Topic: CEDAR Respeed for tape transfers

[sunjan]

Just spotted this:
http://www.cedar-audio.com/news/respeed_launch.html

Sounds interesting for those who have really bad tapes to transfer. Anyone heard about the company?
They seem to target the forensics market, perhaps the price tag will be prohibitive.

Speed correction that corrects not just wow but random variations and long-term rises and falls in speed
28 April 2011
The problem

Speed errors encountered in recordings and upon playback can be caused by many problems. Examples include faulty tape recorder transports, sticky tapes, electrical problems in analogue recording devices, and off-centre holes in disks that lead to wow. In each case, the recording or the replayed audio exhibits speed changes with respect to what would have been recorded or replayed had the fault not existed.
The solution

Respeed™ automatically identifies - or allows the user interactively to identify - unwanted speed changes contained within the presented audio. Once these have been determined the track may be processed many times faster than real-time. The result is greater pitch stability and, when used on speech signals, improved intelligibility. However, musical pitch variations such as vibrato and glissandos are left unaffected.

Respeed incorporates three modes of processing, including an Advanced mode that handles many tracks without user intervention. In addition, a powerful range of tools are also provided, and these allow the user to adapt the process for almost any track that contains speed errors.

Correction is not limited to wow. Respeed will address random speed fluctuations and even continuous rises or falls in speed caused by problems such as failing batteries in analogue recorders.

Respeed will be available in Q2, 2011 and available though CEDAR's worldwide dealer network.

[Gutbucket]

Anyone heard about the company?

Cedar has traditionally been the top name in mastering grade noise reduction / audio correction and carries a price tag to match.
I've never used any of their products myself, but I'm sure some of the professionals around here have.

[heath]

I'd be curious to hear how Cedar determines what a "speed fluctuation actually is".  The best method of correcting speed issues is an expensive process by these guys:
http://www.plangentprocesses.com/

They use the bias frequency recorded on tape to perform constant speed corrections.  It's pretty ingenious.

[Gutbucket]

They use the bias frequency recorded on tape to perform constant speed corrections.  It's pretty ingenious.

Something similar to that is my guess.  I'm imagining a frequency analysis either selecting for pitch variations that are the same across the entire spectrum, or targeted to a specific range such as noise or bias freqency for tape sourced material.  But you'd know better than I.

[heath]

The plangent boys have the bias process patented, so unless they made it available to cedar, it has to be another algorithm.  Going to have to read up on it.  If it's cheaper than the Plangent route, I might consider buying it for the studio since we deal with a boatload of speed problems over here daily.