Recently I got to try out the Apogee Rosetta (street price, $1100). Using this in place of the DAT machine's analog to digital conversion seems to preserve more of the qualities of the mix so it sounds like what I have up on the board. It doesn't add that special "something" of analog tape, but it does sound more like what I feed into it. The UV22 system supposedly helps with this, adding a kind of "ultrasonic dither" to the program material. The Rosetta comes in two models, one capable of 96 K and one for 48 K, and can "bit split" sending these high-resolution 2-track digital mixes to 8-track digital recorders, something I didn't have the gear to try out. I'm still kind of a sceptic of mixing down to DAT only (if you can't see the tape rolling don't trust it) but I'm much more happier and secure than I used to be when I use it for mixing, 1/4" backups or CDR references. (www.apogeedigital.com)
Converters, Recorders, Signal Processors | No. 32
HD24 24-Track Hard Disk Recorder
by Joseph Lemmer
The Alesis ADAT HD24 is a 24-track hard disk recorder that operates almost exactly like a tape-based analog recorder. Media for this recorder (IDE hard drives) is the least expensive per track minute...