Subject: Re: [linux-audio-dev] testing the waters
From: Jim Coker (jcoker_AT_jguru.com)
Date: Wed Jun 28 2000 - 11:05:28 EEST
Paul Barton-Davis wrote:
>
> >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.
Yes, that's a big step, but not one that would have to be
taken up front. It can't be *that* difficult. It's
mostly a matter of finding the right individuals w/ the right
motivation.
> 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).
I've got one also, it can send generic hex strings. The problem
with MIDI contollers is that they kinda loose it when
the number of parameters to control in a session is greater than
the number of faders. The only way around it is to use either
rotary encoders or motorized faders. I've written custom control
software for the MotorMix that allows me to use it as a MIDI
controller w/ up to 512 faders no more than 2 button presses away.
Only problem is, it requires a computer to run the software.
> 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.
Other than the riser mentioned by John, the Intel NTX
motherboard has sideways slots. So do the rack boxes
sold by VA Linux.
> 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.
Noise is definitely a big problem, but I think it should be possible
to build something that is nearly, if not completely fanless. A
carefully chosen motherboard w/ a Crusoe chip (or two, or four...)
(700 Mhz, 1.5 watts each!!), and possibly a line-lump power supply
or a very quiet fan might do the trick. There are a number of sucessful
rack products that have fans (K2500, Yamaha A3000 series samplers).
I've noticed that the fan on my glyph-enclosed CD-R is sufficiently
quiet.
> 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.
I think there is significant value both in having that sort
of setup (which would be ideal for DAW work), as well as a
completely-stand-alone system.
Consider that both Waves and Antares have introduced
rack boxes that run plug-in software. Many musicians simply
don't want to use computers at all. OTOH, the plugin
market is just going nuts. Imagine being able to call up
Waves, Line6, Antares, Waldorf etc. and tell them that there is
a ready-made, scaleable, reliable, zero-maintenance, open-source,
stand-alone rack box that can run just about any VST plugin,
(w/ some glue code added) within any of a number of interesting
host applications.
> OK, who wants to buy the stock now, rather than later ? :)
>
I'm in :)
Jim
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