LX20 ADAT Optical

Jim Marquard

New member
Okay, I know that the XT20 might be the way to go, but I am just a guy who is a youth minister and churches don't pay us a lot of money. So I'm thinking I wish i could afford that XT20 and all the other gear, but no way. I am not overly concerned about buying the Studio Pack and getting low end sound effects because they are thrown in to sweeten the deal--basically freebies. But I do need a new mixer for Sound reinforcement and the specs make the Studio 24 look decent. The LX20 included sounds pretty sweet (to my ear--yes I have heard it). So here's my question. If I go to the LX20, am I restricted to to the -10 recording inputs or can I at some time (when I get a little money together in 2 years, say) able to add a digital mixer and record at higher levels via the optical input? I know that you can record through the optical, but am I still restricted to a poor recording because this is an LX20 or did this recorder become useful and not limited in gain because the optical isn't limited by a -10 buffer? Any help would be appreciated.

Peace, Jim
 
That is a very interesting question that demanded me to visit www.alesis.com to try to find the answer.

Well, I haven't, but I did put a email in to their product support people. We will see what they have to say, and I will share that with you when they return the email with an answer.

Ed
 
Well, I haven't heard back from Alesis about this, but I talked with another ADAT fan (who happens to work for me sometimes). He recalls reading an article about this subject awhile back. He says that when recording with the digital inputs that the whole -10 +4 thing becomes mute. Appearently, it has more to do with the quality of the A/D converter that you will be using. If you are using a console that has a microphone input, and uses a 20 bit converter, and outputs digitally to the LX-20 then you will get the kind of performance that the converter offers. Does this make sense to you? All in all, it would be a safe bet to say that you are going to be getting the equivilant of a +4 signal.

Hope this helps.

Ed
 
Hey Ed,

Yeah, that helps. That means that if my budget lets me only get the LX20 right now, I can use it with something better in the future. I did read your answer about the digital mixers and it left me a bit weary of using them for beginning the recording process. I think I will stay with an anolog mixer. Anybody out there reading this--if you run into Santa, tell him I could go for Ed's recording gear (and Studio). Until then, I hope the money I have gets me some pretty good equipment even if I go with the LX20--it still has to better than my Yamaha 4 track.

Peace, Jim
 
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