Alesis ADAT Reference Manual page 6

Sample accurate syncing capabilities. ADAT was designed to work perfectly
as a stand-alone 8 track recorder and performs this function without equal. But
its design goes much further to include a built in synchronization system that
allows multiple ADATs to lock together in perfect synchronization; so, you can
expand the number of recording tracks and buy more ADATs as your budget
allows and your needs expand. Nothing in the system will become obsolete and
ADAT's modular standard is the key to compatability between your studio and
everyone else's; be it a home studio or fully professional commercial studio. You
might have purchased 3 or four ADATS and the optional BRC Remote Control for
a 24 or 32 track system, or you might even plan to build a large ADAT system of
up to 16 ADATS and the BRC- that's 128 tracks of digital audio! Multiple ADATs,
the BRC and other accessories (like the RMB Remote Meter Bridge) form what
we call the ADAT System.
Each ADAT tape is "formatted" (a simple operation that can be done before or
during recording) with a proprietary Alesis time code that is much more accurate
than SMPTE or other time code systems, and time-stamps the tape to an
incredible single-sample accuracy; that is, 1/48,000th of a second.
Why is this important? Because of such incredibly tight sync performance,
multiple ADATs are virtually free of the evils of incoherent phase between tracks
playing on different machines. This means that when you lock 2 or more ADATs
together, you're really creating the equivalent of one large digital tape recorder
and one very wide, seamless piece of tape.
And because ADAT's sync system is internalized and so accurate, you get
machine synchronization without giving up an audio track, accurate tape counter
readings without annoying slippage, and intelligent sample-accurate autolocation
functions with the BRC.
Modular recording. This is the feature that makes ADAT and the ADAT System
perhaps the most flexible multitrack recorder ever designed. Because ADAT's S-
VHS tape format is so inexpensive, you can easily record alternate versions of
vocals, solos, background accompaniments; whatever your creative urge
dictates.
Modular recording means you can build as many tracks as you desire while
you're recording and do composite editing with the BRC and ADAT's Optical
Digital Interface (see next section) before the final mixdown.
Optical digital interface. In addition to conventional analog inputs and outputs, a
"master" digital I/O carries all eight tracks simultaneously via optical cable,
allowing for perfect, degradation-free digital dubbing between ADATs. And with
the addition of the optional BRC Remote Control, you can assign any part of any
track to any other track in a multiple ADAT system. This means you can do
complex composite editing. Like the chorus on track 2? Want to replace the cho-
rus on track 15? Easy to do with the BRC carrying the timing and Sync