[zeek]

For transferring I go from a nakamichi CR-5A to a tascam HD-P2.

If you haven't had your deck serviced in a long time, I would get it gone over before you really get into it, jsut to bring it back to spec and get the rubbers changed and moving parts lubed. (try willy herman for nak repair, he's pretty reasonable and a lot quicker than esl labs http://www.willyhermannservices.com/index.htm)

My preference is to stay away from PC sound cards for capture, unless your willing to drop 7 or 800 on a card. if you are, the lynx 2 cards are as good as you can get for A/D Conversion. You also want to have a ton of ram if you go this route and not oppen any processes while your transferring (or you get artifacts in your capture)

The hD-P2 has a great A/D Converter and can be used for a field recorder as well. My next purchase will be one of these

http://pro-audio.musiciansfriend.com...RWXGB&ZYXSEM=0

it has a great A/D, is cheaper than the tascam, and records in 1 bit DSD which is really as the best you can get. The 1bit files pull more into your transfer(and provide the highest possible bit rate for archiving). The 1 bit files are then dithered to 24/96 wave to work with. If you are going to do any post processing, it should be in 24/96. These units also double as a great bit bit bucket but require good pre and mics to get a good field recording.

I use wavelab and UAD cards/plugs for all my editing. I like the features and the layout of wavelab better than the others. It also will capture your transfer as well if you go with an onboard card. For wavelab plugins, I like the nomad and URS stuff. Do some googling and I'm sure you can find a try before you buy for all the above programs

And with Hiss, unless it's so loud it sounds like another member of the band, don't do too much with it. It will end up being more destructive than the hiss was.

I don't know much about Alesis Masterlink ML9600. Alesis makes solid stuff. on some sources I sit for 8 hrs listening to a song and tweaking EQ .5 db to get just the right balance and I have to see the meters while I'm doing it. If your really serious about getting the most from your tapes, you'll have to crossfade tape flips and patch drop outs ect in post processing still even if you EQ on the alesis. I think I would rather cut the onboard EQ out and do it all in one fell sweep in post processing, but thats just my preference.