Studer,Revox, Stella or Nagra ?
Studer: Unlikely. Now Harman owned with big corporate mentality. Production of their Studer branded desks are done in Britain in the Soundcraft factory. All documentation on the tape recorders and blueprints were given away to a third party, the famous Studer museum destroyed .Not really Swiss anymore.
Revox: Once the consumer arm of Studer, this is now a German (?) owned company selling mainly home theatre type products. Re introducing analogue tape? Unlikely. Too small a company and too far from current interest.
Stellavox: Dead, dead . Name belongs(belonged?) to Goldmund who once was going to use it to take over the world with the StellaDAT. DAT failed , as did Stella (again), Currently makes a DAC and a JOB based amplifier. OOPS , just saw that the StellaDAT is alive and well under the Sonosax umbrella. Maybe a new Stella Analogue Master recorder is not so outrageous after all? A mythical beast indeed!
Nagra: Currently active in the high end. Huge company with small high end audio sideline. Lots of resources and experience. For every one audiophile with a tape there are a 100 aspiring(and not so aspiring) filmmakers pining for the presence of a Nagra 4 on set. Nagra's demo at Munich does have a 4 on the top shelf next to the DAC . My bet is on re introduction of the 4 but its lack of 10 inch reel capability may hamper it in audiophile circles.
