Converting a D8B to a full fledged DAW Controller (w/o MIDI)

[MOSHWITZ]

Sup?

Marc,
As my new rig doesn't have the port., I'm gonna need to order a serial to usb cable and would like to have it here by the time my cable arrives, will this be sufficient
http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=166218&CatId=464

Or should I be looking at a different one?

Thanks,
DAVE

[Petersueco]

Hey Dave,

Take a look to the one that's in the PDF Installation Manual for the D8Bridge. Page 5.

Yours sure looks the same.

Peter Holmquist.

[Marc Girard]

Your cable should be working fine Moshwitz, there's no preferred USB-Serial cables really.

MG

[Petersueco]

Hey guys - pretty interesting stuff. The protocol in the D8B was clear text ASCII because I always hoped someone would do this someday If you need any help let me know but it should be pretty obvious. Just remember you can drop leading zeros.
A-F is reserved with 0-9 for hex prefixes to addresses, and lower case keys for commands. Piece of cake.

I would suggest not using HUI protocol though, and consider custom DLL's for Steinberg, a MIDI map for StudioOne, and middleware uCON for ProTools. HUI is something that should die at this point. And it will not support full length channel labels, VFD screens, etc..

Get the Steinberg SDK and write a D8B custom DLL that talks over the serial port and ports the commands.
Consider writing the middleware with JUCE, so you can support Mac users.

Another food for thought: Consider replacing the convertor boards and the PC.
It's not that tough. I2S lines. I bet you could tack an iPAD on the meter bridge to run the whole UI without the boat anchor PC from p90 days. The mic pre's are on ribbons too so the whole console as it was originally intended can be upgraded.
You can wrap the software in Windows Embedded with an abstraction layer and run the actual D8B code if you fix the linker errors. It's just x86 code in an RTOS.

And this is all public knowledge you just need a screwdriver and hyperterminal.
If you're wondering where all those people who worked on the D8B mixer are today (well most of them) take a look at Presonus StudioLive mixers. That's US former Mackie kids. Joe Erno (ID guy), Kevin Howard (mixer hardware), me (software), James and Dwayne (software), Ron K. (the ad guy), - we all are making mixers down South @ Presonus. Please buy one so my XMAS bonus rocks next year <chuckle> . Good work

All the best,
Bob Tudor
CTO
Presonus

Welcome to the forum Bob.

It's nice to see you here. I remember the days when the d8b was released and you was an active member of the very old d8bexchange forum.

All this new info you just shared over here will sure be in good use for Mark and Frank to evolve the D8Bridge. Thanks for your valuable input.

Peter Holmquist.

[Marc Girard]

Hello Bob!

You are not a myth! Man, did I try to reach you, called you, left messages, never heard back from you. I'm happy that you came over and posted on the forum, an honor!

Hey guys - pretty interesting stuff. The protocol in the D8B was clear text ASCII because I always hoped someone would do this someday If you need any help let me know but it should be pretty obvious. Just remember you can drop leading zeros.
A-F is reserved with 0-9 for hex prefixes to addresses, and lower case keys for commands. Piece of cake.

Yes, that we figured it out pretty quick. The less obvious stuff was to make the meter bridge behave. We had to reverse engineer the firmware to make it work like we wanted because we had no doc.

I would suggest not using HUI protocol though, and consider custom DLL's for Steinberg, a MIDI map for StudioOne, and middleware uCON for ProTools. HUI is something that should die at this point. And it will not support full length channel labels, VFD screens, etc..

Get the Steinberg SDK and write a D8B custom DLL that talks over the serial port and ports the commands.
Consider writing the middleware with JUCE, so you can support Mac users.

I hate HUI as much as you do, but I've got many requests for it... You know, the client is always right! As for a custom DLL, that was the original plan! I'm a registered Steinberg developer and I have the Remote SDK right here. We figured out that we might start more "universal" and tweak along the way. This thing started out as a hack after all.

Another food for thought: Consider replacing the convertor boards and the PC.
It's not that tough. I2S lines. I bet you could tack an iPAD on the meter bridge to run the whole UI without the boat anchor PC from p90 days. The mic pre's are on ribbons too so the whole console as it was originally intended can be upgraded.
You can wrap the software in Windows Embedded with an abstraction layer and run the actual D8B code if you fix the linker errors. It's just x86 code in an RTOS.

Thanks for sharing that. I'll have a look into it. The inital goal was to have a controller that works, now we'll look into "expanding" the project. That might be a very good lead. We might start looking to do some basic audio routing as well for those who don't want to loose all of their board's abilities.

And this is all public knowledge you just need a screwdriver and hyperterminal.

That's exactly how I started! Tsk-Tsk!

If you're wondering where all those people who worked on the D8B mixer are today (well most of them) take a look at Presonus StudioLive mixers. That's US former Mackie kids. Joe Erno (ID guy), Kevin Howard (mixer hardware), me (software), James and Dwayne (software), Ron K. (the ad guy), - we all are making mixers down South @ Presonus. Please buy one so my XMAS bonus rocks next year <chuckle> . Good work

Nice! Great job on those StudioLive mixers, got a friend who really likes the concept and says that they're working great. Thank you for the nice words, I wish you and your friend a happy holidays! Thanks again for pitching in!

[eaygee]

ok I have everything I need to switch my D8b to a D8bridge.... Usb to serial plug, RME Fireface UFX, 2 Focusrite OctoPre MkII , Mackie CFX20-mkII for monitoring live recording.............. Just waiting for the Cable in the mail now.... The excitement...... :

[Marc Girard]

Eaygee, you should get your cable any day now, you were one of the first batch to get shipped. Let me know when it arrives, I want to have feedback of my users. Satisfaction is a priority for me. Thanks!

[eaygee]

The Cable has arrived in the mail... After I finish this session down to the mailbox I go and this evening I should have a d8bridge.... boom!

[m33]

Very exciting! Can't wait for the mac version.

[eaygee]

I have a working D8Bridge.... Marc you do good work Sir.... Gonna experiment with it some more. This is exciting...