Abstract: Signals generated by double frequency magnetic recording are received by logic which is controlled, and sensed, by a sequence of program instructions from a microprocessor. In particular, a special pattern of signals is to be recognized. The special pattern of signals is known in the magnetic disc recording art as an address mark which is a unique pattern of interspersed clock signals and data signals. The pattern is made more unique from any other pattern of data by the fact that certain of the clock signals are missing. The ability to utilize a microprocessor, which is relatively slow, in a magnetic recording system in which the bit rate is relatively fast, is enhanced by a particular processor program instruction which is effective to access a next following instruction from program storage and then stop the clock of the processor. The clock is re-started, and therefore execution of the next instruction initiated, upon receipt of a timing signal from the logic receiving the signals to be detected.