Hi there,

I'd like to sync my two Alesis HD24's together to do a 48 track
recording. Can anyone advise as to the best way of doing this?
Ideally cheaply!

Thanks in advance for any help,

BM

wrote:

I'd like to sync my two Alesis HD24's together to do a 48 track
recording. Can anyone advise as to the best way of doing this?
Ideally cheaply!

I would think that this would be covered in the manual. Did you check?

I suspect that you need nothing but a cable or two and to push the
right buttons, but why do you think that a 48-track recorder should be
cheap?

You need to link them via the ADAT Sync cable. The 2nd machine will go into
a chase or slave mode.

It isn't a true 48 track recorder- rather it will work like 2-24 track that
run in sync. You'll need to set up your sessions on both recorders as you
normally would. Then on the 2nd machine, you'll need run just a few seconds
of recording (10 or 15 or so). At that point, anything that your second
machine will chase whatever you do on the first.

Sort of a pain, but it works fine (I just did a 48 track concert recording
with these and didn't have any sync or drift issues over a 3 hour show).

--Ben

--
Benjamin Maas
Fifth Circle Audio
Los Angeles, CA
http://www.fifthcircle.com

please remove "nospam" upon reply

wrote in message ...
Hi there,

I'd like to sync my two Alesis HD24's together to do a 48 track
recording. Can anyone advise as to the best way of doing this?
Ideally cheaply!

Thanks in advance for any help,

BM

Mike Rivers wrote:

....but why do you think that a 48-track recorder should be
cheap?

He's not thinking that the 48-track should be cheap. He is just hoping
that the method of sync'ing the 2 24-Track HD's will be cheap. In his
case, it turns out, it IS cheap.

Cheap is a relative term, though. As far as I'm concerned, 2 HD24's
sync'ed for 48-tracks for under $4000 is cheap. Not too long ago, 8
track digital tape recorders were around $4000 each, and studios were
paying $250k for 48-track digital recorders (DASH). I know you're aware
of all of this, but it illustrates the point: Compared to 10 years ago,
we can now have decent quality, cheap 48-track digital recorders.


--
Eric

Practice Your Mixing Skills
Download Our Multi-Track Masters
www.Raw-Tracks.com
www.Mad-Host.com

EricK wrote:
Mike Rivers wrote:

Cheap is a relative term, though. As far as I'm concerned, 2 HD24's
sync'ed for 48-tracks for under $4000 is cheap.

Agreed. But I don't look so much at the cost of the equipment (though
that certainly is a contribution factor), I look at the cost to provide
the service or capability. 48 tracks of Studer analog recording is
about $120,000, plus about $500/hour for media. That's expensive. g

I just get a bit miffed when people expect to get a $100K+ cabability
"cheap." Alesis recommends that you use a genuine Alesis sync cable.
That might cost $30, where you could get something that looks like the
same thing for $10. So even $30 for a cable might not be considered
cheap if he's used to $10 cables.

In any case, he should have just read the damn manual. It's right
there. I checked. Then, the question would probably be "The manual says
I need an Alesis sync cable. Does anyone have one for sale cheap?" That
wouldn't bother me quite so much. It's a small point, probably not
worth your time or mine to debate further.

Mike Rivers wrote:
In any case, he should have just read the damn manual.

Right on, Mike. Couldn't agree more.

Cheers!
--
Eric

Practice Your Mixing Skills
Download Our Multi-Track Masters
www.Raw-Tracks.com
www.Mad-Host.com

If Benjamin doesn't know how to do it, nobody does. The only thing I'd say
is to link multiple recorders via word sync so that each unit has an
absolute for recording. I've done hours and hours of multiple DA38
recordings without a problem, but when I get them back home to the studio, I
absolutely use word clock for sync of the crystals. From there I have no
problems. Since the HD24 uses the Adat sync cable which supplies a master
sync, I'm not sure why Ben says you need to have 10 to 15 seconds of running
2nd machine, but I'd believe him until I proved it different. And even then
I'd have to document it because Ben really does know what he's saying.

I can, however, see that by setting up the 2nd machine running it will be
searching for the sync signal (since it's designated as the 2nd machine) and
once it gets the signal it will be a hard signal. Can't say that I'd want
to have to remember that on a live situation, but then again I've learned to
have to remember to punch "format" on the DA38s because I had just bought
the tapes on the day of the event.

--


Roger W. Norman
SirMusic Studio
http://blogs.salon.com/0004478/
"Is our children learning?"
President George W. Bush
"EricK" wrote in message
...
Mike Rivers wrote:

....but why do you think that a 48-track recorder should be
cheap?

He's not thinking that the 48-track should be cheap. He is just hoping
that the method of sync'ing the 2 24-Track HD's will be cheap. In his
case, it turns out, it IS cheap.

Cheap is a relative term, though. As far as I'm concerned, 2 HD24's
sync'ed for 48-tracks for under $4000 is cheap. Not too long ago, 8
track digital tape recorders were around $4000 each, and studios were
paying $250k for 48-track digital recorders (DASH). I know you're aware
of all of this, but it illustrates the point: Compared to 10 years ago,
we can now have decent quality, cheap 48-track digital recorders.


--
Eric

Practice Your Mixing Skills
Download Our Multi-Track Masters
www.Raw-Tracks.com
www.Mad-Host.com

Benjamin Maas wrote:

(I just did a 48 track concert recording
with these and didn't have any sync or drift issues over a 3 hour show)

Did you use the HD24's convertors, or outboard?

--
ha

Simple..

It is because the 2nd recorder is chasing the first. When you try to record
without any time on the 2nd, it gives you an error message that it can't
locate the start point. It seems that the first was sending out a locate
point and then it was free running from the first using the time code and
clock off the ADAT sync cable. Hence the need to put a few seconds on the
2nd deck. It gives it something to work with...

Because of the whole weird naming thing as well, it is obvious that 48
tracks of HD24 is not really a 48 track recorder, but 2x24 track recorders.
Works quite well, but it isn't what you would necessarily expect.

--Ben

--
Benjamin Maas
Fifth Circle Audio
Los Angeles, CA
http://www.fifthcircle.com

please remove "nospam" upon reply
"Roger W. Norman" wrote in message
...
If Benjamin doesn't know how to do it, nobody does. The only thing I'd
say
is to link multiple recorders via word sync so that each unit has an
absolute for recording. I've done hours and hours of multiple DA38
recordings without a problem, but when I get them back home to the studio,
I
absolutely use word clock for sync of the crystals. From there I have no
problems. Since the HD24 uses the Adat sync cable which supplies a master
sync, I'm not sure why Ben says you need to have 10 to 15 seconds of
running
2nd machine, but I'd believe him until I proved it different. And even
then
I'd have to document it because Ben really does know what he's saying.

I can, however, see that by setting up the 2nd machine running it will be
searching for the sync signal (since it's designated as the 2nd machine)
and
once it gets the signal it will be a hard signal. Can't say that I'd want
to have to remember that on a live situation, but then again I've learned
to
have to remember to punch "format" on the DA38s because I had just bought
the tapes on the day of the event.

--


Roger W. Norman
SirMusic Studio
http://blogs.salon.com/0004478/
"Is our children learning?"
President George W. Bush
"EricK" wrote in message
...
Mike Rivers wrote:

....but why do you think that a 48-track recorder should be
cheap?

He's not thinking that the 48-track should be cheap. He is just hoping
that the method of sync'ing the 2 24-Track HD's will be cheap. In his
case, it turns out, it IS cheap.

Cheap is a relative term, though. As far as I'm concerned, 2 HD24's
sync'ed for 48-tracks for under $4000 is cheap. Not too long ago, 8
track digital tape recorders were around $4000 each, and studios were
paying $250k for 48-track digital recorders (DASH). I know you're aware
of all of this, but it illustrates the point: Compared to 10 years ago,
we can now have decent quality, cheap 48-track digital recorders.


--
Eric

Practice Your Mixing Skills
Download Our Multi-Track Masters
www.Raw-Tracks.com
www.Mad-Host.com

Used the onboard converters, coming off of Midas Venice consoles. Did the
job, but wasn't audiophile. Of course it was a rock concert so audiophile
wasn't in the cards from the start.

--Ben

--
Benjamin Maas
Fifth Circle Audio
Los Angeles, CA
http://www.fifthcircle.com

please remove "nospam" upon reply

"hank alrich" wrote in message
.. .
Benjamin Maas wrote:

(I just did a 48 track concert recording
with these and didn't have any sync or drift issues over a 3 hour show)

Did you use the HD24's convertors, or outboard?

--
ha

Benjamin Maas wrote:

Used the onboard converters, coming off of Midas Venice consoles. Did the
job, but wasn't audiophile. Of course it was a rock concert so audiophile
wasn't in the cards from the start.

Thanks, Ben.

--
ha

On Fri, 09 Dec 2005 07:32:23 -0600, EricK wrote:


Cheap is a relative term, though. As far as I'm concerned, 2 HD24's
sync'ed for 48-tracks for under $4000 is cheap. Not too long ago, 8
track digital tape recorders were around $4000 each, and studios were
paying $250k for 48-track digital recorders (DASH). I know you're aware
of all of this, but it illustrates the point: Compared to 10 years ago,
we can now have decent quality, cheap 48-track digital recorders.



You can also have a Sony 3348 DASH machine for the same sort of price
nowadays too. The problem is that, while it may look impressive, it
doesn't really have any advantages over the cheaper gear nowadays.

Cheers

James.