Opinions On DAT?

  • Thread starter Thread starter Sonic Surgeon
  • Start date Start date
I love DAT I use two da 88's when im recording live. If I am recording to a computer live and it crashes I lose everything where as with my DAT machines I still have everything I just recorded. These things are seriously rock solid. But I dont use them in the studio so I cant say for that side of things.
 
Appreciate all you fellas coming in with opinions and thoughts about DAT. Glad I could get a little discussion going, since it's a rarely used format anymore and I still have an interest in it.

I did experience some "garble" with playing a tape the other day, but the humidity here was insanity. When it cooled down, I tried again, and it played like it was brand new. I know that if the machine senses the slightest bit of condensation, it refuses to work.
 
I'm also in the camp that DAT offers no benifit over hard disk storage or even memory card storage. If it offered better sound well that's different but I suspect at this point the current start of digital far exceeds what was available with DAT decks.

As for having rotating reel to look at while its in operation I see it as a kind of imposter of analog.
 
I had a Sony DAT back in 1994, when I used to mix from my Teac A3440 through my Tascam M30. It did the job really well. Simple and reliable. That is, until the DAT machine went haywire, and started eating my tapes. And I don't have to tell you what havoc that wreaks on a digital tape.

Still though, that was just bad luck with that particular unit. I loved using it and even made some excellent live recordings with it. Also, it was excellent to make 'reduction mixes' with to copy back to the Teac. The sound was so clean, that nobody ever noticed the recordings were all four track ones.
 
Sonic Surgeon said:
Appreciate all you fellas coming in with opinions and thoughts about DAT. Glad I could get a little discussion going, since it's a rarely used format anymore and I still have an interest in it.
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I've noticed a lot of discussion around this board with so-called 'dead' formats. I personally love looking at older 'obselete' formats and finding merit in them. There is much interest in vintage technology, and I find it fascinating.
 
I recently picked up a DA-88 for cheap, but it needs to have some work done to it. I hear it was an amazing machine in it's prime. I figure it can't hurt to have as many formats as possible available to me.:p I've also recently acquired a mint MD-801RmkII and love it. I know, it's minidisc, but it's so damn easy to work with.;)
 
I love all my DAT recorders.(2) DA-20mkII, (1)DA-30mkII,(3) DA-88's.

Instead of starting a new thread,

I would like to know,..If anyone else out there has experienced any "degraded sound quality" in their tapes after they've been sitting for a couple years? So far, I've had very good luck with this,..All my recordings still sound as fresh as when I first made 'em.

I noticed one person, on this thread said they've had some tapes for years, and NO degraded sound quality. Anyone, out there experience anything different? Anybody know how long these tapes could actually keep their "freshness",...before they tend to degrade?..just curious.
 
I remeber when DAT was da ding... everyone had to have one, including me. Then they started eating tapes and the dance was over.

 
VESSEL2020 said:
I love all my DAT recorders.(2) DA-20mkII, (1)DA-30mkII,(3) DA-88's.

Instead of starting a new thread,

I would like to know,..If anyone else out there has experienced any "degraded sound quality" in their tapes after they've been sitting for a couple years? So far, I've had very good luck with this,..All my recordings still sound as fresh as when I first made 'em.

I noticed one person, on this thread said they've had some tapes for years, and NO degraded sound quality. Anyone, out there experience anything different? Anybody know how long these tapes could actually keep their "freshness",...before they tend to degrade?..just curious.
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It’s digital so you won’t get degraded sound quality per se. Complete loss of data from chewed up or flaking tapes maybe, but that started happening pretty early on. If your tapes are good and the machine is running as it should you won’t hear a difference form the day they were recorded. It's data, so as long as the machine can read it you're fine.
 
DAT quality

Beck said:
It’s digital so you won’t get degraded sound quality per se. Complete loss of data from chewed up or flaking tapes maybe, but that started happening pretty early on. If your tapes are good and the machine is running as it should you won’t hear a difference form the day they were recorded. It's data, so as long as the machine can read it you're fine.
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Thanks for the response!
 
***Dead Thread Revival***

After some time off I'd like to get recording again. I hate using computers/computer peripherals. SO I was thinking of getting a DAT deck for bounces and mixes. I can't afford a real mix deck (money or space) so I thought a DAT would suffice. What are your thoughts? I also thought about getting a digital multitrack for this. But I don't know.

Also, with DAT does track width matter? Would a stereo bounce to an 8 track DAT sound the same as a stereo bounce to a 2 track? Thanks guys.
 
nate_dennis said:
***Dead Thread Revival***

After some time off I'd like to get recording again. I hate using computers/computer peripherals. SO I was thinking of getting a DAT deck for bounces and mixes. I can't afford a real mix deck (money or space) so I thought a DAT would suffice. What are your thoughts? I also thought about getting a digital multitrack for this. But I don't know.

Also, with DAT does track width matter? Would a stereo bounce to an 8 track DAT sound the same as a stereo bounce to a 2 track? Thanks guys.
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DAT is dead. I still have one in the rack but it's just a legacy from the old days. I'd get a decent sound card/interface and mix to computer. Trust me, you'll be MUCH happier.
 
nate_dennis said:
Also, with DAT does track width matter? Would a stereo bounce to an 8 track DAT sound the same as a stereo bounce to a 2 track? Thanks guys.
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DAT is a 2 track format. ADAT is an 8 track format that uses SVHS tapes. There is no such thing as an 8 track DAT that uses those little tapes.

The reality is, it is so much easier, cheaper and less hassle to get an interface for the computer and some free software than it is to find left over, dead technologies that still work->try to interface them and keep them running throughout the length of your project. In another couple years, it's going to be hard to find tapes for an ADAT machine. Those machines didn't work very well, or very long, when they were brand new. Ten years later, they aren't going to be any more reliable and they aren't worth fixing. (One of my DA-38's broke, it will take $800 to fix. You can buy one on ebay for less than $200)

It really isn't worth the trouble. Plus almost all of that stuff is 16 bit with converters that sounded like crap 20 years ago. The converters in your built in stock soundcard are an order of magnitude better than the converters in DAT, ADAT or DA-38/88.
 
After some time off I'd like to get recording again. I hate using computers/computer peripherals. SO I was thinking of getting a DAT deck for bounces and mixes. I can't afford a real mix deck (money or space) so I thought a DAT would suffice. What are your thoughts? I also thought about getting a digital multitrack for this. But I don't know.
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I've mixed to DAT, and I found it easier from a tactile and work flow standpoint to have a machine with knobs and peak hold meters rather than a mouse, monitor, keyboard, and CPU. I have two fairly decent Sony decks that supposedly have good converters and low miles. (One has some thing called Super Bit Mapping which according to the hype gets you 20 bit resolution in 16 bits whoo hoo) and I suppose there *could* be some advantage to the DAT converter vs. resampling in software, depending on said software. If the issue is "I just don't want to use a computer," than I suppose, go ahead an use a DAT, but the warnings above are well taken. As for space, heck a Teac 22-2 or Fostex 20 isn't going to take up that much more space...and used DAT decks aren't that much cheaper, and you could also maybe just go to a stand alone CD burner.

Also, with DAT does track width matter? Would a stereo bounce to an 8 track DAT sound the same as a stereo bounce to a 2 track? Thanks guys.
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Don't confuse DAT w/ analog. The DAT tape might as well be a CD, a hard drive, a flash drive, a holographic stick from HAL's main memory, it is just a medium to store digital information. The converters are what matter in sound quality, and as indicated above, most DAT decks are 16bit and 80-90s technology.
 
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