fostex d-5 digital master recorder [dat - helical scanning magnetophone]

the d.a.t [digital audio tape] was launched in 1987 by sony,and was aimed at the consumer market aswell as the semi and full professional areas,acting in and around the area that quarter inch open reel to reel tape functioned in. excellent piece of kit,iv'e experienced no problems and decent high quality recordings can be obtained from this unit,i will normally leave mine set at 48khZ for recording high-quantisation and playback,this is because my cd recorder accepts a genuine 48khZ input.

what you first find when using these is that there is no noise or tape hiss,infact it is as good as silent,until that is your recording you just made makes the recording level meters jump up and down a bit,when engineered well the sound quality is quite staggering,it's the sendust head from heaven.

 

primary ,and most common uses have been;

 

a1, radio programme material,recorded ,edited and played back,can consist of vinyl,cd,jingles,mic voice,etc all carefully encoded to the tape,and often leaving the deck in either record/pause mode or stop for a breather,the stop or pause will not be evident on the playback of the edited tape.

a2, radio work out in the field,collecting information from the public on portable units,often with a mic and 3.5mm line in jack connection.

b, will suit many bands as a master recorder

c, has been used to record s35 film soundtracks for synch with pro vtrs ,for use in the home market of vhs,betamax,dvd etc.

d, the consumer home market for audiophiles

e, not only can it be connected to a radio stations mixer,but also a club or mobile djs mixer,via analog xlr or spdif and spdif coaxial connectivity,this can prove useful for recording vinyl and compact disc mixes,which can later be down converted.

f, vinyl records can be cut directly from the playback of this machine.

g,Has been used as a generation on from 1/2 inch reel to reel tape or even the 24 track 2 inch tape, in a recording studio environment. In this case the DAT becomes the Master for Vinyl Records, Audio Cassettes,and Compact Discs.

 

The D5 is a 3U professional DAT machine with a clean and simple front panel layout. Surprisingly, the machine is very light -- probably about half the weight of my original Sony DTC1000. Though the construction gives no real cause for concern, the tape door and retractable plastic tape tray feel a touch on the flimsy side. The D5 can be controlled via the included infra-red remote, though it is possible to switch the wireless reception mode off, which might be a good idea if you have more than one of the same type of machine. For those preferring wired or computer-controlled operation, a rear panel DIN socket is fitted, and this provides access to Stop, Play and ID search in either direction. The inputs have an impedance of 4.7k(omega), and must be pulled down to ground to activate them. This simple arrangement means that conventional pushbuttons could be used to build your own remote control.

 

Most of the facilities offered by the D5 are pretty standard, though I was rather surprised to find balanced digital I/Os, and optical S/PDIF digital I/Os, but no phonos. OK, so phonos aren't professional, but when you want to make a quick and dirty hookup to clone a DAT tape from one machine to another, the phono facility is pretty handy. Likewise there are no audio phonos, so to get sound in and out of the D5, you'll need XLR leads.

 

A sensible inclusion is the option of switching to either -10dBV or +4dBu input operation; the output is always set to +4dBu. The headphone output will feed any phones from 8(omega) upwards, and I can confirm that there's plenty of power available. The recording level is set using a level and balance control rather than two independent level controls, and in most situations, the adopted approach is more comfortable.

 

 

 

related videos... www.youtube.com/watch?v=dWBptsqpSy0

 

www.youtube.com/watch?v=DK-DLR2xihM

 

a sony d.a.t model in operation.. www.youtube.com/watch?v=OVJnq4o6uLQ

Done