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Gear / Technical Help => Ask The Tapers => Topic started by: drfunkenstein2k on November 28, 2020, 07:16:04 AM
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I have a DAT deck and a beastly computer.
i want to start to learn how to transfer from DAT/CASSETE whatever to PC
do i need a sound card?
what is a recommended setup?
should i go from DAT-SDIF > PC
how is it normally done
thanks you guys!
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you dont need a beastly computer, anything made in the last 20 years is fast enough to capture the bitrate
You need a good soundacrd, that is known to be stable and bit accurate
or a stand alone recorder witha digital input like a marantz pmd661 or a tascam dr100mkiii which are more common and a bit easier to setup
ideally either setup should be tested to ensure it is writing the data without errors
how many tapes are you looking to roll? im nost cases its the older DAT machines that are the weak link. just because you put it away in good condition doesnt mean time has been kind to its complex mechanical inner workings
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I've done dat to PC years ago, recently had a couple shows that I discovered never transferred,so i just plugged my dat recorder into my Sony M-10.
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My go to for when I ask a "how to" question: Youtube. I just checked and there are several videos showing you how to do this.
https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=how+to+transfer+dat+tapes+to+computer
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but no mention of equipment.. one best video is in german... lol
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SPDIF in is the way to go as there is no conversion to analog needed for the transfer. Any soundcard with an SPDIF input will do. And DAW software.
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If your DAT deck has a SPDIF output. At the time, AES output was more common for professional decks and indeed many professional DAT recorders only had XLR and AES inputs and outputs. You might find SPDIF on some of the lower end consumer. DATs.
I use a Sony 7030 DAT (a 70lb monster professional deck) > Hosa AES converter > SPDIF > Tascam DR680, but any sound card or I/O with a SPDIF input works.
I’ve transferred close to 1,500 DATs for a radio station during the past year with this rig.
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For sure, get whatever interface(s) your source requires.
From memory I think AES and SPDIF are pretty much identical in terms of data. There were differences in the electrical signal levels (balanced vs unbalanced) and SCMS.
AES/EBU helps with balanced connections and higher levels, which in practice means that you can run longer distances between devices.
SPDIF up to 10 meters is ok. Use a solid copper core cable (75 ohm) if you can.
I use an old RME Multiface still with Windows 10! SPDIF in and out.
Gordon
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From memory I think AES and SPDIF are pretty much identical in terms of data. There were differences in the electrical signal levels (balanced vs unbalanced) and SCMS.
S/PDIF was simply a lower voltage consumer format standard of AES (which can be balanced or unbalanced)
as gordon mentions, SCMS is part of the 8 'subcode' bits and is basically S/PDIFs attempt to cripple copying in the consumer standard. There is some other random useless (for our purposes) ASCII-codable info transmitted in the subcode
while they are unique, for our purposes there seems to be no difference, ive used basic xlr3 to coax cables to clone dats for 25 years. i can put a meter on it but im pretty sure it just lifts the 'cold' lead of the balanced connector, similar to analog balanced > unbalanced cables. im guessing the signal level in such a case would also be dropped on a digital cable going from balanced to single-ended. AES is technically up to 7V while spdif is 0.5V. Ive used fancy Canare impedance converters for years, but that was more of an effort to be 'technically correct', and more importantly, it provided the right connectors on each end (XLR3 to BNC) for me to connect A to B. That said, in my experience, AES to S/PDIF either works, or is digital garbage, and is almost always a 'sounds good, is good' proposition
unfortunately, none of that overly techy BS helps OP as it is almost certain his DAT deck already has a S/PDIF compliant output. More importantly, he needs to take this digital output and capture it with a soundcard or known good recorder. there are 100 ways to skin that cat. but to simplify, thats where its at.
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If you are a masochist, you can get a refurbished 4mm DDS Drive, find a means to connect it to your system, and run one of several extraction programs to convert the stream to .wav format.
Good luck in Win10 and with USB 3.x
It can be done, but is a geek's Everest.
I have a virgin DAT label and J-Card, and will be taking measurements when I'm feeling up the make a template challenge.