| Alesis ADAT HD24 24-Track Disk-Based Multitrack Recorder. List: $2,500
by Rudy Trubitt
January 22, 2001
Ten years ago, Alesis debuted the original black-face ADAT digital multitrack. If a single product could be credited with the explosive growth in personal and project studios over the intervening decade, it would be the ADAT. But a lot has happened since the early nineties. While tape still rolls along, the major action in the multitrack marketplace is disk-based. With aggressive recent entries by Tascam and Mackie (among others), it was clear that Alesis needed a hard-disk recorder in their lineup to remain competitive. The recent Masterlink ML-9600 high-res mastering recorder demonstrated Alesis was quite capable of designing a disk-based recorder, albeit a two-track model. Now, with the debut of the HD24, Alesis is squarely back in the running.
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ADAT HD24 Hard Disk Recorder
(Click for a close-up) |
As the name implies, the HD24 is a 24-track, 24-bit hard disk recorder. Its tidy, 3-rack space enclosure houses a pair of hot-swappable removable drive bays, as well as metering, transport and basic editing controls. Around the rear, a full complement of 24 analog inputs and outputs are standard, rather than an optional extra. 44.1 and 48kHz sampling rates are supported, with plans for 88.2 and 96 kHz in a future software release.
While impressive, these features are not entirely unique. Two points, however, put things into sharper focus. The first is cost: $2,500 list, (two grand street). This prices the HD24 significantly below its competitors. Second, Alesis has designed the unit to use lost-cost, generic IDE hard drives. Rather than rely on drive speed, the company has designed their own disk formatting scheme that bundles or "interleaves" all a song’s tracks together on the drive, thus cutting the amount of seeking a drive must do when each track is stored in it’s own file. This added efficiency makes it possible to use low-RPM, low-cost IDE hard-drives. The company claims hard-drive costs are now on-par with SVHS tape for the same amount of track recording time. A 10 GB drive is included with the base unit; that provides 45 minutes of 24 track, 24-bit 48kHz recording.
A couple of points await further clarification: The drive formatting scheme might increase the time required to perform edits, when compared to recorders using traditional computer file systems. Then again, there may be no performance hit--the reps I spoke weren’t entirely sure. Secondly, most competing products offer some sort of external video monitor outpput to facilitate editing operations. This is not an option with the HD24, however, an Ethernet port on the unit allows network track-transfer of AIFF files, and 24 channels of ADAT LightPipe I/O offers a second path to get multitrack audio out of the recorder and into your DAW of choice. Compatability with ADAT interconnect specs (9-pin sync, word-clock input) and peripherals like the BRC remote make the HD24 an easy fit into existing ADAT-based studios.
The original ADAT defined a product category that dominated the last decade. Alesis isn’t first this time around, but they’ve certainly raised the bar with the HD24. Time will tell if lightning strikes twice. For more information, visit www.alesis.com. |
