Re: [LAD] [ANN] ALPHA: jiss - Jack Interactice Sequencing Software

Yeah, the compressor is added 'cause I happen to like that 30db I almost didn't send that, but the sound reminded me of the sound I inherited when I became the CE at WDTV-5, back in '84, here in West Virginia. That put me off so much I told the GM I hadn't heard so much heavy breathing since shortly after lights out last night, when I asked for permission to replace a brand new piece of gear with something I knew would do the job and be essentially transparent to the listeners, an old CBS Labs AudiMax, followed by, on the other end of the studio-transmitter microwave path, an equally ancient CBS Labs FM Volumax. They worked, but it was extremely rare and took a trained ear, to detect that they were working. As a C.E.T., I had fun keeping them running, first replacing all the small electrolytics used for coupling capacitors with paper/mylar, which put a stop to the twice annual rebuild by shotgunning all the caps, then eventually the gain controlling tetrode nuvistor vacuum tube faded away (they are made of pure unobtainium now) and I had to adapt a dual gate Mosfet transistor to handle that. But those 2 processors made it to about 50 years old by the time we switched to all digital in mid 2008.

Now I'm going to wander off topic, sort of.

Frankly, broadcasters sorely need such a characteristic device in the digital path right now, and if some enterprising coder were to write that code to interface with the usual EIA digital audio format, and build it into a black box with the usual connectors on it, he/she would find themselves busier than that famous cat on the equally famous tin roof until they had filled up the market, which is, here in the states, 1500 to 2000 tv stations. Multiply that by the number of channels the digital broadcaster is using today, which for us is 4, and you'll have to hire help building them for 2 or 3 years.

I don't know if there is all that much info out on the net on how the

Audimax worked, but surely any patents have long since expired. In the maintenance manual there was a rather complex test method to determine if it was working correctly, but its only controls were input and output gain T-pads so one could establish the correct internal levels for optimum operation. The Volumax is much easier to explain as it was designed to prevent HF over modulation only, caused by the 17db of pre-emphasis the 75 microsecond boost caused, allowing full mid-range levels, but rolling off the high end to prevent the HF stuff from exceeding the allowed occupied bandwidth, +-75khz for FM's and +-25khz for tv. Its gain control response was sub millisecond, both ways. But in digital, no such control is needed, but we surely, sorely need the equ of the Audimax. In fact, that is one of the reasons I have remained subscribed to this list. If somebody does this, I will be in the GM's office asking for a P.O. for 4 of them tomorrow morning. So please somebody do it before I fall over. Now 77 YO& diabetic, retired (insert laugh track here, they never really let you) for 9 years, I still appear to have that sort of clout on the 2nd floor. Thanks Flo.