ABSTRACT
In the following chapter the basics of timecode and synchronization are discussed. In the days of analog recording the need for synchronization of audio signals was not obvious, whereas it has always been an issue for video systems. This was because analog recordings were not divided up into samples, blocks or frames that had to happen at specifi c instances in time – they were time-continuous entities with no explicit time structure. There was nonetheless a requirement to synchronize the speeds of recording and replay machines in some cases, particularly when it became necessary to run them alongside video machines, or to lock two analog recorders together. This was essentially what was meant by machine sychronization, and SMPTE/EBU timecode of some sort, based on video timing structures, was usually used as a timing reference. A form of this timecode is still used as a positional reference in digital audio and video systems, and a MIDI equivalent is also possible, as described below.
