(Ti, Al)N coatings have already proven their value in industrial applications. As a consequence deposition of (Ti, Al)N is of high interest. During recent years effort has been put into the development of these coatings in electron beam ion plating equipment. The exceptional aspect of this investigation is the deposition of a ternary coating by means of two crucibles in which Ti and Al are evaporated separately. An in situ quartz crystal layer thickness monitor is used to control the Al evaporation during the process. Some problems related to the adhesion on ASP 23 high speed steel and to the reproducibility of the deposition are presented. The influence of the process parameters on the coating properties are discussed. A conclusion of this work is that deposition of (Ti,Al)N with this technique is possible. Those coatings deposited without supplied bias voltage showed the best adhesion properties. With the exception of the bias voltage, the other process parameters seem to play no important role. Further planning is described.