ORIGINAL: bapu
I'm about to embark upon taking my old ADAT tapes into SONAR via the lightpipe input on my FW-1884.
If I only had 8 tracks (one tape) it would be simple. And I do have some of those
How would I do three tapes (24 tracks) and keep all the audio in sync into one SONAR project?
TIA for any help. It's been 8 years since I used an ADAT (sold all three of mine) so I'm not boned up on how to do this.
You need to pick up a JLCooper DATASync or DATASync II off e-bay. That way you can get MTC out of the ADAT to drive Sonar. The only other device that would work would be the Alesis BRC but that's going to be more money. I've used the DATASync many times and it works great. Here is how it works.
ADAT Machine 9pin plug -> JLCooper DATASync -> MIDI out to MIDI in on FW-1884 (or other MIDI inteface).
ADAT Light pipe out of ADAT tape machine to FW-1884 ADAT input. Set FW-1884 to get sample rate clock from the ADAT. This means the sample rate must match the ADAT tape sample rate and the Sonar project must be the same sample rate also.
In Sonar set the sync settings to "Trigger and Freewheel". and 30fps and set DATASync to 30fps also. If you have an old MIDI file make sure the Sonar project tempo map and time sig matches the old project. Also check the offset value and make sure it is correct.
Add audio tracks, arm them and set the input to each channel of the ADAT in of the FW-1884. Set Sonar to sync to MTC and press record. It will display "waiting for timecode" but will not start rolling yet. Rewind the tape to a time just before the offset time in your project and press play. When the time on the ADAT reaches the offset time in your project Sonar will start recording the 8 tracks comming from the ADAT. When done switch Sonar back to internal sync, set the FW-1884 back to internal clock and press play. The MIDI and audio tracks should be close. If they are off just a bit nudge or slide (by samples) till you get the audio lined up perfect. It's best to freeze or bounce the MIDI first so you know EXACTLY where it will end up with the audio. That takes out vairables of MIDI latency and software synth response time.
Also, if you want to use a different sample rate then don't use ADAT lightpipe. Use analog connections between the ADAT and the FW-1884. In some cases it sounds even better then a digital transfer. In fact, if it were me I would try it both ways to see what sounds the best. Yes you will be doing D/A and A/D but the D/A of the ADAT might have a "sound" you like or are used to. The digital out might not sound like you remember it. I would do both and pick and choose what version of each track sounds best. However, if you use a different sample rate from the tape you will also be doing sample rate conversion when you import the audio to compare so take that into account. The higher sample rate version will have to be a different project in Sonar.
post edited by ohhey - 2008/04/22 15:50:19