Syncing ADATs and the DIGI 001 for tape transfers

[tonyharp]

Hello everyone,

I am a new PT 001 LE user. I am studio manager at my university and we just purchased the DIGI 001 to bring our studio (hopefully) into the digital age beyond ADATs.

I have been through the manual numerous times and have found no help to this question...

I have three ADATs and a BRC. I understand that I can only transfer 8 tracks at a time into Pro Tools LE. Also, I believe that SMPTE Trigger is the only way with the DIGI 001 as the master. Is this true. Can I use the BRC as a Universal Slave Driver? I am not running a TDM system.

My goal in this is to be able to fly three tapes worth of ADATs into Pro Tools LE with the proper chase behaviors.

Can anyone help me with a step by step setup for this process?

I am at a loss and would really appreciate all the help I can get before I attempt to call tech support.

Thanks so much in advance for any and all assistance to my many questions.

Tony

[gracepoint]

The most trouble free way I found to achieve this is by using the Alesis Adat Edit Card and software. I think you can get it for $300 or less now. The card has adat optical in and out as well as adat sync in and out connectors. What you do is set start and end locate points from the adat software and transfer in the first 8 tracks to your computer hard drive. Then using the exact same locate points you just used do the same thing for the next two tapes. Now what you will have is all 24 adat tracks with identical sample accurate sync start and end points on your hard drive. All you need to do then is simply select all of the tracks and import them into a pro tools session and they will all be in perfect sync.
I know some people just transfer 8 tracks at a time right off of the adat (with no sync obviously because the Digi001 box doesn't have adat sync jacks)straight into pro tools however the tracks will not be in sync. You can get around it by selecting all 8 tracks with the grabber tool and sliding them around until they sync up with the first 8 tracks. I have done this as well and it does work but you have mess around for awhile until you get it right and you are really only getting them into sync by ear as close as you can whereas if you are using the adat edit software it is perfectly in sync down to the sample. If you have the money I would recommend getting adat edit.

[tonyharp]

Thanks gracpoint,

Your help is appreciated.

Tony

[QuikDraw]

When I use ADAT with the 001, I record a square wave across all tape tracks just before the beginning of the song. Just a few samples worth is all you need. You can then use this square wave to visually align all the tracks perfectly once all the tracks have been transferred to PTLE.

The ADAT Edit card sounds like a great option though. I might try that in the future.

Mike