Safest safety plan for Alesis HD24?

[Remoteness]

But, if the Alesis unit itself has a resonant frequency that when reached affects the drives decoupling the rack will not help.

Apparently, you have to dampen the HD24XR on the inside.

[Kyle S]

perhaps if you epoxied a steel slug or washer to the chassis it would lower the frequency of the resonance or dampen it, through increased mass.

[ebulb]

Ok, another idea....If it is a resonance issue.. couldnt you amplify a loud test tone directly at the unit at various frequencies to establish where it happens ?

It would be nice to be able to find some consistency with the problem.. Even same gig, same band, same gear can still have enough variables to give different results i would think...

Im concerned about dropouts cause im going to press for more live recording work of local bands in the near future and i would rather avoid the mishaps.

[HD24Rocker]

Yes, I did a recording on Friday night too, no problems I believe I have solved it, well at least on my machines.

Just follow the instructions on the Yahoo groups forum.

It's actually 3-4 hours work to do all the bits and bobs associated with it but seems to work for me so far.

My opinion is that it is the accumulative effects of all the mods that make the difference.

[Sam Lord]

I wish I wish there were an alternative to the HD24. I summarized in this earlier thread, beginning on post #35:

Eternal question - AES EBU interface for a laptop (MacBook Pro)

A digital-only recorder, no converters, made by a stand-up company like Prism or Radar.
Good grief, why is there a whole user group on Yahoo devoted to an bulky, unsupported dinosaur? Sure the HD24 works, I've used it, but I want something that lets me pick my own converters and doesn't take 3 rackspaces or has a big fan. Write to Prismsound (who now own Sadie) and Radar to let them know what a market there is! Adam? Steve? Ben Maas has seen a British unit that might be the ticket. I would much prefer TRS connectors to Dsubs and balanced, but...

From Posts #51 and later:

"...Check this out... I'm going to NAMM tomorrow and see if I can find it, but it looks like the recording Gods are smiling on the remotesters....

JoeCo Home

From post 55:

"Took a look at it today at NAMM:

Analog I/O is an insert cable wired to a D25 connector. ie... the I/O is unballanced. The last 8 channels allow you to actually insert stuff on those channels through the use of a loop out. There will be an optional "balancing box" that you can purchase for it. It will not change the nature of the I/O, but rather it is an add-on (I'd assume transformers, but I didn't ask).

Digial I/O will follow a few months down the road and multiple boxes can be chained with sample accuracy through subcode on the SPDIF I/O.

Converters inside are based on AKM chips. Not great, but not horrible either...

Street is expected to be about $2500 base and a few hundred bucks for each add-on feature (ie digital cards, etc...).

I also went to the Prism/SADiE booth. kicked the tires on the LX3 SADiE system, but couldn't seem to get their sales person to talk to me. After 15 minutes or so of hanging out, I left. This is also not the first time that I've had this experience with SADiE at a trade show. I guess I just don't look "serious" enough.

--Ben

Benjamin Maas"

Thanks all.

[LX3]

Much as I'm keen to support a new British product, I'm not convinced by the JoeCo. Although some features are nicely thought out, I can see an awful lot of things I don't like there.

In fact, I think if they'd made it 2 or 3U, they wouldn't have needed to make so many compromises, and it could have been a killer product. But there are occasions when small is not beautiful, and this is one of them.

How on earth are they going to squeeze 24 channels of decent quality A-D and D-A into 1U without the thing overheating? The metering looks close to non-existent, the PSU is external, the hard drive is external, the I/O is unbalanced and on a weird wiring scheme...

Oh, and to cap it all, it's more expensive than an HD24XR, even before you add balanced inputs and digital I/O.

I think they may struggle.

In this price range, the HD24 is the only game in town - old or not, the XR sounds great, and on the whole it's nicely designed and easy to use. THAT's why there's a YahooGroup for it.

[Sam Lord]

Originally Posted by LX3

...How on earth are they going to squeeze 24 channels of decent quality A-D and D-A into 1U without the thing overheating? The metering looks close to non-existent, the PSU is external, the hard drive is external, the I/O is unbalanced and on a weird wiring scheme... Oh, and to cap it all, it's more expensive than an HD24XR, even before you add balanced inputs and digital I/O... ...In this price range, the HD24 is the only game in town - old or not, the XR sounds great, and on the whole it's nicely designed and easy to use. THAT's why there's a YahooGroup for it.

Paul, I agree with your points about the JoeCo vs. HD24. A recorder *and* a 24ch AD/DA converter simply need at least 2 RU and a fan. If the HD24 had a good system for incorporating SSDs and more digital I/O options, it could keep a big market share.

I proposed a recorder without converters, a pure "bit-bucket." Consider all the people with Lynx, Apogee, and other converters which operate without trouble--why shouldn't they just be able to record without all the extra hardware? With SSDs there can be a small, lightweight, and fanless option. I think there should be decent metering, but 1RU could handle it--you would normally have you DAW do the precision metering or an outboard Dorrough if you are on location and simply leave the DAW at home. You can imagine a companion recorder to the Prism Orpheus which could have several digital I/O options. Or, a 1RU converter-less Radar recorder would sell too. The point is that micpres and outboard converters rarely fail, it is the DAWs and spinning hard drives that are the biggest concern. Oh and pro audio's adoption of non-locking Firewire connectors, that was brilliant .(Don't get me started!) Good comments.

[loujudson]

The idea of a smaller recorder without convertors is not bad, people who can afford Lynx and Apogeee and the like can get commensurately more expensive rcorders of their choice.

The HD24 has it ali in one box, and it works as a system very well for under $2k.

The beauty of the HD24 yahoogroup is people don't try to knock it, they are aware of the limitations and just try to help each other get the best from it.

Lou

[Remoteness]

...Or, under $1000.00 when found used.

[Corran]

It seems like Alesis just has a thing about not updating their products. They release a really good, revolutionary product, and then let it run its course for 10-15 years.

As a recent purchaser of an HD24XR (for $1000 to boot) I am super-happy with the product and whatever limitations and/or physical problems with it, it's still an amazing value. Personally, a converter-less hard drive recorder would have to be $1000 or less to be viable, since 24 channels of AD conversion can be pretty costly these days.

That's what makes the HD24 so great - you've got 24 channels of great conversion for what it costs to get maybe 8 channels from a modern interface (which may or may not even be better). In fact, if they made a 24-channel digital input recorder I bet the most cost effective option with it would be to input your signal to the HD24 and ADAT out it to the recorder. This gives you metering on the HD24 as well. It would be a great solution - one that Alesis itself should probably consider.

[LX3]

Originally Posted by Sam Lord

I proposed a recorder without converters, a pure "bit-bucket." Consider all the people with Lynx, Apogee, and other converters which operate without trouble--why shouldn't they just be able to record without all the extra hardware? With SSDs there can be a small, lightweight, and fanless option.

That would be great. Make sure it's got good meters, does BWF and syncs to timecode, has a range of digital I/O options... That would be killer. 32 track maybe (would fit better with Apogee!).

I still say 2U. It'd improve the ergonomics, and what's a U between friends?

Only problem I see is that "digital only" limits its applications a bit. An A-D-A option would broaden the appeal, and always tends to work out cheaper than external converters. Although I realise, then you have to make the unit bigger and put cooling in it.... and we're back to square one!

Actually, haven't we just described the Tascam X-48? It can be digital-only, almost to a fault. (and an SSD would only make it MORE expensive. Then again, since the X-48 doesn't seem to have any vibration problems, it doesn't really need one.)

[Remoteness]

It's true the X48 may "want" a vibration problem, but it doesn't "need" a vibration problem; that''s for sure.

[LX3]

For me, it inevitably takes about six months for something I "want" to suddenly become something I need.

Finding the cash usually takes much more than six months though.

As a result, my "needs" list is getting longer rather than shorter. Anyone else have that problem?

[loujudson]

Yup! I find that if I keep dwelling on something, I either get frustrated or find a way to get it. But have slowed down my gear buying a lot in the current climate, since the recession may trickle down to our clients any time...

Thus I am happy with my HD24 and not upgrading it to the XR yet. I have Presonus A/Ds for the paying well gigs...

L

[cheu78]

I know it's an old thread.. But..
Anybody tried some ssd in the HD24(XR)?

Today (late 2010) you should be able to find some great (fast writing) ssd for a decent price..let's say a 128GB will be enough for a concert..

I'm wondering if 140MB/s is fast enough for 24 channel data flow..

Thank you!

Bests,

Cheu