BBC Quad (H) broadcast of Shakti Concert: WAS: Where to post "Looking for {X} in surround?" {given unusual circumstances}

[V96GLF]

Unfortunately, the trail has gone cold on thee FB thread and person who posted he had a quad off the air recording of Shakti.
I'd been hoping he would join QQ, but I guess that won't be happening.
And that means we can't actually be sure the recording was quad encoded in BBC format.
Alas.

As I mentioned a few posts back, I have an off-air recording on cassette, but no decoder.

 

[par4ken]

So, let me understand, you are going to do all of this -
"..fake a decode of H with an RM decoder, an SQ decoder, and 6 amps and speakers:
Set up the RM decoder in the usual way. Then add two more speakers, with SQ left back between the front speakers, and SQ right back between the back speakers. "
-in order to inaccurately decode a matrix format you have no examples of?

This sounds like it would be a fun exercise!

 

[mwhealton]

As I mentioned a few posts back, I have an off-air recording on cassette, but no decoder.

Yes, saw that. And it wiill be great if someone can figure how how get it transcoded or at least see if it is in fact still in a quad format.

My original post was from a FaceBook post by someone not here at QQ who recorded from an on-air broadcast on reel-to-reel with a quad setup (No technical details were given in the thread. So I don't really know if the tape was actually in quad or not). And that is the conversation that has gone cold. So it must be considered 'lost in the wild'.

 

[Soundfield]

Yes, saw that. And it wiill be great if someone can figure how how get it transcoded or at least see if it is in fact still in a quad format.

My original post was from a FaceBook post by someone not here at QQ who recorded from an on-air broadcast on reel-to-reel with a quad setup (No technical details were given in the thread. So I don't really know if the tape was actually in quad or not). And that is the conversation that has gone cold. So it must be considered 'lost in the wild'.

Do you have a suitable decoder?

 

[mwhealton]

Do you have a suitable decoder?

Unfortunately, no. That was the entire reason I suggested to the FB person to join QQ: In the hopes of finding someone could help...
The ins and outs of the 70's period decoders and coding formats are far beyond my knowledge.

 

[Soundfield]

Unfortunately, no. That was the entire reason I suggested to the FB person to join QQ: In the hopes of finding someone could help...
The ins and outs of the 70's period decoders and coding formats are far beyond my knowledge.

Ah, you want someone with a Matrix H decoder you don’t have, to decode a tape you (or indeed they) don’t have, and record it in some unspecified mch format / medium for you. Tricky.

 

[mwhealton]

Only attempting to establish a connection between interested folks.
And I would happily pay actual money to support an effort, should it come about.
(I loved seeing Shakti live at Johns Hopkins University in 1977??. First time I had ever seen or heard a ghatam. Having a quad version of their work would be wonderful to me, if in a digital format.)

Stir some other brew of tempest please. Right now I need to go review my translation of Coffin Text Spell 1100 - part of the Book of Two Ways - for class today.

 

[Soundfield]

Only attempting to establish a connection between interested folks.
And I would happily pay actual money to support an effort, should it come about.
(I loved seeing Shakti live at Johns Hopkins University in 1977??. First time I had ever seen or heard a ghatam. Having a quad version of their work would be wonderful to me, if in a digital format.)

Stir some other brew of tempest please. Right now I need to go review my translation of Coffin Text Spell 1100 - part of the Book of Two Ways - for class today.

No reason to take umbrage. I'm sure lots of members here would be happy to help and without monetary recompense, but I was simply suggesting you you are trying to herd an awful lot of cats into a very small space.

 

[furui_suterioo]

As I mentioned a few posts back, I have an off-air recording on cassette, but no decoder.

I'd be interested in hearing un-decoded if you get a chance to upload, maybe someone can find a Matrix H script for A. Audition.

 

[humprof]

My original post was from a FaceBook post by someone not here at QQ who recorded from an on-air broadcast on reel-to-reel with a quad setup (No technical details were given in the thread. So I don't really know if the tape was actually in quad or not). And that is the conversation that has gone cold. So it must be considered 'lost in the wild'.

Those technical details would be good to have, obviously. If, back in 1977, the OP actually fed the broadcast through a Matrix-H decoder directly into a discrete quad reel-to-reel recorder, then it would just be a matter of getting someone to do a digital conversion of his quad tape. Not nearly as "tricky" as @Soundfield is suggesting. But if he has disappeared from Facebook, then it's moot regardless.

As for @V96GLF's cassette: if he could digitize it and get it to someone with a recent copy of PSpatial's Stereo Lab, then...well, any further discussion would probably need to be carried on via private messages.

 

[V96GLF]

I’ll first have to see if my cassette deck has survived many years in storage. Stay tuned.

Since the encode/decode algorithm is known, I would think it is relatively straightforward to write a plug-in for Audacity... if one knew how to write Audacity plug-ins, that is! Sadly, I wouldn’t know where to start.

 

[humprof]

I’ll first have to see if my cassette deck has survived many years in storage. Stay tuned.

Since the encode/decode algorithm is known, I would think it is relatively straightforward to write a plug-in for Audacity... if one knew how to write Audacity plug-ins, that is! Sadly, I wouldn’t know where to start.

The (in)famous Oxford Dickie once had a Matrix H script in development, at least; I don't know if he ever perfected it. Not sure about @Lucanu.

 

[quadaholic]

As I mentioned a few posts back, I have an off-air recording on cassette, but no decoder.

If you were able to upload maybe a songs' worth of audio I would be interested in looking at the files. I'm just seeing this thread for the first time. I've been casually on the hunt for this one for a while, and only the stereo version seems to be out there on the web.

 

[Fourplay]

Here is a thread on Matrix H with some downloadable technical references which might help interested parties to work on encoded sources.

Matrix H Articles

For info, here are some scanned pages from Wireless World May 1977 on Matrix H (when it was all new and exciting!)

www.quadraphonicquad.com

 

[kfbkfb]

https://www.quadraphonicquad.com/forums/members/armyofquad.38/ assisted with the development of the Pspatial Audio CD-4 software decoder and he may have the latest Pspatial Audio software (which includes Matrix H decoding).


Kirk Bayne

 

[V96GLF]

I’m going in... deep into the under-stair cupboard. I may be some time.

Six shoe-boxes stuffed with cassettes later... found it! And that’s a Yamaha KX-300 box at the bottom of the pile.

 

[kfbkfb]

Stereo Lab - Cassette noise reduction (Dolby B) software

Stereo Lab FRANCINSTIEN Stereo Lab FRANCINSTIEN T-Sym NEEDLE=DROP NEEDLE DROP software equalisation recording charateristics quadraphonic quadraphonics ambisonic ambisonics SQ QS quadraphonics quad binaural stereo Blumlein cassette noise reduction in software Dolby B Dolby Surround decoding...

www.pspatialaudio.com

^^^
In Stereo Lab, we take advantage of modern digital signal processing to ensure that the audio is first of all normalised so that it is at a reference level and with therefore be decoded properly.


If the cassette used Dolby B NR (and 120 microsecond/Type 1 EQ), it may be decoded with more fidelity by the Pspatial Audio Dolby B software (prior to the Matrix H decoding).


Kirk Bayne

 

[V96GLF]

Interesting - thanks. Yes, it probably is Dolby B. I’ll rip it both with and without the decoder switched on, for comparison.

Next step is to find out whether the deck is still in working order.

 

[V96GLF]

Good news: the cassette deck is up and running. At first I thought it was completely dead, because no panel lights came on (it must have had panel lights, right?). But actually it seems to be working fine apart from the tape counter - which assumedly is on a separate belt.

Bad news: the recording sounds pretty horrible. When the percussion kicks in (and there is a lot of percussion), the bass is loud, boomy and distorted. So I’m not sure we’re going to get much out of this exercise, but having got this far I might as well complete it.

Actually the recording was made not by me, but in my presence in a friend’s room at our university halls-of-residence, because he had a better receiver than me at that time. But clearly not good enough!

 

[par4ken]

Stereo Lab - Cassette noise reduction (Dolby B) software

Stereo Lab FRANCINSTIEN Stereo Lab FRANCINSTIEN T-Sym NEEDLE=DROP NEEDLE DROP software equalisation recording charateristics quadraphonic quadraphonics ambisonic ambisonics SQ QS quadraphonics quad binaural stereo Blumlein cassette noise reduction in software Dolby B Dolby Surround decoding...

www.pspatialaudio.com

^^^
In Stereo Lab, we take advantage of modern digital signal processing to ensure that the audio is first of all normalised so that it is at a reference level and with therefore be decoded properly.


If the cassette used Dolby B NR (and 120 microsecond/Type 1 EQ), it may be decoded with more fidelity by the Pspatial Audio Dolby B software (prior to the Matrix H decoding).


Kirk Bayne

This is looks interesting, I've looked for a software Dolby B decoder for a long time with no success. Do they not have a full software description someplace or are you just forced to get the free demo version to try it out first?