Nakamichi CM250 Synchroniser
A two-box synchroniser that spoke SMPTE, stored cues, and told you what it was doing on an 80-character display.
Overview
The CM250 is not a cassette deck, a receiver, or anything else the Nakamichi name usually brings to mind — it is a professional synchroniser, a two-part system comprising a compact control unit and a 1U rack-mount interface box, built to lock audio to video and audio to audio. The control unit carries an 80-character LCD display that reports the full status of the system, and the unit's menu structure even includes a help menu offered in a choice of languages, so an operator can walk through the functions without a handbook in front of them. The CM250 is SMPTE compatible and incorporates a code generator, with later software options for event controlling. It was offered for current U-Matic and professional VHS machines, with interfaces for a wide range of audio multitrack machines.
Collectors and studio people who remember the Applied Microsystems line describe the CM250 as a genuinely flexible box rather than a fixed-function black box. Applied Microsystems' own advertising in the period press billed it as a synchroniser that "speaks your own language," and the two-part rack-and-control arrangement was the heart of the pitch — a compact control head with the LCD and a separate 1U rack doing the machine interfacing. Studio Sound (December 1985, p.113) listed the CM250 in its equipment directory alongside the CM50 autolocator and the CM255 superlocator and theatre control system, confirming the CM250's place in a small family of tape-transport control products from the same British manufacturer.
The CM250 was also sold in two versions — a "chase" version and a "control" version — according to Applied Microsystems' own 1987 advertising in Studio Sound, which grouped the CM250 with the CM50 autolocator (now with an optional SMPTE reader) and the CM255 superlocator and theatre control system. That same advertising framed the whole line as the product of "expert knowledge of tape transports," which is the right way to read the CM250: it is a transport-control device first and a timecode gadget second, and the interfaces were the point.
The Mk II and the software story
The CM250 II is where the story gets more interesting for anyone chasing one today. Applied Microsystems completely redesigned the software architecture for the Mk II, and the control unit gained simultaneous Master/Slave/Offset SMPTE displays along with internal status readouts showing whether the transport controls were assigned to the master, the slave, or both. Cue storage was increased to 30 cues — double that with two separate storage files — which opened the unit up to more complex applications such as live theatre, AV presentations, and video/audio synchronising. With the new software and the Options package, the CM250 II could be reconfigured to work as a chase synchroniser. Cues could be entered automatically on the fly or via the keyboard and then frame-trimmed, and the offset operated in a similar way.
The 80-character LCD carried full text menus and prompts, which is the detail that separates the Mk II from a lot of period synchronisers — the machine was designed so it could be operated without a handbook. Built-in interfaces covered 12 different VTRs (1-inch through VHS) and 18 different audio tape machines, and because the machine interfaces were changed in software, only dedicated cabling was needed rather than a different hardware card for every deck. No price increase was announced for the Mk II, and existing CM250 customers were sent the latest software — a detail that says a lot about how Applied Microsystems treated its installed base.
By 1987 the CM250 was still current enough to appear in show previews. Studio Sound (July 1987) described the CM250 control synchroniser as "established equipment" — a compact control unit with 80-character LCD linked to a 1U rack — and noted that the new CM200 chase synchroniser was based on the CM250 software. That lineage is worth knowing if you are hunting parts: the CM250's software DNA carried forward into later Applied Microsystems products, and the CM250 II's Options package is the version most worth finding.
Living with one
The practical reality of owning a CM250 today is that it is a two-box system with dedicated cabling requirements, and the machine interfaces are software-defined rather than universal. Buyers should expect to hunt for the correct interface cabling for their specific VTR and multitrack, because the unit's flexibility depends on having the right interface loaded and wired. The 80-character LCD and menu-driven operation are the saving grace — the unit was explicitly designed to be operated from its own prompts, which makes a working example far more usable than its age would suggest. Cosmetic condition of the control unit matters more than usual here, since the LCD is the primary interface and a dim or failing display undermines the whole operating concept.
Values are not well documented in the sources available, and the CM250 sits in a niche — professional synchronisers from the mid-1980s have a small but dedicated following among people keeping tape-based video and multitrack rigs alive. The Mk II software, the 30-cue storage, and the chase-synchroniser reconfiguration option are the features that make one example more desirable than another, and a unit with the Options package and the latest software is the one to hold out for.
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