d8b Forum

For those who have been following or assisting me with my install of a donated d8b in a voluntary community music rehearsal venue --- things were much easier when I bought my own desk about 20-yrs ago and simply purchased everything from Mackie and obtained all of the authentication codes !!!!!!!

Apologies in advance as this posting might be a bit lengthy , but the answers hopefully should be quite short !!!

After much assistance I was able to get the Service Pack 3 onto the floopy disks and have installed these on to the hard drive --- using the CPU's own floppy drive --- all plugins are present and work in demo mode. I have also discovered that the desk is only equipped with OS 5.0.

As I have not had to undertake any modifications to my own desk and as I am definitely no IT specialist, I am reluctant to have to touch anything in the registary (or elsewhere) that could cause the desk not to work), as a result I am intending on using "hack 2" as with this it appears that all that will be necessary is to re-name the original OS ".exe" file to ".exe.bak" --- I will remove the HD from the CPU and install it in an old Windows XP computer I have that has a 3" floppy drive --- the computer still works !!!

The questions:

1. I read somewhere on the various "hack" postings that the OS and Service Pack hacks only work on OS 5.1. Is that correct?

2. Also read that the process is to install the hacked OS 5.1 then install the SP3 stuff. As I already have the SP3 installed, to upgrade to OS 5.1 do I need to uninstall the SP3 stuff, or can I simply install the OS 5.1 and then modify the ".exe" file?

3. I have found my original OS 5.1 disks. To do the upgrade can I simply use those disks or do I have to find the hacked OS 5.1 and install the OS via the hacked program and exactly where can I find it (I have found two versions and have downloaded both, but I am not sure which is "Hack 2" --- "d8b_kit" and "mackieOS.exe ) as to me the various forum postings are a bit vague --- not the forum's fault but definitely mine ?

4. Also read that the desk really should be the larger memory desk (the donated desk is the 166mg version) for the plugins to work correctly. What will be the limitations with the plugins if any --- the desk will not be used for any really super high level recording/mixing ?

5. As I intend to underake the OS upgrade and plug in authentication process sometime next week, is there anything else that I should know or be aware of ???

Just one more thing, while I am installing the desk and as I have not had the need to use the facility on my own desk. With the previously installed Behringer analogue desk, the facility has a number of quite good outboard units (ie dbx 166 compressors, Urei 1176 limiters, etc --- all previously donated) and it would be nice to be able to use some of these. Are the insert sockets on the desk the same as with inserts on most other desks, where the tip is "Send" and the ring is "Receive" or are the Insert sockets something entirely different, the manual seems to be quite vague on this and no plug wiring is presented ?

Again apologies for the length of the posting, but any assistance will be greatly appreciated as I would love to be able to finish the install and let others learn how to use and enjoy the desk and its facilities. Crouching down in a corner behind the desk that is not much bigger than my body width is not much fun --- expecially at my Geriatric age !!!!!!!!!

David

If you haven't already done so, I would strongly suggest that you replace the harddrive with a Compact Flash card, through an IDE - CF adapter, like plenty of people in here have done.

A couple of years ago, I made an image file of a newly installed and "hacked" OS5.1, including the service pack, using a free program called Aomei partition backupper.

If you have a CF adapter in the d8b, and a CF card reader in a pc, it's a simple matter to use the program to write the image file onto the CF card, then just insert it into the adapter in the d8b, and you're set.

The image file, and a description of how to use the program, is available in the database under "Tips".
There you can also find help to install the CF adapter.

Regards
Anders

arjespen is right "replace the harddrive with a Compact Flash card, through an IDE - CF adapter,"...this info is here and also buried in many threads

Thanks for the advice and I will derfinitely look into it, especially for my own desk (main problem is that it is going into a voluntary organisation where money is VERY tight especially after all of the COVID lockdowns, etc), however in the meantime I would just like to be able to get the desk going with all of its features, so that the Committee can see exactly what the desk can do and how they might be able to earn a bit of money from its use, especially as the live room is the biggest in the city (650K people) and can comfortably hold up to about 70 musicians.

That's amazing that you want to help them out, and at the time when the D8B fully works, I'm sure it will be a great experience for them...

If you're not the most technical guy, though... maybe others are luckier, but from my experience, it's only a matter of (probably very little) time, until the D8B will act up for them, and probably at the worst possible moment (i.e. right before a performance in front of a packed house while 650k people are waiting).

FWIW, I had put an MDR in a rehearsal room, and explained to the drummer how it works so he can record himself. He never used it successfully, always had problems, and I always had to operate the thing (and often troubleshoot it first), before we recorded anything.

I had thought about putting one of my D8B spares in the room, but after the experience with the MDR, thought I'd rather shoot myself in the foot (literally), than being on 24/7 call to help that drummer operate and troubleshoot the D8B.

In other words, I know how to (temporarily) solve most of the issues that tend to come up on the D8B, and I would find it WAAAAAAY to risky, to deploy it into a large live venue... I'd expect this to be at least a part-time job for repeated trainings, troubleshooting and fixing...

So, IMO, if you can't solve the (IMO fairly simple and straight forward... just a lot of text when typing it out) issues that you're facing with this "to-be-donated" D8B, then you're not in a position to maintain it, and won't "really" help that organization. IMO, you're donating trouble, unless there's someone there, who can service it themselves.

IMO, an analog mixer would be a better choice for such a setup, since there's less to go wrong. I see Mackie (analog) 8-Buss Mixer from around $250 on Craigslist all the time. I'd go for that.

(If they were happy with the Behringer, they'll be happier with the 8-Buss... I had an MX8000 many years ago, and always referred to it as the "noise generator" - that thing sucked the punch and dynamics out of everything you ran through it, while adding pink noise on top... and when played a little bit of Slap Bass straight into a Pre, I fried the Pre permanently... anything is better than old Behringer).

I understand that money is tight for them, so maybe they can't afford another mixer... but again, for a venue like that, IMO, the D8B is too risky.

Anyway... just my 2 cents... I wouldn't do that.

Y-my-R,

I apreciate your detailed comments, however there are a couple of slight mistakes.

The desk is not going into a live venue, but rather a Council built building and leased to the voluntary organisation, rehearsal room and the desk will only be used to do recordings of groups and solo artists who have hired the room --- just like any normal recording studio and control room.

I have actually added (donated !!!) another twelve mic pres (inputs 13 - 24) to give a total of 24 mics on the first bank of the desk.

I actually have electronics qualifications and have on many ocassions had to flip my own desk and re-seat the cables, etc, it is just that I am not overly competent in relation to computer programming and computer modifying, especially when there is no service person that I can call on if I stuff up. This is the reason that I would use the Hack 2 system as it appears to be the easiest to work on, I only need to get some answers in relation to the qurestions that I initially asked.

Re the multi-track, the venue has an Alesis HD24 and Alesis Masterlink and over the past ten (or so years) that they have been installed, they have not had any problem and the Behringer desk (MX8000) I agree is not perfect and the reason for the d8b.

David

Hi David - first of all, my apologies, in case I stepped on your toes with what I wrote.
I think compared to you, I'm a NOOB here on this forum, but the connection between thoughts popping up in my brain, and me typing them out (i.e. I type almost as fast as I speak) is very short... but I ever only mean well. Again, sorry if what I said came across in any disrespectful way - none of it was meant like that!

If it's a setup that doesn't prevent the use of the room (i.e. rehearsals can still happen), but it's just there for recordings, then I think this is GREAT, and besides getting some good quality recordings out of it, I think the D8B is a good way to learn the ropes - at least the "traditional" workflow... that IMO is really important to understand, before delving into any alternative ways of getting things done.

So, lots of props to you, for helping the community and basically setting them up with a (more or less) complete recording studio! (Anything I said was only meant to prevent headaches... but sounds like that's all thought through and not even remotely as much as a concern as I thought).

About your questions about if you can run OS 5.0 with the crack or with the service packs, etc... I'm less of an electronics guy and more of a software/computer guy. For someone like me, it's out of the question to even try that. You go with the latest version of the OS, ALWAYS (unless there are known problems), and then install the latest patches and fixes.
Anything else isn't even worth the effort to "regression test" backwards, to see if funny combinations of software and patches/updates for specific things would still work... bad idea, IMO.

I'd go with the prior suggestion to download and install the already hacked version of the Mackie OS 5.1, that Anders referred to further up.

Any "random combination of software versions" you may choose to use together, otherwise, are at your own risk. I don't think anybody really "knows" for sure if there are issues, as nobody from the company/tech support side would ever recommend to run such a combination... just get the latest of everything.

Best of luck!

Y-my-R,

There is absolutely no need to apologise as absolutely no offence was meant or taken in or by my reply, as even my electronics qualifications are now somewhat outdated and there is no way that I would be delving into the circuit board level of the electronics of the desk.

As a somewhat funny sideline to my electronics qualifications --- now definitely showing my age !!!!! --- when I did my degree everything was based around valves.

I remember one night when the lecturer started the lecture by saying that if any student had something really important to do and needed to leave the class, he would not be offended and that tonight's lecture would not be part of any exam, but he had to present the lecture anyway. At that stage he reached into his pocket and pulled out a transistor, held it up for all the calss to see and stated "this is what is called a semi-conductor device, but don't worry as it will NEVER take off" !!!!!!!

I think that my last really serious electronics poroject was back in the late 1960's when I designed and built a new console for my then studio as well as designing/building the electronics for a world only one of its kind 8-track (1" tape) recorder --- the transport was an EMI data deck that had 12 speeds and could take 14" spools ---- I have used all 12 speeds in one song that took out all of the awards in Australia in about 1974 for being the most inovative song/recording of the year (Steel Man by John J. Francis --- who sadly died earlier this year). The recorder is in my will to be donated to the Australian Film and Sound Archive. It still works and about 10 years ago I actually used it to copy a 1974/75 master tape to one of my two HD24s and the end result of this project and the resulting CD, I believe finished in the US Billboard chart at about No. 10. The Australian parts of this CD were recorded on my d8b and HRD24s, the rest being recorded and ultimately mixed in the USA.

One day (if still alive !!!) I will consider writing a book on my life and experiences in the music and sound industry, as it really has been an extordinary if somewhat private life, filled with working and associating with some of the world's most famous/imformous/talented/untalented artists --- I remember one session spending 15 hrs just to get a decent vocal take on one song for a then quite famous and very popular recording artist --- at the end you could actually see the indivifual tracks on the tape, as it had passed over the multitrack heads so many times.

I have started to look into the flash drive situation and once I get the desk installed and fully operational. I will give this some serious thought, It is just that with all that I have supplied for the desk (freight, extra pre-amps, cables, plugs, racks, etc) I am guessing that it has already cost me well over $AUS2K and my financial bucket is not bottomless !!!!!!!

During the week, I will remove the HD and install it in my old XP computer and will see what I can do (probably make a complete disaster and have to revert to re-installing the Behringer MX8000 desk !!!!!!!) to install the Hack 2 and all that goes with it !!!!!!! I will just have to re-find the forum post where I initially located it.

David

Enjoy hearing stories like this David.....

Captain,

Thanks for the comment.

Having come through the formative and really experemental years of our business and meeting and/or working with/for all of the people that I have, when I look back over the years, it really has been a magical life --- even the time in my studio when I had a shot gun pointed at me because I happened to pass a comment (in sheer frustration) to a jazz musician who refused to keep still and play into the microphone--- I think I broke the all time, diving to the floor speed record !!!!!!

David