why adat?

[hasbeen]

Don't get the ADAT format mixed up with the implication that it involves tape. It is a format for sending digital information 8 channels at a time (4 channels at higher rate) through a toslink cable.

[am radio]

thank you!

[Go Nigel Go]

Yup, even though ADAT was originally a tape based digital audio system, there were flexible communication protocols designed to allow tracks to be bounced, exported, mixed, and processed in a loss-less digit form that made it a powerful editing tool in it's own right. It became a "standard" for a time, and so when computer based recording first appeared, it made sense to allow the software to seamlessly integrate with existing ADAT based studios. It was so handy that it is still in use, even though the ADAT kind of went the way of the dinosaur as a tape based format.

[joeq]

ADAT Out adds value to the mixer:

Many firewire interfaces use ADAT lightpipe as the protocol for expansion inputs. If you already had a FW interface, you could use the A&H mixer to send 8 more channels into your interface.

[Raw-Tracks]

Also, as an 8 channel digital connection, it takes up less real estate on a device's input/output panel than AES/EBU. A pair of ADAT lightpipe connectors takes up far less space than a DB25 connector or 8 XLR connectors for 8 channels of digital I/O.

[JoaT]

...And Doze Lazers! They are so scifi! What's more cool than working with lasers!

And then seriously... Really handy way of transferring multitracks from one place to another.

[PRobb]

Kind of ironic that the communication protocol is far outlasting the device it was invented for.

[Go Nigel Go]

I recently blew the dust off my old ADAT (which no longer works as a Digital Tape machine) and Alesis Mixer to route drum mics through the ADAT converters into the "light pipe" and directly into my interface to free up a bunch of interface channels. I gained 8 audio channels and a fairly decent set of meters that respond very quickly and accurately for setting drum mic levels. That can be iffy when just trying to use the "clip lights" on most pro-sumer interfaces. It was an improvised work around at the time, but I am liking it more and more.