Sony DAE 1100

[returntodust]

Hello! I have recently bought a Sony DAE 1100 and cant find any info on ot whatsoever. Could anyone tell me approximately how much it may be worth? Thanks

[James Perrett]

Do you have the rest of the system (the U-Matic recorders and the PCM adaptors)?

If not then it is more of a historical curiosity than a useful tool - I don't think anyone would want to go back to editing on U-matic nowadays. If you have the recorders and PCM adaptors then there may be people with collections of tapes who might be interested in order to be able to retrieve those recordings.

[forumuser840717]

There's a blast from the past! Ah, the many hours I spent PQ'ing CDs using a DAE1100; particular favourites were sample discs that used all the track markers and dozens of index markers. Could spend a very ...er... theraputic several days doing a disc like that!

I agree with James, even if you have the whole system including the U-matic machines, PCM16xx processor, and a DTA2000 verifier to make sure that your master isn't stuffed with errors and a dot matrix printer (or one of a fairly small handful of compatible inkjet or daisy wheel printers) to print out the verification, it's not a system that many people would want to use and there isn't really a reason to use it. Nobody wants U-matic/PCM1610/1630 master tapes these days (do CD manufacturing plants even accept them still?) and, apart from functioning as a very over blown remote control, there really isn't much else it can do. The DAE 3000 was such a massive step forward in useabilty as an editor (not least the 6 second audio memory for edits) and I had a big soft spot for it. I went back to using it after Sonic Solutions went through a period of changing their software every couple of months, adding new features and breaking or renaming most features I'd got used to having but even the DAE 3000 would drive most people nuts these days. If only waiting for the U-matic machines to shuttle around. And 'Undo' wasn't a big feature of those machines.

Just to check, did you get the processor rack and cables as well as the control surface? (I once got asked to help someone set up a DAE1100 only to arrive and find that all they had bought was the control surface!) At least if you have the processor rack too it might be useful for anchoring a small boat. If you have the rest of the kit needed to make it work as well then you could anchor a bigger boat.

Though, a U-matic machine that works well plus a PCM processor and verifier does have value in some archiving setups for playing back PCM master tapes. (However most would prefer a PCM1630 processor.) And there are a lot of PCM master tapes around as they were the standard way to master a CD until probably the mid 1990s when recordable CDs and Exabyte tape cartridges gradually bacame more common (give or take a bit of experimental mastering to timecode DAT for making 'over-length' CDs). Making the old U-matic tapes play is another matter.

As a curio it might be fun to have - if one has the space - though, without the rest of the system, it doesn't do anything except flash a few lights. With the whole setup it might be useful for giving music tech students a laugh at how digital audio was edited before computers got powerful enough and making them appreciate how, once upon a time, 'digital editor' was actually a full time job that paid quite well. Though it needed to, if only to pay the £80,000 or so needed to buy the basic hardware. And that was at a time when the average price of a property in London was in the £25,000-35,000 bracket and just the list price of the verifier would comfortably buy a house in some parts of the country.

[Hugh Robjohns]

I have recently bought a Sony DAE 1100 and cant find any info on ot whatsoever. Could anyone tell me approximately how much it may be worth?

Probably nothing at all.

It was the earliest of Sony's Umatic/PCM editors, but was superseded by a better version.

While some archive houses are still capable of playing Umatic/PCM tapes, no one in their right mind would want to use a DAE to edit the audio, so it has no practical value at all. Only a nostalgic one... If there was a Museum of Obsolete Audio Technology it could go on display as a curiosity, but that's about it.

I've put a brochure about that specific unit and the way it integrates with the rest of the PCM system on a OneDrive account here:

https://1drv.ms/b/s!Ag_K5DaIQ6VAjAsuRDLzwSkIM00o

[The Elf]

I recall seeing one of these in the old 'Coronation Street' editing suite! IIRC it went as part of the auction of stuff from the studio when it moved location.

As Hugh says - I can't imagine anyone wanting one of those now, but it does look amazing. Personally I would plug it in and just leave at the back of the studio for guests to simply gaze at!

[Hugh Robjohns]

I recall seeing one of these in the old 'Coronation Street' editing suite!

Seems unlikely... why would Corrie need a high-end digital audio editor?

However, the DAE1100 (and its later equivalent) was derived directly from Sony's video editing controllers -- basically because that's exactly what it was -- video editing between U-matic machines. Only instead of editing normal colour pictures, it was working with pictures composed of black and white dots representing the PCM data.

But all the functions of controlling the umatic player and recorder, defining in and out points for the audio edit, were exactly the same as in video editing . (The big processing box associated with the DAE1100 was needed to sort out the number-crunching and error protection data when working with edit points half way through a video field).

So there is a strong family resemblance between the DAE1100 and things like the front panel edit controller on BVU850 high-band U'matic machines, as well as the more sophisticated desktop BVE 900/910 and BVE9000 video edit controllers which were used mainly with Sony C-format video machines.

Corrie was definitely shot and edited using C-format video at one stage, so I suspect you saw BVE controllers in those video edit suites, rather than actual DAE units...

There are some picture examples of pro video edit controllers of the era here:

http://www.vtoldboys.com/sonybve.htm

[James Perrett]

Though, a U-matic machine that works well plus a PCM processor and verifier does have value in some archiving setups for playing back PCM master tapes. (However most would prefer a PCM1630 processor.) And there are a lot of PCM master tapes around as they were the standard way to master a CD until probably the mid 1990s when recordable CDs and Exabyte tape cartridges gradually bacame more common (give or take a bit of experimental mastering to timecode DAT for making 'over-length' CDs). Making the old U-matic tapes play is another matter.

Yes there's still a demand for playback of these tapes - I've had a few enquiries over the last couple of years and it is one of the few formats that I can't currently play.