Extra inputs through ADAT (lightpipe)....

[bigevilman]

Hey guys

I'm about to finish my uni degree at Lincoln and over the summer am wanting to build up my recording experience. I've recorded a few different bands, but I want to start building my equipment setup and get used to it.

I've got a Alesis io26 which is 8ins/8outs. I currently mix and do most my music creation in Logic 9, but am quite fond of Pro-tools for recording and mixing down bands. It's something about the interface that just does it for me .

Anyways, back to the problem! When recording drums, obviously 8 mic inputs should be sufficient, but that leaves me with no inputs for say a guitarist to DI for the drummer to play along with. Obviously, i understand that people connect channel strips of pre-amps for extra inputs through the ADAT connection. But for using pro-tools, pro-tools hardware has to be used.

So heres my question....Could I theoretically purchase say, a 002 rack, which would allow me to use pro-tools, and then use the alesis io26 through ADAT as a set of pre-amps? Would Pro-tools allow me to use the Alesis, or does all my hardware have to be Digidesign?

If this was to work, this would then give me the extra inputs that I need for a guitarist, as well as providing extra pre-amps for other mics if need be.

I know its a bit of a bigger question, but hopefully some of you home recording engineers with pro-tool LE systems will be able to help me.

Cheers
Joe

[The Funk]

Pro Tools doesn't care what preamps you use via ADAT. I have a Digi 002 with a Focusrite Octopre giving me 8 preamps via ADAT optical. I also have a pair of Samson S-Valve preamps hooked up via SPDIF coaxial.

As long as you can connect your Alesis io26 in standalone mode without hooking it up to the computer using firewire or something, you should be just fine.

My cousin has a similar set-up but with a Mackie 8 x preamp unit instead.

Does that help?

EDIT: If you decide you don't like Pro Tools, you can always use the Digi 002/ADAT 8x preamp set-up in Logic.

Edited March 26, 2010 by The Funk

[bigevilman]

[quote name='The Funk' post='787217' date='Mar 26 2010, 05:17 PM']Pro Tools doesn't care what preamps you use via ADAT. I have a Digi 002 with a Focusrite Octopre giving me 8 preamps via ADAT optical. I also have a pair of Samson S-Valve preamps hooked up via SPDIF coaxial.

As long as you can connect your Alesis io26 in standalone mode without hooking it up to the computer using firewire or something, you should be just fine.

My cousin has a similar set-up but with a Mackie 8 x preamp unit instead.

Does that help?

EDIT: If you decide you don't like Pro Tools, you can always use the Digi 002/ADAT 8x preamp set-up in Logic.[/quote]

Thats great cheers Funk

That's all I wanted to know. I didn't want to invest a a couple of hundred quid into a piece of equipment that I couldn't use in conjunction with my other gear. I used to have a 002 rack but at the time, I needed something more portable so I got shot of it. Now that I'm about to finish uni, i'll end up investing back into one!

I love using Logic, but for actual recording, Pro-tools seems more intuitive to me. I've got a new Macbook Pro on order, so a copy of Pro-tools 8 and some Digidesign hardware shall be my next purchase me thinks

[The Funk]

That's great. I prefer Pro Tools. The software comes free with the hardware btw.

[Archetype]

I would suggest going for a 003 if you can, since you get the Word Clock to keep the timing right between the 2 devices. Seen a few issues with ADAT doing the annoying timing clicking popin things. If you do get a 002 though just make sure you get a decent optical cable.