DAT Transports

...which company is the major manufacturer of DAT transports? I would have thought Sony was the main one manufacturing DAT transports.

Sony as far as I know has always made there own transports. I have 3 DAT decks, a Sony DTC 670, Sony PDC-R300, and Fostex D-5, and each one of them has a completely different transport. I find it hard to believe that 1 company would be the only provider of transports for the differet companies such as Sony, Fostex, Tascam, Otari, and Panasonic that make DAT machines.

According to Mark Nutter, who owns and runs Sonic Sense in Denver, he spoke with Alps, who is, according to Mark, the major manufacture of 4 mm data transports, at this years N.A.B. show in Vegas. According to his report, Alps stated they would be no longer produce audio transports. He then spoke with Tascam and others who confirmed that they have a 2-3 year supply and then that would be all.

For more information on this check out Sonic Sense's web site at www.sonicsense.com

Other sites of interest are www.datheads.com and www.oade.com. These are the 2 major Dat and recording forums available on line. Check them out and you should find more topical and updated information.