Re: [ARSCLIST] 30-track SoundScriber

["Richard L. Hess" <arclists@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Hello, Jeremiah,

I cannot believe the number of orphan formats.

If your FA-5395 is working and you're up to 15 passes on each tape, 
you can do it by recording timecode plus two channels per pass. 30 
channels was not widely used. In hunting logging recorders on eBay 
for the last year or so, I've seen several (and have two) 40-channel 
Dictaphone units (with a 20-channel 1/2-inch head assembly as well). 
These 40-channel units had 40 audio channels and a separate timecode 
track, but at 15/32 in/s I think the timecode was proprietary (I have 
two readers) and not IRIG B, but I could be wrong.

These, while they have multi-channel heads were designed to only sum 
the desired channels into one speaker for courtroom playback and did 
not have individual outputs. I have determined it is possible to tap 
individual outputs from each channel and feed them into a digitizer 
-- I can probably cobble together 32 tracks without trying too hard 
in my facility.

Obviously SoundScriber made a 30-track 1-inch version. Dictaphone I 
think also made that configuration, but other suppliers of loggers 
used 8-16-24-32-48-64 track configurations between 1/2- and 1-inch tape.

There are a few forensics labs that I am aware of their existence, 
but do not know precisely who/where they are, that might be able to help.

Also, beware that not all 30-track heads would be created equal. For 
example, what Dictaphone called 30 tracks was 30 tracks PLUS timecode 
while it sounds as if your 30 track machine does not have a separate 
timecode track.

Why would NASA have chosen this over an IRIG recorder? Cost? Perhaps 
there were no mid-level IRIG machines at that point? When did IRIG 
jump to 28 tracks on 1-inch tape?

Sorry I don't have a good answer for you, but I hope I've provided 
some idea of the magnitude of the problem.

You're ahead of many of the other people I run into -- at least you 
have a playback machine (however clumsy) that you can access these tapes with.

Do you have a dimensioned drawing of the tracks? That would be a 
help. Do you know what speed these tapes were recorded at? (or how 
many hours on X feet of tape?) I have started searching for a head for you.

I had www.TerrysRubberRollers.com make me new pressure rollers for 
one of my Dictaphones when I thought I might lease it to someone 
doing 9-11 911 tapes, but I think he found another solution.

Good luck!

Cheers,

Richard


At 10:06 AM 2007-03-13, Clifton, Jeremiah J. (JSC-AP)[TES] wrote:
> I need to find a suitable playback system in order to archive
> recordings.
>
> Originally recorded on a 30-track machine (Multi-Channel Recorder Type
> FA-5394 by SoundScriber - early sixties) that uses 1" tape.
>
> There is a playback machine (Multi-Channel Reproducer Type FA-5395 by
> SoundScriber - early sixties), but the machine only plays back track 1
> (usually IRIG-B - timecode) and two other tracks of your choosing by
> using a variable selector (mechanically moving two separate playback
> heads independently of each other in position over desired tracks). I am
> looking for a 30-track playback solution, or any information about
> either previously mentioned machines.
>
> J

Richard L. Hess                   email: richard@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Aurora, Ontario, Canada       (905) 713 6733     1-877-TAPE-FIX
Detailed contact information: http://www.richardhess.com/tape/contact.htm
Quality tape transfers -- even from hard-to-play tapes.