My New Varispeed DAW

HCMarkus · Post by **HCMarkus** » Sat Dec 10, 2016 12:14 am

Been Jonesing for varispeed for quite some time. You know, slow down or speed up the tape before recording to realize interesting and useful timbral shifts, sonic tightness or heaviness when playback speed is returned to normal. DP doesn't offer an equivalent function. Yeah, there are workarounds, but digital manipulation doesn't give the true harmonic shift the original technique allows.

I've spent a fair amount of time searching for a variable speed digital clock but nothing sort of vari (ha!) expensive options like Apogee's Big Ben could be found. ($1,200 new, $600 used.) Until I remembered ADAT. Yeah, you know, the old video tape-eating 8 track machines from Alesis that revolutionized audio recording in the late 80s.

So I checked Craigslist and found an ADAT XT for $50 at a local music store. Paid the man, brought it home, connected its optical Out via light pipe to my 828mkII's optical In, set the ADAT's sample rate to 44.1k (an advantage the XTs have over the original 48k-only earlier blackface machines), and slaved DP to the ADAT litepipe.

It works! I can slow down or speed up a track with ease and, since the DAW doesn't realize the clock is shifting, the pitch of VIs follows right along with the audio tracks.

OK, purists may suggest that the possibly less than stellar ADAT optical clock may give rise to some distortion, but it it probably cleaner than any pure digital process available. And I'll only use my new clock (I don't know - or care - if it will actually record on tape) when I feel the need for varispeed.

This is gonna' be fun!

YouTube · Post by **James Steele** » Sat Dec 10, 2016 1:14 am

Shhhh... you'll start a run on old ADAT machines. I never had an ADAT, but went straight to a crippled ProTools Project around the same time. So how does the ADAT change speed? Something on the front panel?

HCMarkus · Post by **HCMarkus** » Sat Dec 10, 2016 9:03 am

James Steele wrote:Shhhh... you'll start a run on old ADAT machines. I never had an ADAT, but went straight to a crippled ProTools Project around the same time. So how does the ADAT change speed? Something on the front panel?

UP and DOWN arrows on the left side of the front panel. The XTs also have a sample rate selector over to the right side of the panel.

Blackface can be manually changed to 44.1k by slowing the ADAT clock using the arrows, but the range of further slowing is thus more limited.

PS: I know someone in SD who has more XTs...

kwiz · Post by **kwiz** » Sat Dec 10, 2016 9:56 am

Cool!
I wonder if the speed can be controlled via MIDI cause if it could, you should be able to record control changes just in case you needed to recall a mix.

HCMarkus · Post by **HCMarkus** » Sat Dec 10, 2016 10:51 am

kwiz wrote:Cool!
I wonder if the speed can be controlled via MIDI cause if it could, you should be able to record control changes just in case you needed to recall a mix.

I am unaware of any MIDI control on the ADAT XT I purchased... not in the studio at the moment, but I don't recall a MIDI jack being present on the machine. I plan only to use varispeed while tracking, not mixing, so I'm not really concerned either way.

zuul-studios · Post by **zuul-studios** » Sat Dec 10, 2016 1:55 pm

Interesting. . .

I have an ADAT XT that's been safely tucked away in my closet (along with a whole bunch of other audio-related stuff) for over 11+ years! (Haven't used it in about 15+ years.) Just might take it out and experiment with it.

It's shocking to read that these ADATs are going for ONLY around $50. I purchased it new for much, much more, back in the day.

cuttime · Post by **cuttime** » Sat Dec 10, 2016 2:03 pm

Don't these use S-VHS only? And where in the world can someone find them?

EMRR · Post by **EMRR** » Sat Dec 10, 2016 2:09 pm

A good use for an ADAT with a bad transport that can't be repaired. You don't need any tape.

A BRC will do this for you too.

Can you 2x the sample rate somehow to make it happen at higher rates?

waxman · Post by **waxman** » Sat Dec 10, 2016 3:05 pm

brilliant Marcus... love it

cuttime · Post by **cuttime** » Sat Dec 10, 2016 5:30 pm

Let me get this straight-You are running audio from from an external source into the XT and then to DP? Or are you going from DP to the XT and back again? (In essence, using the XT as an external effects processor.) Forgive my density, but I'm having a hard time grasping the signal flow...

rickorick · Post by **rickorick** » Sat Dec 10, 2016 9:17 pm

I'm guessing there is no signal flow, he's just using the ADAT for the clock and DP is following the ADAT.

HCMarkus · Post by **HCMarkus** » Sat Dec 10, 2016 10:43 pm

rickorick wrote:I'm guessing there is no signal flow, he's just using the ADAT for the clock and DP is following the ADAT.

Winner!

FutureLegends · Post by **FutureLegends** » Sat Dec 10, 2016 10:47 pm

Haha, great!

Me and my (former) studio partner both got started using ADATs... We used to joke that they, like most old stuff would be trendy again, and people would be wanting that late 80s/early 90s ADAT sound again. I think I see the beginning of that here!

Killahurts · Post by **Killahurts** » Sat Dec 10, 2016 11:51 pm

You guys better shut your mouths or you're going to be paying $100 for VHS tapes, just sayin'

HCMarkus · Post by **HCMarkus** » Sun Dec 11, 2016 12:02 am

Killahurts wrote:You guys better shut your mouths or you're going to be paying $100 for VHS tapes, just sayin'

Turn on ADAT > Optical clock is spit out. No tape required.

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