I am selling my beloved Alesis Masterlink ML-9600 HD/CD Recorder/player. It is in perfect working condition with updated OS version 2.21. The black face plate shows some fading. All original accessories [power cord, remote, rack ears] and original packaging are included.The natural sounding Analog to Digital/Digital to Analog ADC/DAC 24 bit/ 96kHz converters; the wonderful headphone amp; and, the top notch on-board digital signal processing comprise the better part of a recording studio in one box. I bought this new from Guitar Center about 10 years ago. The serial number designates that it was originally manufactured in 2000. It has the newer EProm chip 1.27 and 40gig hard drive size of the more recent iterations. The Masterlink w/40GB HD can hold 50 Hours of CD Quality Music 16/44 or less if you are using higher resolution (18 hr of 24/96). ML does not play mp3s. I used this unit to digitize and restore lps and vintage records. I have replaced it with a much more convenient, powerful but also a more expensive recording setup which includes pro audio restoration software, Izotope RX4 Advanced and the Tascam DA-3000 ADC/DAC Master Recorder. IMO, the primary drawback of the Alesis Masterlink is that you must burn music to CD-R or CD-RW media to transfer it to a computer. You can burn Redbook CDs or you can transfer high resolution AIF files up to 24bit-96kHz onto CDR or RW media. Burning to disc is more time consuming than copying direct to a computer hard drive or onto portable hd or media such as compact flash or sd cards. Another limitation is that this master recorder has a fixed input level. The benefit is that one does not have to use a computer to copy CDs, create Redbook CD's (mixes) and/or to or to digitize analog sources (lps, tapes, vintage records). I am intrigued by reports over at GearSlutz of users replacing the Hard drives in the Alesis Masterlink with a compact flash drive which can eliminate fan noise/spinning disc noise. Were I to keep this baby, I would give this modification a whirl.
Here is a link to the manual Here is the link to the Masterlink page on the Alesis website. Alesis no longer supports the Masterlink but the manual, software and firmware files are available. One must setup an account with Alesis to access the files. Stereophile Review 2002 $300 + actual shipping costs
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