Alesis ALESIS M20 Dealing with Damaged Tape, Making a 16-BIT Copy from a 20-BIT Master, 15-6

Tutorials and Applications, Chapter 15

DEALING WITH DAMAGED TAPE

If a tape is in very bad condition, it may be difficult to copy it from the master to a slave. If there are so many errors that the M20 momentarily loses sync during playback, all slaves will be taken out of record automatically. In this case, put the new tape into the master, the damaged tape in the slave, and copy from the slave to the master.

MAKING A 16-BIT COPY FROM A 20-BIT MASTER

With over 100,000 ADAT 16-bit Type I machines in use, you may need to trade tapes with someone who owns an older machine. You can still with the M20 in 20-bit Type II mode, and make Type I “clones” for use in older machines. You can also use an older Type I machine as a slave to an M20, using the same procedures and hookup listed earlier in this chapter.

Alesis recommends creating 16-bit “clone” tapes using dithering, a process that provides better apparent resolution than standard 16-bit copies (however, do not add dither if the material will be re-dithered later on). The process is the same as making a standard backup, except that you select a dithered 16-bit output from the master, as described in section 13.1.

15-6 ALESIS M20 REFERENCE MANUAL 1.06