Hey guys - Please excuse my ignorance as I have never worked on a real console and only record in a home studio.  Here is the scenario:
 
I have a friend who runs a local studio which is 100% analog (He actually has a REAL plate reverb!).  I am trying to introduce him to Sonar and bring him up to speed on DAW's, with todays ease of use, editing and recording techniques.  I need help in figuring out how to connect him to a computer.  Here is the rough set up:
 
A self made 24 track mixing console, routed through an Alesis Adat tape machine (3 of them daisy chained, for a total of 24 possible tracks).  The Adat machines have optical connectors.  I am thinking, he needs to come out of the Adat machine via the optical connectors, into some kind of AD convertor/interface, which will connect to his computer.
 
I believe the optical connectors can send out up to 8 individual tracks (or so I read somewhere).  Would he really have to daisy chain 3 different 8 channel audio interfaces to get his 24 tracks from the Adat machines?  How to the 48 channel SSL consoles send to their computers?   
 
Any suggestions are appreciated.

From what I read, if I understand it, ya the ADAT tape machines record actually 16 -bit but with 20 bits, so going to something with 20 bits is I think not possible anymore if it ever was.
 
Might be possible to just go from the mixing console into an interface but then I am not sure about that either. I think the ADAT machines from what I have seen had phono inputs and other type inputs but I do not think that anything nowadays is the same.
http://www.alesis.com/first25
Yep, looking at pictures phono plugs but an digital in and out connector (??).
Don't know what his mixer has for output connectors.
 
Analog to Digital Convertor.
http://www.rme-audio.de/en_products_m32ad.php
and the RME unit goes into another unit to get into the computer whatever it all is about.
????????????????
 In other words, I just do not know.
 

The easiest thing to do is to think of the DAW as a tape deck and just use the number of outs that your I/O hardware has. Not only is it the easiest way but you are, in fact, more or less limited to the number of I/Os your DAW has.
 
So it's easy, buy a MOTU 24i/o. It was built expressly to integrate a DAW into a 24 track analog environment.
 
If you don't get a 24i/o box then you have all those other options, where you daisy kludge a bunch of smaller format boxes into a system.
 
Remember you don't have to have the whole 24i/o but it seems like the console was built to work that way so that will be an obvious goal.
 
What you will learn is that Pro Tools makes a better "DAW as a tape deck metaphor" and most of the things we SONAR fans don't get about ProTools were made to suit the a work flow that supports the "DAW as a tape deck metaphor".
 
SONAR can work great in this scenario. You are just gonna need some fresh cables.
 
Speak to your friend about this and you will see that he already knows how his studio is wired and you just need to insert the DAW where the ADATs are now. Of course he'll want to dream up some way of switching out quickly, or even transferring from one to the other.
 
A couple bays with db25 connectors may be the way to go... it just depends on what he has set up already.
 
 
all the best,
mike
 
 

Thank you Mike and Spacealf. I didn't even think about what bit's the Adat machine was outputting.
 
Mike - Thanks for the Motu suggestion.  It sounds like you are proposing simply replacing the Adat machines with the Motu (or similar).  That sounds easy enough, just not sure how he will like parting the with Adat machines :)
 
Thanks for suggestions, I will mention this to him.

 
Ideally, you would have the Adats and all that old work stored on tapes available while making the studio DAW capable.
 
Imagine that in the "beginning" people would track on the ADATS because they were reliable and then transfer to Pro Tools for edits, automation, etc.
 
You can figure out a way to use both... some form of patchbay can provide that functionality.
 
Have fun!
 
best regards,
mike

Currently he tracks to the Adat's.  He then sends a stereo out to his computer to master it.  If he wants to mix individual tracks after the fact, he can only output 2 tracks at a time (in real time) from the Adat's to his computer, because of he has no audio interface and must use the inputs on the back of his PC.  He then plugs all those tracks into Sony Vegas for editing and mixing.  He has been in business a long time and has his own workflow. 
 
I know he will want to incorporate the Adat's.  Just not sure how.  I have never worked with patchbays and don't know the first thing.  I will show him the Motu suggestion and see what he thinks. 

I assumed that you were saying he had a 24 track recording console that he used with the ADATs.
 
So I assumed there was already a bundle of 24 wires that you can patch into some where.
 
It may be that easy.
 
best regards,
mike
 
 
 
 

spend some time studying the quality of the audio capture and playback of the adats, and see if it's really worth the investment.
 
 
back in the day, the adat's were the sh!t
 
 
but no more

Yes Mike, that is the case with the console.  I just wasn't sure how they are typically connected to the computer - Console > Interface (with equal number of inputs) > computer? 
 
Bats - Yes, I don't know how the Adat's stack up soundwise in todays audio world.   I will also ask him to consider that.  I know he isn't interested in spending a lot of money (if any) so he will look to use what he already owns

The MOTO 24 i/o has TRS outputs so you still need something to get into the computer.
 
RME has these (there is a lesser one usually have to search for it on RME:
 
http://www.sweetwater.com/store/detail/HDSPeRayDAT/?utm_source=Google&utm_medium=PPC&utm_campaign=audio&utm_term=rme_hdspe_raydat&adpos=1t1&creative=14165894161&device=c&network=s&matchtype=b&gclid=CN3IsKW337cCFfBaMgod5hQAlw
 
This one is a 72 channel PCI-e card in the computer (they have a 36 channel one but I don't think it is as flexible as this one for connections).
 
The MOTU won't work without another unit to go into and it has TRS 1/4" outputs looking at it so it a computer card would have to have those 24 kinds of connections to connect to.
To me I doubt it if can be done. Not citing RME to buy at all, just showing what equipment where I can find it you would have to use. RME has mic XLR 8 channels units also like Misestacy however it is spelled or the OctaMic II whatever unit that is, but the
HDSPeRayDAT PCI-e card that allows the connection to whatever AD convertor or such you would get would be where it goes. You can find it over at the RME website, I did last night but have to search again to find the page at RME. They don't list it along with all the other stuff on that page I linked to in previous post.
 
That was to go out of his mixer into the AD convertor which goes by connection into the HDSPeRayDAT card inside of the computer to run the DAW. Actually you could do without his mixer also and just buy mic inputs and outputs and other equipment there also. ?????
 
http://www.rme-audio.de/en_products_hdspe_raydat.php
 
found it.
The interfaces depend on which kind of equipment cables you want to connect with, while this one I think has all 3 type of connections AEU/ADAT/whatever it connects with as a path into the computer.
 Oh, the RayDAT has 36 inputs and 36 outputs (I guess for monitors connections or that stuff).
So it is 72 total channels.
 
Well, if he is only two tracks at a time, he should record through a better audio/interface into the computer than a sound card and record all the tracks first into the DAW (24 channels or tracks) then mix down and whatever, because Sonar will Export all the tracks into an outputted 2 track WAVE or possibly *.MP3 file getting the code for that to run it in the DAW or perhaps even burn a CD with the song (songs) afterwards by a Microsoft program or NERO program to make a CD-R CD playable on a CD player or DVD player or such device. After that if you want a regular CD you would have to send the files somewhere where they make a regular CD for sale then.
 
 If he wants to use the ADAT tape machines I would talk to the manufacturer first like RME to make sure that the output of the ADAT tape machine could go into another unit. Oh, ya, it was a digital connector I don't know what kind so I imagine there may not be cable for it anymore so that would be out also. Only a 1/4" cord-based system into the AD convertor could be used then or from the phono outputs of the ADAT tape machine into a 1/4" TRS input of the AD convertor. Cords would have to be made (probably not found without adaptors being used and stuff like that so the connection would be not good as it should be for a studio). (consumer-grade -10dBu stuff instead of studio +4dBu standard whatever it is.
??????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????
 
I have to eat my food getting cold.
I know I babbled on here but the connections have to be there on whatever unit to go into a unit that gets to the DAW (audio/interface) on the MOTU or any equipment used.