Ediplace/Editrace

Around 1970 one man operation of two VT machines was introduced in the record pairs, VTs 5,6,7and 8. These were pairs of VR1200s which shared a common replay correction chain (Amtec, Colortec). They also had the simplified Editec edit controller. The original installation didn't feature any combined control for the play machine, so, to edit, a bit of footwork was involved.
Luckily (for the editors) a time code edit control system, called Ediplace, was introduced. Ediplace did not synchronise the two machines, but the system operated by prerolling the play machine and then, at a fixed duration before the edit, issuing a run command to the edit machine - in essence, the player controlled the recorder. The editor would mark the 'in' point on both machines; on the player time code would be used, whilst the edit machine point would be marked by the usual Editec cue 'pip' and the preroll park position by chinagraph on the tape.
The photograph below of VT7 shows the Ediplace panel on the far right (below the monitor) with the cue board for edit point logging to the left of the same monitor.

VT7 Ediplace.
VT8 Ediplace

This rather blown up picture of VT8's Ediplace with an Editec panel below, shows the transport controls for the play in machine, the data entry thumbwheels for locating material on the source tape and the edit point entry buttons (to the left of the thumbwheels).

The invaluable plastic board for noting down the edit points in chinagraph is to the left of the monitor.

The system was easy to operate and accurate once you got used to it. As with all time code edit systems, the main problems came from reading poor time code - re-shaping boxes were available to resuscitate dodgy code!

VT39
Later on the edit pairs evolved into the 'Super pair' concept in VT22 and VT39 (shown here).
VT39 was for quite a few years the 'home' of "Blankety, Blank". In the photograph Mike Taylor is at the controls while Marcus Plantin wonders why I'm taking a photo!
The Ediplace controller was moved to the Studer trolley as shown below (Mike Taylor's hand).
VT39 trolley
When the Electra suites were built, the modular concept of the panels enabled a more sophisticated version of Ediplace to be built for editing in the new VPR2 (C-format) edit pairs. This system eliminated the problems of non consistent runups which were a feature of early VPRs.
The picture below shows a typical VPR2 edit pair, in this case VT29, with Phil Southby doing his paperwork!
VT29
Editrace console

This enlargement from the picture above shows the basic Editrace panel. It was in effect an Electra editor's panel with the ability to control the play-in machine as well.

The sound mixer was also mounted in the console and the whole trolley could be moved out of the way when not editing as space was very limited in these cubicles.

Editrace was not the final development of Electra. In the late 1980s the search was on for a new serial control edit system for the new generation of VTRs in the pipeline. Follow the Vantage link from the Editing page menu to find out about the edit system that nearly was.