[Don Pearce]

William Sommerwerck wrote:
Everybody is clearly reading this question differently to the way I am.
If the question is "Would it be a good idea to have an application that
could rescue a tape recorded in B/C when a proper playback system
is unavailable?" Then yes, I can see that it might have some limited
application for a while.

But that is not how I read it. My understanding of the question is that
it is asking if it would be a good idea to routinely offer Dolby B and C
as companding methods in a DAW, on the basis that they might offer
some sonic advantage. The answer to that is a definite No.

No offense, but I think you misread it.


Not offended - but here is the original question "Another quick
question: Is Dolby B/C available as software and, if not, why?". I
think my interpretation is probably rather more reasonable (in that it
doesn't add a whole load of unstated stuff) than the 'rescuing old
tapes' one.

By the way, many years ago I tried superimposing dbx II on top of Dolby B,
the idea being that the Dolby would reduce the noise sufficiently to prevent
audible breathing from the dbx. The results were horrendous.



I can imagine. I still have an analogue dbx companding box I made many,
many years ago with some purpose-designed vca chips - can't remember the
numbers now. It worked pretty well with my cassette deck, but not if
Dolby was enabled too.

d