Another adat?

[dragonworks]

I am contemplating buying another adat. I now have a second generation xt 16 bit. If I buy an xt 20 will I have any conflicts. I am happy with the 16 but was wondering if I should replace it with a 20 later on. What are the drawbacks. I see in some software packages I have to select either 16, 20 bit etc, does this mean I would only be using the xt20 as a 16 bit? Can you select 16 bit on it? Should I just get another 16 bit?

[Blue Bear Sound]

XT20s are fully backward compatible with 16-bit ADATs...... and you can format and record at 16-bit on them if you wish, without difficulty.

Bruce

[mnicoletti]

Bruce is right on.

Only thing you may see is that if you accidentally put a 20 bit tape into a 16 bit XT, you will see "NoFo"; in a black ADAT you will see "ERR7".

To select your recording bit depth on the 20 bit machines, you would toggle the FORMAT button. To select the bits you output digitally, toggle the DIG OUT button. The choices are OUT 20 (full 20 bits), OUT16 (16 bits truncated), or OUT16dt (16 bits dithered). If you need 16 bits out (to transfer to a 16 bit deck) use the 16OUTdt, as truncating is not a nice thing to do to a digital signal and introduces distortion, which is generally accepted as worse than introducing low level white noise with dithering....

Mike