My ADAT ate my homework!

[RawDepth]

My adat machine chewed up a tape last night. It got all wrapped up, balled up, and mangled near the capstan somewhere. It was an archive tape, maybe 8 or 10 years old, that I was dumping to the DAW. I was pretty disappointed, aggravated, and frustrated over it. ...but don't worry, I didn't beat my girlfriend.

Do you suppose it was because the tape was old or because the machine needs attention? I am afraid to put another tape in it now.

[Blue Bear Sound]

You are doing regular maintenance on it, right? (ie full-cleaning every 3-4 months, idler wheel replacement every 6 months)

ADATs are definitely NOT user-maintenance free.

Try formatting a blank tape and see if it does it again.... if so, then either you haven't been maintaining the unit and it needs it badly, or else it requires a trip to the vet......

[Track Rat]

Been there. Done that. Were you getting an errors displayed before it had lunch ( maybe the little * that flashs when it's having a hard time reading the tape?)? I definately clean it or have it cleaned.

[RawDepth]

I bought the machine second hand about three or four months ago. The seller said it had just been cleaned and serviced. While he was a stranger, I had no reason to disbelief him. I used it several times right after I bought it and it worked perfectly. It had no errors and I saw no reason to service it yet. Then I left it sit unused in the spare room of my smoke free home for about three months. I pulled it out just the other day and fired it up. Again no errors were displayed. After a few minutes of running just fine, it munched a tape. I opened it up and cleaned it as per written directions. (Near pure alcohol, lint free cloth, turning the head counter-clockwise...) I also cleaned up all the pegs and levers in the tape path with alcohol and Q-tips. I didn't soak the rubber capstan with alcohol but I did rub it lightly with the leftover not-very-damp cloth.

I put in the same crippled tape, but fast-forwarded it for several minutes to a fresh spot, and tried it again. It ran good for a minute or so but then it put the smack down on the tape again.

Well, I pulled the tape, pulled the plug, and put the contemptible thing back in the spare room. Now I am not speaking to it at all. I’ll just let it sit and think for a while about what it has done.

[gemsbok]

i think it was recomended to fast foward and rewind any new tapes or tapes that have been sitting for a while. i hated my adats. dont ever use a dry or wet cleaning tape. it alsways made my machine run worse. i had better luck hand cleaning every other month with light use.