ADATs

Magnum Pi

New member
I would like a few opinions on the use of the ADAT in home recording situations. Specifically, is there a better medium for the price? What do you guys think?
 
I think if you do a site search on the word ADAT you'll find all the answers you're looking for...

Bruce Valeriani
Blue Bear Sound
 
adats great

Magnum, I think adats are the best buy for the money.You can buy new LX 20's from Sam Ash for $999.00. Older blackface units for $500.00 WITH RATHER LOW HOURS. Remember the important thing is you front end,Mics, micpreamps,compressors. That is where I would put my money. I've heard a lot of crappy recordings done with top notch equipment but by people without any feel.Ithink adats can get as good a sound as anything out there for the price. And there are so many out there, parts, service people are many and simple to find, and cheap. adat tapes,$13.00 each for good ones. Good move to me. Jim
 
I love my adat. One thing I like about it is it acts as my
a/d converters for my puter or I can use it just as it is.
 
I love em.... wish I had more....

ADAT's are the best thing going right now. Compatabillity, 8 tracks at once, economical, you will never regret having one. In a few years hard disk recorders will be cheaper, faster, more reliable and the ADAT's will slowly disappear. Sort of like 1/4 inch reel to reel recorders now.

But for now it's a good investment.

Sincerely;

Dom Franco
 
Just to elaborate on what DW said......

RCA connections are unbalanced and at -10dbV. ELCO connections are balanced and at the +4dbU gain structure.

Bruce
 
What do you need a mixer for if you record via preamps and channel strips direct to the recorder, and edit in software?
 
The Alesis Studio 24 and 32 boards are a perfect fit for Adats as they have direct-out RCA connections which eliminates the need to re-patch.
 
Hello?

Ok, you can feed adats directly from preamps.
But how is it possible to monitor what you are recording without a mixer?
Ora
 
You would definatly want a mixer for a front end (along with dedicated mic pre's) and to monitor what you're tracking as you're tracking. Also the LX-20s only have -10 RCAs in and out plus the lightpipe. Only the XT-20s have the elco balanced in and outs as well as the -10.
 
Ora - you're right. And the ONLY thing I'm using my mixer for these days is for monitoring. Expensive monitoring. At this point, I'm thinking mixers were designed for recordists before the computer recording revolution. Is there a cheaper way to monitor things than using a mixer? Sign me up.
 
Adat Problems?

Has anyone had problems with Adat track spill over? I'm using an XT 16 bit, and a Studio 32 mixer. Example - I can record 1 track, then when overdubbing to track 2, with everything set up properly, the monitor section of my mixer, when increased in volume, shows up on the overdubbed track. Almost as if I were bouncing, but I do not want it to show up.
Anyone familiar with this problem?

thanks
j
 
There's NO way that's an ADAT problem........ it's the mixer itself, something is miswired, or you're mistakenly routing your monitor tracks back to the mix buss somehow........

You can't get bleed-thru from adjacent digital tracks, digital encoding simply doesn't work that way....

Bruce
 
That's what I thought Bruce... thanks for the feedback.
Any thoughts on the mixer problem then?
The in-line monitoring of the Studio 32 should create a completely separate mix for the monitoring channels vs. the record enabled channel right?

Another weird thing is the headphone volume, when increased, increases the bleeding track on the record track as does the master monitor mix volume.

I need to call Alesis on this, I've sent a few emails... but no word back.
thanks for any insight.
Are you at a store? do you have site?
thanks
J
 
Bruce - one more thing. I've got long RCA to RCA cables with 1/4 inch adapters connecting the mixer.

Could this be the problem? Would the Elco to 16 1/4s fix this problem?

thanks
j
 
The only thing I can think of is that you're routing a track back to the mix buss.... are you using the output buss somehow for monitoring and tracking at the same time?

I think you're right - contact Alesis tech support (by phone) and they can walk you thru some connection scenarios... I've dealt with them a few times and found them pretty helpful.

Good luck...

Bruce
 
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