Alesis MasterLink 9600

PodSqod takes a look at the MasterLink stereo mastering recorder. This is a hard disk based recorder that will take your analog or digital input and store it on the masterlinks drive.

The whole idea is that you start with “Playlists” and have songs under the playlist. Storage is very logical and is based on a CD model if you equate the Playlist to the CD and the songs stored on it.

Naming the tracks is easy (if you have ever tried typing an SMS message on your cell phone, this is easier). You can glance at the front panel and immediately see the sampling rate, hours left on the hard drive and how long you have been recording. There are also large VU meters on the traditional blue flourescent screened LED. Many track editing, joining and crop features are available right on the hard drive. You can also fast-scan through material and hear audio at the same time, just as in the old tape days.

The 9600 also allows you to record onto a CD-R or take your hard drive tracks and record them onto CD so you can archive your program material. The hard disk size is more than ample showing 52 hours available at 44.1Khz.

I recorded some live material and was impressed with how quiet the unit operated. Of course, the recorded audio was flawless. You can then apply the compressor/limiter (with look-ahead filtering) to your recording. You can even “normalize” using the audio amplitude in DSP.

The Alesis was a pleasant surprise. Everything seemed to work smoothly. The ergonomics are great and you can see what’s happening just by glancing at the large blue display.

MSRP $1699
Street Price $799

Best,
MarkJensen & Laura

Filed under: Podcasts