Interfacing multiple ADATs question..

[Lotis]

I have a 1604VLZ and 2 ADATs. How do get the whole thing to interface and work as a 16 track? Thanks.

 

[IPlayHamers]

You still using ADAT's???? Why?????

 

[loudboy]

They need a synch cable between them. One will act as a master and the other will synch up to it.

It's very easy, and it works flawlessly.

Loudboy

 

[Ray Gianelli]

You still using ADAT's???? Why?????

I am too. I can't speak for Lotis but I bought 2 blackface ADAT's for less than $150. I couldn't find anything out there that would let me do 16 track simultaneous recording for anywhere near that amount.

But I can see tape cost adding up quick. Still, I made a demo for our band that served it's purpose and came out cheaper than the studio quoted us.

 

[Ray Gianelli]

They need a synch cable between them. One will act as a master and the other will synch up to it.

It's very easy, and it works flawlessly.

Loudboy

Loudboy's right. The sync cable is about $10 at GC. When you turn the machines on they will display ID1 and ID2, indicating a master and the slave.

The Mackie is set up as a 16 channel board, but is more geared to live use. I have an Alesis Studio 32 which is a 16 track recording board and works well in this application.

 

[Dave Klausner]

With a setup like that, one of the the easiest ways to use the ADATs and the mixer would be to connect the recorders to the insert points, using insert snakes. That way, you are getting the most direct signal path to tape (straight off the preamps), but able to monitor, and even make alternate mixes, without affecting the signal you are recording. Then, when it's time to mix, you won't have to repatch everything.

 

[SgMaster]

get a lightpipe connector cable and use fiber optic technology to connect them. It's not too expensive. My boss uses 4 Alesis ADATs together with the top being master and the next 3 slaved to it and a BRC controller for all of them. Its pretty easy to do and they feed off as one unit to a larger mixer too using a 1/4 to (giant rectangular multipin thing). The thing I reference has a name, which I'm sure someone will fill in and it basically allows you to work with 32 tracks I believe without a huge 32 jack snake. And yes, ADAT is cheap and still useful, even if its a little more difficult to deal with (error messages galore) Be careful of the dirty head message. It costs like $100-125 to get the heads cleaned but with research and the right equipment you can do it for $2.50 yourself.

 

[Ray Gianelli]

get a lightpipe connector cable and use fiber optic technology to connect them. It's not too expensive. My boss uses 4 Alesis ADATs together with the top being master and the next 3 slaved to it and a BRC controller for all of them. Its pretty easy to do and they feed off as one unit to a larger mixer too using a 1/4 to (giant rectangular multipin thing). The thing I reference has a name, which I'm sure someone will fill in and it basically allows you to work with 32 tracks I believe without a huge 32 jack snake. And yes, ADAT is cheap and still useful, even if its a little more difficult to deal with (error messages galore) Be careful of the dirty head message. It costs like $100-125 to get the heads cleaned but with research and the right equipment you can do it for $2.50 yourself.

The multipin thing sounds like an Elco snake. I've not had to clean the heads on my ADAT's yet but I used to service VCR's for extra money and cleaning ADAT heads or replacing the idler tire shouldn't be any different.

But it's kind of moot for me... I just bought a used ADAT HD24 hard disk recorder. In the end, the cost of tape vs hard drives was just too much. I'd have to spend $400-500 on tape for the same storage as a 160 GB hard drive, which I've seen on sale for $57 in last Sunday's paper.

 

[SgMaster]

Ya, Elco snake is what I was thinking of. Using tape still requires A/D conversion though somehow. My boss routes his ADATs to a Yamaha 02R mixer then out to the computer for Digital Performer. We ultimately only use ADAT now when converting tape to digital and burn everything using an Alesis Masterlink disk burner.

 

[Ray Gianelli]

Oh yeah, the only other thing is if one ADAT has a higher firmware revision than the other it should be made the master machine. Hold Set Locate and press Fast Forward to view the firmware version.