Ad Details
Price
AUD $450RRP/MSRP
AUD $4,000Product Type
Hard Disk/CD-R RecorderCondition
ExcellentPayment Method
Paypal - EFTRegion/State
(WA) Western Australia/AustraliaSuburb or Town
PerthOriginal Receipt Available
NoShipping & Pickup Options
Shipping: AvailablePickup: Available
Auditioning
NoReason for Selling
ExcessFurther Information
Bought on here on a whim and guess what it sat on my rack unused, I powered up and played a cd and recorded a cd but that's it. its does everything is stat on the wrapper.. I was going to use to produce some local cd copies of dj mixes etc but it has not happened as yet.
Grab a great cd recording bargain.
Alesis MasterLink ML-9600 Hard Disk/CD-R Recorder
Michael Fremer | Jun 23, 2002
When a well-respected analog disc-mastering veteran like Stan Ricker says that the Alesis MasterLink ML-9600, a hard-disk-based digital recorder/CD burner, is "the best tool in my mastering bag...done right it can sound better than all but the absolute top drawer analog," you take the endorsement seriously. Progress is possible. Mastering tool, CD burner, 24-bit/96kHz recorder, audio reviewer's best friend—the versatile MasterLink is one of the coolest products I've ever had my hands on.
For a company that was on the brink of bankruptcy (it was bought and resurrected by Numark), Alesis has perhaps found a savior in the ML-9600. The world seems to be in love with it. Capitol studios in L.A. is using them instead of DAT machines for references and mixdowns. I just wonder if Alesis is making any money: the ML-9600's list price is $1699, but you can find it online for less than $1000.
But you're not a mastering engineer or a recording artist—what can the MasterLink do for you?
Say you want to transfer your collection of original UK Island Roxy Music LPs to CD, which is what a friend
asked me to do for him just as the MasterLink arrived. Think about your CD burner and consider this: with the ML-9600, you could record to its hard drive at any combination of 44.1, 48, 88.2, or 96kHz sample rates and 16-, 20-, and 24-bit word lengths. Once the tracks are recorded to a Playlist on the HD, you can alter the running order, apply compression to individual tracks, do fade-ins and -outs, and edit out bad starts or end-of-side goofs where you let the stylus go 'round and 'round in the lead-out groove. You can apply compression, a limiter, and EQ settings used for one track to all tracks on a Playlist (not that you'd want to use any of those in this example).
You can insert track divisions after the fact, so your friend doesn't get an entire LP side as "track 1." You don't have to sit there inserting the track marks in real time (though you can), and you can adjust the levels of individual tracks. You can substitute a better-sounding track from another pressing by adding it at the end of the Playlist, deleting the bad track, and replacing it with the new one in the original LP sequence. And, of course, you rip one or all the tracks from a regular CD onto the hard drive as a Playlist that you can then manipulate. Making compilations couldn't be easier or more fun. And since you can name the Playlists and the individual tracks, keeping track of both is easy.
When you've gotten the Playlist just the way you want it, you insert a blank CD-R in the tray, push a button, and record a 16-bit/44.1kHz "Red Book" CD, either in real time, faster (it's a 4x-speed burner), or slower, depending on if you've specified EQ and/or other DSP changes to the original recording. Or you could burn a "CD24"—an uncompressed 24-bit/96kHz AIFF file carried on a standard CD—on the MasterLink. You get about 20 minutes per 80-minute blank, so it's one CD per average LP side, but the pure, analog-like transparency compared to the original LP will astonish you. Then listen to the "Red Book" CD you made for your friend and you'll hear why you're not so keen on CDs. (Though CD24 discs are conventional CD-R discs that conform to the ISO 9660 standard can be played on the MasterLink and on PCs and Macs equipped with 24/96 D/A converters, they won't play on your regular CD player.)
Think of the possibilities for a reviewer: LPs as played through different phono sections, turntables, and cartridges can be archived to 24/96 discs and be compared later with new products being reviewed—the MasterLink's fidelity is that good. I'm not saying it's perfect (sound forever), but it's close enough to the original to make meaningful comparisons possible.
Presenting the new MasterLink ML-9600 two-track hard disc recorder - literally, the state-of-the-art in do-it-yourself mixing and mastering systems.
Only MasterLink lets you capture your mixes in stunning 24-bit, 96kHZ; edit your recording and apply finishing tools - such as high-resolution parametric EQ Compression, limiting and normalizing - all in the same system and then burn the finished recording in either industry-standard Redbook, or new high resolution CD24, fast becoming the new standard for archiving and transferring high-res. audio files to the mastering room.
Audio (44.1/48kHz frequencies) Frequency Response: 20Hz-20kHz, +0, -0.3 dB THD+N: <0.002% @ 1kHz, -1 dBFS Signal-to-Noise Ratio: 113 dB, A-weighted Analog/Digital Converter: 24-bit 128x oversampling Digital/Analog Converter: 24-bit 128x oversampling Sample Rates: 44.1, 48, 88.2, 96kHz Word Lengths: 16-, 20-, 24-bit CD Drive Type: ATAPI CD-ROM (8x read, 4x write) CD Read/ Write Formats: Red Book, CD24 Hard Disk Type: High capacity IDE Drive Hard Disk Max Recording Times: 52 hours @ 44.1kHz/16-bit 16 hours @ 96.0kHz/24-bit Digital Inputs and Outputs: AES/EBU-compatible balanced XLR connectors S/PDIF-compatible unbalanced coaxial (RCA) connectors Analog Inputs and Outputs: Balanced XLR connectors (+4dBu) Unbalanced phono (RCA) connectors (-10dBV) Nominal Input and Output Level: Balanced: +4dBu (-15dBFS) Unbalanced: -10dBV (-15dBFS) Maximum Output: Balanced: +19dBu = 0dBFS Unbalanced: +5dBV = 0dBFS Input Impedance: Balanced: 15k Ohm nominal Unbalanced: 10kOhm nominal Output Impedance: Balanced: 75Ohm nominal Unbalanced: 150Ohm nominal Power Requirements: 90-240 VAC, 40W max, 50/60Hz Dimensions (WxHxD): 19"x 3.5" x 11" (483mm x 88mm x 279mm) Weight: 16.55 lbs. (6.2kg)
Because it was conceived as a studio component, the Alesis MasterLink ML-9600 offers both balanced and unbalanced analog and digital inputs and outputs. Because I was conceived as a tweaky audiophile, I used only the unbalanced analog inputs and outputs—not that there's anything wrong with the balanced. There is no Analog Input level adjustment, but there are 15dB of headroom from nominal input to clipping (+19dBu from the +4dBu balanced input, +5dBV at the -10dBV RCA input). I never ran into any distortion problems, though some phono front-end combos looked as if they were moving the meters to the next time zone. The ML-9600 is equipped with 24-bit, 128x oversampling A/D and D/A converters.
I'm not going to run you through the entire recording process or give you a roadmap to the complicated operating system, but I will say it's somewhat confusing for non-studio types. Though the instructions try valiantly to make using the ML-9600 simple, mathlexic me sometimes found it a ball of confusion. One of the most hilarious omissions in the instructions is a section titled "Erasing a Playlist." The instructions go on and on about how to record to and delete tracks from a Playlist, but I couldn't find anything about deleting an entire Playlist. I still don't know how to do it (footnote 1).
And let's say you decide you want to erase the whole damn hard drive and start over. On the last page of the manual, under "Utility Function," you'll find section 8.3: "Util3: HD Format." That's where you'll find out how to reformat the entire disc. Shouldn't instructions on erasing be located near instructions on recording? Yes. But they're not. Nor is the section where you do find out how to reformat a disc particularly well-labeled. The operating system is menu/cursor driven, so if you've programmed a home-theater receiver, you'll be in the driver's seat. But I've done that many times, and still found it difficult to see over the MasterLink's steering wheel.
The hard-drive software (upgradeable via the CD-R drive) divides the disk space into 16 Playlists, each of which can contain up to 99 tracks. The disk drive's total capacity depends on the recording resolution chosen. I recorded eight Roxy Music LPs at 24/96 and had hours of hi-rez space left over. The review sample contained a 4.3-gigabyte hard drive, but by the time you read this, a new production run of 20GB MasterLinks, with about 24 hours of standard CD recording time, should be in the pipeline. Apparently, upgrading the hard drive yourself is difficult and voids the warranty. Too bad.
The ML-9600's front panel, dominated by a large fluorescent display, is well-organized and easy on the eyes and fingers. Somewhat disappointing is the small, crowded, unlit remote and its inability to communicate with the MasterLink from more than a few degrees off-axis from the front panel's IR receptor. But considering the price and the performance, I'm not complaining.
Detailed Functionality & DSP Features
Just so you understand how versatile the MasterLink ML-9600 is, here's an in-depth look at some of the DSP functions. If you want to perform fade-ins or fade-outs, you have a choice of three "fade shapes" in either direction, all charted in the manual. You can change the gain of a track (over a very wide range) after it has been recorded. Gain adjustments are "nondestructive" edits and can be changed at any time after you've made them.
"Cropping" tracks (not reversible) is easy, and accomplished much as you'd edit reel-to-reel tape with a razor blade. At the push of a button you get an automatic five-second "roll forward" and "roll back" of the beginning and end of the track. By holding down the Track Start button and using the scan (<<>>) buttons you can rock the "tape" back and forth at slow speed until you reach the desired start and end points. When you're done, you'll hear a preview of your edit; if it's good, you can then Confirm the edit. While recording 22 Ella Fitzgerald 78s to a Playlist, sometimes I picked up the tonearm late, or started recording early. In a few minutes I was able to scrub the heads and tails of each track to create on the hard drive a really smooth-sounding compilation, which I've copied to CD-R for friends.
The four DSP functions—Compression, EQ, Look Ahead Peak Limiting, and Normalization—allow you to adjust a variety of parameters after you've made your recording. The compressor reduces dynamic range across the entire frequency range, and can be adjusted for Threshold, Ratio, Make Up Gain, Attack, Release, Key (which channel is used to control compression: left, right, or both), Knee (which affects how the compression behaves around the threshold you've chosen), and Detect (which lets you choose a peak or an average level for the threshold setting to be compared to. The Look Ahead peak limiter allows you to limit the highest peaks while raising the gain of the overall track so you can maximize the overall level.
Alesis MasterLink ML-9600 Hard Disk/CD-R Recorder Page 2
What It Is
Because it was conceived as a studio component, the Alesis MasterLink ML-9600 offers both balanced and unbalanced analog and digital inputs and outputs. Because I was conceived as a tweaky audiophile, I used only the unbalanced analog inputs and outputs—not that there's anything wrong with the balanced. There is no Analog Input level adjustment, but there are 15dB of headroom from nominal input to clipping (+19dBu from the +4dBu balanced input, +5dBV at the -10dBV RCA input). I never ran into any distortion problems, though some phono front-end combos looked as if they were moving the meters to the next time zone. The ML-9600 is equipped with 24-bit, 128x oversampling A/D and D/A converters.
I'm not going to run you through the entire recording process or give you a roadmap to the complicated operating system, but I will say it's somewhat confusing for non-studio types. Though the instructions try valiantly to make using the ML-9600 simple, mathlexic me sometimes found it a ball of confusion. One of the most hilarious omissions in the instructions is a section titled "Erasing a Playlist." The instructions go on and on about how to record to and delete tracks from a Playlist, but I couldn't find anything about deleting an entire Playlist. I still don't know how to do it (footnote 1).
And let's say you decide you want to erase the whole damn hard drive and start over. On the last page of the manual, under "Utility Function," you'll find section 8.3: "Util3: HD Format." That's where you'll find out how to reformat the entire disc. Shouldn't instructions on erasing be located near instructions on recording? Yes. But they're not. Nor is the section where you do find out how to reformat a disc particularly well-labeled. The operating system is menu/cursor driven, so if you've programmed a home-theater receiver, you'll be in the driver's seat. But I've done that many times, and still found it difficult to see over the MasterLink's steering wheel.
The hard-drive software (upgradeable via the CD-R drive) divides the disk space into 16 Playlists, each of which can contain up to 99 tracks. The disk drive's total capacity depends on the recording resolution chosen. I recorded eight Roxy Music LPs at 24/96 and had hours of hi-rez space left over. The review sample contained a 4.3-gigabyte hard drive, but by the time you read this, a new production run of 20GB MasterLinks, with about 24 hours of standard CD recording time, should be in the pipeline. Apparently, upgrading the hard drive yourself is difficult and voids the warranty. Too bad.
The ML-9600's front panel, dominated by a large fluorescent display, is well-organized and easy on the eyes and fingers. Somewhat disappointing is the small, crowded, unlit remote and its inability to communicate with the MasterLink from more than a few degrees off-axis from the front panel's IR receptor. But considering the price and the performance, I'm not complaining.
Detailed Functionality & DSP Features
Just so you understand how versatile the MasterLink ML-9600 is, here's an in-depth look at some of the DSP functions. If you want to perform fade-ins or fade-outs, you have a choice of three "fade shapes" in either direction, all charted in the manual. You can change the gain of a track (over a very wide range) after it has been recorded. Gain adjustments are "nondestructive" edits and can be changed at any time after you've made them.
"Cropping" tracks (not reversible) is easy, and accomplished much as you'd edit reel-to-reel tape with a razor blade. At the push of a button you get an automatic five-second "roll forward" and "roll back" of the beginning and end of the track. By holding down the Track Start button and using the scan (<<>>) buttons you can rock the "tape" back and forth at slow speed until you reach the desired start and end points. When you're done, you'll hear a preview of your edit; if it's good, you can then Confirm the edit. While recording 22 Ella Fitzgerald 78s to a Playlist, sometimes I picked up the tonearm late, or started recording early. In a few minutes I was able to scrub the heads and tails of each track to create on the hard drive a really smooth-sounding compilation, which I've copied to CD-R for friends.
The four DSP functions—Compression, EQ, Look Ahead Peak Limiting, and Normalization—allow you to adjust a variety of parameters after you've made your recording. The compressor reduces dynamic range across the entire frequency range, and can be adjusted for Threshold, Ratio, Make Up Gain, Attack, Release, Key (which channel is used to control compression: left, right, or both), Knee (which affects how the compression behaves around the threshold you've chosen), and Detect (which lets you choose a peak or an average level for the threshold setting to be compared to. The Look Ahead peak limiter allows you to limit the highest peaks while raising the gain of the overall track so you can maximize the overall level.
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