Overview, Introduction to the digicart recorder – 360 Systems DigiCart/E User Manual
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Overview
Introduction to the DigiCart Recorder
As the 1980s came to a close, the promise of high-quality digital audio became a reality with the
introduction of compact disks – but only for pre-recorded music. 360 Systems responded by designing the
first practical digital cart machine, introducing it to the broadcast industry at the 1990 NAB Convention.
Aptly named DigiCart
®
, this new broadcast standard rapidly replaced the industry’s analog NAB tape carts.
By including an internal hard disk as a standard component, the DigiCart recorder provides fast access to
many thousands of cuts, plus a degree of reliability never before achieved with tape recorders. Remote
controls, networking and distributed storage now make the DigiCart recorder a standard in broadcast
facilities throughout the world.
There have been several advances since the original DigiCart, but all models share these common features:
The ability to record and store thousands of cuts and play them back instantly, the ability to do routine
editing, convenient front panel controls, automation control, and removable disk media for backups and file
transfers. Transportable recordings for archiving and backup are stored on removable Zip
disks. These
economical, re-recordable compact magnetic disks are DigiCart's "carts".
DigiCart offers several recording formats and sampling rates. Generally, linear recording is recommended
because it will produce the highest quality playback and because today hard disk storage space is
inexpensive. However, for compatibility with earlier DigiCart recordings, DigiCart/E can record and play
files using Dolby
AC-2 compression. AC-2 uses 5 times less disk space, while delivering full bandwidth
stereo.
DigiCart/E stores supplementary information along with each individual audio recording, including:
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A quick index file ID reference that identifies drive, directory and cut
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A name of up to fifteen alphanumeric characters
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Total running time
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Sampling rate
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Recording format
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Editing information for Head and Tail times, Fade In, Fade Out, Gain and Secondary Cue timing
Much of this information is displayed on the front panel of the DigiCart to assist in managing a large audio
library.