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ALESIS M20 REFERENCE MANUAL 1.06 15-1
CHAPTER 15
TUTORIALS AND APPLICATIONS
This chapter gives guidance for entire procedures, assuming a basic familiarity with how the
controls and menus work from previous chapters.
TUTORIAL 1: MULTIPLE M20 OPERATION
O
VERVIEW
Because the M20 is ADAT-compatible, it can work together with up to 16 other ADAT-
family machines to provide a total of 128 tracks.
ADAT machines have a sync bus that provides timing information and commands for all
ADATs in a system. When linking multiple ADATs together, the first machine in the chain is
the “master,” and the rest are “slaves.” Each slave locks to the master and synchronizes to
the master machine’s time reference.
Using the 8-channel ADAT Optical Interface, you can also bounce tracks between machines
in the digital realm. The result is a perfect copy (ideal for safety backups and archives) that is
synchronized to the original with single-sample accuracy.
SYNCHRONIZING MACHINES
Synchronization requires a dual male, 9-pin D connector cable for each slave to be
synchronized. Use only Alesis cables, which are available in three different lengths: 8", 30",
and 30'. Other cables may cause erratic sync performance.
To connect the bus (power must be off), patch one 9-pin D connector cable from the master
sync out to the slave sync in. A slave in a multiple machine system will automatically detect
a master and enter slave mode. With more slaves, connect the slave 2 sync out to the slave 3
sync in, slave 3 sync out to slave 4 sync in, etc.
Power on the machines from first to last, with the CADI remote control (if present) powered
on after all of the ADATs.
After connecting multiple M20s and/or ADATS together and turning them on, the master’s
display will show “ ID 1” (identifying itself as the number 1 machine in the system). The
second machine will display ID 2, the third ID 3, and so on. The ID order is automatically
assigned according to how the cables are hooked up.
If a slave does not display an ID number on power-up, then it does not see anything
connected to the Sync In jack. Check the cables and connections.
To check a machine’s ID, go to Utility page 18.
AUTOMATIC ID RENUMBERING
Machines in a multiple ADAT system will renumber their IDs if more M20s or ADATs are
connected later. Example: Suppose in a 3-ADAT system that machine 1 is the master, and
machines 2 and 3 are slaves. If you turn on only machines 2 and 3, machine 1 will not be