Alesis ADAT XT-20

[Beau Landry]

Any thoughts on this machine? They are reasonable, price wise on Ebay (for me anyway) and was wondering if anybody has had any experience they could share with me. I noted that this one is 20-bit and not the old 16 and wonder if the difference is audible.
Thanks, Beau Landry.

 

[audiowkstation]

Good Machine. 20 bit is nicer, 450 to 500 is fair under 500 hrs, over 500 hrs, 350 to 450.

They have made countless hits if you have a nice console!!!

You can lightpipe them to computer.

It is not what we can do now but for the money, it is a solid performer. Use premium tape and take a course in how to open it up and keep it clean by hand. If you choose, I can help you with that course. I still have a modifyed blackface, use it daily, it does some archiving duties and sounds damn clean...but it is 24/96 and tapes are running fast in it. Modded. Expensive mod too.

 

[Kurt Foster]

I still got several Blackface ADATs and they work great...as paper weights, wheel chocks, door stops, rack fillers. I keep one handy to throw at people when they upset me.... Kurt

 

[lowdbrent]

You can buy one new from Sweetwater Sound for only $950.00. That's a third of the retail price.

ADAT's have quirks when they age, just as any VCR would. If you maintain it, it should last a long time.

 

[JBsound]

Would I be better of getting an adat or two or just getting a delta 1010 or something like that to go into my computer? I built a computer just for audio...right now I have to record into a tascam 788 and then dump the .wav files into my computer. Right now I am recording at 24 bit.

Jeremy

 

[lowdbrent]

I guess that would depend upon your application and how you record. Do you need to be able to have others with adats lay ideas on your tape? That would be the only advantage in my book.

 

[Kurt Foster]

I have worked with ADATs since they first came out in the early 90's. I worked at the studio that had the first 24 track ADAT system in the SF Bay Area.. I own 5 ADATs with a BRC and the AI1 format converter myself. I have tried to literally give one away to a friends kid to no avail. He ended up getting a KORG D1600! ADATs are the biggest P.I.T.A. P's.O.S. ever to see the face of the Earth! IMO you should go with your computer. Tapes wear out quickly and require realtime back up, you have to format tapes, which adds to head wear and drum hours put on the machine. ADATs require constant head cleaning, replacement of idler tires and even when you do this they still require visits to the maintenance center all the time. This hasn't been my experience with just my ADATs but with every ADAT system I have ever encountered. It is a poorly conceived system and I can't say I've ever met anyone who has had a multiple ADAT system with any substantial amount of hours on it that haven't encountered significant problems. I had to keep 5 ADATs on hand just to ensure that I could run 24 tracks for clients and I still had trouble delivering this level of service at times. To boot the best ADATs do is 20 bits and the system is very antiquated at this point. Add to that the fact that you will have to get a mixer and associated cabling and patch bays, IMO it's a bad investment. Anyone want to buy a 5 ADAT system with a BRC and an AI1? …. Cheap? .... Kurt

 

[Alécio Costa - Brazil]

stay away with this thing my friend!
I was tired of getting into repair almost evry month. whenever I did to tapes, maybe it is related to Brazil´s weather, all quantegy, hhb, tdk tapes were a pain in the ass, except for the original very good mpex tapes. Error 7, no good tc.

if you want, i can change an adat for a dsp farm, so i can make my pt grow.

svae your money and buy an used pt mix at usa ebay.

]

 

[creative soundblaster]

hey fatty,
is the AI1 the optical to analog converter???
if so, what does it sound like. does it convert better than an actual adat recorder?

 

[Kurt Foster]

No it's a format converter. ADAT lightpipe to AES/EBU, s/pdif and vice versa, all at once.

 

[Beau Landry]

Thank you all for your comments. The truth is I don't really want to buy this machine, but I have an entire album "in the can" on one of these tapes awaiting mix-down. My funds are VERY limited and it seemed like if I bought one (a label-friend rented the one I used for the recording for a deal gone awry) I could finish it up at home. Whoa is me. Bill had some nice things to say about it though. I don't know, maybe I'll just get it transfered to eight-track tape or something. Thanks guys.
Beau Landry

 

[lowdbrent]

Send it to me and I can transfer it to Adat, Tascam DA-88, 1" (Ampex or Studer solidstate or tube) or 2" (Studer A-800) 8-track, or any DAW file format.

Brent Handy
918-664-4952

 

[Beau Landry]

What? Are you serious? I have virtually no money here. What are we talking about?
Beau Landry

 

[Kurt Foster]

Beau,
What format ADAT tape do you have? If it is a 16 bit one I would be glad to lend you a machine. You pay for the packing & shipping both ways.. If I'm lucky it will get damaged by "Fud Ucchs" and I can get $1000 for it! Kurt

 

[Beau Landry]

Thank you Kurt. That is a very kind offer! Unfortunately the tape is 20 bit. Eee-gaads! I've been praying for that kind of offer. Thank you so much man. I feel all warm and fuzzy. Back to the drawing board.
Beau Landry

 

[lowdbrent]

I have XT machines. What kind of "no money " do you mean? We can work something out.

 

[Beau Landry]

I mean like spending twenty-bucks would hurt me. It's pretty bad. To tell you the truth, even after I got it converted into something, I wouldnt be able to mix it anywhere. Do you mix for fun? Want a project? There is some very interesting stuff on this tape (all copy-righted of course! --your "when you die, you can't take it with you" tag makes me a little nervous). Anyway, thanks for the interest man. Let me know what you think.
Beau Landry.

http://www.beaulandry.com

 

[Ian MacGregor]

What kind of music is it? If it's something I'm into, I might mix it for free...

Ian

 

[Beau Landry]

Hi Ian. The sounds and songs on the album are like Smiths and Bowie in a very "youv'e never heard it before" kind of way. The tracks were all played live to a click by me. The guitar track is a mono-mix of these sort of "electric-guitar orchestras" I was creating out of my acoustic songs on my four-track, using copious bouncing of up to twenty tracks (Johnny Marr times ten). The remaining tracks were all recorded on to the ADAT in various settings with various consoles. The drum tracks are a stereo recording of a big kit played with discression in a large but flat sounding room (much sound-proofing) with a $*^t Mackie and a Shure arsenal. The bass was direct into the machine but is definately THERE and waiting. Backing vocals were done with an AKG D-880 passing through a friends four-track for EQ and then into the ADAT with much bouncing for multible voices. The lead vocals were all done at Mars Studios in Santa Cruz in a strange and pressured 6-hour session. We used what they called "God": a Telefunken U47 with minimal compression through a big board I didn't have the time to note the name of. There is so much on the tape! I believe this music would suprise you in the best way. The working title is "Heaven and Hell". Let me know if you are interested!
Stoked, Beau Landry
http://www.beaulandry.com