Subject: Re: [linux-audio-dev] testing the waters
From: Scott McNab (sdm_AT_fractalgraphics.com.au)
Date: Wed Jun 28 2000 - 12:07:27 EEST
> > 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.
If you are going to go for custom rack-mounted cases you could probably
go one step further and make all the power-supplies external.
IIRC a PC power-supply only provides 12v and 5v rails (+ve and -ve) so
theres no reason why you couldn't have a stack of power-supplies in another
room somewhere and just run the low-voltage rails to all the racks.
> > 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.
A standalone system with midi & digital in/out ports would be ideal,
especially if it was rugged enough to be taken anywhere for a live
performance. An ethernet port would be a great help when using it in
a studio, but it would still function quite happily without it (in response
to midi controllers etc).
> 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.
By far the biggest problem with computers in the music industry is that
they generally still look and feel like computers, ie. with monitors and
keyboards and too many cables. Musicians have shown that they are willing
to put up with pokey little interfaces on synths and racks etc which are
almost unusable provided they can be thrown about without breaking, are
reliable (ie. dropout free) and require only one cable to run (for power).
Just because it _is_ a computer doesnt mean it has to look or interact
like one.
> > OK, who wants to buy the stock now, rather than later ? :)
> >
>
> I'm in :)
Ditto :)
Scott
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