Is ANYBODY still using an AMS Audiofile

[Ty Ford]

Excellent!

Thanks for stepping up Mike.

Regards,

Ty Ford

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[Betsy Harmatz]

Hi Mike…so glad you found the thread…and so good to hear from you. I would love to be in touch with you–we managed to get up and running last week with a used power supply from an old green screen I had in storage…but now I have lost two disk drives….I may have some spares in storage i’ll look for next week but all in all I feel like I’m starting to skate on thin ice supporting my beloved green screen with needed parts. I love AMS and would love to talk to you about parts, upgrade, etc. My friends Louis Mills and Jim Mikles say that that you’re the man to know for AMS, so I am very grateful you contacted me. My email is bhaudio@comcast.net if you’d like to get back to me that way or on here. Either way I look forward to more conversation with you, and thanks so much for finding me !! Take care and please be in touch. Many thanks–betsy/BH Audio

[Brendan Williams]

Hey all,

See this thread’s been up a while but I figured I’d chime in anyway. I have been using an Audiofile since 2005. I work with Louis Mills, who was mentioned in a previous post by Ty. We started with the old “spectra” mainframe and 2 unit, and then upgraded to the SC-X in 2009. Very soon, we will be abandoning our AMS system entirely and replacing our entire setup with a Pro Tools system.

What can I say? To be fair, it’s still probably the fastest dialog editor out there. It’s control surface and user interface is uniquely well suited to that particular task, and I fear that I may never be as fast on a Pro Tools system. Close someday soon perhaps, but never “as fast”.

Having said that, it’s highly unstable (breaks down constantly…con-stant-ly), has no third party plug in support to speak of, has poor system intercompatbility (it’s more or less a technological dead end), and no customer or tech support(zero, nada, zilch) on the North American continent. What’s more, the customer support from the UK is, to put it kindly…less than stellar.

Pro Tools is a better fit for working with our video suites, has a ton of highly useful plug ins, a huge community of users, and–though I certainly have no delusions of technological perfection–much more stable in general than the Audiofile (and if you’re a Pro Tools user who’d beg to differ with me on this point, I challenge you to visit our studio for a week to see if your mind doesn’t change).

There are a number of other advantages that I won’t list here, but on the whole, Pro Tools (and it’s ilk) has much more going for it than our sputtering, cantakerous, but fast (when it’s working) Audiofile.

[Peter Groom]

HI Brendan
I have to agree with you on all points raised. my AMS was getting tempremental on boot ups when i de commissioned it about 4 years ago.
Funnily this week, I brought it home. Its now in the garage pending its next move / fate. I couldnt bear to chuck it, but i know i have to. Think ill keep the surface as momento. Call it art.
Im freinds with a couple of the ex ams guys on Facebook. Theyre pretty well all gone (the ones who developed and supported it) so the time is past.
But yes it is the fastest editor ive ever bashed. And it so8unded best too, but the advantages of a supported developing product like PT far outweigh the small strengths of the ams in my opinion.
AMS should package and sell as a pt plug in, the source stack concept, cue window and trim window idea. Id pay good money for that in my pt.
Amazingly the SCX is still a current product on the ams website. vety few on the go in the uk now.
Peter

Post Production Dubbing Mixer

[Ty Ford]

Brendan,, et al,

I think my pal Jay Rose holds the land speed record for fastest editing using an AKG DSE 7000 that has been long in the grave. There was a speed test way back in the previous millennia and he won that. I had a DSE 7000 when Louis Mills was still at Flite Three and found it extremely fast and accurate. I never operated any of the AMS AudioFiles he had there, but did spend a lot of time watching him and hearing him complain about the maintenance problems.

In fairness, I think a lot has to do with the system one becomes used to and the specific technique used. Earlier this year I was asked by Mike Collins to help edit a gargantuan amount of narration. After discussion how he wanted it, I began and found that I was soon able to edit in real time as the track played, staying just ahead of the play head for a lot of it; visually seeing the retakes and doing them as the track continued to roll.

It’s not always about the speed, of course. (and I know Brendan knows this folks because I know him). If it is about speed for you, maybe think about stepping away from the caffeine.

Have a great day!

Ty Ford

Cow Audio Forum Leader
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[Michael Reddick]

Hi Betsy,

I am sorry I was unable to follow this through, the fact is that I left AMS at the end of January this year. If you are still interested in talking about upgrades etc then I would suggest you contact csd@ams-neve.com or chris.bloor@ams-neve.com

Best regards,

Mike

[Betsy Harmatz]

hi Peter–i know it’s been many months….what did you do with the Audiofile? Do you still have it by any chance? The screen on the used SC we put in this summer just went. We can see from the dials that it’s booting up….but the screen remains dark. It happened to my partner the other day & it eventually came on after about an hour, but today it did it again & it has yet to come on. Do you, or anyone, have a screen that would work with this system? Or any ideas what the problem is & know how to fix it? Or know of any other systems, including upgrades, that would be available?i am kind of desperate–this was my back-up system to my 19 year old green screen we just retired 6 months ago, and now this one is unusable because you can’t see what you’re doing. Gee i don’t want to give up AMS altogether yet…..even though i know that’s what makes sense. Any ideas are most helpful. And if anyone has or knows of a power supply for the green screen, i guess we could always resurrect that 🙂 thanks-bh

[Mike Reddick]

Hi Betsy,

This screen issue was quite a common fault. It was caused by insufficient startup current getting to the backlight driver. I think there is a Factory mod to cure it.

For more details you could contact csd@ams-neve.com or chris.bloor@ams-neve.com

Regards,

Mike

[Richard Daniel]

Well , well, Mike Reddick, how the devil are you?.

I still have a mint condition Audiofile 16 track SC (apart from the fact that I think the BIOS battery has died) circa 2004. It has had a long afterlife mainly editing oral history projects and talking books. As a simple tape editor the interface is still hard to beat (jog wheels and soft keys still perfect for the job) and unlike many other editors it does it all in real time (no rendering or clip bouncing). I have taught many students the rudiments of editing craft on it.

This summer I have to decide whether to upgrade it for old times sake or sell it as spares. I understand that the upgrade gives it a madi link between the control p c and the convertor rack. (How old is madi too 1983?? and having another new lease of life- just seen a madi to usb gizmo)

Meanwhile back to the Sadie (6)

best regards Richard Daniel

[Betsy Harmatz]

Thanks Mike–so nice to hear from you. Where are you now?

i was in touch with AMS based on the email addresses you had given me previously–thanks for that. They sent us a new screen–but that didn’t turn out to be the problem. Then they sent us a new inverter and that seemed to do it. Jim told me to send back the screen, which i did, but it ended up costing me a fortune to fedex to the UK–if i had known that i would have kept it as a spare, especially b/c it doesn’t seem to be automatic that i will get a full refund on it, but i hope so b/c it was pricey and i don’t even have it anymore !! Anyway, we are communicating about it.

Chris Bloor, Mark Leah, and Rachel Pool were helpful with this issue, but i do wish i felt AMS was better supported. i would even consider buying a new one if/when i need it, but the support does seem to be difficult from the other side of the pond.

Anyway, thanks so much for your continued interest. Take care and let us know where you are these days.

all the best–betsy/BH Audio/Baltimore, MD. USA