User:Dbackus2000/ENCO Systems, Inc.

ENCO Systems, Inc. is a US corporation, based in Southfield, Michigan that is a provider of application software for the radio and television industry. ENCO was established in 1983 by Eugene Novacek and Judy Kane Novacek, both MIT engineers. Initially, ENCO specialized in providing computer based process control and automation in industrial applications. In 1991, ENCO Systems introduced their first digital audio delivery/radio automation system called DAD. The product was intended to replace analog cartridge tape based playback systems in typical use at the time in radio stations. The DAD product also found application in television stations and networks as an audio-for-video playback device replacing analog tape based units. DAD was a DOS application and used professional DSP-based sound cards from Antex, notably the SX-7 and SX-22, then later the SX-9 and SX-23. The cards were capable of using Dolby AC-2 data compression for reducing data storage requirements on system hard drives. The SX-9 and SX-23 were also capable of utilizing the MPEG-1, Layer II compression, which is more commonly known as MPEG-II.

DAD provided a number of functions to users, including the ability to play multiple playlists, or logs, from a single workstation, the ability to play audio randomly from a multi-button, multi-page array panel and record up to four stereo streams of audio on a single workstation. DAD also allowed users to access and display scripts and schedule unattended operation with segue editor and voice tracking.

In 1997, ENCO introduced a 32-bit Windows NT version of DAD. At the same time, ENCO began supporting the Digigram series of DSP-based professional sound cards. In the early 2000's ENCO also began supporting the AudioScience DSP-based sound cards and today can support both DSP and non-DSP based audio devices from a wide number of manufacturers.

As of 2011, there are over 9,000 DAD workstations in the field at a variety of locations ranging from small webcasters to large multinational television broadcasters. In 2004, ENCO introduced enCaption®, a speech recognition-based product that automates the process of captioning live broadcast programming for the hearing impaired. ENCO also has a number of other products for the broadcast industry, including RAMA and PADapult, tools for radio metadata and 'now playing' data distribution, DADtv and HotShot, audio products specifically for audio for video in studios and trucks and in 2009 introduced Presenter, a 'live-assist' radio automation and delivery interface based on the DAD control and audio engine.