A list of questions to ask in order to decide if any ADAT needs shop service or if it is something else causing the problem.

(A) ERROR 7 or Cleaning light * is indicated:
1) Clean tape path-see database listing on cleaning.
2) Does it happen with all your tapes? If so, unit is probably defective ( or still dirty) . However, to make sure: If they have a Sweetwater Prostart tape or an ADAT tape recorded at ALESIS or have made a reference tape when machine was new (as Alesis recomends), try playing this as a reference standard. If one of these plays with no errors, then they likely have many badly formatted tapes made prior to alignment. This is a common occurance and gives the same reaction as a bad head. Try formatting a new tape on the machine just aligned and test it. Make sure machine is clean first! Dirty machines make bad formats! Don’t use a tape from another one of their ADATs, because they could be the problem! If a new tape, newly formated records with no errors, then the machine is OK.

(B) ADAT does not lock or sync with other decks or BRC:
1) Have they swapped positions with the other decks to varify that problem stays with the same ADAT? Swap just the deck itself, because the cables maybe bad. If it follows the Adat , then it needs shop service.
2) Clean tape path-see data base on cleaning. They may need to clean all the machines and format new tapes to be sure there isn’t a tape problem. If still fails, then machine comes to the shop.

Knowledge Base