Alesis HD24 vs Mackie MRD24/96

  • Thread starter Thread starter Joel76
  • Start date Start date
J

Joel76

Member
Hi,

This is probably the wrong place to get an unbiased opinion, but I am looking at buying either the Alesis HD24 or the MRD24 Mackie.

Is I see it:

Advantage Mackie

Non destructive over dubs (big advantange)
Made in the USA
Excellent factory support
Easy to learn and use
Retail price of $3500 knocked down to $1999


Advantage Alesis

Appears to be constructed well ...even though it is made in China.
Nicer layout of controls and features
Easy to swap out the standard computer HDs
Found one for only $1725 shipped!
Owners manual is well written


...I don't know, Mackie builds some awesome stuff, but the Alesis is a pretty good bang for the buck.

It is a toss up at this point.

...is there anything I forgot?
 
I don;t know about the Mackie as all I know is I pick up my Alesis HD24 in less than 22 hours!!!!!!!!!!!! :D :D :D
 
I've been doing the same review of both recorders that you have. Here's my take on things you didn't mention...

Alesis
- 24 tracks analog AND digital (ADAT) I/O

Mackie
- 24 tracks analog I/O as shipped; can't have both analog and ADAT I/O installed at same time

Alesis
- Can use just about any currently available hard drive with capacity up to something like a terabyte (1000 gigabytes)

Mackie
- Only certain hard drives work, and you are limited to 32 gigabytes storage

Alesis
- Maximum song length is like 24 hours

Mackie
- Automatically inserts file breaks every 15 minutes, so if you record live and want to dump it to a PC for editing, you have to paste together multiple files

Now to throw an new twist in, Mackie is about to start shipping a new hard disk recorder (SDR24/96) that is a mirror image of the Alesis, except it will probably still have the song length and hard drive compatibility issues that the current Mackie lineup has.

For my money, I'm currently planning on getting the Alesis unit, but by the time I get my money together, who knows?

DDev.....
 
you know who is kicking themselves right now? ME, i bought 2 ADAT XT 20s used both with under 40 hours for $1600 about 7 months ago, because i didn't think these 24 track HD recorders would be out. But they seem so damn good. There is no way i could get near to that for them now. :( Alesis sounds really good bang/buck. Mackie is quality, but more expensive to use/add storage etc.
 
kristian,kristian,kristian!!!! Sammy's is sellin' XT's with 10-25 hours
@ $695 ea.!!!!
 
I think the main difference you'll experience is the level of factory support. Alesis just doesn't have a great track record in that area. Although, both machines have very useful features and I don't think you could go wrong either way.

That said ... I got the MDR, really only because of the trouble that was going on with the Alesis when I was ready to buy. My confidence in Alesis was shaken to the point where I just didn't want to rely on them for gear crucial to my operations. Maybe I was overcautious, but I don't regret it because the MDR is a great machine.

The Mackie Media is too expensive (approx $200/drive), although you get a 20g internal drive too ... which is nice if you want to keep your projects on separate drives and don't have a clean one available. I don't know if the HD24 has an internal drive or not (?). You can manufacture your own external drives for the MDR ... I think what I was looking at was around $130 or so. I haven't come close to running out of disk space yet, although I'm only running 16 tracks of 24/48 for now (need another ADAT I/O card for my board ... and I procrastinate a lot :) ).

Posted by DDev:
Mackie
24 tracks analog I/O as shipped; can't have both analog and ADAT I/O installed at same time
Click to expand...
I dunno about that ... maybe I'm just reading it wrong. My MDR came with 24 analog I/O hard-wired and I added 3 ADAT cards to it. So, both formats are available, I just can't use them at the same time. Maybe that's what DDev meant.

One good plus for Alesis ... it has a forum here at hr.com ... just try to find a Mackie forum around here! :rolleyes: :D

Well, hopefully you find some portion of my ramblings helpful!
good luck
 
I hadn't heard of the SDR 24/96 until DDev posted about it ...
I wonder if it will cause the same controversy as the MDR did when it came out (ie. that it's essentially an HDR with a restricting OS and no video card). One nice feature about the SDR seems to be the ability to transfer wavs to PC over USB ... which strikes me as a bit easier to configure than the FTP transfer you need to set up for the MDR. It also seems to come with ADAT I/O standard ... nice.
For these reasons, I'd also look at the SDR when you get close to making a decision. The only real drawback that I see is if you need to record at 96kHz ... which would force you to only use 12 tracks instead of 24.
Just some thoughts I had after typing "Mackie SDR" in google.
 
MISTERQCUE said:
kristian,kristian,kristian!!!! Sammy's is sellin' XT's with 10-25 hours
@ $695 ea.!!!!
Click to expand...

when/where. I've had them for a while now, im not looking for new ones. And are they XTs, or XT 20s? I couldn't find that price ANYwhere way back in august.
 
HD24???

Hey ya'll
I've been waiting, and waiting, to replace my black ADATs (6000+ hours) with the HD24. It must live up to it's claims; hook up to my BRC and dump through a Hammerfall card into a PC. It has cancerned me that even here in Nashville where the machines have been in the stores for months I can't find a studio using one. Has anyone seen one in operation?
Thanks..

vaughn
 
Lookin into Hd24

I will be follwoing closely since I am seriously interested in the HD24. I'm just wondering whether or not it will be providing pro level recording/ Anybody HEARD this thing yet? What do it sound like?
 
Jack its 24 bit recording....its going to be as professional as your signal allows it.

Im thinking about selling my XT and getting an XT 20 or two like kristian but now im thinking maybee HD24.

Couple things though, i need mobility would the HD24 be as robust as the Adats? can you fly blind so to speak and record without the monitor?...hang on do you need a monitor,ive seen the mackies with them.

And the ethernet connection how does that transfer files, one at a time? do you select the portion you want transferred on the HD?

Say a part between 00:14:23:00- 00:17:00:00????

Actually i did some reading, answered all my questions...

http://www.alesis.com/products/hd24/index.html
 
Last edited:
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top