Magnetic recording apparatus

A magnetic record card (12) is manually movable along a path (13) adjacent a transducing assembly (14). A reference mark is recorded by a write head (19) when a card is detected by sensor (24) and is read by a read head (20). A counter (33) counts a train of pulses from an oscillator (31) and initiated by a write signal to the write head. Counting is terminated by a signal from the read head and the contents of the counter used to compute velocity. This is used to provide comparisons in compare circuitry (44, 45) with an oscillator driven counter (43). Outputs from the compare circuitry trigger the recording of time and data marks by a recording head (17).