Even if you're only using 44.1/48 kHz sampling rates, the 24-bit (with 128x oversampling on the A>D and D>A sectionas), the result you get is as close you can get to a 24-track ANALOG recorder... at a fraction of an analog recorders' price (and if you can find one without taking out a 2nd mortgage on your house!). As an audio engineer of 35+ years, as well as someone who has use the original 8 track tape-based ADAT decks, I have literally been floored by the clarity of the recording and playback audio. Nothing on the market comes close to how this unit sonically! Totally transparent audio-side, the ability to hook up FIVE ADDITIONAL HD24 units with simple Lightpipe cables... or to usse it to work, OUT OF THE BOX to work with existing tape-based ADAT decks... the "backwards compatibility" and the audio clarity makes purchasing a "no brainer".... novices or multi-decade (like myself) experienced studio engineers would both love this unit.

The HD24-series recorders now come with an EIGHTY GB hard drive, wich gives you DOZENS OF HOURS of full 24-track recordings without having to bu another hard drive; You can pick up Hitachi (recommended by our studio) ot Seagate (2nd choice here) 500 GB IDE/EIE/PATE drives for UNDER $100 at plaes like Best Buy, NewEgg.com, and so forth. The only feature I would like to see is a drive caddy able to use the SATA/SATA 300 interface type of drives (Alesis said they are working on this as of the time of this review being written); SATA 2 Terrabte drives can be had for $150, and this would give an user ALMOST 1,000 HOURS OF 24-TRACK RECORDINGS(44.1/48 kHz)! The ONLY two reasons I am not giving this usit a full 10 in this caagory is that there is a problem with the WD Caviar Blue 320 GB and larger hard drives and tis unit; they simply do not work with each other. Again, Alesis is working on trying to figure out what the problem is, as every other WD high-capacity drives wrk just fine! The 2nd reason is the SLOW Ethernet connection... 10 MB/Sec???? That's like someone getting 56k dial-up for an Intermet connection! This could EASILY be changed to a 10/100 or a 10-100-1GB/Sec Ethernet board! Let me tell you, you MUST transfer 1 track at a time (!!!), and to transfer a 4 hour to a PC/MAC takes almost 6 hours. Otherwise, a basic REMOTE CONTROL for operating the transport, the ability to name/rename already recorded file, being able to put 99 songs (max.) to a single drive. AND being able to make an ERROR-FREE copy from 1 hard to another I use this feature (I record a band I do all of their audio work for them) when I record a 2 -> 3 hour show, and before I leave the venue, I can back u what I just recored onto a 2nd hard drive in less than 30 minutes (a 24-track 48kHz recordig, mind you!

Some of the "Utility" functions can seem a little daunting, as the owners manual has not been updated for several years, and major upgrades have been made to the "first geration" of the HDS24 to the current model being shipped. Works with 32-bit and 64- bit versions of Vista withut a problem.

I recently made a "test" recording, making a 15 hour / 24-track / 48 kHz CONTINUOUS "SONG"; after the 15 hours were over, I properly removed the recording drive bay, sid the top off (that's how you mount a new HD into the caddy)... the Hitachi PATA hard drive was only slightly WARM to the touch... nowere near hot in any way; using an infrared thermometerm showed the HOTTEST area was only 86.229 degrees F! No, the caddies do NOT have an internal cooling fan! When a drive is in use, a VERY QUIET high CFM fan turns on, and it pulls fresh outside air into caddy across the top and bottom of the drive; this is a simple idea, yet it works wonderfullt;

The $1,600 price almost every sells it for is VERY reasonable for ALL of the performanc you receive; BUT DJSounds.com was selling the HD24 for $1,284... and zZounds.com BEAT THAT, and I paid just under $1,220 WITH FREE SHIPPING and NO TAX (unless you live in NJ)! The SOUND and FEATURES comments, combined with the price I paid, leaves me no choice than to rate this section a full 10! Even if the unit was $2,000 street price, it would STILL be a bargain for all it does. Don't believe me? Download the .PDF files, and read all about this fasntastic 3U tall rack-mountable unit that weights less than 25 pounds (with BOTH drive caddies filled!).

I had 2 questions, and once the Tech Support people came on the line, they had the EXACT ANSWER WITHIN 1 MINUTE Of BEING ASKED TE QUESTION! You don't that type of knolegde, from ANY company (I've had similar experienced with Sony Creastive Medis when I install an update on their PROFESSIOAL audio and audio/video editing software!

The unit is NOT "fancy" to look at... it does what it should do with the minimum of "glitz or glamor", which actualy makes it MORE appealing to the eye. THE ONLY "CON" I HAVE IS THE NONE OF THE "CONTROL BUTTONS" ARE "BACKLIT", WHICH SOMETIMES CAN MAKE IT DIFFICULT TO SEE IF YOU ARE GOING TO PRESS THE CORRECT BUTTON(S) << IF >> IT'S LOCATED AT A VEMUE THERE THE MIXER (ETC.) IS IN A DARK AREA... but after you've worked with the unit for 3-4 on-the-road gigs, you've become well aware enough to know what button does what! Personally, I use it in both "on the road" as well as in my own professional post-production Studio; in the Studio, where the lighting is much better, the function buttons are quite easy to see, so knowing where the not-very-often-used controls are becomes second nature in a VERY short amount of time. There are TWO main "visual" sections to the front panel: one being the color-coded "RECORDING LEVELS" for each of the 24 tracks, and the "present time / information / other info" readout"! These are lit bright just enough so that they are not distracting, yet EASILY VIEWED by being laid out correctly and being "just the perfect size" for the person using the HD24! The control button "areas", for utilities, editing, and so forth, are, in my PERSONAL and PROFESSIONAL opinion, laid out so that you do not have to search for them... the same goes for how the "info readout" allows you to QUICKLY and EASILY look at what you ned to know! Inculded with the HD24 is a (optional use) "transport control" unit; this allows the user to be able to stop, start, FF/REW, and to begin recording from about 6 feet away from the main unit. I needed it to be a little longer, so I simply went to Radio Shack and bought a 10 foot "headphone extention cable" (with a 1/4" jack and plug), and this allowed me to place the transport control in a much more convenient place on my editing console table. This unit is small (6" wide by 4" high by 1" tall"), yet it allows you to perform ALL of the "transport" controls, plus RTZ, setting NEW and/or additional "Location Points" on the fly (or when the unit is NOT "moving" (there is NO "Pause" button on the HD24, as it is not needed!), etc. The buttons are the same size as the ones on the main unit, so it's not like you're going to hit a button by accident because of button size). The unit/front panel/remote transport are dark grey and black, with slightly blue-tinted white lettering on the "readout window"; the 24-track vertical recording levels are color-coded, so you don't need to squint or have to look REAL CLOSE at the main unit to see if the signal level is getting too high; BOTH drive bays are VERY easy to get to, and the drive caddies lock into the unit without any problems; overall, if the HD24 mounted in either a portable case for "at-the-venue" work, or in a rack for in-studio work, the recorder is not an item which (when powered off) draws one's eyes to it... and when it IS powered up, the display brightness is neither too bright not too dim as to not allow you to view any other effects units which may be mounted just above or below the recorder. THE PHYSICAL SIZE AND WEIGHT ARE ALSO << PERFECT >> ! It is only THREE "rack units" tall, and weight in (with BOTH drives installed) at about 23 pounds! So it is easy to mount in a portable 4U carrying case, and be able to placed almost anywhere when it's being used at a venue.

Over 35 years as an audio engineer / live recording engineer

Jam Band (Grateful Dead, Phish, Moe, etc.)

AFTER OWNING IT FOR A YEAR NOW... Not enough time/space to state ALL of thr "pros" about this unit. Lightweight yet durable, making it my studio's "mobile recorder of choice" hands down. NOT A SINGLE NEGATIVE WORD TO SAY ABOUT THIS RECORDER... IT DOES IT ALL AND IT DOES IT IN A FANTASTIC AND EASY TO USE MANNER! Whether I use it in conjunction with an existing venue's mixer, or using my own Behringer 32-track mixer, simply use the "input send/rx" jacks to feed this decks' analog inputs, this unit can't be beat. Damn near instant recall to ANY point of a recording, 100% MTC syncable, ADAT/LightPipe optical I/O, it can't be compared to ANY other portable recorder on the market. 24 & 16-bit (user-selectable), 48 kHz and 44.1 kHz (again you select it when setting it up to record), capturing anything from a single song to a complete live performance is quick and painless; it even comes with a "mini transport remote control" box for REC/PLAY, FF/REW, etc.

Cost of the EIDE (PATA) drives are so low, you can put in excess of 125 HOURS of "24-bit / 48 kHz / 24 channel" on a 500 GB HD; SATA drives be used, but Alesis doesn;t make the HD caddy for these (yet), but there are 2 companies who do sell them! I use BOTH types of drives, depending on the project for the client. The 80 GB drive that comes with the unit (NOT a 40 gig as stated) gives me close to 9,5 hours of "all tracks being recorded at 24/48 settings; you can set "location points" on the fly or after the recording is completed, so that you can set a "punch in/out" point to lay down an alternate take on an already used, or a free channel, hit 2 buttons, and you're there in less than a second; tracks can be moved or copied between channels, and so forth. Need even more than 24 tracks? NO PROBLEM! One optional digital cable will let you hook 2 or more more of these decks together; one of my 2 HD24 units has the optional 48/96 kHz boards in it when I am working with video when making a DVD product for a client... yet I can still sync up both decks if I don't need the higher sampling rate for certain audio tracks. Flexible in how it can br used, even ti the point of transferring old ADAT tapes to the "safer storage" of a HD. Again, 1 Alesis cable allows this to be achieved. I have more than 1,200 "ON THE ROAD HOURS IN USE" on the HD24 unit that I take to venues; mounted in a simple SKB rolling rack case (a 2U tall APC UPS/surge & noise eliminator also is in this case); of course I remove the HD vaddies during transport and setup, but I simply power up the unit, slide the "main" and "safety" HD caddies into the locking slots, and 30 seconds TOTAL TIME LATER the recorder is ready to record! Yes, this can be done by "pre-setting" the HD24 to the bit & sampling rates, select the number of channels to record on, and even "label" the project before hand! Once the unit is in place at the location for the recording job, I simply slide both drives into their bays, power the unit up, and all the settings (et al) are recalled from the data on the "master" recording HD! Both displays are bright, easy to read 3/4" tall digital readouts for the time code and the major info can be seeb 6 feet away! Channel audio level meters are quick (you can set it for "peak level 2 second hold on/off during recording!) and accurate to within +/-0.02 dB... display even tells me how much recording time remains on the HD in use! Another great feature is the ability to transfer (copy), or move (permanent) the recorded data from one HD to another (drive A -> drive B B drive B -> drive A, it matters not); not "super-fast" (as that is when data may become corrupted), but it is NOT "real time speed" either... just a touch slower than a HD -> HD copy/move in a PC. Oh, and I would be remiss if I did not mention that the HD24 is INtERNET READY! 100 MB/Sec full duplex, and you can assign your own IP address to this unit, so that it can even be used as an FTP server OR workstation, allowing you to access data from ANY "song" as well as any CHANNEL from either your own in-home network or from a computer halfway around thr world! You set up all of the network info, so you can keep hackers pretty much at bay. While yhe HD24 is by no means a "super firewalled device" it's just the fact that you can transfer data to/from the HD24 from another studio... don't find that on many "DAW type" units and especially from a digital storage recorder! This unit has seen some rough handling over the past year during transport and setup/teardown, AND IT HAS NEVER FAILED ME ONCE! Yes, I use Hitachi Data Systems HD's, as they comsume very little power, generate almost no heat even after a 14 hour work day, and so forth. They cost a few dollars more per drive (about $50-75 for a 1 TB drive) but I know I'm not going to lose ANY of the recording session. Even with dual 1 GB drives installed and the cooling fan blowing out not even "warm-ish" air, the JD24 draws less than 45 watts of power! That's not Alesis's claim, that is whay I have actually meaured on my workbench (yes, I also repair, maintain, and overhaul electronic equipment!) using high caliber test gear. Running dual 2 TB SATA drives (using non-Alesis aftermarket drive caddies) transferring data from one HD to another (so that I always have a "safety copy" of everything I've recorded with these HD24's) only consumed 44.28 watts of power!

See prior comments above. The only POSSIBLE complaint may come if the end-user has "chubby" hands; inserting (up to) 48 analog cables may pose a problem if the unit uis mounted in a "portable type" rack; I simply have all of the snake cables going to the mixer plugged in all of the time; for me, this does not pose any problems such as putting any "strain" where the audio cable goes into the plug. I use Monster Cable snakes, which have the audio cables molded to the plugs, so they can't "twist/turn" and possibly break a connection over time. again, a little extra money keeps me safe with no concerns. But I do carry a pair of single channel 1/4 TRS -> INPUT and OUTPUT cables just because of "Murphy's Law"; I'd rather spend the money than get caught with not being able to record a channel and then the night (and the contract) are shot! A dew engineers who come to my studio for some additional post work seem to think that some of the Option and/or Operation pushbuttons seem too close together. I'm not bothered by this, even though my fingertips may be slightly "pudgy"; I have yet to hit an invorrect button (or hit one by mistake) once I used this recorder for about 10 working days... this way mainly due to the fact that I did not have the nutton layout memorized yet; once 2 weeks of use had passed, so did the errors.

Takes a "careful beating" sometimes during transport and setup, but again, I HAVE NOT LOST A SINGLE BYTE OF DATA YET! Heck, even the protective vinyl film that proyects the display from possible scratches has no signs of wanting to come off on it's own!!!!! From the type of jacks used for connections (almost all made by Amphenol) to the internal locking mechanism that keeps the HD caddy held in place during use, to the quality of the signal and info displays not becoming even a slight bit dimmer over time, this unit is designed and built to last "from it's inception to the final screw being tightened", this unit is made to operate correctly for a long time. The rear mounted cooling fan is a standard 80mm size unit; the fan is not a high rotational speed unit, as I have mentioned here that even on the longest and most "hard drive stressful" copying sessions, the exhaust air is less than 95F... this fan is used to draw air in fron the HD bays, which allows for the coolest ambient room temp. air to be "pulled through" the HD caddies (keeping them "happy"), then drawn over the power supply components. The fan noise is virtually non-existant, measuring -94 dB at a 6" distance from the fans' protective safety screen; couple that with both drives spinning, and I get a SPL of -86 dB measured at 6" in front of either drive bay... THAT'S QUIET!

How can you put a "price" on a unit which has worked since Day One, never had a failure or problem of any kind, getting top notch Tech support, AND zZounds quoting me about $70 less than their already "lower than anyone else's price" (and it shipped that day!). Features found on thiss recorder rival that of $15k+ non-portable digital recorders; being able to go to another studio, download the data from the HD24, performed the remix I needed to have performed there (I wasn't going to buy a $900 efx unit just for one client and not use it ever again!), and then sending the "corrected" data to a NEW 21-track file on the secondary HD back here! YOU CERTAINLY DO > GET WHAT YOU PAY FOR WITH THIS RECORDER... YOU GET > "VALUE FOR THE DOLLAR" !! Aside from the one error in the manual, every function works as stated... and for the amount of use and travel this recorder has seen in a year, not having a single problem / loss of data occurance / or even "dissapointment" to any degree, speaks volumes for what this recorder is capable of doing! Go to the Alesis web site and download the manual... read through it... really get a feel for everything this unit is capable of performing... and the odds arem you will wind up buying one (or maybe even two!) of this excellent product from zZounds! You will not regret your decision to invest in one of these HD24 recorders!

Only had a very slight issue with upgrading the HD24's firmware to the most current version; the user manual had an error in the instructions (since been corrected); called Alesis ON A MONDAY MORNING, waited less than 2 minutes for a REAL technician to pick up (none of the "select an option from the following menu computer-voiced garbage system), and he told me what the correct procedure was, and she even waited while I put the HD24 onto the Internet, downloaded the firmware onto the recorders' HD, and rhen still waited on the phone with me while the new firmware was read, the CMOS firmware chip stored the old version FIRST before installing the NEW version, and it worked without a problem. This entire procedure took LESS than 15 minutes, and it was now running with the newest OS firmware! Only one more firmware update has been released since I first bought this unit in late Oct. 2009. I don't think that the Tech Support could have been any better, so I am rating it as 9.5 out of 10! The half-point deducted was for the user manual having the incorrect instructions.

Clients always get fascinated by blinking LED lamps and displays; but audio engineers require "visual feedback", where important information can be easily seen and "grouped together" where needed, that important "optional settings" info isn't cheap silk-screening and a small indicator, but alphanumeric and easy to read even with a "small font"; Before I hit the Record button (front panel or included remote, I need to quickly see that the sampling rate, type of input (analog or digital), and if the clock rate is internal or external. This unit lets me see this info on 1 straight line, in the proper "priority", from a few feet away. Of course, the time code takes precidence on the top line, as well as showing me how much time left is on the HD being used! Then, for SAFETY REASONS, it tells me the Song Number and what I chose to NAME the song being worked on, i.e., S04: "Mystic Visions". The audio signal level readout takes up the left-most 2/3'rd, with a "space" between every 8 channels; that "space" is also a redundant dB level readout. Tri-color vertical LEDs show me when I am "totally safe", turning yellow once -6 dB occurs, and when you are ABOUT TO CLIP (or you have indeed introduced distortion due to not paying attention). The button to ARM a track to record sits below each track meter "line" (flashing is "Armed To Record", steady means the track is indeed recording)... and there is an indication LED for each track that informs you if you're monitoring its input. When I am using these decks, I havw them to the right of where I'm seated, so that the meter levels catch my eyes easily; but the Time Code, song title, and options selected can still be easily seen with just a slight more bit of head turning. Unless you have very bad eyesight, everything from the audio level to the smallest-sized Option characters can be read a good 2-3 feet away! I wouldn't say that the HD24 looks "Sexy", but it looks "impressive" to clients; and it gives me the info I need, when I need it, without having to keep pressing buttons to show me all the critical information. for "Song" for it's NAME Namr ("S03" as

Studio owner / recording engineer

Anything except metalm which I find "fake"

I work with PTHD in studio and am used to some pretty nice sounding gear, however the HD24 is used for remote recording and the sonic quality of the tracks we record is excellent compared to other products in the price point.

I don't believe the HD24 is designed for "Features", but instead for stability and ease of use. I those catagories it gets high marks indeed.

So far so good. No problems what so ever. I love the fact that I can buy extra caddies & Hard drives, and store complete projects on hard drives rather than clutter my shelves with dozens of SVHS tapes.

We needed a reliable means of recording live in the field, with a platform that could easily export tracks into Protools (or any other DAW system). The HD24 along with the Fireport have filled our situational need quite nicely and at a price much less than we were willing to spend.

I wanted the latest Firmware upgrade (which btw addresses some of the issues others have posted here) and I wanted the make the best use of the Fireport. Tech support was incredibly helpful, knowledgable, considerate and not condescending. Oh and he spoke my language (English) without an accent from some far eastern country.

Rock, Country, Gospel

I have had a recording studio for 30+ years, using ADAT recorders (8 tracks - four of them for 32 tracks) and have had an HD24 for several years. I purchased another one recently from ZZounds to give me 48 tracks to match my Neve mixing board (48 in/out). I have nothing but good things to say about the HD24, especially since I can use terabyte Hard Drives in it now, and that is a LOT OF MUSIC on one recorder!!!

The first HD24 I purchased years ago came with a 10 GIG Hard Drive, this one came with and 80 GIG Hard Drive!! I cannot find any features on this machine that are not useful, and, so far, there are none I can see that I need that are not already there!

Too easy to operate... I could hire a monkey to set this unit up and use it!! Seldom do I crack open the manual! It works so very well with all my effects and console boards...

Alesis done 'gud on this one.

These are priced very reasonably in comparison to other recorders in the same class. It is worth every penny I paid for it.

I have not had to contact anyone about the HD24.. it works flawlessly and is simple to use.

It looks and works so good in my studio I have considered marrying it!!

Pro Recording Engineer and Studio Owner

Rock, Blues, Jazz and Country

Perfect AD/DA conversion with highest fidelity and quality.

Easy to use and no hassle.

Easy to use

Excellent sound recording. You can get closest to the analog tape sound you want. The rack is 3U mount and doesnt take up much space. Hard disk connection is good in ensuring best connectivity.

For less than 1500USD you get this amount of audio performance and recording..perfect deal.

Havnt tried yet but should be good and responsible.

Of course, I got it after much consideration it's a worthy and long term investment and return.

Pop recording engineer, Musical Hobbyist

Pop oriental

I have an original adat that records on svhs tapes.worked fine for about 80 hrs.,then started giving me problems.Needs a new head,cost about a grand.It's now sitting in my basement collecting dust. Our church purchased one of the HD24 units to record our worship services.Now this unit is not working.I think it might be a power supply problem. I also own an HD24 that I use for field recording and it only has about 30 hrs.on it.I haven't had any problems yet,but I have no confidence in it not breaking down at some point.I will never buy another Alesis product.

If it dosen't work,no matter what you pay it's not worth it.

The people are friendly,but if the product is out of warranty(even if it only has less then 100 hrs on it)your out of luck.

Live Sound Engineer,Church Production Leader

Worship,Hard Rock,Blues

I had earlier Fostex D-90 and this Alesis HD24 has no so good Ad/da-converters as fostex. The sound of this machince is too thin and not so dynamic..lower-sounds are also problem..it gives a cracked sound easily. I compare this like a low-cost soundcard! Is this made in china..it really sound's like a low cost recorder. People are stupid cause they give a way their professional fostex recorders for free and i was one of those stupid person's. I try to sell this unit away!

quite okay!

This machine is easy to use but its not important for me!

Not a professional quality product!

Save your money and buy a real professional recorder..not this one!!

it is working!

I dont want this anymore! buy a one from me!

Listen the sound is very, very good. I started my studio career with analogue-the first portastudio;4, 8, and 16 channel Tascams-moved to ADATS and now have gone on to computer and the HD24. The guy who talked about RADAR is a freakin' anus. We know thats a great unit but it costs 3x as much. Be fair.

Works very well with my DM-24 with exception of fast forward and rewind. Syncs up just fine for automated mix. So I use the the little remote that came with the Alesis for FF/REW. Two bays...easily save your projects with safety copies. Beautiful legible display. Go down to CompUSA for cheap, cheap hard drives. Fireport tops it all off with easy movement of files to and from computers for additional editing (Neundo, ACID, you name it...what more could you for about $2000.00 total. Just awesome.

Perfect condition upon receipt. No problems thus far after one year. I know the HD-24 was assembled in China but what the heck, we will have to see about its durability. This is a global economy. If you are going to buy only US you've got a major problem.

Sure it is. After this model became available Mackie had a near heart attack and put out a competive model which I believe uses proprietary storage media and that is one freakin' pain in the butt. The price of their unit was lowered by the way after the HD-24 blasted their arrogant asses.

I have not had to deal with them for any Alesis product I have owned. By reputation, they are given some knocks.