Path: utzoo!attcan!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!cs.utexas.edu!mailrus!ncar!unmvax!bbx!bbxsda!scott From: scott@bbxsda.UUCP (Scott Amspoker) Newsgroups: comp.music Subject: Re: SMPTE specs Message-ID: <405@bbxsda.UUCP> Date: 4 Dec 89 18:57:12 GMT References: <10230@etana.tut.fi> Reply-To: scott@bbxsda.UUCP (Scott Amspoker) Organization: Basis International, Albuquerque, NM Lines: 40 In article <10230@etana.tut.fi> ma62141@naakka.tut.fi (Antila Marko) writes: >I need the documentation of SMPTE time code, i.e. the data >format and info about the method it is recorded on tape (fsk?) >... >I'm constructing a stand-alone SMPTE-MIDI sync box using >8031-microcontroller for my home-taping purposes and it seems a bit >difficult to obtain exact technical information on SMPTE :=( Well, somebody on the net recently helped me on this so now's my chance to repay the favor. There are two sources of information that helped me. One of them is back issues of the SMPTE Journal. You can do this and get your information today. Go down to the library of whatever major university that happens to be nearby. There is a catalog (probably in the science/engineering section) of articles published in various technical journals/magazines. This is not a card catalog but a bunch of thick books sitting on a shelf somewhere (one volume per year). Look under "synchronization". The articles I found useful were from 1979 to 1983 or so and published in the SMPTE Journal (I will email the exact Journal volume later if I can find it). The articles in question described the logical data format (80-bit format) but did not discuss what you need to build your own sync-box. I suspect if you went back before 1979 you would find what you're looking for (BTW, the SMPTE Journal changed its name around 1979 but don't let that confuse you.) The other information source is a booklet by TASCAM called "Understanding Syncronization" which they will mail to you for free. I will try to dig up the phone number for you to call. I did this a few months ago and got the book in the mail within a week. Once again, I doesn't explain the hardware aspects of SMPTE but is does explain the applications of SMPTE and provides a data format. -- Scott Amspoker Basis International, Albuquerque, NM (505) 345-5232 unmvax.cs.unm.edu!bbx!bbxsda!scott Brought to you by Super Global Mega Corp .com