Anyone Using The Masterlink??

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getgo

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My old cdr630 is going to let me down some day and I thought about adding the masterlink now to avoid down time. Anyone using one? Thoughts?
 
My friend uses one in his studio and is really liking it. The harmony central reviews were brutal but maybe they were on older units. There are lots of editing options with it and I am hoping some of them will be useful for me. I wish it had a light pipe in/out though.
 
I just looked at some of those reviews... seems more like user misunderstanding than anything else... they certainly didn't seem knowledgeable....

The on-board Limiter is one of its hidden gems - I've yet to hear a plug-in that can match it - especially for adding a punchy edge to rock songs (although you probably wouldn't want to use it on a classical recording!)

The user interface is obviously not comparable to a computer plug interface - you have to get used to some scrolling and fidgeting with cursor buttons, so the interface is not among its strong points, but sound quality is quite good - but I did upgrade it by putting Lucid converters on the fron and backend. Reliability of my unit has been outstanding - I've had my unit since they came out and never had an issue.

Highly recommended!
 
Bruce, what kind of cost is involved in changing the converters? Can I do it myself or is it outboard converters that you are speaking of.
 
They're outboard... about $1500-1600 for both (A/D-D/A)
 
Blue Bear Sound said:
They're outboard... about $1500-1600 for both (A/D-D/A)
Click to expand...


CRIPES!!!! No wonder it sounds so flippin' good. Now I really have to reconsider.
 
The stock converters sound pretty good as is... you won't regret the purchase....
 
Well I appreciate the input. Anyone else have some experience with the masterlink?
 
I don't, but I want one so badly I could kill myself. Therefore, you should absolutely buy 2.

Seriously, this is supposed to be an amazing unit.
 
Purge said:
I don't, but I want one so badly I could kill myself. Therefore, you should absolutely buy 2.

Seriously, this is supposed to be an amazing unit.
Click to expand...

He he he he he,,,,,,,,,,,A two-fer huh?? That's how we should all approach gear buying, get a bunch of us together that want a specific item, call around and beat 'em down with a large purchase.
 
I use one in the studio I love it. it was very easy to learn to use so I think it is an added extra that u would love.
 
May as well chime in here and say I LOVE mine as well. It seems to be as common as NS-10's in most studios these days for one use or another. I was told by an Alesis tech that the converters are the same as the EC-2 upgrade for the HD24...
 
Well I got one and have messed around with it a bit. Put together a mix and attempted to place the normalizer on it and didn't hear any difference with that option. I like it so far. I burned a disc of the mix and checked it out elsewhere, my mix translated a little thin and bright. I don't blame the masterling though, I hadn't referenced anything lately and had things just a little too bright overall. Back to the board!! One question though, when I burned to a disc, since I had added the normalizer, the ML had to "render" the track. Anyone know how to get rid of that "rendered" track?
 
I have NEVER used the normalizer on the Masterlink. It's the Limiter that's the hidden gem -- set properly, it raises overall level while adding a nice punchiness to a mix (rock, pop, R&B, etc... you wouldn't use it on say a choir, or orchestral recordings unless VERY sparingly!)

The Render process is inconsequential in terms of space - it doesn't affect your usable space at all. Next project you render for CD, erases any previous rendered tracks.
 
Blue Bear, can you give any tips on the limiter settings for that extra punch you speak of? Thanks!
 
Time the release setting to the tempo of the track..... don't push the threshold too hard......
 
I'm missing something elementary here. What is it that folks primarily use the Masterlink for?

I presently mix in SONAR and then use a SONAR utility to create a WAV or MP3 file which I burn to disk.

What does the Masterlink do that I can't do some other way, or is it just that it does it a heck of a lot better?
 
Phyl - the masterlink is a hi-res (24/96) 2-track mixdown unit... the stock converters on it are quite good, and it has some on-board DSP, allowing mixes to be tweaked before rendering them to Redbook audio CDs. It can also burn CD24-format (ie, hi-res AIFF data files)....

So while it's true that the functionality can be handled by a DAW, the Masterlink makes it pretty convenient not to have to.......!
 
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