This document has been possible thanks to many discussions with Steve Walker in 2013 and Frank Andrews' research published in "For The Rercord" No. 26. As with all things to do with old records, there are some minor discrepencies, both in the research and published information, some of which may never be satisfactorily solved! 

Octacros records were a product of Synchrophone Ltd. (Incidentally, Steve Walker tells me the label name should be pronounced Oct-Ar-Cross.)

The original Synchrophone Company was formed by Hans Knudsen in 1919 to cover an invention for synchronised film and sound, particularly for home use. I've not seen any of the records from this period, but the company was wound up in 1928, and it seems the name & trade mark was bought by Curwens, the music publisher in 1930, following which the first OCTACROS records were produced. They were single-sided 12"  discs produced for sychronisation with short 16mm films (see first image, thanks to Norman Field for this image). Ursula Greville, the singer on the record shown was the recording engineer for Synchrophone. The date of these is not known for sure but probably early 1934? They were likely to be short-lived as sound-on-film was developing fast by this time.

The next stage of Octacros records was as a result of performing copyright regulation changes.

Contrary to the usual perception, there was no dispute between cinema operators and the Performing Rights’ Soceity (the PRS). The dispute was between the Cinema operators and the major record companies (aka “The Ring”), who, since 1931, had been demanding an additional fee, over and above the PRS payment, for the use of their commercial gramophone records in cinemas. This was really an attempt by “The Ring” to recover the PRS fees which they themselves were paying.

As a result of lobbying by “The Ring”, the Mechanical Copyright Act  of 1911 was amended in March 1934, and subsequently, the major companies’ labels then stated “All rights of the manufacturer and of the owner of the recorded work reserved  -  unauthorised public performance, broadcasting and copying of this record prohibited”.

The major cinema chains just stumped up the extra fees out of their considerable profits; the smaller cinema operators couldn’t afford to do so, and hence the introduction of Synchrophone’s new OCTACROS label in 1934. The idea being that the huge OCTACROS catalogue would contain all the types of music that the cinemas required, and could be obtained without paying the extra fee. The cinemas bought Octacros records under a 12-month contract, and any buying more than 50 discs in that year would not have to pay the licence charge.  the records were manufactured at The Mead Works in Hertford.

There were three main series of these OCTACROS records:

The 100- series which ran up to about 697 (the highest found to date). These were ALL issued between March and October 1934 using existing masters from Piccadilly & Metropole. The initial pressings used an orange-on-white label design which had no performers’ credits and not even a label name. These first records were described in Synchrophone's catalogues as "Emergency Supplies" and may only have been used for the first few batches of issues in March/April 1934. Subsequently they had the more usual blue-on-white label, but still without the performers’ names  or label name. Then, finally, the performers were credited (though sometimes under pseudonyms) and the label name added. Hence it may be possible to find the same record, using the same catalogue number, in all three forms. Although no new records were added to this catalogue after Spring 1935, they remained available until the end, in 1937.

The 1000- series, which ran up to 1391, were issued over time from May 1934 until March 1937 and were, with only  a couple of exceptions, nearly all new recordings made specifically by Octacros. I've not managed to find out where the recording studios were; they may have set up studios in the Hertford factory, but making recordings and pressing records in the same building was not the usual thing due to the vibration & noise of pressing machines. Ursula Greville was the recording director, with three other engineers. It is very likely that performers were recorded "in situ" (i.e. in ther home town or performing venue) using a portable recording unit. These records used a sort of continuation of Piccadilly master numbers; Piccadilly had almost reached 4700 by the time of their demise in 1932; Octacros master numbers start at about 5100, running to just over 6100 by Spring 1937. An interesting point, mentioned to me by Wayne Ivany of The Organ Society, is that the organ solos labelled as by "Reginald Burke" are recordings taken off the radio. There was no such organist as Reginald Burke, the name is used to cover many different players.

The 2000- catalogue series were all continental recordings from the French ECHO label; some were ECHO originals, and some were recorded for Echo by Ultraphone. This series ran up to 2061 and are nearly all dance records, the majority by Leon Kartun & his Orchestra. These were issued from May 1934 onwards, over time.

Other series, which were all very short-lived were:   [Details and label examples of any of these would be gratefully received].

Tech series: The Frequency Test records, available from June 1935. These were £1 for the set of 10 records, or 2/- each.
16000- series: The 16", 33⅓ rpm 16,000 series records specially for cinemas, but which needed special equipment (supplied by Synchrophone) to play them. each side had a playing time equivalent to 3 standard 10" 78s and the records cost £1 10s for a set of four, or 6/- each. There were only 12 different records produced, allegedly, though the ledger I had access to only listed the first 4 of these. I wonder if any more were ever actually made? Has anyone ever seen one at all?
DB-100 series: Strict tempo dance records produced for skating rinks. Probably sold in late 1936. The information I have gave no band names, but Frank Andrews tells us the bands of Alec Brown and Roy Richards, both of which played at London ice rinks, made the recordings. Anyone ever seen these?
G-3100- series: I know nothing about these.

It appears that, just when Octacros was on the verge of becoming a major player in the record market in 1937, Decca bought them out as part of what appears to be a plan to clear the market of any competition other than EMI. Decca bought the company and the Hertford factory in March 1937. Decca continued to supply Octacros records to existing contracts and they also pressed some "Edison Bell Winner" records in a W-1000 series using Octacros masters. Maybe these were the records for fulfilling the contracts, but the only known ones actually use 1934 Octacros recordings.

All Octacros records were manufactured at The Mead Works, Gas House Lane, Hertford. This factory had been buiilt in 1912 by Carl Lindström Ltd and subsequently bought in 1917 by Columbia, then Parlophone in 1923 before being sold to Metropole in 1928. Synchrophone Ltd had bought the factory for £6000 in January 1934 from Metropole Industries Ltd. A report in 1934 stated that 9.000 records were being pressed each day at the factory (I am always sceptical about such figures!). It would seem that most of the old Metropole & Piccadilly metalwork was still in the factory when Synchrophone purchased it, and they made full use of what they found for their 100- series Octacros records. The factory passed to Decca in 1937 and was subsequently demolished.

Prices: I've not seen much reference to the prices of the normal 100- 1000- 2000- series records, but Frank Andrews mentions that in 1936 they had been 2/6 each, but were now reduced to 2/-.

I'm very grateful to Steve Walker for his extensive assistance in untangling the Octacros story. (November 2013.) Also Frank Andrews' report in "For The Record " No. 26.
Thanks also to Norman Field for the green label (synchronised record) and the frequency label images.