Digital Audio Tape
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|
Magnetic cassette tape | |
Encoding | Lossless real-time |
---|---|
Capacity | Up to 120 or 180 minutes (consumer tapes on non-LP mode) |
Read mechanism | Rotating head, helical scan |
Write mechanism | Rotating head, helical scan |
Developed by | Sony |
Usage | Audio storage |
Extended to | Digital Data Storage |
Released | 1987 |
Digital Audio Tape (DAT or R-DAT) is a signal recording and playback medium developed by
Like most formats of
Although intended as a replacement for analog audio compact cassettes, the format was never widely adopted by consumers because of its expense, as well as concerns from the music industry about unauthorized high-quality copies. The format saw moderate success in professional markets and as a computer storage medium, which was developed into the Digital Data Storage format. As Sony has ceased production of new recorders, it will become more difficult to play archived recordings in this format unless they are copied to other formats or hard drives. Meanwhile, the phenomenon of sticky-shed syndrome has been noted by some engineers involved in re-mastering archival recordings on DAT, which presents a further threat to audio held exclusively in this medium.
History
Development
The technology of DAT is closely based on
The DAT standard allows for four sampling modes: 32 kHz at 12 bits, and 32 kHz, 44.1 kHz or 48 kHz at 16 bits. Certain recorders operate outside the specification, allowing recording at 96 kHz and 24 bits (HHS). Some early machines aimed at the consumer market did not operate at 44.1 kHz when recording so they could not be used to 'clone' a compact disc. Since each recording standard uses the same tape, the quality of the sampling has a direct relation to the duration of the recording – 32 kHz at 12 bits will allow six hours of recording onto a three-hour tape while HHS will only give 90 minutes from the same tape. Included in the signal data are subcodes to indicate the start and end of tracks or to skip a section entirely; this allows for indexing and fast seeking. Two-channel
DATs are between 15 and 180 minutes in length, a 120-minute tape being 60 metres in length. DATs longer than 60 metres tend to be problematic in DAT recorders due to the thinner media. DAT machines running at 48 kHz and 44.1 kHz sample rates transport the tape at 8.15 mm/s. DAT machines running at 32 kHz sample rate transport the tape at 4.075 mm/s.[citation needed]
Predecessor formats
DAT was not the first digital audio tape;
In 1976, another digital audio tape format was developed by
Starting in 1978,
The first consumer-oriented PCM format used consumer video tape formats (Beta and VHS) as the storage medium. These systems used the EIAJ digital format, which sampled at 44.056 kHz at 14 bits. The Sony PCM-F1 system debuted in 1981, and Sony from the start offered the option of 16-bit wordlength. Other systems were marketed by Akai, JVC, Nakamichi and others. Panasonic, via its Technics division, briefly sold a digital recorder that combined an EIAJ digital adapter with a VHS video transport, the SV-P100. These machines were marketed by consumer electronics companies to consumers, but they were very pricey compared to cassette or even reel-to-reel decks of the time. They did catch on with the more budget conscious professional recordists, and some boutique-label professional releases were recorded using these machines.[2]
Starting in the early 1980s, professional systems using a PCM adaptor were also common as mastering formats. These systems digitized an analog audio signal and then encoded the resulting digital stream into an analog video signal so that a conventional VCR could be used as a storage medium.[citation needed]
One of the most significant examples of a PCM adaptor-based system was the
Other examples include
For high-quality studio recording, all of these formats were effectively made obsolete in the early 1980s by two competing
Demise
Sony released its last DAT product with the DAT Walkman TCD-D100 in 1995 and continued to produce it until November 2005 when Sony announced that its remaining DAT machine models would be discontinued the following month.
Digital Compact Cassette
The DAT recorder mechanism was considerably more complex and expensive than an analogue
Anti-DAT lobbying
In the late 1980s, the
This opposition by CBS softened after Sony, a DAT manufacturer, bought CBS Records in January 1988. By June 1989, an agreement was reached, and the only concession the RIAA would receive was a more practical recommendation from manufacturers to Congress that legislation be enacted to require that recorders have a
Uses
Professional recording industry
DAT was used professionally in the 1990s by the audio recording industry as part of an emerging all-digital production chain also including digital multi-track recorders and
Pre-recorded albums
In December 1987, The Guitar And Other Machines by the British post-punk band The Durutti Column, became the first commercial release on DAT. Later in May 1988, Wire released their album The Ideal Copy on the format.[10] Several other albums from multiple record labels were also released as pre-recorded DATs in the first few years of the format's existence, in small quantities as well. Factory Records released a small number of albums on the format, including New Order's best-selling compilation Substance 1987, but many planned releases were cancelled.[11]
Amateur and home use
DAT was envisaged by proponents as the successor format to analogue audio cassettes in the way that the compact disc was the successor to vinyl-based recordings. It sold well in Japan, where high-end consumer audio stores stocked DAT recorders and tapes into the 2010s and second-hand stores generally continued to offer a wide selection of mint condition machines. However, there and in other nations, the technology was never as commercially popular as CD or cassette. DAT recorders proved to be comparatively expensive and few commercial recordings were available. Globally, DAT remained popular, for a time, for
Computer data storage medium
The format was designed for audio use, but through the ISO Digital Data Storage standard was adopted for general data storage, storing from 1.3 to 80 GB on a 60 to 180 meter tape depending on the standard and compression. It is a sequential-access medium and is commonly used for backups. Due to the higher requirements for capacity and integrity in data backups, a computer-grade DAT was introduced, called DDS (Digital Data Storage). Although functionally similar to audio DATs, only a few DDS and DAT drives (in particular, those manufactured by Archive for SGI workstations)[13] are capable of reading the audio data from a DAT cassette. SGI DDS4 drives no longer have audio support; SGI removed the feature due to "lack of demand".[14]
See also
- ADAT
- Digital Audio Stationary Head
- Digital Data Storage (DDS)
- Digital Compact Cassette
- Magnetic storage
- Magnetic tape
- Magnetic tape sound recording
- MiniDisc
- NT (cassette)
- PCM adaptor
- ProDigi
References
- ^ "Sony History". Sony.net. Archived from the original on 25 June 2010. Retrieved 19 September 2009.
- ^ "1981 Sony PCM-F1 Digital Recording Processor-Mix Inducts Sony PCMF1 Processor into 2007 TECnology Hall of Fame". Archived from the original on 14 March 2011. Retrieved 23 March 2011.
- ^ G. Mancini (March 2004). "The Decca Digital Audio Recording System". Archived from the original on 26 October 2007. Retrieved 25 October 2007.
- ^ "Sony Drops DAT". Anime News Service. 15 November 2005. Archived from the original on 27 May 2008. Retrieved 29 August 2006.
- ^ Technical data of Aiwa HD-S1, from datrecorders.co.uk, retrieved on 27 January 2023
- ^ Holt, J. Gordon; Gold, Alvin (1987). "Copycode: Diminishing DAT". Stereophile. Retrieved 12 June 2012.
- ^ Goldberg, Michael (21 September 1989). "Labels Back Down on DAT". Rolling Stone. No. 561. p. 26.
- ^ Knopper, Steve (2009). Appetite for Self-Destruction. Simon and Schuster: Free Press. pp. 78–9.
- ^ Data on Sony PCM-7030 at datrecorders.co.uk
- ^ Media, Spin L. L. C. (December 1988). "Back in the Days of '88". Spin. 4 (9): 71. Retrieved 29 April 2011.
- ^ "DAT and Copycode (Q Magazine article c.1988) – Factory Records". cerysmaticfactory.info.
- ^ Lei, Richard (16 October 1994). "The Hottest Band the World Has Never Heard". The Washington Post. Retrieved 26 November 2019.
- ^ "Can you Rip DAT audio? (Ask Slashdot forum thread)". Slashdot. 1 October 1999. Retrieved 25 October 2007.
- ^ "DAT/DDS hardware". 26 March 2003. Archived from the original on 16 October 2007. Retrieved 25 October 2007.