Relay-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utzoo.UUCP Posting-Version: version B 2.10.1 6/24/83; site brl-tgr.ARPA Path: utzoo!watmath!clyde!burl!hou3c!hocda!houxm!houxz!vax135!floyd!cmcl2!seismo!brl-tgr!wmartin From: wmartin@brl-tgr.ARPA (Will Martin ) Newsgroups: net.audio Subject: New digital audio recorder Message-ID: <3023@brl-tgr.ARPA> Date: Wed, 6-Jun-84 09:31:35 EDT Article-I.D.: brl-tgr.3023 Posted: Wed Jun 6 09:31:35 1984 Date-Received: Thu, 7-Jun-84 19:01:29 EDT Organization: Ballistics Research Lab Lines: 73 There is a wierd new audio device advertised and briefly described in the June, 84, issue of CONSUMER ELECTRONICS, a trade publication. This is a CES special edition, so there is lots of new-product announcement hype. This is a digital audio recorder using floppy disks. The reason I say this is "wierd" is that, after reading all the tales of woe and misery and frustration regarding floppies that has appeared on net.micro and related groups, I cannot believe that anyone would desire to use this medium for anything; for microcomputers, it seems to be a case of the cost-effectiveness and the lesser of several evils, but this announcement seems to herald the use of floppies in this application as the first step into a wonderful new era of audio. Of course, everything from quad to "Playtapes" to Elcasets was so heralded, so I guess I should be used to it by now... Anyway, there is practically no technical info. The ad is just "gee-whiz, this new toy is the greatest and a 'revolutionary concept'". The company is "CompuSonics", and they have a toll-free number of 800-223-1821. The photo may be of a dummy, as it is very dim, black-front on a black background, with a few control legends dimly viewable and what may be LED's shining on a few of them. A meter scale is visible, but no meter readings. It appears to be about 4 inches high and 19 inches or so wide. A horizontal floppy drive on the left (upper corner, with the floppy in a model's hand hiding whatever might be below), meters on the upper right, probably LED or similar. A row of buttons or switches is across the front, marked "ENTER SKIP RESET FORWARD REVERSE RECORD A TELERECORD A ON B LEVEL A" "FAST FOR. FAST REV. RECORD B TELERECORD B ON A" (top line above the controls, lower line below); also jacks marked PHONES, A, and B. The article (on p. 130) has no picture, and I extract selections therefrom: "The Denver-based firm recently introduced two systems, one for the professional and one for the consumer market. The latter -- model DSP-1000 -- should retail for around $1000 when it ships to audio specialty dealers first quarter, 1985. It will allow consumers to make home digital recordings from any digital or analog source. Storage is in the digital format [sic - there's only one? -WM] on 5 1/4 inch high density blank floppy disks. The system will be compatible with all conventional stereo components." "CompuSonics has formed an agreement in principle with Boston-based Rounder Records for prerecorded music production and distribution of Rounder artists (among them, The Persuasions, and George Thorogood and the Destroyers) on floppy disks." "Through its "Telerecord" funtion, consumers will be able to access a remote database through AT&T's "Accunet" service. Down the road, the user will be able to purchase digital transmission of music programming directly for dubbing onto the system." ..it interfaces with an IBM PC... "The consumer version is rack-mountable. It consists of a chassis containing a single board computer with expansion bus, superfloppy disk drive with controller, RCA jacks, power supply, and computer and communications interfaces. [Note - no mention of audio circuits or DACs -WM] The professional CompuSonics product line is already shipping, priced at about $30,000 for a four-track system to about $100,000 for 16-tracks." *End of article extract* Well, that's all I know about it. I would think that the amount of digital data you could store on a floppy would mean a very limited amount of music, or a quite low sampling rate. Neither sounds desireable. And 16 tracks on the professional system would mean a very short recording time on a floppy! (Maybe the pro system uses 8-inch floppies or hard disks; the article doesn't say.) Technology stumbles on... Will