The ADAT, in all its various forms, is a product that has been on the market a while and is serving many people well. For a product that is such a standard we’re continuously surprised at how certain kinds of information about it have never been distributed. Today’s tip is in the domain of how to prepare your ADAT for transport. Since we are one of the oldest repair centers for ADATs, and since there are thousands of ADATs that have been operating for several years, we see quite a lot of them. These tips come from our chief ADAT technician. This is what we tell customers who are about to ship ADATs to us for repair (these tips also apply to touring machines on the road as well). He says:
ADATXT, ADATXT20, ADATLX20 have a shipping mode in the service menu. This is to position the transport parts so they are less likely to pop loose during rough handling (This would be a BAD thing. If they scratch the head it would destroy it). To access: Hold input buttons #1 and #7 when powering up. This puts the ADAT into “test mode.” The first menu item will be “0 SHIP”. Press play to engage ship mode. The unit will make loading sound for about 5 seconds, then “SHIP READy ” will appear. The ADAT is ok to ship now. The unit will return to normal operation the next time it is powered up.
The M20 does not have this option. Its transport is made differently so it doesn’t need it.
The original (black face) ADAT does not have this option specifically, but can be done with extra steps: Hold #1 and #7 input while powering up. “ProG” will appear. Press pitch up button 7 times to show “CAP.” Press Autoplay button to remove the “period” next to the word “CAP”. Place a tape cartridge in the loader and hold onto the edge firmly. Press pitch down button and loader carriage should go down without the tape. Press the stop button and the loader should move for about 5 seconds then the stop light should stop blinking. Power off and you’re ready to ship. The unit will return to normal operation the next time it is powered up.
General packing DO’s and DON’T’s:
- DON’T ship inside rack cases! These are not built to prevent the ADAT from twisting and unless they are heavily shock mounted the front panel will bend with drops in shipping. Shippers may reject any shipping damage claim from improper packing. It will save you ultimately to box them separately.
- DO use plenty of packing. Seal the ADAT in a plastic bag. I have to charge more time to clean packing dust and chips from inside. Place inside original box (if available) with packing, then place that box inside another with 4 more inches of packing around it.
We’ve had other ADAT tricks and tips in past issues of inSync. Feel free to search our TTOTD archives for them.