Adat Tapes?

Fangar

New member
Hey Fellas,

Any advice on which ADAT tapes that most of you like best. I have an LX-20 that is new. I am pretty new to the ADAT scene and would like to avoid any bad habits before I form them (well pertaining to ADAT anyway). Thanks in adavnce.

Fangar
 
When I'm lazy, I use the preformatted BASF tapes.... otherwise I use the Maxell Broadcast stuff...

BTW, if you have more than one machine, it's a good idea to make safety clones of any important material........ any project I do requires 2 tapes (sometimes more) - the original, the safeties, and occasional mix tapes (I'll move tracks off the work tapes after tracking is done onto fresh mixing tapes to order the tracks in my preferred track order and to shuffle out any tracks that aren't going to be used......

Bruce
 
I've had good luck with the Maxells and Quantigy and VERY bad luck with HHB. YMMV.
 
Thanks guys,

I just found some information on the Quantegy ADAT tapes. They seem pretty resonable. I found a site where you can get them for about $7.65 each. That does not seem to bad. I appreciate all of the grand advice.

Fangar
 
Just thought I'd throw in a couple of other options. I've been using the TDK and Maxell SVHS tapes that I can pick up at Best Buy or Circuit City. They cost aboout $13 for a set of 2, and have to be formatted, but the handful I've bought and been using have worked well so far.

DDev.....
 
Not a good idea I'm afraid -- ADAT tapes require a specialized coating that normal SVHS tapes do not have -- you risk losing sync or playback ability...........

Bruce
 
Bruce,

Okay, I'll bite on your comment. I had posted this same question a few months ago when I first got my ADAT, and at that time these tapes were a couple of the ones suggested for use. I haven't had any problems so far, but I have only used each tape once or twice. I've been taping live, 8 tracks only since I only have a single blackface at this point, about 60 minutes worth of music (ie. 2 tapes each session). Each tape has gone through multiple hours of my learning how to mix, etc. and I haven't had any problems that I didn't create myself (ie. input overload causing distortion, duh!).

So, now the question...Why a special coating that isn't warned about in the manual? And what indications will I have that my tape is failing me?

I realize that I'm working with a relative dinosaur using an older blackface unit, but coming from my 4-track cassette it has been like a night and day difference in quality, so I'm not complaining too much (and the cost was easy to swallow, since my main goal was to see what I could do with 8 tracks and learn some basic recording skills).

And, by the way, thanks for all of your input on this forum. I have learned a lot from your advice, so this is just another of my opportunities to learn from someone who been down the path before.

DDev.....
 
Gotta echo Bruce's comment on S VHS tapes ment for VCRs. You'll know you're headed for a meltdown when on the front panel disply you start seeing a little red * appears and it starts to flicker. That means it's having a hard time reading the tape.
 
I agree with Bruce ... use the right tape... otherwise your asking for trouble.

I first used Quantegy... no problem there, but switched at the suggestion of some others who had trouble with them. I now exclusively use the Maxell Broadcast tapes... I have, unfortunately, had one of these tapes eaten... but not sure that it was the tape at fault.

Never tried the preformats... but I should... that would be cool to not have to wait an hour before tracking.

Velvet Elvis
 
I'm echoing too. Never buy tapes at Circuit city or Best Buy. Only buy tapes that say something about ADAT!!! SVHS and VHS will work, but you will pay after a couple hundred head hours of using these tapes. These tapes wear out the heads.
 
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