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Subject:Practical Uses for Alesis Black-Faced ADAT?
Posted by: buffalosnout
Date:3/14/2003 8:56:29 AM

A number of years ago, I purchased an Alesis ADAT (Original Black-Faced). Nowdays, I record within Acid, Sonar, and Sound Forge, as appropriate. Can anyone suggest how I can integrate the Alesis into my setup? Short of buying a BRC or other expensive syncing device, is there any way to get the Alesis to play in time with the computer programs? Or, do you think there is no practical use for the ADAT within a computer-based setup and I should just see what I can sell it for?

Thanks for your ideas.

James

Subject:RE: Practical Uses for Alesis Black-Faced ADAT?
Reply by: liquid
Date:3/14/2003 9:40:58 AM

unless your computer isn't working well or something, sell tthe thing...what are you going to do with it? It would be so impractical to add tracks using your adat, instead of just inserting a new track in acid or whatever...

Subject:RE: Practical Uses for Alesis Black-Faced ADAT?
Reply by: DKeenum
Date:3/14/2003 9:54:56 AM

Boat Anchor? sorry, just couldn't help myself.

Subject:RE: Practical Uses for Alesis Black-Faced ADAT?
Reply by: drbam
Date:3/14/2003 11:28:11 AM

The black face ADAT converters are really poor by todays standards. They sound gritty as hell and I wouldn't use one except for an extreme emergency backup unit. I've got an XT20 for that purpose but haven't recorded into it in over a year. Syncing these units to a DAW requires a master clock of some sort (MTC won't work).

The good news is that some folks actually like the blackface ADATs and you can probably sell it on ebay for enough to add a bit more to your DAW.

drbam

Subject:RE: Practical Uses for Alesis Black-Faced ADAT?
Reply by: midiaxer
Date:3/14/2003 3:15:36 PM

Sold both of mine, took a big loss. Put the money into helping fund a new pc system.

http://www.theguitar.net/studio.htm


Subject:RE: Practical Uses for Alesis Black-Faced ADAT?
Reply by: buffalosnout
Date:3/14/2003 3:35:35 PM

Thanks, drbam, for the encouraging words about possibly finding a buyer on ebay and applying the cash to enhancing my DAW. It was hard to look at the thing (ADAT) I paid so much for just sitting there collecting dust, wondering if I was missing some useful role it could be playing. Judging from most of the comments, there seems to be no practical use for it anymore.

Subject:RE: Practical Uses for Alesis Black-Faced ADAT?
Reply by: buffalosnout
Date:3/18/2003 10:02:52 PM

Midiaxer: I guess I'll be selling mine too and maybe buying a pro-grade sound device. From checking on ebay, it looks like I could realistically get around $200 for it. The sad thing is, it only has 6 hours on the heads. I "dropped out" of music production for a few years right after I bought it, and it was my discovering ACID and Sonar that got me back in. I never found a way to put the Alesis to use.

Sigh, if any one is interested in a "swap" or reasonable purchase of a black-faced ADAT, let me know.

James
jpatterson9@houston.rr.com

Subject:RE: Practical Uses for Alesis Black-Faced ADAT?
Reply by: groovewerx
Date:3/18/2003 10:44:16 PM

i'll give you an abit vp6 w/2 1ghz cpu + 1gb ram for it

Subject:RE: Practical Uses for Alesis Black-Faced ADAT?
Reply by: drbam
Date:3/19/2003 8:14:07 AM

<<i'll give you an abit vp6 w/2 1ghz cpu + 1gb ram for it >>

This sounds good buffalo. I'd encourage you to check into this offer. A decent 2nd DAW would be light years ahead of trying to sync an ADAT or similar setup. You could easily sync both DAWs and there's so many options to work with. A dual system setup is what I'm saving my $ for right now. But then again, with less than 10 hrs on an original blackface, you may find someone that will give you much more than what they getting on ebay. If it were me, I'd just cut my loses and move on tho. . . ;-)

drbam

Subject:RE: Practical Uses for Alesis Black-Faced ADAT?
Reply by: buffalosnout
Date:3/19/2003 8:52:48 AM

Groovewerks (and anyone else possibly interested in swapping for a low-miileage Black-Faced ADAT: Please contact me off-list at jpatterson9@houston.rr.com

Thanks for the response.

James

Subject:RE: Practical Uses for Alesis Black-Faced ADAT?
Reply by: drbam
Date:3/19/2003 9:46:39 AM

<<Judging from most of the comments, there seems to be no practical use for it anymore>>

Perhaps, but the term "practical" is pretty subjective. Remember the old adage "one man's trash is another man's treasure." It wouldn't suprise me to see that in a few years a trend starts towards that "vintage blackface sound!" I mean who would have predicted the "lo-fi" phenomena! You actually have to pay money for gear that was created to sound bad! Definitely not my thing but a hell a lot of folks are making money and some *interesting* sounds ;-D

drbam

Subject:RE: Practical Uses for Alesis Black-Faced ADAT?
Reply by: minipod
Date:3/20/2003 4:58:53 AM

drbam: How do you sync two DAW's?

Subject:RE: Practical Uses for Alesis Black-Faced ADAT?
Reply by: groovewerx
Date:3/20/2003 6:10:25 AM

minipod:

i use midi, smpte, or spdif to sync daws via their audiocards.

Subject:RE: Practical Uses for Alesis Black-Faced ADAT?
Reply by: drbam
Date:3/20/2003 7:41:57 AM

<<i use midi, smpte, or spdif to sync daws via their audiocards>>

Yes.

drbam

Subject:RE: Practical Uses for Alesis Black-Faced ADAT?
Reply by: minipod
Date:3/20/2003 3:49:40 PM

Is it then possible to sync two Acid Pro on two DAW's?

Subject:RE: Practical Uses for Alesis Black-Faced ADAT?
Reply by: groovewerx
Date:3/20/2003 4:12:15 PM

minimod:

i'm not sure if acid supports slave mode yet but you can sync any apps as long as they can be set to master or slave.

master controls the clock - slave syncs to master.

Subject:RE: Practical Uses for Alesis Black-Faced ADAT?
Reply by: coolout
Date:3/20/2003 10:10:11 PM

i didn't know the black adats sounded so bad. i remember when the platform was all the rage and everyone was making hit records with them.

back in the day you could pick up billboard magazine and in the studio coverage every hit record was multitracked on adat and mixed to analog or tracked in analog and mixed to DAT. now everyone seems to be tracking in protools.

i guess if you needed multiple inputs you could get a cheap card with adat input and use you black face as a A/D converter if it doesn't sound like crap. you could also keep it handy as a backup or to transfer tracks to a larger studio.

Subject:RE: Practical Uses for Alesis Black-Faced ADAT?
Reply by: buffalosnout
Date:3/22/2003 6:14:17 PM

A client of mine thought the Black-Faced ADAT would be perfect for a home studio he and his son are putting together. At the conclusion of the deal, we both had smiles on our faces and within a few days I should have a new "toy" in the rack--probably a more sophisticated sound interface. Thanks for the advice.

Subject:RE: Practical Uses for Alesis Black-Faced ADAT?
Reply by: buffalosnout
Date:3/31/2003 8:53:34 AM

As it turned out, the guy who bought the black face ADAT brought it back the next day, saying his son encouraged him to put a DAW together. So, I'm back to square one.

In an ideal world, someone on this forum with a decent sound device that they no longer needed would email me about a swap for the ADAT. I can dream, right (grin)?

James
jpatterson9@houston.rr.com

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