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Chapter 15, Tutorials and Applications
ALESIS M20 REFERENCE MANUAL 1.06 15-5
TUTORIAL 2: MAKING DIGITAL BACKUPS
You can create safety copies of M20 tapes by copying all eight tracks to another M20 (or
ADAT-compatible machine) via the digital bus.
Alesis recommends creating a backup whenever you have irreplaceable material on tape.
Synchronizing two machines together via the 9-pin sync bus allows for making sample-
accurate copies, referred to the internal time code. This is preferred. Without sync, you can
simply start recording on the slave and play back from the master. This faithfully copies the
audio information, but in all likelihood there will be a timing offset between the two tapes.
Here’s the procedure for creating a backup tape.
Action You do... You see...
Synchronize the master and
slave
Connect a male/male, 9-pin D
connector cable between the
master Sync Out and the slave
Sync In
The master becomes ID 1 and the
slave ID 2 on power-up
Establish digital audio
connection
Connect a fiber optic cable
between the master ADAT
Optical Out and the slave
ADAT Optical In
No visible change on machine
Load machines with tapes Insert the tape to be backed up
into the master, and a blank or
formatted tape into the slave
Eject lights go off
• To make a 20-bit backup, both machines must be Type II with tapes formatted in 20-bit mode.
• If the tape is unformatted, put the slave into Format mode (see Chapter 4). If the tape is partially
formatted, the slave tape needs to have its format extended (see section 4.5).
• For safety’s sake, write-protect the tape to be copied by breaking off (or sliding open) the tape’s
write protect tab.
Return both machines to a
common start point
Press the Locate 0 button Both Time counters read 0:00:00.00
Enable optical inputs Select ADAT Optical Digital
Source on both the master and
slave M20
Digital Source block shows ADAT
Optical
Select digital as the Input
Select source on both machines
Press Input Select then press
All Input
A “D” will be displayed beneath
all 8 channel meters
Enable all slave tracks for
recording
Press all slave Record Enable
buttons
The Record indicators for all slave
tracks will flash
Be sure that the Record Enable buttons are switched off for tracks 1—8 of the master M20!
Initiate tape cloning Press both Play and Record on
the master
Both machines start, Record
Enable indicators on slave
machine light solid
End backup Press Stop on the master after
backup is complete
Both machines stop