adats?

There is nothing wrong with go ADAT, however there are some limitations.

1. in order to add more tracks, you need to add more machines.

2. If a machine breaks or need maintanence, they aren't worth fixing due to the value of the machine vs. cost to fix it

3. Even though the converters were pretty good at the time, even the cheapest 24 bit soundcard you could buy today is much better sounding

4. No editing, no undo

5. Tapes are a PIA, now they are hard to get hold of. You spend half of your life formatting, rewinding and fast farwarding

You run into these same problems with any tape based system. Even the Tascam DA-series machines which were much more reliable and less break-downy suffer from these same problems.

If you are looking for a machine, a hard disc recorder would be a much better deal.
 
anyone here use them? Trying to avoid the pc route

If you will just be doing bedroom recording, maybe do a Google search for "portastudio." They will likely be more reliable and convenient than ADAT. However, more limited in tracks and editing power than with a PC.

If you wish to do bigger and more serious sessions, a PC may indeed be the most cost effective and productive way to go.

Why are you avoiding them?
 
anyone here use them? Trying to avoid the pc route

If you will just be doing bedroom recording, maybe do a Google search for "portastudio."

You can get a Tascam 488mk2 for less than $200 (much much less if your patient.) This will give you 8 track recording onto cassette with a built in mixer, phantom power on two channels, and four track simultanious record. Regardless of what people say, you can actually get some killer results from these units. Tascam parts are still readily available from the manufacturer and there is a vast group of devoted fans online that can give you information if you need it.

If you have more money, look at the 388. It's killer. It records 8 tracks onto quarter inch tape and is built like an oversized portastudio, no phantom power, but 8 track simultanious record.

I highly recomend going with this type scenario first. It will force you to learn to make decisions and live with them instead of laying down 1329 guitar tracks to find "the perfect one."
 
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