Backing Up PARIS with ADAT
By Craig Anderton

Hard disk recording generates a lot of data, and because your hard drive will fill up eventually, you need to store this data somewhere.

Removable cartridge drives, such as the Iomega Jaz, are popular for this purpose. A 1 GB cartridge costs about $80; while not exactly cheap, the format is convenient. However, given the possibility for media failure, you probably want to back up to two cartridges. This doubles the media cost.

Magneto-optical drives are more robust, but slower and less common. DAT tape drives trade off low cost for slow operation.

The recordable CD is great for archiving. But when capturing works-in-progress, you end up with a lot of obsolete "coasters" in the process, which is not environmentally-friendly. CD-RW is better, but the media costs substantially more than CD-R. And all storage media involves one more factor: how universal is it? Ideally, there would be a single, universal storage medium for audio data, with a common file format that could be interchanged among studios everywhere. We're not there yet, but meanwhile, here's a cool solution using digital multitrack tape to not only archive PARIS data, but archive it in different ways.

Tape Meets Hard Disk

Like tens of thousands of other people, when ADAT first appeared I couldn't wait to get my hands on one. Now, several years later, I have quite a collection of ADAT tapes. ADAT's inability to do any real editing wasn't too serious a problem, because I could always bounce a track pair over to a computer-based digital audio editor, do some tweaking, then send the tracks back to tape for storage.

Recently, though, more ADAT projects coming into my studio have required editing across more than two tracks, like cutting the end of a chorus and pasting it to a verse recorded on another take. While this can be done with multiple ADATs, editing with tape is relatively inflexible. However, PARIS with an EDS-ADI-01 ADAT interface is perfect for this application - assuming you have a suitable backup medium. Once I made the step up to a PARIS system, I needed something to store all those gigabytes of takes, mixes, remixes, and masters from the hard drive.

Have You Been Saved?

Cartridge drives have issues with cost and universality. Remembering the First Law of Digital Data ("Digital Data Is Not Real Unless it Exists in More than One Place"), I realized that saving to multiple cartridges was going to be a budget-buster. Also, I couldn't count on other studios to have whatever cartridge drive I bought.

Fortunately, PARIS maintains a file separate from the audio that stores EQ settings, automation parameters, aux send levels, effects settings, etc. - basically, everything except the audio files. (This "parameter file" has a .PPJ suffix; the audio files are .PAF, and the audio overview files, .OVW.) And since I already had an ADAT, the proverbial light bulb went on: store the audio on ADAT, and the .PPJ files on a floppy and/or ZIP disk. However, the story doesn't end there. Because S-VHS tape is such an inexpensive backup medium, it opened up some other interesting possibilities for saving.

Options In Safety-Land

The PARIS ADAT interface software (Fig. 1) allows for sending tracks to ADAT pre-EQ, post-EQ, or post-channel insert. Since the object is to save the raw audio to ADAT and let the .PPJ file handle all other parameters, just send 8 pre-EQ tracks to ADAT. To re-load the backup at a later date, open the .PPJ file (the tracks will be empty), transfer the ADAT tracks to PARIS, and you have an exact copy of your original project.

Fig. 1

The ADAT interface window, set up for a pre-EQ export to ADAT.

Another option involves saving, then re-loading, to augment the DSP. PARIS allows a maximum of 16 effects, which can be any combination of mono inserts, mono master effects, or stereo master effects (which use up the equivalent of 2 effects). For example, if you gang two stereo room reverbs for a big room sound and also insert an effect in each of 12 channels, you can't add any more effects. Granted, this is a whole lot of DSP, but for some people "a whole lot" is never "enough." In this case, save the tracks post-insert so that the insert effect becomes part of the audio. You can then re-load the tracks, remove the existing inserts, and add more inserts.

If you do this, make another backup without the insert effects, just in case you decide that maybe you didn't really need 4 compressors on the voice after all, and want to return to the original tracks. Hey, tape is cheap - play it safe.

With PARIS, there's no real advantage to a post-EQ backup. The EQ is implemented in hardware, all channels always have four stages of EQ available, and the .PPJ file remembers all EQ settings. However, some DirectX and VST plug-ins can be real processor hogs. At least with my computer, it's often difficult to run more than a couple of complex plug-ins at once without the system going beserk (followed shortly by me doing the same). Bouncing to ADAT with the plug-ins in place, then re-loading the processed tracks back into PARIS, frees up CPU power for additional plug-in effects.

The Final Touch

As tape is not the most robust medium in the world, immediately after doing the backup, make a "clone" using a second MDM (or if you have only one machine, then back up again from PARIS to at least one more tape). My confidence level is satisfied only when I have at least 3 copies (preferably with one in a safe deposit box).

If you don't have an ADAT or similar MDM, before buying a removable cartridge drive for backup, consider the following. As of mid-1999, a used ADAT in good shape costs about $800, and a $15, T-180 S-VHS tape holds about 2.5 GB of 16-bit data (somewhat more for 20-bit data). So, if you need to store 10 GB of data and want to back up to two sets of tapes, your total cost comes to about $920, plus the ADAT interface. As a bonus, if you need 8 extra tracks you can sync the ADAT to your hard disk system. You also have a storage/transfer medium that's compatible with many other studios, as well as eight extra sets of A/D and D/A converters.

On the other hand, storing 10 GB on a standard Jaz drive runs about $1,100 ($300 for an external drive, and $800 for the cartridges). If you want to record to an additional set of cartridges, figure on a total investment of $1.900 - enough to buy a new ADAT LX20 (which will store 20-bit data), and a bunch of S-VHS cassettes.

However, cartridges do offer some significant advantages. Saving with MDMs is a real-time process: it takes 20 minutes to save 20 minutes of audio, not including any required re-patching. Also, unlike cartridge drives, ADATs require regular maintenance (although just using one for backup doesn't stress out the transport very much); and something like a Jaz drive can store more than audio, such as large graphics files or a complete backup of your entire computer. Finally, if you want to save 24-bit files - one of PARIS's most compelling features - the current generation of ADATs is limited to 20 bits. Granted, this makes little practical difference, but psychologically, some people have a problem with that.

Meanwhile, if you do have an ADAT or other MDM, don't overlook its backup abilities in conjunction with PARIS. Your most cost-effective backup option might already be sitting just a few feet away in your rack.

© 1999, Craig Anderton. All Rights Reserved. Used by permission.

By his 22nd birthday, Craig Anderton had recorded three albums with the Philadelphia-based group "Mandrake Memorial," toured most of the USA, and played at Carnegie Hall. Craig is a prolific author, having written the classic work Home Recording For Musicians, several other books, and numerous articles for such magazines as EQ, Guitar Player, Keyboard, Musician, Performing Songwriter, Pro Audio Netherlands, and several others. He is currently Technology Editor for EQ magazine, Consulting Editor for Guitar Player magazine, and a monthly columnist for Keyboard.

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