[ProAudio] DAT Transfers

[Jim Brown]

I need to transfer a few dozen DATs to a hard drive for archiving before 
it's too late to find hardware on which to do it. 20-25 years ago when I 
was recording this material, I had a tower machine set up as a DAW with 
all the interfaces needed to do the transfers. It's been 15 years since 
that machine was booted, and it was more than ten years old then. And I 
don't remember the logon. :)

  So I need advice about hardware. I still have the Tascam DA-P1 on 
which they were recorded, but I'm not sure it will live long enough. 
I'll try it first. It outputs S/PDIF, so I need an interface to get into 
my Windoze machines. All use USB, but I think I might have one with 
Firewire.

I found a MOTU 8D with USB 2.0 and S/PDIF I/O. David Josephson has 
cautioned me that some interfaces may not sync well enough to the stream 
for a clean transfer. Can anyone advise about this particular product? 
The material is all acoustic jazz with important artists, so quality is 
paramount. Most if not all of the masters are 44.1.

Can anyone suggest another interface? Also suggestions of a source for a 
good used DAT if mine doesn't make it through the process? I'll be 80 in 
the fall, my last recording was 12 years ago, this project is going to 
be a one-off, so I don't want to spend big bucks if I don't need to.

Thanks, Jim Brown