DAT to pc what is needed?

[TubeNewb]

Hello all
A buddy of mine has a box of dat tapes he would like to transfer to pc weather it be hard disk or cd's

he has not had a dat machine for a while and i know nothing about them

to transfer can i use the spdif optical or coaxial (rca) connections on m,y emu 0404 to do this

i keep reading of litepipe and am wondering if this is the same thing???

is it as simple as recording or is there special software??

thanks in advance for any help

Chris P. (tubenewb)

[jpw23]

Do you have a dat machine? I'm pretty sure that you will need one.

[TubeNewb]

Originally posted by jpw23
Do you have a dat machine? I'm pretty sure that you will need one.
He plans on looking for a used one or possibly renting from local used store

Thanks

[TubeNewb]

maybe i should have asked differently

what are the typical digitial connections on dat machines

or do they vary from manf to manf

tia

Chris

[KX]

3 main formats are

1- s/pdif optical (same cable as ADAT, often used on Fostex)
2- s/pdif coax (RCA cable)
3- AES/EBU (XLR cable)

vary from manufacturer

[TubeNewb]

Originally posted by KX
3 main formats are

1- s/pdif optical (same cable as ADAT, often used on Fostex)
2- s/pdif coax (RCA cable)
3- AES/EBU (XLR cable)

vary from manufacturer

Thanks KX

[jmail]

I've discovered that the "light pipe" connection is just that, a connection. Of that, you have TDIF & Toslink. AES/EBU is a protocol. S/PDIF is a protocol. ADAT is a protocol. (The main problem with ADAT is the "Alesis" part of the acronym, just meaning that it's proprietary.) AES/EBU & S/PDIF are stereo formats, 2 channels. ADAT is 8 channels. The "transmission protocol" is different between the two. Similar to comparing TCP/IP for the internet, and NetBUI for old Microsoft networks. Or, think of it as I'm speaking Greek, & you speak English. Don't get me wrong, I've not attempted to transfer ADAT to my computer yet, but I was going to try. Just ran out of time on our last project and didn't even try. But... you definitely need an interface that can handle the ADAT, such as a Behringer BCA2000 ("cheap" end) or an RME Fireface 800 ("high" end). There is another multi-channel format (32?) that uses the light pipe, just can't think of it right now. It's another 4-letter acronym... But you need the ADAT machine, with light pipe, & the computer with interface.

[KX]

Originally posted by jmail
I've discovered that the "light pipe" connection is just that, a connection. Of that, you have TDIF & Toslink. AES/EBU is a protocol. S/PDIF is a protocol. ADAT is a protocol.

TDIF is NOT litepipe. It's multipin D-connector.

[Roly]

Hi
As well as the digital options you could go analog.
If it's just for archive purposes it would be cheaper.
cheers

[KX]

Digital transfer is cheaper than analog...

[TubeNewb]

so not all dats used the adat format ???


so i guess we will just have to see what he picks up,weather it be borrowed,rented or used

i thank everyone for the input

and worst case would be anolog recording back to digitial

thanks again

[Roly]

Hi KX
I was thinking that there would be no need to buy a 75 ohm cable and that the transfer could be done with regular cables that the poster most likley already owned.
cheers

[jmail]

Sorry for mis-"speaking", KX, I meant that other physical light pipe connection, besides Tos-link. Can't remember its name now for beans...

[Michael Quayle]

OK, there seems to be a little confusion in this thread, so I will try to clarify.

jmail was partially correct, although he is confused in a couple of areas.

There are indeed 3 different types of stereo digital connection available to you, and one, two, or all of them may be present on the back of the DAT machine.

1) Lightpipe, also known as TOSlink. This is a small, thin fibre optic cable. The use of fibre optics is where the term lightpipe comes from. Although the cable used is similar to an ADAT connector, an ADAT port is used to transfer 8 channels of information. This port will only deal in the two stereo channels (left and right) however. You wouldn't need the other 6 channels anyway. This is the most "consumer" level of connector.

2) S/PDIF (Sony/Phillips digital interface). An electrical connector, where the signal is carried along a coaxial cable, terminating in RCA plugs (or phonos). Although the cable resembles a standard phono connector, don't make the mistake of thinking you can get away with using such a cable. You are inviting trouble if you do. Generally regarded as preferable to lightpipe, expect to pay around $30 for a semi-decent S/PDIF cable. S/PDIF is also the connector you are most likely to have on your soundcard if you have a semi-pro or pro card. Soundblasters and built in audio chips tend to use lightpipe.

3)AES/EBU. The professional level connector, and also the one found on the most expensive of DAT machines, and very few soundcards. For practical purposes you can safely avoid this option for your needs, but for reference it is based on an XLR type connection (like a microphone lead - but once again, a microphone lead will not work)

If possible, I would choose to go with S/PDIF. I would avoid going down the analogue route as one person suggested, because then you are throwing yourself at the mercy of not only the DAT players D/A converters, but also your soundcards A/D converters. Given the DAT player is likely to be at least 5 years old if you buy it, and that your soundcard is probably not going to be too high end, you are going to be seriously compromising the quality of your audio.

You will need some dedicated recording software to make the transfers and edit the audio once it's on your machine. This doesn't necessarily mean expensive though. Maybe take a look at an app such as Wavelab Lite.

Hope this helps,

Mike.

[TubeNewb]

helps alot
my bud hasnt found a machine just yet, and he explained to me(learned here as well) dat and adat are two diff mediums(proper word?)

so he has just dat tapes...my emu 0404 had coaxial and optical spdif(according to what i read on the specs)

so now i guess we'll have to wait and see what kind of machine he comes up with to find out about digitial connections

we would most likely be using sonar 3 or cool edit 2.0

thanks a bunch all, i have learned alot here

P.S. still a little confused about my emu card

the specs on the box (in regards to optical and coaxial s/pdif connections)

"s/pdif or aes/ebu format(software switchable)

i guess the xlr connector is throwing me for a loop, but this is just a curious thing

thanks again everyone

[KX]

Originally posted by Roly
Hi KX
I was thinking that there would be no need to buy a 75 ohm cable and that the transfer could be done with regular cables that the poster most likley already owned.
cheers

I'm late; I was out of town...

No "real" need to buy a 75ohm cable
but most of them are stronger
than "platinum" rca cable...