Re: [ARSCLIST] extracting audio from 32kHz 12bit DAT tapes digitally

[Dave Rice <dave@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Another big advantage to using a DDS drive (I have a Sony SDT 9000)  
is that you can pull out the metadata. Read_DAT gives me files per  
track that look like this:

Sampling frequency: 32000
Channels: 2
Samples: 4523520
Quantization: 12-bit non-linear
Emphasis: none
Program_number: --
First date: Fri Mar 31 12:50:35 1995
Last date: Fri Mar 31 12:52:56 1995
First frame: 2888
Last frame: 5243

The recording date info is very valuable.
There is an old webpage here http://homepage.ntlworld.com/ 
adrian.rixon/personal/ade/dat-dds/software.html that outlines some of  
the software options. It lists vDAT for Windows. I haven't tried it.
Also I originally gave up on DATXtract for Mac because it couldn't  
handle a 32kHz extract, the developer wrote me back with a 32kHz  
update that he hadn't made public.
Dave

On Jul 19, 2007, at 9:32 AM, Ganesh.Irelan@xxxxxxxx wrote:

> Thank you Karl and Dave for sharing this information!  I never knew  
> that using a DAT drive was an option for extracting audio from  
> DATs.  We are about to start a project transferring many hundreds  
> of audio only DAT tapes for which there are no analog backups.   
> Using a DAT drive presents the option of doing this unattended at  
> greater than 1x.  That is huge!
>
> One question, what is the best software for doing this in Windows  
> 2000 or XP?
>
> Thanks again,
> Kevin Irelan
>
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Dave Rice [mailto:dave@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx]
> Sent: Wednesday, July 18, 2007 4:49 PM
> Subject: Re: extracting audio from 32kHz 12bit DAT tapes digitally
>
>
> I didn't want to do an D-A-D conversion, whether the sound quality is
> good or not. A digital only workflow makes a better workflow since I
> don't need to determine audio quality, set levels, etc. Also some of
> the D-D workflows can happen at faster than real time and retrieve
> the metadata on the tape.
>
> The problem I had was related to DATXtract software. It would give
> errors for long play 32kHz 12 bit recordings.
> I have since installed ubuntu/linux onto my Mac, installed read_DAT
> and can now pull off 44.1/16, 48/16, AND 32/12.
> It separates the files according to the start/stop markers (which
> running SPDIF out through audacity can't do).
> And it generates detail files that provide the metadata of the tape
> including the recording time which is very helpful for cataloguing
> (with an d-a-d workflow this data is also lost or likely never
> identified).
> Dave
>
> David Rice
> Archivist
> Democracy Now!
> 87 Lafayette St.
> New York, NY 10013
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