ADAT interpolation light problems

ruebarb

ruebarb

New member
Hi Guys - Russ here. I'm having a problem. I had a recording go bad on a fairly new ADAT (44 hours) - Originally, the interpolation light would flash a bit. I then ran a cleaning tape, and the bastard won't turn off now!! I don't think it's a bad tape, because the light comes on with a different tape. No other errors are happening

I need advice on this light. (The documentation sucks) and whether or not I need to take the ADAT in. Also, I know there was an unoffical home page for ADAT's that had EVERYTHING you ever wanted to know. If anyone knows this link, please post it.

By the way, problems mostly only pop up on one track. (Track 3) - If I play old recordings, I'm getting static out of it, and when I try to rerecord over it, static on the track. Since I picked it up slightly discounted and used, I didn't have a warranty card, so I'm hoping I can wing this. I guess there's an important lesson to be learned from all this. Shit.
Desperate in Minneapolis

[This message has been edited by ruebarb (edited 12-11-1999).]
 
Yikes!!! You ran a cleaning tape on an ADAT head!!!

My first question is did you use the cleaning kit that Alesis recommends for tape based cleaning? If not, tough luck. You heads are probably shot to hell.

If you did, did you use the liquid? Did you only run the cleaning tape as long as was recommended? Running them longer doesn't clean the heads any better, it just messes them up even more.

If yes to both, well, the cleaning only made it worse. Probably smeared the gunk even more over the heads.

Until you get the heads cleaned properly, you have no way of knowing if the heads are damaged or not. I am not going to recommend that you clean them yourself because I do not know the extent of your experience with working inside of delicate electronics equipment (although I can take a stab at this just by the fact that you used a cleaning tape instead of the proper cleaning method. Sorry, I am not putting you down, just pointing out that your knowledge may be a bit limited concerning procedures). You CAN clean the heads the right way. A call to Alesis customer support will yield you the kind of materials that you will need to do this. But, I still do not recommend that you do this yourself. ADAT head stacks are very, very, I will say it again, VERY delicate. They also cost over $650 just for the part. It is about 2-3 hours labor at a $55 an hour shop rate to replace them. It only takes one wrong move for about 10ms to damage the heads.

So, take it into a shop and have the heads cleaned. MAKE SURE THAT THE SHOP IS AN AUTHORIZED ALESIS SERVICE CENTER!!! If they are not, send the unit to Alesis. Their rate for services is very compeditive with local shops, and you can be assured that they will do a proper job.

Good luck.

Ed Rei
Echo Star Studio www.echostarstudio.com
 
Well, I used the offical 3M DRY cleaning tape. (followed instructions and all.) - I don't usually use it, because the manual recommends against overcleaning.

Basically not only did that not work, but all tapes that had input on track 3 were looking bad (error rates up in the 1000's - the standard is supposed to be 0000, but I understand some blank tapes even get up to 100) - So I freaked and shut it down, but figured I'd try to reformat my one first tape just in case.

Now that worked for a while. Error rates back down and old tapes are working again, except after half a dozen runs thru the reformatted tape, I'm starting to get errors again.

Near as I can tell, the tape must be bad, leaving deposits on the head or something, and by formatting it, I had the equivlent of a 40 minute cleaning. Tomorrow I'll try to rerecord the demos on a new tape, and if I can get thru all 8 tracks without issues, I'll trash the old tape and never use it again. On the other hand, if I have the same problems with a new tape, I'll probably take the deck in. However, I used an offical recommended tape for cleaning. (It's a dry tape, no cleaning fluid) - so that's not a big deal.
 
It really is a big deal when you use those cleaning tapes at all. I am actually really surprised that Alesis is recommending a cleaning tape that doesn't use a liquid. Basically, you have a nice scratchy surface rubbing on your head stacks.

It is still recommended that you do not use those cleaning tapes at all though. I have talked with Alesis techs about this issue, and they told me that the chances of damage to the head stack go way up when using those tapes.

Good luck.

Ed
 
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