An acronym standing for the Society of Motion Picture and Television Engineers. In the context of electronic music, it nearly always refers to a standard developed by that body for a time synchronization code. This time code was once used to synchronize sequencers and drum machines with a tape being played back, as well as other uses such as syncing audio to video. There are several means of encoding the signal; all forms contain the same data, but the means of transmission is different. One relevant and unusual form consists of a modulated audio signal (in the manner of a computer modem) which can be recorded and played back by an audio recording device.