AAAAgghr only 16bit

[FrankH]

I had a conversation last night with the guy who used to be the head of the test department for the D8B. I asked him about the problem of Version 3 software spitting out 16bit from the Mic/Line inputs.

His response was: Hmmm...yes, there was a problem with Version 3 doing that. One of Mackie's dirty little secrets was how he put it. He couldn't remember if there was, indeed, a workaround by offsetting the digital trim off of unity by some small amount (as Dan Worley mentioned). But he said that one of the major bug fixes in Version 5 addressed that exact issue.

So it would appear that Alfspanner's observations with Version 3 are actually correct. What kills me is that I had no idea this bug existed in Version 3. Not a clue. And I'm still curious why this didn't raise a stink during the 16bit Aux discovery.

Back in the days when I had Version 3, everything I recorded and outputted lived in 44.1/16 bit world....so I never came across the bug.

All the dickering I did was with Version 5....which would explain the disparity between the results I was getting and what Alf was getting with Version 3.

Which brings me to this: after talking with this gentleman for a few minutes, he said: "Why is this guy struggling with Version 3? Why doesn't he just install Version 5 and be done with it?"

I may have more detailed information on this later.

[Crash]

I don't doubt your findings Frank but I have a hard time believing there was not a revolt over this. With all the crying over DIO.8 polarity, 16 bit aux issues, the sample disparity on the master out, etc., this seems a might bigger deal.

[thedarkknight]

I came on this forum today to find the answer to a few problems i had when i stumbled across this and i just had to make an account to tell you that i can see s lot of butt-hurt people in this thread and yet no one has answered the guy's question

it must be tough even considering a flaw in a product you are all obviously so in love with but can you stop being so arrogant and discuss this like civilised people and don't refer to him as a waste of space, i know you feel untouchable behind your computer screen but keep in mind your words can still hurt people

Hope to see some decent answer come out of this soon.

[anyhorizon]

Now, we're getting convoluted. There were major diagnostics going on back then by owners everywhere regarding the 16 bit horror. V3 spat out 16 bits when the digital trim was at unity. Adjusting the digital trim up or down caused the associated channel to return to 24 bit. The 16 bit fix addressed that to everyone's satisfaction prior to the release of V5. The Aux 16 bit thing caused a similar stink but Mackie eventually came clean with an explanation along the lines that there just wasn't enough processing power to cover the Auxes. Whether that was a simple explanation to avoid a more complex one, I don't know. I find spanners' methodology and subsequent explanations most difficult to digest. Whatever, seems he's rid of his d8b now.

Peter

[anyhorizon]

I came on this forum today to find the answer to a few problems i had when i stumbled across this and i just had to make an account to tell you that i can see s lot of butt-hurt people in this thread and yet no one has answered the guy's question

it must be tough even considering a flaw in a product you are all obviously so in love with but can you stop being so arrogant and discuss this like civilised people and don't refer to him as a waste of space, i know you feel untouchable behind your computer screen but keep in mind your words can still hurt people

Hope to see some decent answer come out of this soon.

The reason, Batman, is that we've been through this before in considerable detail and associated angst. Why doesn't the guy just shell out the pittance for Version 5 OS and re-test his rig. If he still has the problem he alleges, he'll make his money back at sale time.

Peter

[anyhorizon]

As a matter of fact, he doesn't even have to buy V5. He can run it in demo mode for 7 minutes or so at a time. If he has all his stuff together, that should be plenty.

Peter

[Crash]

I came on this forum today to find the answer to a few problems i had when i stumbled across this and i just had to make an account to tell you that i can see s lot of butt-hurt people in this thread and yet no one has answered the guy's question

it must be tough even considering a flaw in a product you are all obviously so in love with but can you stop being so arrogant and discuss this like civilised people and don't refer to him as a waste of space, i know you feel untouchable behind your computer screen but keep in mind your words can still hurt people

Hope to see some decent answer come out of this soon.

I love guys like this.... It appears to me that Frank and many others have bent over backwards trying to see what was going on with this guys console. Yet, Mr. in the dark still felt the need to create an account to come in and act like a douchebag.

[thedarkknight]

I felt the need to create an account mr crash because frank and many others have bent over backwards to prove him wrong
also mr crash could you please explain what part of my original comment made me out to be acting 'like a douchebag'?

[Crash]

I felt the need to create an account mr crash because frank and many others have bent over backwards to prove him wrong
also mr crash could you please explain what part of my original comment made me out to be acting 'like a douchebag'?

Let me apologize for the douchebag statement. But I have to tell you, I will get assed up everytime someone comes in here with a single post and cops tone about this community with the suggestion we hide behind screens and all that BS. There is a core collective here that has been around for the better part of ten years that really do try to help people with their d8b issues.

I don't feel that we were trying to not answer the guys question but when it comes down to figuring alot of this out, you have to make sure the methods and tools used for troubleshooting are something that make sense. There seemed to be some debate on that in this in the early stages and rightfully so. Mr. Spanners opted for the nuclear option on this and ditched the console instead of upgrading software. I can't really blame him, the d8b is old technology and past its prime.

I am curious as to why the issue existed on his console. Was their something whacky on the 16 bit patch he did? Everytime he tried to load it he was not allowed as the console said it was already there... Had it been me, I might have been tempted to wipe the drive and start from ground zero. Well, had it been me, I would have upgrade to the last version of software.

Again, I apologize but please don't come in here and assume we are all of holier than thou condesending pricks hiding behind screens calling everyone out because we can't necessarily figure out what is going on with something through the type written word on a forum at first stab.

[alfspanners]

Ok, I have lured myself back to correct some points and by some further testing. Yes, for me now, it is purley academic as the decision to replace the desk has been made, but I think it's important to post my take on the chronology of events that Frank talked about and the results of the new tests I have done.

Firstly I'm not going to get into a slagging match, going to try and just keep this formal and hopefully it may be of some use for others.

we bought our desk in early 2002, i think it came with version2 on it and I had heard about version 3 so downloaded and installed it. At some point within that year, I heard about the patch that mackie had released to fix the 16bit mic/line issue.

Here is a link to that

http://www.mackie.com/products/d8b_v3/Downloads/Downloads.html

I've since downloaded the patch again to check that my disc wasn't corrupt. On examining the file - it gives the date modified as 19/4/2002, so this makes sense in relation to my timescale.

When version 5 came out - May 2003 - I had been using version 3 for a year and was pretty happy with it (apart from the odd stuck fader issue) and wasn't all that impressed by the fancy graphics that version 5 brought, I mean to say, there was nothing in it that I really needed and nothing that justified the $300 odd dollars in my opinion ( i realise others feel differently - it's just how I worked and felt at the time). At no point, and there is not any literature that I can find, did Mackie say that version 5 fixed the 16bit mic/line in issue - as far as I was concerned that issue had been addressed by me installing the patch that Mackie issued the year before.

I will post my tests results in the next hour or so.