35 Facts About Ampex

Ampex is an American electronics company founded in 1944 by Alexander M Poniatoff as a spin-off of Dalmo-Victor.

Today, Ampex operates as Ampex Data Systems Corporation, a subsidiary of Delta Information Systems, and consists of two business units.

Ampex's first great success was a line of reel-to-reel tape recorders developed from the German wartime Magnetophon system at the behest of Bing Crosby.

Ampex quickly became a leader in audio tape technology, developing many of the analog recording formats for both music and movies that remained in use into the 1990s.

Ampex moved into digital storage for DoD Flight Test Instrumentation with the introduction of the first, true all digital flight test recorder.

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Currently, Ampex is attempting to do more with the data stored on its network attached storage devices.

Ampex name came from his initials plus "ex" to avoid using the name AMP already in use.

Ampex was initially set up in an abandoned loft-space above the Dalmo-Victor plant; eventually they would have offices at 1313 Laurel Street, San Carlos, California.

Ampex discovered the Magnetophons with AC biasing on a trip to Radio Frankfurt.

Ampex demonstrated them to the Institute of Radio Engineers in San Francisco on May 16, 1946.

Ampex disliked the regimentation of live broadcasts, and much preferred the relaxed atmosphere of the recording studio.

Ampex was finishing its prototype of the Model 200 tape recorder, and Mullin used the first two models as soon as they were built.

Crosby immediately appointed Mullin as his chief engineer and placed an order for $50, 000 worth of the new recorders so that Ampex could develop a commercial production model from the prototypes.

Ampex acquired Orradio Industries in 1959, which became the Ampex Magnetic Tape Division, headquartered in Opelika, Alabama.

In 1952, movie producer Mike Todd asked Ampex to develop a high fidelity movie sound system using sound magnetically recorded on the film itself, as contrasted with the technology of the time, which used magnetic tracks on a separate celluloid base film.

Ampex received an early portable Ampex Model 200A from Crosby.

Ampex built a handful of multitrack machines during the late 1950s that could record as many as eight tracks on 1-inch tape.

In 1967, Ampex responded to demand by stepping up production of their 8-track machines with the production model MM 1000.

In 1966, Ampex built their first 16-track recorder, the model AG-1000, at the request of Mirasound Studios in New York City.

In 1967, Ampex introduced a 16-track version of the MM 1000 which was the world's first 16-track professional tape recorder put into mass-production.

In 1979, Ampex introduced their most advanced 24-track recorder, the model ATR-124.

Ampex sold only about 50 or 60 ATR-124 machines, and withdrew from the professional audio tape recorder market entirely in 1983.

In 1991, Ampex sold their professional audio recorder line to Sprague Magnetics.

The Ampex Recording Media Corporation spun off in 1995 as Quantegy Inc ; that company has ceased producing recording tape.

Ampex demonstrated the VR-1000, which was the first of Ampex's line of 2 inch Quadruplex videotape recorders on April 14, 1956, at the National Association of Radio and Television Broadcasters in Chicago.

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The first magnetically recorded time-delayed television network program using the new Ampex Quadruplex recording system was CBS's Douglas Edwards and the News on November 30, 1956.

Ampex received a total of 12 Emmys for its technical video achievements.

In 1967, Ampex introduced the Ampex VR-3000 portable broadcast video recorder, which revolutionized the recording of broadcast quality television in the field without the need for long cables and large support vehicles.

Ampex had trademarked the name "video tape", so competitor RCA called the medium "TV tape" or "television tape".

One of the key engineers in the development of the Quadruplex video recorder for Ampex was Ray Dolby, who worked under Charlie Ginsburg and went on to form Dolby Laboratories, a pioneer in audio noise reduction systems.

Dolby left Ampex to seek a PhD in physics in England, which is where Dolby Labs was later founded, before moving back to San Francisco.

In 1961, Ampex introduced the first One-Inch helical scan video recorders, the Ampex 2 inch helical VTRs, which recorded video using helical scan recording technology on tape.

Ampex originated three subsidiary labels: Bearsville, Big Tree, and Lizard.

Ampex Records ceased around 1973 and Bearsville and Big Tree switched distribution to Warner Bros.

Ampex Corporation supported the Ampex Museum of Magnetic Recording, started by Peter Hammar in 1982.