Now that I have decided to go with Mackie..

I have just a few more quick questions regarding the difference between the
$1450 discontinued MDR and the less expensive (but perhaps more full
featured???) $1300 new SDR.....

1) Is the SDR24/96 in any way more or less high quality & full featured
than the MDR24/96??

2) Does the SDR sync to SMPTE as well as the MDR???

3) Is it equally easy to transfer trax of the highest quality into ProTools
Digi002 for mixing with the SDR and the MDR???

4a) Could I use my Digi002 console's 8 channels of ADAT optical I/O to send
a sub-mix to either the SDR or MDR during live recording,

4b) and if yes to the above, can I select these 8 channels to go directly to
the SDR's and/or MDR's digital recording inputs while sending 16 other
channels from an adjacent analog mixer to the unit's analog inputs for
recording at the same time???

Thanks for your help,

RON CHARLES


"Mike Rivers" wrote in message
news:znr1057366258k@trad...

In article writes:

I seem to find that for $1450 USD the Mackie MDR24/96 seems to be a good
value, and it seems I both sync to SMPTE and also can be used to send
files
faily easily into our Digi002 for post and mixing.

The HDR24/96 is out of our budget, and so is the Tascam, but should I
still
consider the Alesis or the Fostex in the same general price area???

Each one has its fans. Fostex has been doing hard disk recorders
longer than anyone (excpet maybe Akai) but they change models every
fifteen minutes and have never translated a manual into usable
English.

I've had a Mackie MDR24/96 for over 2 years and it's been very
reliable and sounds good. They hit a low price of around $1200 a few
months back but once most dealers ran out of stock (Mackie
discontinued manufacture in September 2002) the price is creeping back
up again. Still, if you can get one for $1450 it's a heck of a lot of
capability for the price. Be aware, though, that what you get is what
you're going to have to live with. Mackie will still offer technical
support and repairs on the MDR, but unless an update to the HDR (which
is still in production for the forseeable future) is also directly
applicable to the MDR, there probably won't be any other (at least
factory supplied or authorized) updates to the MDR.

It doesn't really need anything, but you know people want it to be all
sorts of stuff that it isn't.

When budgeting for one (any one) of these machines, don't forget the
cost of cables. The Alesis has 1/4" phone jacks for all the inputs and
outputs so cables and snakes are easy to buy and aren't very
expensive. The others use 25-pin D-subminiature connectors, 8 channels
per connector, and those cables are a little harder to find on the
shelf and are usually more expensive per connection than those with
more common plugs. You can easily spend $300 for a set of input and
output cables if you buy then new off the rack, though they
occasionally show up for sale at eBay auctions for about half the new
price.



--
I'm really Mike Rivers - )