OT - ADAT

DelCallo wrote on 6/23/2005, 6:16 AM

Tell me if I'm abusing these fine fora by posting this - but a friend has offered me his ADAT machine. All I know about it is what he told me - that it is an 8-track recorder that records onto VHS video tape - he says it would be perfect for my use with V6 audio efforts.

Advice, anyone?

How old is this technology? Dependable?

Thanks in advance for any advice.

Del

Comments

Chienworks wrote on 6/23/2005, 8:05 AM

It is old, maybe 15 years or so, but still rather dependable. However, i would also consider it rather obsolete and pointless now. If you've got Vegas then you already have a mutlitrack recorder right in your computer. About the only reason you would ever want this unit now is if you didn't have access to any other more modern multitrack equipment.

If you don't currently have multitrack sound card capabilities in your computer and your friend is thinking that the ADAT machine would provide that, he's mistaken. You would still need an ADAT interface card in your computer to link them. The ADAT also only has line-level inputs so if you wanted to record from microphones you would still need a seperate mixer or mic preamps. It's probably cheaper and easier to buy a multitrack sound card or firewire/usb mixer for the computer than an ADAT interface.

adowrx wrote on 6/23/2005, 8:52 AM

If you're doing any location multitracking and using a computer, I'd use the ADAT as a safety. 'Specially if it's on the cheap.

Geoff Edwards wrote on 6/25/2005, 3:18 PM

I still maintain an ADAT XT which was new in 1995. Along with my mixer it is great if I want to go out and record say the rythm section of a band mix it to the HD when I get back tp my project studio and then add solos and vocals. Powerfull tool if you ad an ADAT light pipe and sound card.

PipelineAudio wrote on 6/25/2005, 6:02 PM

if you have a soundcard with lightpipe I/O that adat will add 8 more channels to it...just dont try to record on the adat!

wobblyboy wrote on 7/3/2005, 8:38 AM

I have two ADATs and a MOTU and this provides me with an additional 16 tracks of input (32 tracks total). I still use the ADATs to record live multitrack and send to computer for mixing and editing. I get requests to do live mix multitrack recordings and this provides the capability to do it easily.

DelCallo wrote on 7/30/2005, 6:11 AM

I've been away and not had a chance to read these replies. Thanks everyone. Still not sure whether I want to buy this machine - my friend wants $200 - assuming everything to be functional and in decent condition, does this sound reasonable?
Del

adowrx wrote on 7/30/2005, 9:28 AM

Hi DelCallo,

$200 seems reasonable. Is the unit clean? Pop a project in, fire it up........see if there are any ERR messages, etc. If you use it a lot, your tape costs will far exceed the $200 ;).

jb

bgc wrote on 7/31/2005, 9:10 AM

Be warned that the A/D converters in those things are horrible compared to what's available now.
The ADATs were a great solution for the short window until DAWs and hard disk recorders became available. I haven't turned mine on in years and I'm pretty happy about it.

BPB wrote on 8/1/2005, 2:02 PM

I keep mine around for the couple times a year I get an ADAT project for remix or transfer to computer. I also used it as an eight channel passthrough into an ADAT optical port with a mackie board to get some more sends into a PROTOOLS HD setup (it upsamples on the way in to 96khz ...even though you are really only getting the sample rate of the ADAT ...but if you can pick one up cheap they are not bad to have around.