THE NAGRA SAGA
A chronology of achievement
(edited from Nagra USA's website)
1951 Stefan Kudelski, a physics
student at what is now the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology, Lausanne,
working at home in his spare time, built the first Nagra portable self-contained
audio recorder. This prototype was followed by several Nagra machines
manufactured with the modest means then available to the young inventor.
Two Nagra recorders, purchased by Radio Geneva, were taken on the Everest
expedition led by Raymond Lambert. Professor Augustine Piccard used
another during his deep sea dives in the bathyscaphe Trieste, and the
French radio station Europe I acquired a machine for its news gathering.
Nagra I
1957 The Nagra III, a transistorised
tape recorder with electronic speed control, was launched. For the first
time ever, a unit weighing only five kilograms could be relied upon
to produce recordings of the same quality as those achieved by the best
non-portable studio recorders.
1960 The Italian Radio & Television
Corp (RAI) purchases about one hundred Nagra III machines for the Summer
Olympics in Rome. Kudelski is producing 480 recorders yearly. The Nagra
SN, a new model no bigger than a wallet, is received enthusiastically
by sound recordists.
1961 Invention of the Neopilot system
1964 At this time Stefan Kudelski’s
workshop was located in Paudex, to the east of Lausanne. A subsidiary
is opened in Renens, and a large plot of land purchased at Cheseaux-sur-Lausanne
for the building of a new factory.
1968 Stefan Kudelski’s private company
becomes Kudelski SA.
1970 - 1977 Several Nagra models
are launched into the market: Nagra 4.2 for the cinema, the Nagra 4S
(stereo) for film and record industries, the Nagra SI for acoustic instrumentation
use, the Nagra IS for reporters in the field, the Nagra E for low budget
professional users, and the miniature Nagra SNST for security applications.
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1977 The Nagrafax, a meteorological
receiver/recorder system, designed specially for use by both commercial
and private vessels was introduced. This system soon became standard
on-hoard equipment for ocean-going ships.
1978 This year sees the introduction
of the Nagra TI instrumentation recorder.
1980 Kudelski SA takes its first
step into video with a portable professional standard 1” C format video
recorder. An agreement is signed with Ampex for marketing the Ampex/Nagra
V PR-S. A small studio machine, the Nagra TA , derived from the Nagra
TI joins the product range.
1987 Kudelski SA and Honeywell Inc
(USA) sign a cooperation agreement for the development of a rotating
head data recorder (RTU) for instrumentation applications.
1988 Development begins on the Nagra-D
digital audio recorder 1989 Canal + decides to replace all of its decoders
with the Decodex system, developed by NagraVision. This division of
Kudelski SA is formed to carry the responsibility for all pay-TV activities.
Canal + (Spain) adopts the NagraVision system during this year.
1990 The NagraVision system is adopted
by the German ‘Premiere’ TV channel. Development of the Nagra-D 4-channel
digital recorder intended for the music and cinema industries near completion.
1991 Andre Kudelski takes over leadership
of the company and is appointed president of Kudelski SA. The millionth
decoder built under license from NagraVision leaves the factory. The
Nagra-D development ream is reinforced and the first industrial prototype
is made ready.
1992 The Nagra-D is officially launched
at the AES Convention in Vienna. Nagra Kudelski GmbH (Munich) becomes
a fully owned subsidiary of Kudelski SA and Nagra Kudelski (GB) Ltd
(London) is formed.
Nagra II
Our thanks to John Rudling of Nagra GB for the pictures of the Nagra
I and Nagra II
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