Subject: Re: [linux-audio-dev] testing the waters
From: Paul Barton-Davis (pbd_AT_Op.Net)
Date: Wed Jun 28 2000 - 04:04:35 EEST
>I'm very interested in such a thing. I'd love to have a quiet,
>very fast 2 unit processing rack that runs LADSPA plugins all the time,
>without having to have a monitor and keyboard attached. The
>real trick is providing suitable controls, either by creating a front
>panel with a generic interface based on knobs, buttons, and character
>displays, or using some other hardware control surface. The
>closer it becomes to being an embedded system, and not just another
>computer in the studio, the better.
i was with you all the way to "character displays". that immediately
takes it out of the realm of standard h/w and into something else
entirely.
the buttons+faders can be handled by connecting to any programmable
MIDI control surface. you can a pc1600x for about US$300, others cost
more, others cost less (i just spent over US$1K on a Infusion Systems
I-Cube, which is about as fancy as you can get for MIDI controllers -
knobs, switches, pressure pads, touch pads, distance metering, etc.)
Actually, the I-Cube is not so good for this without an intermediary,
because it only sends CC messages. The pc1600x can be programmed to
send anything (even non-MIDI stuff, i think).
the big problem with the 2U requirement is that it needs a special
backplane, because conventional PCI cards won't fit vertically in a 2U
space. problem ? cost goes up, quite significantly.
there is also a big problem with fan noise. i have seen some hints
that you can drastically slow the main power-supply fan on a rack
mount case to reduce the noise level, but silent it ain't ever gonna
be. not very nice.
even so - imagine a studio with a laptop connected to a LAN on which
sit several of these boxes. you login, run X over the LAN, and get a
full linux system on every one (barebones, but still linux), yet each
looks like a black box FX processor.
OK, who wants to buy the stock now, rather than later ? :)
--p
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