Studer A-810
The two-track that deleted the trimmer - Studer's first machine to set its own alignment in software.
Overview
The A-810 is the machine where Studer gave up on potentiometers. According to a contemporary technical writeup on digitally controlled analog tape machines, the company pioneered the electronic alignment system with this two-track recorder. It did away with the pots for equalization, record gain, and bias. In their place are shuttle wheels and up/down keys that step digitally controlled trimmer values by hand until the VU meters or outboard test gear agree. Open the audio cards for adjustment and there are no trimmer holes on the front of them at all. No stripped screwdriver slots, no bent trimmers, no noisy pots after a decade of heavy use, and no chance of turning the wrong one at 3 a.m. during a session.
Studer's own advertising in the trade press, the copy that ran in Studio-Sound (1984, p.17), called the A-810 a "quantum leap forward" that "re-states the art of analogue recording." That is the kind of line you expect from a manufacturer with a reputation to protect. The feature list in the same ad is more useful: microprocessor control of all transport functions, quartz-referenced capstan speed control, a zero locator, a real time counter with +/- readout, four selectable tape spooling speeds, self-sync, and meters switchable between VU and PPM indication. Phase-corrected record and reproduce amps were standard. None of that is glamorous. It is what made the machine usable in a working room, since a deck with a zero locator and a real-time counter is one you can hand to a second engineer without a briefing.
Audio (March 1983, p.30) described the A-810's parameters - treble and bass correction, level, and bias - as being set through 8-bit A/D converters with 256-step adjustment ranges. The reviewer's verdict was blunt: it would be hard to imagine an analog tape recorder with improvements beyond those Studer had incorporated. The same piece notes that the A-810 operates in real time at all tape speeds, that an audio-frequency test generator with five frequencies is built in, and that intertrack time code recording was optional. That option was the feature that made the deck useful in post-production rooms where a two-track needed to chase picture.
A Mix-Magazine studio feature (November 1986, p.205) lists an A-810 two-track sitting alongside an A-80 24-track in a working control room. The multitrack handled the session, and the A-810 handled the mix and the master. A classified listing in Mix-Magazine (June 1995, p.218) offers a Studer A810TC with SMPTE and two head stacks as used equipment. So the "TC" variant with time code was a real configuration that studios bought and later sold. The two-head-stack setup also means the machine could be re-aligned for a different tape formulation or headblock without swapping the whole deck.
The surviving record does not give a full specification sheet. There is no frequency response figure, no signal-to-noise ratio, no weight, no dimensions, no original list price, and no production run. The Archive's fact sheet for this model is empty. What does exist is period advertising, a period review, and the trade-press classifieds. Anyone claiming a hard number for the A-810's wow-and-flutter or its original 1983 price is working from something other than what's documented here.
eBay Listings
As an eBay Partner, we earn from qualifying purchases. This helps support our independent vintage technology research.
Related Models
- Studer A-80-VU
- Studer A-820
- Studer A80-RC
- Studer A800
- Studer B-77
- Braun TG-1000 (1970–1975)
- Teac X-1000 (1981–1986)
- Teac X-1000M (circa 1982)
- Teac X-1000R (1981–1986)
- Teac X-10R