Anybody familiar...

[Tripp_chaos]

With this particular piece of equiptment?

Alesis ADAT HD24 Digital Hard Disk Recorder

http://pro-audio.musiciansfriend.com/product/Alesis-ADATHD24XR-Digital-24Track-Hard-Disk-Recorder?sku=246019

Through my skimming of the internet I came across this and it comes to the classic reviews of "oh it's crap" to "this is the best thing I've purchased" and all I want to know is if it would be a good investment for a starting (student) engineer..

So I think I'll listen to real people instead...

Thanks for the help...

[pikester]

Really unreliable. And not worth 2 grand either.

[El Calle Gato]

if you are a beginner, why would u drop 2k on something like that. what are u looking to do?

[Tripp_chaos]

I was thinking when I become more familiar... I wouldn't drop two grand on something I wasn't going to use right away... But that's why I was asking, like I said I've gotten mixed reviews so thanks a lot (in the future)... I completely worded my first post wrong it was kind of in a hurry... So I think I'll just stick with my comp and Fl...

[Motleyguy]

ADAT is pretty much a dead format. Not to mention that is simply a recorder, that records to VHS by the way, so you'd still need a mixer/console, monitors, and outboard gear.

Don't waste $2000 on something like that, if you're gonna drop that kina dough, get a good DAW system or something that would actually be useful.

[pikester]

Actually, that particular box records to Hard Drive. 40 whopping GBs. Making those things pretty much bankrupted Alesis.

[Seafroggys]

ADAT lightpipe is far from dead.

ADATs are actually great backup systems though. There's a used music store nearby that has a ton of ADAT recorders for cheap, 8 tracks. If you can, run into this at the same time so you have two copies.

[Motleyguy]

ADAT Lightpipe is not dead, it's still a great way to send digital audio signals, but ADAT as in "record to VHS" is dead. The only Linear Digital Recording System you generally see anymore is DAT. I think a lot of people probably still mix to DAT as a two track device.

[Seafroggys]

Well yeah, as I was saying, I see ADAT units for dirt cheap, and make great backups of recordings, especially when doing live performances. Because the quality itself ain't bad at all, as long as you use good tapes and your heads are clean.

[Moseph]

(01) Regarding the Motleyguy/Seafroggys debate: for those that missed it, there was some confusion about the use of the term "ADAT." ADAT is an acronym for "Alesis Digital Audio Tape." It represents a digital coding standard developed by Alesis some 20-odd years ago.

"ADAT" machines are linear-style devices that make use of VHS tape cartridges as their hardware medium (rather than another medium, like reel-to-reel tape, or DAT machine). When hard disk space, zip/jazz drives, and flash memory started to become affordable, most of the previously successful linear-editing devices (tape-based digital media) lost popularity. Motleyguy is talking about that and he's pretty much correct. Nobody manufactures ADAT units anymore, and they're generally pretty cheap on the used market.

Seafroggys is talking about "ADAT Lightpipe", which is a digital transmission medium also developed by Alesis (originally for use with ADAT units) that is designed to transmit digital audio signals of certain characteristics over a fiber-optic cable. ADAT Lightpipe remains popular, particularly in the home studio crowd, because it provides an efficient way to transfer up to 8 channels of audio simultaneously, provided you're content with audio specs of 16/24-bits and 44.1/48 kHz sampling frequencies (you can go higher with multiplexing techniques, but it requires additional fiber optic cables). Seafroggys is also correct. It appears to me that the whole "argument" was a misunderstanding between them, which they sorted out but didn't really clarify to readers who didn't already understand the distinction. I only bring that up because the OP is probably one of those readers.

(02) The HD24 (and HD24XR) have a loyal fanbase amongst DAW-averse folks. They're nice because they're simpler in design than a hugely configurable system, have better components than most "studio in a box" systems (like the Fostex HD series), and are in a convenient rack format. I've heard good things about their A/D converters as well, and they're capable of transferring files to a DAW via Ethernet, or an additionally purchased FireWire adapter.

They also are based on hard disk drives (IDE connection), which can be freely swapped in/out as they fill up or more space is needed. This in turn means they can exhibit "psuedo-linear" behavior: the units generally function like a tape deck would, but they're also capable of some non-linear editing functions as well. It's a hybrid design that does make some good tradeoffs for old-school recordists and newer-mentality DAW users.

Major drawbacks include initial cost, the rapidly diminishing prevelance of IDE hard drives in the consumer market in favor of SATA, and the complete lack of mic preamps, which I think is the issue for an "initial" purchase decision. For the $1500-2500 one of the Alesis units would run you, you could protentially pick up a more powerful DAW with software and an audio interface that includes pretty good preamps. This of course, is at the cost of a more complex and failure-prone system (the DAW). In other words, my recommendation is to pass this product for something less specialized.

[El Calle Gato]

^123 ftw

[Motleyguy]

Good **** Moseph.

[pikester]

Well look, it's all the stuff I wasn't going to bother to say. And then some.