What's the final word on the Masterlink?

[Bass Jas]

Skippy I dig where you are coming from, I am an in-betweener,
I was still on the bus, but had played so loud, I couldn't hear
what they were talkin about! Modern rock mix must be as saturated as possible to please the client, with analog gear it was much easier, digital makes less pleasing results. Apple wants to know where the "make it all better button" is, unfortunately Apple: it is in the engineering. You have enough exp. to know what sounds wrong, so keep at it, trial and error are the best teachers, and they don't whack the back of your hand with a ruler.

 

[edge59]

Alesis ML 9600 used or new?

Hi, I'm looking at a ML9600 thats used but in good shape. It has the 5 hour recording harddrive (3.2Gig?) and probably the old OS. Its about 4-5 years old. The guy is selling it for about $400. Is this a fair price if it needs updating/grading? It will probably be enough for me for a while till I get a hold on how it works and save up for the upgrade. Or is it better to just hold out and spring for a new one?
thanks

 

[edge59]

Won it on Ebay.....

Well I went ahead and bid on it and to my surprise won it for $392. I hope the hard drive and or CD drive is not shot.

 

[AEL]

Dear Edge,
I hope you enjoy your unit. I would suggest you update to the most recent operating system, available free on the Alesis web site. Then play with it for a while. If you like it, then suggest getting a big hard drive for it. The new OS recognizes big drives but limits them to, I think, about 32 gig. No longer any need to set limiting jumpers on the drive itself.
Al

 

[edge59]

cool

Hi AEL, I will have to get more info on what you said about the Alesis site download, I have not done anything like that yet. I could probably change the hard drive. Does it not need a OS disc for the new HDD? Or can all that be done over the net? There is a place in Hollywood that will do all updates and install a 40 Gig Hdd and put it through all the mojo tests that are over my head for $215! I am not sure about this, but will investigate it more before deciding. Maybe if I hang out here enough, I will learn something
I was looking for one updated,and in fairly decent shape. The one I will be getting is supposed to be very mint other than needs updates and a bigger Hdd. We'll see I have read that some have changed the CD drive, is that for different recording times like 4x's 8 x's etc? Sorry, I am new to this too... It should be fun! I picked up a slightly used RNC 1773 that was distoring like crazy or would not work at all on some settings. Sent it in to Mark at FMR and he found one of the summing amps were bad. He changed it out and it is on its way! Mark is an awsome guy! Very nice and helpful! Also quick turnaround.

 

[AEL]

Regarding the OS update, just go to alesis.com, then to the software update section. You will be able to download a new operating system. There are specific instructions for doing so on the web site. You must create an image file or something like that on a CD. Then you load the CD into the ML and press a button, and it reads the new OS into the unit. Then it resets itself, and you have an updated OS.

Regarding the drive, you'll want a bigger one because the supplied drive holds only about 5 hours at 44/16, while a big drive will hold about 50 hours at 44/16. Somewhere on this site Skippy gave detailed instructions how to do it. I followed his advice, and easily installed a big drive. You can do it too. No sweat. Don't pay someone else to do it. Save your money for some other gotta-have-it gear.

Al

 

[edge59]

ML9600 showed up bad

Hi guys, I got the ML9600 off ebay for $392 ending bid, but sent it back because the Input selector did not work (1), The seller said it had a remote, it showed up without it and he does not have it... (2), it needs some work plus its had the 3.2? Gig HDD, old software, and I would have ended up sending it in to get upgraded anyway (3). So for all that it would have cost me, I could have went out and bought a new one! So when I get reimbursed, I'll put my $$$ together and just get a new one. I am tired of gettin burned with used stuff. Now if it was analog or something simpler, I might have tried to fix it myself, but not the digital stuff, not me! If anyone has any suggestions as to where to get a decent deal on one of these, please let me know...
email me at goforthsound@yahoo.com I really like the idea of the Masterlink for a mixdown deck.

thanks
Ed

 

[Blue Bear Sound]

You can only use the input selector if a valid digital signal is actually present, otherwise it won't switch from analog. The 3.2gig HD thing is a bummer, but the HDs are easily replaced/upgraded. The OS is a non-issue - you simply download the latest OS from the Alesis site - it's an ISO disc image, so you burn it to CD, and load it into the Masterlink.... not having the remote is a bit of a pain, but come to think of it, the times I actually use are few and far between....

All in all - doesn't sound like the unit was too much of a problem - it certainly was a good price!

 

[sajs]

I should be getting my MasterLink ML-9600 delivered today. If I may ask a question of the users,

I am planning on making a CD of a song from my Korg keyboard. I will be running the L&R analog outputs of the Korg into my Roland M-1000 digital line mixer. It accepts an analog input and converts to digital Sample Freq. of 44.1 kHz up to 96kHz.

Will the Masterlink accept the 96kHz input and will it make a difference in sound when the final CD is burned? Thanks for your help.

 

[Blue Bear Sound]

Will the Masterlink accept the 96kHz input?

Yes, absolutely!

...will it make a difference in sound when the final CD is burned?

I'm not sure I understand the question.... will what make a difference - the masterlink? the sample rate?? the Roland converters???

Please clarify your question....

 

[sajs]

My question is would I be better off taking the Analog outputs from my Korg keyboard and go directly into the Analog inputs of the Alesis.
Or,
run the Analog outputs of the Korg into my Roland Digital line mixer, take the digital output of the Roland into the digital input of the Alesis.

Will there be any sound difference on the final CD using one of those 2 procedures?

 

[sajs]

Could someone help me with a starting point on these DSP settings? I am running a 9 track song into the Alesis from my Korg. The tracks contain, horns, drums, bass, piano, guitars and organ. Thanks for your help.

 

[chance]

You first have to have a two track mix ( L&R ) going into the ML. ( You said that you are running a 9 track song ) Also you don't use the DSP untill after you have something on the ML's hard drive, then you can re-arrange songs, adjust your fades, adjust your ( inbetween track ) spacing etc.

 

[sajs]

I do have a 2 track mix. I am running my 9 track midi song into my Korg keyboard via the midi cable. I am coming out of the Korg keyboard's audio left and right outputs into the Alesis.

I have already recorded one song onto the Alesis's Hardrive.

I am just looking for a starting point on the settings for the compressor and the limiter.

I wish Alesis would had have included some factory presets for the DSP function.

So any help on a start for the parameters would be helpful. Thanks.

 

[Blue Bear Sound]

My question is would I be better off taking the Analog outputs from my Korg keyboard and go directly into the Analog inputs of the Alesis.
Or,
run the Analog outputs of the Korg into my Roland Digital line mixer, take the digital output of the Roland into the digital input of the Alesis.

Will there be any sound difference on the final CD using one of those 2 procedures?

I suspect the converters on the Alesis are better than the Roland ones, in which case, you would take the ANALOG outs into the Alesis (letting the Masterlink do the digital conversion), but you should try both ways and see which sounds better to you.

 

[Blue Bear Sound]

I am just looking for a starting point on the settings for the compressor and the limiter.

No such thing........... the settings will vary completely from one song to another.... just experiment with it....

 

[sajs]

Bruce you are right on both posts. The Alesis converters were better. All I did was run my Korg into my SoundCraft mixer, took the digital output of the Soundcraft into the digital input of the Alesis. Sounds very clean.

Every sound was different so I did have to make separate adjustments to the Compressor and Limiter. I wasn't as difficult as I thought it would be.

The final product is a great sounding CD at a very high volume level.
I am very pleased with this Alesis device.

 

[chance]

You said that the Masterlink converters were better. I am a little confused, If the Masterlink's converters were better, why did you take the digital output of your Soundcraft mixer to the digital input of the Masterlink ? Doing it that way you are not using the Masterlink's converters. Personally I take the analog out of my mixing console and go analog in to the Masterlink. I want to extract as much analog as I can ( from my board ) and as you said the Masterlink's converters are very good.

 

[sajs]

That was a posting error. I did use the XLR main analog outputs of my Soundcraft into the Alesis analog in.

 

[soundchaser59]

Too bad Apple never came back. I think the Masterlink is about the only thing out there that even comes close to being good for a non-engineer to use. It is actually a very easy to understand machine. I alos agree with the person who said (something to the effect of...) it's only as good as the mix you feed into it. If you ahve reasonable mixing skills to begin with, and you use decent monitors that dont lie to your ears, the ML will give you great results......assuming you dont send your tunes off to a "real" mastering assembly line.....which may or may not be a great thing to do in today's music engineering world!