24 track HDrecorder

F

fimpen

New member
Hi all!

I going to make some investments this spring/summer. Mostly microphones and outboard, but I'm also in a great need of a harddisk recorder. My requirements for the recorder are:

- 24 tracks simultaneously
- 24 balanced analogue inputs and outputs
- digital inputs and outputs. (ADAT)
- I must be able to sync it to other recorders, both analogue and digital. SMPTE or Wordclock.
- 24 bit converters

did I forget anything?

Which one should I choose? Alesis HD24, Fostex D2424LV, Mackie MDR2496 or __________ ?

My budget doesn't allow me to look at more expensive recorders than these three.

What is your experience with these? Let me know.


/fim
 
each one of these recorders is going to sound good. so taking that out of the decision making process. It boils down to how you work. In a nutshell any of these would be a good choice and they're all in the same price range give or take a few hundred dollars. The alesis and the Fostex both come with 24tracks of adat built in with 24 1/4 inch inputs as well. I'm sure the mackie has that you may have to buy them as a option. good luck
 
The Mackie does not come with the ADAT I/O. You can buy the cards at an additional cost, but if you want to go back andforth you have to change out the cards.

The Fostex looks promising, but I will have to wait until more information is availible before I can comment on it. It's looks like it will be the cheapest of the three.

The Alesis uses standard EIDE drives, comes with both Balanced Analog and ADAT Lightpipe I/O, Ehternet connection, ADAT sync, MIDI I/O, etc. The only thing I wish the HD24 had was a T100 ehternet card verse the T10 that is built into it.
 
Thank you. I don't mean to be rude but I know what outputs and input, etc. the machines have, I can read the specs on the manufacturer's homepages.

Can anyone who has used any of these machines tell me something the webpages don't? Like syncing to analog tape recorders or editing tracks. Is it no-problems/problematic/close to impossible. You know, things that the manuals won't tell me.

Thank you again for answering to my thread. I hope I'll get alot more info from you guys.

By the way, has anyone[/] used the D2424LV? I like the front-panel/remote. It is indeed the least expensive of the three I mentioned. Maybe I'll go for the Fostex... Mackie is out of the game. Come on, Alesis users! Convince me!!

/fim
 
To make things more interesting , Mackie is coming out with the SDR24. It will have both analog and digital I/O. It has a USB port, which would be much better than any ethernet connection. You can record all 24 tracks at 24/96 when using the analog I/O. You are limited to 12 using the digital I/O at that setting. Each of the 24 tracks has eight virtual tracks. I do not know the starting price no this recorder, but I would bet it would be around $2K.

The D2424LV is not on the market yet.

I know you can do your own search, but here are a couple threads on the HD24:

https://homerecording.com/bbs/showthread.php?threadid=47135&highlight=HD24

https://homerecording.com/bbs/showthread.php?threadid=46873&highlight=HD24

What other questions might you have?
 
While I can't comment on the specific models you are considering, I do have a Fostex D160 which is basically the original 16/44.1 version .............the removable front control panel is great BUT it is almost essential to get the 5 mtr extension cord to get the most benefit from this feature.

Fishmed, what's the bet that the new Mackie is way more than $2K:)

:cool:
 
Actually that's not true the D2424lv is in stock at www.Americanmusical.com for 1799.00 I have a HD24 some bonuses about it are as follows:

Scary easy back up of projects from one drive to another
sounds great in 24/44.1
uses 5400rpm drives as well as 7200rpm drives
digital transfers are a breeze with adat I/O
You are able to shot of the drive by dismounting it(you don't have to take it out of the recorder to dismount all it means is that the drive spins down)
also you can shut the main fan of as well for times when your not using the recorder and need as few things going as possible.

The only two bummers I can think of are as follows:

10baseT instead of 100baseT
some of the buttons on the front panel are rather small and a pain to deal with.

Hope this helps!


>>>The D2424LV is not on the market yet.<<<
 
musicmovesme said:
Actually that's not true the D2424lv is in stock at www.Americanmusical.com for 1799.00
Click to expand...
So it is, I stand corrected. (I had checked Mucicians Friend)
There is still little info about the unit.

ausrock
The only reason I figured $2k is because on the Mackie website they said they were targeting home recording people. With the HD24 and D2424lv on the market for under $2K, I can't see them going much over that amount and retain this market. I could see Mackie discontinue the MDR2496 shortly after the SDR24 comes out, or at least drop the price to compete with the D2424lv.
 
The Mackie SDR24 looks interesting, but it's not out on the market yet, right?

My experience/intuition tells me that it won't be for a long time. Remember when the Mackie M2600 amplifier came out? Every shop in the world had brochures and specs and everything for it but not a single amp had left the factory. The first time anyone saw one was over half a year later. I suppose it's the same thing with most new Mackie products.

Thank you for your replies. Keep posting! I haven't bought anything yet!


/fim
 
elevate said:

FYI - Not unless it's USB 2.0. USB 1.1 transfers at 12 Mbps.
Click to expand...

Me and my assumtions. Not doing too well today. :(

At least 12 is better than 10.
What is the transfer rate of the USB 2.0?
 
from what I've seen the SDR is intended to directly compete with the HD24 from Alesis (comes standard with ADAT lightpipe I/O) ... and it's expected price is $1,999.
I got the MDR ... and i can say that syncing to a PC application like Sonar was extremely easy (once I finally pulled my head out of my arse) ... same with FTP.
 
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For better or worse, I just walked in the door of my house just now with a brand new Alesis HD24. It's still in the box except for the manual I just ripped out of it. Two grand, tax and all with a couple of lightpipe cables on the side. I'll be adding the eight extra analog gozintas/gozoutas to the patch bay starting tonight and transfering the ADATs to a road case. Time to warm up the soldering iron.:D :D :D
 
I use an Hd24 with a Behringer Digital mixer with the ADAT interface and get 16 tracks using 2 lightpipes. Setup and use is so easy a child could do it.

I also find that the FTPing of waves on to my comp to be slow but reliable just make the tea while it is transfering.

So far the results have been well above expectation.

USB 2.0 max speed = 400 mb/sec and competes with firewire on speed.
 
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