match to the FM radio. But rabbit-ears are more easily moved to get the best reception. But neither one is that good, since they both receive off the broad side, and so will be picking up both the main signal and reflections. For best results, you would want to get a multielement FM antenna. Radio Shack used to sell them, and still may. Donald Borowski WA6OMI Hewlett-Packard, Spokane Division "Angels are able to fly because they take themselves so lightly." -G.K. Chesterton
From: Daniel Pepper <dape1237@mailszrz.zrz.tu-berlin.de> Subject: Date: Mon, 4 Dec 1995 15:59:12 GMT unsubscribe
From: David Minches <dminches@voicenet.com> Subject: Multiple Digital Connections Date: Mon, 4 Dec 95 11:26:24 EST What are people doing to connect several digital sources (DAT, CD, etc) into one digital device such as an anti-jitter or D/A? Although my anti-jitter has 3 inputs (coaxial, optical and XLR), I would prefer to feed into only the coaxial. What are my choices?
From: Chris Bold <cbold@direct.ca> Subject: japanese dat heads Date: Mon, 04 Dec 1995 09:28:06 -0800 hello , i'll be visiting the Tokyo and Yokohamma areas in late dec and if possible would like to meet up with some fellow dat heads . i'd like to know if there are any cool shows commming to the area as well... <pollstar is down...> thanks in advance. cb
From: RKB4%ERF%EbrFacErf@go50.comp.pge.com Subject: DA-P1 warming up problems. Date: Mon, 4 Dec 95 9:18:31 PST I haven't had any problems with mine in this regard nor the high pitched whine or on/off problems reported with the early models. Did have a minor problem with a cold solder joint on the phantom power supply which was easily fixed by the local Tascam repair shop in San Francisco. By the way if you get a whine it may be as a result of recording with the RCA inputs from either a outboard mike/preamp or from another source via those RCA inputs. If you do this make sure you switch the unit to line (from the mike or mike pad setting) and leave off the phantom power. As I recall if you forget to do this you will get a little high frequency noise. Perhaps the warming up problem is due to condensation on the heads...are you bringing it from a cold area into a warm area...check for the condensation icon on the screen that is mentioned in the instruction book. It is a great deck thus far...excellent recordings and neat features. Hopefully it will be trouble free down the road. By the way...this may be useful information...the TASCAM and Fostex official repair station here in San Francisco told me that Tascam units are a lot easier to work on than Fostex. Fostex evidently has poor layout of boards, etc. in all of their units. Tascam is laid out in a much better design for access. This may be of little concern to us end users other than that you will be paying for that more cluttered layout in labor charges during maintenance/repair jobs. Bob Berta
From: TristTom@aol.com Subject: DAT vs. Audio Cassette Date: Mon, 4 Dec 1995 12:58:59 -0500 The salesperson at a local store told me that he believes that a pro-quality regular audio cassette deck can sound as good as DAT. At first, I thought he was way off base, but upon thinking about it, I thought that perhaps he was right. Aside from not being able to do digital, how close does cassette come to DAT in terms of perceived audio quality? Tristan Li Tom
From: Peter Adamson <pga@st-andrews.ac.uk> Subject: Sony TCD-D3 DAT: excessive (non-)service time Date: Mon, 04 Dec 95 15:10:06 0000 (apologies for cross-posting -- I'm not sure where best to post this) I am looking for advice and comments on the following problem which I have experienced with a Sony TCD-D3 DAT machine (bought January 1992). On 1 July I took the TCD-D3 to my local Sony Centre for service to correct the following problems: (a) Faltering on forward wind: towards the end of some tapes, the machine repeatedly stopped (as though having discovered the end of the tape) and then restarted, stopped, started etc (with much mechanical fussing). For a short (e.g. 15min.) tape, this problem tended to occur near the beginning of the tape (which is of course also near the end). The problem seemed to be getting worse, and made forward winding often effectively impossible and likely to wear out the mechanisim. Rewind was fine, and any problem tapes were also fine on other DAT machines I tried (including another TCD-D3). Tapes were of various lengths (15min. to 180min.), by Maxell, Sony, TDK, HHb. (b) The CAUTION indicator very occasionally came on when I tried to eject a tape. The machine was sent by the Sony Centre to their usual service company, who decided the problem was too specialised, and in due course it was sent to a specialist service company. In late August, I finally heard that it needed a new head drum assembly, because the motor was found to have an intermittent fault. Because of the great cost of this (about * $450 *), I queried the assumption that it would cure the forward-wind problem, but was assured that that was what was needed. And so I reluctantly agreed to the proposed repair. Needless to say, when I went in early October to collect the machine, the forward-wind problem (a) remained, and so the machine was returned to the service company forthwith, with a 15min. tape as demonstration of the problem. To cut a long story short: after much argument, two letters to Sony (UK), and an unhappy hour spent demonstrating in the Sony Centre that only 4 out of 19 tapes did NOT give the fault, we have reached an uncomfortable deadlock. The service company currently have the machine (with its mains power supply), and insist that it now performs to specification; I suspect that they have never actually witnessed the forward-wind fault, which is puzzling. I have not yet paid for the head drum assembly replacement. I should welcome suggestions about: 1 a possible cause of the forward wind fault (and perhaps its cure) 2 what Sonys attitude should be towards this situation 3 what I should do next >> I have now been without the DAT machine for OVER FIVE MONTHS << Peter Adamson
From: Andy Bensky <ab@infoseek.com> Subject: tip for posting to dat-heads Date: Mon, 4 Dec 1995 12:03:38 -0800 I just read a completely useless message in a digest that said: > If your tape came out fairly decent from last night's Cottomwood Aud. show, I'd > be *very* interested in a quick trade. I've got quite a few of the shows from > this year, two of which are DSBDs. This message does not tell me very much, like who the performer(s) were, when the show was, and where the show was. Please people, remember that Dat-Heads is an international forum. Many people receive (and/or read) these digests days after they come out and often messages will be delayed for any number or reasons and days before even making it to the digest. Here are some tips to make your posts more generally useful to everyone: 1. Please do not use phrases such as "tonight" or "last night". Be specific with dates. 2. Always indicate what group or performer you are talking about. There was a time when it could be assumed that mention of a performance without explicitly mentioning the band name would always be the Dead. With the current expanding list readership and lack of Dead recent shows this is no longer true. 3. Always give city & state (and country if not US) info when talking about a particular venue. Not everyone else knows where "Cottomwood Aud." is. I know I don't. If you use a little common sense in writing a post then there is a much higher chance that your post will be of interest to more people on the list, which is what we are all after, right? I've been seeing a lot of this lately and this last post violated all of these simple rules. Sorry for the bandwith for those who know this stuff. andy
From: "John R. Vanderpool" <fish@daacdev1.stx.com> Subject: DAT tape 150 meter length Date: Mon, 4 Dec 1995 15:12:40 -0500 (EST) i'm surprised w/ all the 180 meter hub-ub lately (another data point, i've never had any problem w/ them in Fostex D5, Sony 59ES, Denon DTR80p or a Panasonic 3700) that no one has mentioned that both TDK and Denon are selling 150 meter (2.5 hour) tapes in Japan now. i got some of the 150 meter Denon's in a trade and they seem pretty good, nice low error rates. fish -- ...and I, I don't mind the pain, don't mind the drivin' rain, I know I will sustain, because I believe in you.... -bob dylan for Earth Science data and information use URL http://daac.gsfc.nasa.gov/
From: David Landsberger <berger@david_landsberger.psych.brown.edu> Subject: Concerning my DAT page Date: Mon, 4 Dec 1995 14:44:18 -0500 (EST) Some people had reported problems with my dat page as their web browsers couldn't find my machine. I was stuck on this one for a while, but I finally figured out what was wrong. The machine name brown assigned me was David_Landsberger, but apparently the internet doesn't like underscores as parts of machine names. ALthough most machines were still able to use it, those that were stricter about sticking to standards couldn't find it. Anwyay, my machine (and web page) has a new name. You can now access my dat page at http://shinbone.psych.brown.edu/berger/dat.html Old URLs, if they worked for you before, should still work. But this new one should work for everybody. David ====== David Landsberger Department of Psychology Brown University David_Landsberger@brown.edu Check out my web page at http://Shinbone.Psych.Brown.Edu/berger or my DAT page at http://Shinbone.Psych.Brown.Edu/berger/dat.html
From: Kurt Kemp <KKEMP@ibm.mtsac.edu> Subject: Ratdog AZ show Date: Mon, 04 Dec 95 12:23:27 PST If a fellow taper happened to tape the Mesa amph. show on Sun with csbs or better, I've got quite a few of the shows from the Aug/Sept tour to trade and I'll also be taping the Wiltern and San Diego shows. Peace, Kurt
From: "Wayne D. Correia" <wayne@club.net> Subject: Sony DTC-1000es and Sony PCM-2500 Date: Mon, 4 Dec 1995 13:52:33 -0800 Hi, This is my first posting to DATheads. I have an ancient DTC-1000es. I have done the 44.1 analog recording mod (D715), and I also wanted to defeat the 'PRE-SCMS COPY PROHIBIT'. As detailed in the FAQ, I snipped D721, but I am still denied recording from the coaxial digital inputs on the rear. My unit's serial # is 208875, and this was originally a Japan 100v model if that helps. Anybody out there have a clue on this one? I would love to make more use of the direct digital inputs. Right now, I can use it as a source deck to my SONY-D3, but not vice-versa using the coaxial digital inputs. Also, my friend has a Sony PCM-2500. We have the same problems with the coaxial digital inputs as above. Thankfully, there was already a switch for 48/44.1 analog recording on this one, so no mod was necessary for that, but the COPY PROHIBIT thing is a big problem. I would appreciate any help available. Thanks! ______________________________________________________________________ 900 Tennessee St. TEL: +1.415.826.6000 <wayne@club.net> San Francisco CA 94107 FAX: +1.415.826.6100 http://www.club.net/ ______________________________________________________________________
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