Continuing the 16bit Analog Input Debate....

[synthjoe]

Thanks for all this info, Frank! This is great - even if not exactly, but it does answer my question from last October. If nothing else, it will make me try V5 to see how exactly it has changed.

Why am I interested? Let me explain that with my favourite example between analogue tape & CD.
Test1: What is the dynamic range for tape? OK, now record something 1 dB below the noise floor derived from that dynamic range, and listen back. What do you hear?
Test2: What is the dynamic range of a CD? Without dithering, record sometthing 1 dB below the noise floor of that dynamic range. Listening back will reveal clearly why a 114 dB analogue preamp might still deserve a (theoretically) 144 dB converter.

It is a shame we're not given the control to decide what to do with those 8 bits, but I'm fine with that. My desk sounds very good to me for the money!

[captainamerica]

yes thanks for the interesting bkg Frank...I am sure you ll know this already but let's not forget that technology does advance and so must our choices for DAWs if we want to make music and take advantage of new hardware/software. For example, I still have an Amiga 2000 that included one of the first and best 16-bit DSP sound cards in the 80s! (SunRize AD516). It was a great DAW but the lack of software development killed the product. As Jobs experienced with the NeXT machine, without software, there's not much you can do with a DAW engine and the d8b is fast approaching its longevity.

[FrankH]

I'm not really sure what this has to do with the actual subject of this thread.

But to address the sentiment of your post, all I can say is "tools are tools". Development for the D8B was "killed" well over 10 years ago, yet people still use it daily because it is still a productive tool. In my world, the highest form of recording never exceeds 48kHz/24bits....which the D8B is quite comfortable with.

But I'm a realist. Sooner or later the board will die, or audio technology will make a quantum leap somewhere leaving the present day standards in the dust. When/if that happens, and affects my ability to create music in a competitively viable format, I'll move on.

But I'm good for now.

[High C Double G]

Hi Frank, hi everyone...

I am not that smart but I have a question that has always been at the back of my mind.

Why doesn't Mackie (Loud) release the SDK for this product? And would it make any difference if they did? Could someone actually use the info to improve the little quirks and add some things like the ability to use outside UAD cards or advanced channel functions?

What could happen if someone would get in there and bring this mixing board into the 21st Century?

I just don't know enough about this stuff to understand any of it - a broad stroke yes... details not a chance.

What Marc G has done with the d8bridge is absolutely cool and as soon as I get a little coin this is on my radar although the way things are I am not sure when honestly - anyway I hope this post isn't too naive.

Thank you,
Michael

[FrankH]

What could happen if someone would get in there and bring this mixing board into the 21st Century?

Way too many obstacles to overcome. Mostly hardware. The V5 revision leveraged just about everything possible given what it had to work with: old PC (and all it entails I/O-wise), limited memory, limited HD and AD/DA converters saddled with a 48kHz sampling frequency ceiling.