Abstract: A system synchronously controls the advance of a recording medium or may be employed in a facsimile recording apparatus in which a modulated optical information beam is caused to scan or be swept across the recording medium as the medium is advanced in a stepwise manner. For this purpose, digital control circuitry including a programmable read only memory responds to a galvanometer synchronization signal, indicative of the beginning of a scan line, and selectively generates stepping motor advance signals in accordance with a look-up table stored in the memory as the beam scans the recording medium. By this action, the location in each successively recorded line at which the recording medium is stepwise-advanced is aligned in the direction of movement of the recording medium with a corresponding advance location for every other line irrespective of the rate of advance of the medium. As a result, banding, which would otherwise contribute to degradation in the recorded image copy, is effectively eliminated.