Using an ADAT as a converter

[Spevinator]

Hey all,
I am currently in the planning stages for putting together an LE based studio. Is it possible to use a physical ADAT machine as a A/D and D/A converter? The signal flow would be something like... external pre ----> Adat analog in -------> ADAT light pipe out ------> Digi 002R lightpipe in -----> 002R lightpipe out -----> Adat lightpipe in ------> Adat analog out ------> Mixer. I am guessing the ADAT would need to be loaded up and record enabled to pass signal through etc. Would there be any latency issues to deal with? The reason I am interested in doing it this way is because I would also like to have an ADAT to take with me to live gigs to record and not have to worry about computers. Let me know if there are any flaws in the plan. I am not too familiar with ADATs so let me know if I am assuming they do things they actually dont!

[ggunn]

Hey all,
I am currently in the planning stages for putting together an LE based studio. Is it possible to use a physical ADAT machine as a A/D and D/A converter? The signal flow would be something like... external pre ----> Adat analog in -------> ADAT light pipe out ------> Digi 002R lightpipe in -----> 002R lightpipe out -----> Adat lightpipe in ------> Adat analog out ------> Mixer. I am guessing the ADAT would need to be loaded up and record enabled to pass signal through etc. Would there be any latency issues to deal with? The reason I am interested in doing it this way is because I would also like to have an ADAT to take with me to live gigs to record and not have to worry about computers. Let me know if there are any flaws in the plan. I am not too familiar with ADATs so let me know if I am assuming they do things they actually dont!

You can certainly use an ADAT unit to add 8 tracks to a PTLE/digi001 setup; I am set up that way right now. It doesn't have to have a tape in it.

[Spevinator]

Thanks for the response. I am glad to hear that I can at least use an ADAT as a A/D converter without having a tape in it! That leaves the other half of the question. Can I use the ADAT as a D/A converter to have 16 outputs and run them all back into a mixer? (the plan is to mix out of the box).

[DigiTechSupt]

Thanks for the response. I am glad to hear that I can at least use an ADAT as a A/D converter without having a tape in it! That leaves the other half of the question. Can I use the ADAT as a D/A converter to have 16 outputs and run them all back into a mixer? (the plan is to mix out of the box).

Yes, you can do this. Set Pro Tools clock source to ADAT/Optical and you should be good to go. Make sure that your sessions are at the proper sample rate (typically 48k) when using this setup.

[ggunn]

Thanks for the response. I am glad to hear that I can at least use an ADAT as a A/D converter without having a tape in it! That leaves the other half of the question. Can I use the ADAT as a D/A converter to have 16 outputs and run them all back into a mixer? (the plan is to mix out of the box).

Yes, that is exactly what I am doing. As Digi sez, make sure that your sampling rate matches your session, and see that your ADAT is set to sync to the PT clock.

[Seeee]

the adat can not be both an a/d and d/a at the same time. just be aware of that. i used an adat for d/a for a long time on my digi001 and it works well.