ADAT vs. Sonar/Delta/blahblahblah...

[Purge]

Starting to take a look at the possibilities of picking up an ADAT. The HD24 is out of my price range by a lot, but I'm seeing the older versions running around for about 200 bucks. Would you guys recommend going this route over using a Delta 66 and Sonar? And if so, what should I be looking for exactly to make sure I don't buy something ultra-crappy? Silver face, black face, type II, XT, number of hours, polarities, LX...this is among the pile of terms I see popping up and I just wanted to educate myself (for a change!). Thanks in advance for your help.

[Farview]

Don't bother with the ADATs. They are cheap right now because everyone is going to a DAW. I have 5 Tascam DA-88s that cost me $4000 each a few years ago and aren't worth $300 on ebay now. All of these machines have maintainence issues. The mechanisms wear out and it costs $600 to $800 to get fixed. ADATs were kind of hit or miss, you either got a good one or one that was in the shop every 3 weeks. Stick with the daw, its cheaper in the long run.

[Purge]

Cool, thanks for the input. Is this pretty much the general consensus? One thing I forgot to mention is that my computer is pretty crappy. Maybe I was just looking at the old ADATs as a quick fix just to get the ball rolling, since I'm up to my ass in gear but haven't gotten to screw around with the recording end of it all as much as I would like. The DAW route is definitely possible in a reasonably short period of time, but will require yet more purchases.

Story of our lives, I suppose!

[Andybot]

Hi Purge, if you decide to go the adat route get a blackface. If you look around
youll probably find someone getting rid of there adat and pci card for incredibly cheap considering the quality.

And if you handy the blackfaces are not to hard to maintain.
Thx, A

[Farview]

I did forget to mention that even if the transport goes bad, this thing still has 8 da/ad coverters and a lightpipe interface. If you get a really good deal, it might be worth it just as an interface.

[ragata]

Absolutely - I've been to a few cheepo project studios using ADATs in conjugation with digi001. I guess it was the most affordable ad/da a few years back.

[Jack Russell]

Can someone tell me what DAW stands for?

I feel stupid. Uhhhhhhhhhhhhhh.......

Perhaps Digital Audio Workstation? Dementia Analog Whoopee?

[Farview]

Originally Posted by Jack Russell

Perhaps Digital Audio Workstation?

Give that man a cee-gar!

[notbradsohner]

a DAW is usually just a computer optimized for recording, incase you didnt know

[Purge]

Originally Posted by Jack Russell

Dementia Analog Whoopee?

HAH!! Great name for a band!!

[dragonworks]

adats are cheap, you can get an XT20 with the elco snake for two fifty, three hundred, soon it will be the same for arouind a hundred bucks.

[Jack Russell]

I wanna cool avatar like Mr. Purge's! That's all I want. I shall post nonsensical B.S. until I get to my 250 posts, I swear I will!!

Then You'll All See.

[Purge]

Hey, it's easy! Mine came out of the stock avatars, so just dig in there a bit and you'll find it.

[Jack Russell]

Just getting back to your original post:

I used a black face ADAT for a few years, but then it began to have real chronic problems, such as it would lock up, and not eject the tape. Oddly enough, I had a supposedly reliable technician look at it, but to no avail. He couldn't duplicate the malfunction. This happened again later, and yet another techy couldn't make it malfunction. I even considered the electrical line in the house where I used it, thing it might be inconsistent. I finally found a guy in Nashville who was able to correct the problem (completely new power unit), the I sold it on ebay right away. I have since been using 2 LX20s (sliver faces). They have been flawless, so I recommend them.

[chris-from-ky]

You'll want to consider your own recording preferences as well. I tried the DAW route and I found out that I just liked the adat/mixer route better. I like having the knobs and buttons at my fingertips instead of a mouse to make all my parameter changes. I've heard really good recordings from adat xt's and my old band made a record using a mac w/ logic that sounded really good too. If longevity is your concern, remember nothing lasts forever and that for one guy's success with a DAW or ADAT there's another guy cussing out his setup everynight from all the BSOD's and Lock-ups.

One thing that made up my mind was that I realized it all costs whether it's a DAW or an ADAT. I know I'll probably never have my dream studio setup so, whatever it takes to make me comfortable and happy recording music is the way I go. honestly, the price difference between DAW and ADAT isn't huge so, do what's going to make you love the recording process longer.

That's all I got.
Chris

[Purge]

Cool, thank you both for the replies. Most likely I'll end up doing both, but I kinda like that idea of "the buttons and levers are in front of me" thing, so I'll start with a cheap ADAT and see how it goes. Thanks again for the advice.