Ive noticed that ADATs are DIRT CHEAP.

Also they have some kind of 16 or 20 bit DA conversion going on and that they have ADAT IN/OUT on them.

If I got a pci card or interface that had ADAT in/out, Im thinking in theory that you could shoot audio from your computer to the ADAT which has at least 8 analog outputs. I wouldnt be recording on the ADATs just using them to shoot out audio to their individual ouputs which I would be routing to a mixer (undecided as of yet).

So far Ive seen ADATs as low as 75 BUCKS.

That would only leave me with trying to find a ADAT interface solution for my DAW.

Any suggestions for cheap ADAT PCI cards? These things used to fall out of the sky 6 or 7 years ago, now you gotta spend big bucks to get em new, so I say get one used.

What this will be for is to mix my tracks on a board, with outboard, rather than strictly ITB.
Cost is an issue at the moment, but Ive drawn some figures up and this is actually a very cheap approach.

Im thinking about getting a Soundcraft board maybe one of their M series boards, maybe not. Or a used Spirit board.

One question thats lurking in my mind is would I need any sync since I would be using the ADATs as D/As, Im thinking no......

The only thing that remains is getting back into the computer. Ive heard that the ADATs A/D converters arent so great, maybe I misheard, but obviously if I have the ADATs, I could just go back thru them into the computer, but Ive got to get the manuals on one of these things and see what their simultaneous record and playback features are like in regards to digital in and output, like if one set is disabled or not, but hopefully not.

Either way somebody give me some feedback on this idea of mine and let me know if Im forgetting something.

PS Im thinking that if I use the ADATS as Slaves then the converter on the DAW would be used instead of the ADATs, so maybe I just answered my own question.

I think this would be a better approach than using the Behringer ADA8000 piece, because of the build quality on the analog circuits/section.

Peace
Illumination

I have a friend who is still using an Adat xt20 as an ad/da converter with his digi001. He gets some AWESOME results! One of his current projects was called 'Alaska' from a band called 'Between the Buried and Me'.

So to answer your question. Yes........an Adat will work fine.heh

Oh yes............be sure to check out the 'Dakkota' card from Frontier designs. I think it supports 16 channels of adat i/o.

Actually, I'm still using Adat XT 20s for my main capture machines!....tutt ... I know this is not very slutty, but with the 24 bit external AD going into the Adats, it works fine for my purposes! ( other clients also).. ..YMMV

I used to run adats (xt20) into a motu 2408 mk 2 ( $300 used ) but you might want to upgrade from the pci 324 to pci 424 ( through motu it's $250 I think ) .... it's more stable. Just plug the adats into the motu optical connections.

Really great set-up .... I had 3 adats so 24 ins and outs !!! For about a grand !
Just make sure you hit the "digital input" button on the adat

Good luck !!!!

hey. i have 4 Alesis ADAT XT machines over here in my studio just sitting around that i've been trying to get rid of.

i have no use for them and i'm willing to just give them away for free if anyone wants. as long as you are willing to pay for shipping (about 25-30 bucks) or want to pick them up, they're yours.

bobxhopefield I pm'ed you.

Either way, if you can hold those bad boys until next friday Ill take some off your hands and gladly pay the shipping!

Just a question, do they work at all? I just need these for AD/DA but not to record on tape or anything like that.

Please respond asap THANK!!!

Peace
Illumination

If you are planning to use ADAT XTs as multichannel A/D-D/A converters for OTB analog mixdown, there is something to be aware of -

You cannot use an ADAT XT for simultaneous A/D conversion and D/A conversion, even on different channels. Meaning you can't use channels 1 & 2 for recording new tracks while using channels 2 through 8 to monitor previously recorded tracks. Yeah, I know, it works if you're recording to & monitoring from the TAPE in an ADAT but it won't work if you're using it as a standalone multichannel converter for digital signals originating from outside the ADAT.

But there is a decent workaround if you have more than one ADAT XT - You can use one of them for A/D to record new tracks into the DAW while using the second for monitoring tracks out of the DAW. I did this for a couple of years and it works well. During tracking, just assign all previously recorded DAW tracks to outputs 15 & 16 and monitor them as a stereo mix that is summed in the DAW. Then, when all tracks are recorded, re-assign all DAW tracks to outputs 1 through 16, set both ADATs to act as D/A converters, and bring all tracks out of the DAW through 16 separate D/A channels.

The next step up from this is to get a really good two channel A/D converter to use for tracking (unless you need to record lots of tracks simultaneoulsy) and record everything into the DAW through that, and only use the ADATs for D/A conversion during OTB analog mixdown.

DP

What if you have 3 or 4 ADAT XTs???

If the last poster and I can get things sorted out, I can snag those from him and he's talking about 4 of them.

So in theory, i could use 2 of them as 16 channels of D/A's from the DAW and the other one as a 2 channel A/D to the DAW. Right?

Thats even if you have an adat card with only 2 ports of I/O, cuz i only need 1 adat input to get the stereo mix back from the mixer into the DAW.

Am I missing anything, ya know Im new to this
Peace
Illuminationheh

Whats wrong with just getting an hd24 used? After you get the adat machines working together and a card should be about the same price, HD24 would probably be a little better and more stable.

Ive seen classifieds for Blackface adats for 75 to 150 bucks if you multiply that times 3 to get the same amount of ins and outs you're only talking between 2 and 450 bucks!
However, I may not have to pay that much considering recent events
The cards are usually around 275 used like an old Hammerfall 9652, but this isnt close to what the hd24 costs used as far as I know, but hey either way this is a cheap solution to a real problem for most people trying to get out of the box into a board right?

Thanks for the feedback
Peace
Illumination

and then you can find a decent wordclock and cables to rig them together, plus usually fixing of the adats, but I see what you mean.
Im thinking of picking up an hd24 as a backup for my remote gigs. All I know is dealing with a couple of adat machines would be a lot more work.
By the way I have an RME HDSP9652 for sale.

just using them for AD/DA but more for the D/A, then I should be in good shape since I wont be really using the recording heads on these beasts just the electronics.

As far as word clock, probably wont go that deep on these, just use them the way they are or let em get synced from the adat card? I know thats what Im doing with my emu card right now is slaving the AD to its clock via digital.

Anyhoo, how much for your RME card???????? Please advise!

Peace
Illumination

Yea you can clock through lightpipe, though I would look into a dedicated master clock for the system.
$350 for the card with original box, cables , cd and whatever else is in the box.

Once i see what happens with the guy who's willing to donate these things Ill let you know what my status is, I gotta see how much it would cost for me to grab at least three of them off his hands!!!!

Sounds like you got a good offer on your card though, I now see why you emphasize the external clock, because the RME 9652 has no internal converters, so they would be running off the ADAT clocks....what might be an ideal thing like you said is to have 2 or 3 adats as my D/As to the board and then just have the external converter available to record from the mixers outs back to the daw or 2 track recorder....
I actually have a second computer that I could put an EMU 1212M into and have that set at 192 khz to record analog, from a stereo preamp after the mixers outs. Thats definately a good possibility, plus the computer already works with EMU cards flawlessly! That would eliminate the whole clock issue for the ADATs and actually just leave me with ****loads of channels from my DAW to mess around with on my board.

Hell 32 channels from your DAW would be even better, I dont recall off hand if the 9652 only does 24 channels of ADAT I/O or 16, better find out soon since this looks like the card to get!
Edit: It does 24 channels of ADAT I/O which is smoking for my needs!!

Peace
Illumination

You can also expand RME cards by adding other RME cards. Its best to stay in the same series so that you use the same drivers.
There are 16 channels on the main board and 8 channels on the daughter card. 24 channels with Word Clock i/o, Midi and spdif breakout cables also included.
Comes with Total Mix and Digicheck on driver cd

Change of status on those ADATs!!!
Check your PM!!!!
If you are still down to do it, I got some money on hand to take those ADATS off your hands to pay for the shipping and what not.

Let me know what service you're using, because USPS looks like they've got a good deal there. If you can manage to put those bad boys in a decent package with some protective material to bring it under 70 pounds you can ship 3 of em in one box and then send the 4th one in another box, so far it looks like it would be along the lines of 72 dollars USD, thru Parcel Post, so a nice 8 day delivery time.

Let me know cuz Im down to do this MAN!!!

Peace
Illumination

That's a lot of smileys...

People can dog ADAT all they want but a hell of a lot of records were made with those things...and many machines are still in use.

War

Hey War. Thanks for the vote of confidence, since I'm one of "those" that still use Adats.......heh.........

More than "a little"... It was a happy day for me when my adats vanished into the ether that is ebay.

Better converters etc for sure, better features = absolutely, but more stable? The only reason I ask is...a hard drive could hardly be considered more stable than any piece of tape in history. A hard drive dies you lose it all, ADAT tapes are actually a better way to store recordings technically.

Maybe that's not what you meant!

War

in a very slutty but not really "gear-slutty" way, i'm using my old blackface adat to provide 8 more analog line ins via the optical i/o on my mixer; without these extra 8, the input side of things would be sucking royally (16 analog just isn't enough). all told, while it's not the most pristine solution, i've used that adat with few different mackie 1604 iterations throughout the period of 95-03 and gotten many really huge, hard-hitting recordings out of that rig, which is to say that i'm not really too bothered with the fact that the blackface adat's a/d's might sound a little, uh, "sub-optimal". as compared with the relative hurt from paying $2k or so for a quality 8-channel a/d --> optical box, my little ****ty blackface adat (in the back of the rack, of course) is the embodiment of happiness!

Yup! I love the dakota card..im using it with an O1v and 1 Blackface ADAT since 2000. I do not use the adat at all except fot xfers tho. Maybe i'll try it when I get the 002 and see what I come up with. Was it the blackface that ruled on 'jagged little pill'? If i'm wrong....don't shoot me LOL!

Dakota = 8 adat [toslink optical] i/o x2 + 2 s/pdif for a total of 18 digital i/o's

Oh yeah...another thing about Adats ( I know the HD24 sounds better, quicker response time, etc.) is that if one goes down on you in a session, live recording, etc., you just chunk it out, stick in a spare, keep rolling....... As with the HD24, if it goes down, you lose the session/live recording!... ... Unless of course you have a spare HD24..!..heh ..YMMV

same here!

had two of them (xt20)but sold one,the other is still in use with my digi001....works good for me

Any alternative use for a BRC?

I have one Blackface sitting in the back for 8 emergency Outputs, but since the other two are collecting Dust, i don't need the BRC anymore, do I?

n

Hey,

This is a good idea to get more Analogue Outputs on my RME Multiface (ADAT Lightpipe out).

I'm looking for a cheap 8 channel DA for that purpose.
and dont' want all the Micpres and stuff that you get with the AD section.
actually don't need to use the AD at all.

an Alesis AI-3 on Craigslist or ebeigh.

I got an ADAT with a broken transport for $25 with snake. It works as a converter. I use it for sidechain sends, analog delay sends and sends to distortion pedals. none of these applications require high quality audio, it's perfect for this kind of thing. converters arent too bad either for background stuff though i dont use them often.