Alesis TapeLink USB

[tskl2]

Has anyone seen one of these in use?, and does anybody know where it will be sold? A web site will do.

[jmpk58]

Hi tskl - Here's a site : go to crispsound(dot)net - and, on the home page, at the top - search: Tape Link USB -

While it seems like an interesting unit - I do wish it had a 48k/24bit optional sample rate choice & some standard digital I/O - like AES/EBU and optical Toslink or hardwire S/PDIF.

Also switchable Dolby B & C, as well as a pitch control for tape speed/pitch correction are lacking. Nor is it set up for non-CrO2/non-Metal tape (what does that mean for my oldest normal bias crappy cassettes?).

The software included is nice.

I wonder is the motor speed totally controlled & stable? Servo or Digitally regulated? Even my mid '90s Tascam cassette needs to run for a good while to get up to stable speed.

I don't know much about such things - but I'd hope in this day and age with micro-processing, that the motors could be really stable & not just a standard cassette issue.

I'm very interested, but I'm also skeptical. Were the cats that designed it born during the advent & height of cassette technology? Aren't they mindful that their target demographic *may* be of a generation a little less software oriented and more interested in interfacing with our home studio hardware?

Aaaa.... maybe it's just me ~ this dude's gettin' old