Alesis ADAT HD24 24-Track, 48kHz Hard Disk Recorder

[freak 'n' stein]

I posted back in January about an audio delima we ran across at our show. Resolution to that delima was the purchase of a used HD24 hard disk recorder that vahaunt suggest. We purchased used from ebay and it didn't come with a user manual so I downloaded one from their site. While helpful, it's not quite specific to our needs as a haunt. I was just curious to see if anyone else has used the HD24 before & if so I wanted to know if are you able to play all 24 tracks at once? What sort of speakers/cable/connectors do you guys use with yours? Any help would be great! Thanks

[Tom]

Hey O'Shawn,

I used the same exact thing for about 5 years and LOVED it.
I recorded on 22 tracks (2 for each room for stereo) and had each channel go to 11 different home stereo 5.1 systems. Then the speaker wire was ran to each room. All the audio systems were in one location in the back room which made it very nice.
On the back of the ADAT I had a "Y" audio 1/4" connector going from two channels to a single connector plugged into the "AUX" input on the home stereo system. From there is was the stock speaker wire and speakers (that came with the stereo units) put in each room. 6 speakers for each room for a total of 66 speakers.
I just turn the power on and hit "play" and it loops all night.
BTW, I used it for different background music/sound in each room.
Very simple to use.

Hope this helps,
Tom

[freak 'n' stein]

Thanks so much for the response Tom ! We have tons of speakers & wire so I'm gonna give it a try. I may have more questions later if you don't mind !!

[beardedbil]

Unless you are needing stereo audio effects in your room, a mono signal would do just fine in many haunts. This way it maximizes your use of the ADAT HD24. 24 channels = 24 rooms/scenes. Just a thought!

[Tom]

O'Shawn, no problem. Get with me if you have problems. I loved the ease AND dependability. No problems at all.

And Bill, good point. Mono = 24 channels, Stereo = 12 channels.
BUT, if I remember right (and sometimes I don't ), I needed stereo for the 5.1 home stereo systems to have all the speakers working. But then I might not have programed the stereo systems to adjust for stereo from mono input. I don't remember .

Tom

[RJ Productions]

The debate I see would be what is more effective, centralizing your equipment or localizing it???

This 24 track player is just a player, now youhave the cost of running wire to every location in the haunt and then you have to have an amplifier and speakers at each location...

The deck looks like it costs maybe $1,200 to $1,300, some $1,600 or more...
Wire will run you 20-30 cents a foot...
You mentioned 5.1 stereos in in location- 100-200 each....

You definately get a convienance having to turn on one player....but you still have to turn on and off each amplifier?
And if the player goes...all your sound goes....

The flip side would be to utilize individual sound with something like the Gilderfluke MP3 players.
While they make run $300-400 each, they are also the amplifier so all you need is a couple speakers.
If you haveave two close rooms and don't need stereo you can split one player to two rooms.
You can set them so that they start on power up so everything can reset itself if you have a
power outage.

If you have trouble with a player you use sound to 1 maybe 2 rooms.

Also thing of what sound you really need. Is it necessary to have a different sound track playing in each room??
If you have a unified theme have just one sound track that plays in the entire haunt!!

Most fire departments require a PA system anyway:
Section 907.2.12.3
An emergency voice alarm system that also serves as a public address system is required

The requirement allows you to use the system so you can have a single sound track play though out the enitire attraction.
Then you have individual sounds that are attached to your props...pop up has a scream attached to it.
Again you can use the MP3 players to be triggered with the prop.

I did the whole centralized system, miles of wire...( have something go down and try and figure it out!! I rewire a run just because
there was a short somewhere in the line!!) and replaced it with individual sound.

Think though what you really need and hope you are accomplishing those needs. A central players seems a good idea, put you are still
localized with the amps. And if you want to centralize the amps the cost could be outrageous!!

Good luck

[Tom]

Well to each there own.
I for me didn't want to same ole sound/music playing in EVERY room of my haunt. it gets boring.
I had the ADAT AND all the home stereo systems in "one" location. All the stereo units were the same brand and had wireless remotes. So one remote spooled up all 11 stereo units with "one" click of the remote. One click and done. On the ADAT, power up the unit and "one" click (play) and done.
Also, the stereo units I had were CD players so a CD of the same music for each room was in the players just in case the ADAT had a problem. A simple little back up that was never needed.
I see a little advartising going on and that's cool but O'Shawn already has the ADAT so fulfilling his needs with what he already has is what I am doing.
As for the PA system, I had a seperate EVAC system and once the kill switch was activated, the ADAT system turned off and house lights came on. The EVAC system also had it's own messaging system for what ever event took place.

The sound system for a haunt and the emergency system (EVAC) is and should be isolated into two seperate systems.
And that's a quote from my fire marshal.

Tom

[Tom]

And one more thing.
I was open every year from middle March thru Labor day, then Hallowen season, then all of December (I switched scenes for the holidays) and ran my ADAT all those times ( for the past 5 years when I got the ADAT system) and not once did it even blink, hickup or burp during operation. That's around 10 times more useage than an average haunt season each year.
And that's all i got to say about that....

Tom

[jakprintsHAUNT]

While a tad more expensive than normal ones, what about using this with powered speakers? Less wiring than individual systems, and not overkill for each room. Unless each room was really large I would think a 5.1 might be overkill per room? It would have to be nice to have the ability to press play and have the entire attraction with different tracks in each room up and running or off instantly. You could likely patch your emergency system into this same setup too right? flip a switch and goes from soundtracks to emergency message?


Mike "Pogo" Hach

[Tom]

Yes, Mike. I had fairly large rooms and so the 5.1 fit the need very well.
Powered speakers would do the job just as well and may be better for majority of haunts with smaller rooms. Easier to set-up too.
I liked the home stereo units also because they had CD players which were back-up is the ADAT had any problems, which never happened.
And as mentioned prior, I had it connected to a emergency kill switch to please the fire marshals. Having a emergency message is nice BUT you have to have so many different messages for different emergencies. I like the EVAC with microphone and a script in place for what ever scenerio is happening. Tornado, fire, injury, what ever. You just read the script over the EVAC and informs everyone exactly what to do.