D8B as a 24 Chanel DAW Controller + Audio

[Tom Ford]

Elp, this is incredible! Please give us an update as I am sure there are several of us awaiting your completion of this enhancement. I recently got a Pro Tools 10 system and am interfacing it to the d8b via a MOTU 2408mk3 lightpipe. I want to be able to control basic PT10 function from the d8b and it sounds like you have the solution. Great work!

[Guido]

Hi,

Wow.. I guess i should have been checking over here more frequently!!!

Im not sure but maybe i can help with this project.

Im the guy that turned the d8b hui layer into a full mcu. Over at the reaper forum.

http://forum.cockos.com/showthread.php? ... =its+alive


I used a midi translation sortwre prog called bomes miditranslator pro. It was the only solution for my needs ...i cant program or write python scripts and such, but i know midi^^. It was the only windows prog i could understand that could handle the 14 bit 6 byte midi messages that the hui protocol is made of. I would have to say im an expert on the mcu and the hui protocols. at least as far as one unit goes..no extenders.

Below is a text out put of my bomes project...The first preset is hui to mcu..the second mcu to hui. It has every button and fader mapped bidirectionally

Some translations are my setup specific.....like the ones that send key commands, but the one that are titled..."xxd8b button/xxMCU button make up a complete mcu.

Since the d8bs VFD display is 40 characters per line long and the mcu's is over 60, I use an android tablet as a second pc monitor above the d8b faders to do the emulated mcu display. But i do use the VFD for my own setup's display functions.

I say all this to offer any help i can to see this D8b 3 mcu with audio finish. Plz dont stop development elperrorome. This would be an awesome achievement in my opinion!


btw as far as mcu inits.I think.it realy depends on the daws csurf implementation. For Ex in Reaper usin klinkes .dll , there is no handshaking involved. In Reason my "frankenhui" is recognized as a mcu,,tho i have no init routine in my bomes project.
In sonar, on the other hand i could not get the daw to see the control surface.

Reaper is a good choice for development with this project imho, because the api for reaper is freely available, and those with coding skills find it easy it seems. Klinkes Reaper Csurf Extension..available in a one unit version or with extender version..source code is available also on Github.

Please let me know if u can use any assistance from me, either here or at Reaper forums. May God speed your work elperrorome!!!!

Guido

[M-A]

Maybe (besides divine help) sending some money to him could speed his work too !!



@Perromel
You have a Private Message from me.

[elperroromel]

Maybe (besides divine help) sending some money to him could speed his work too !!

maybe with money I would work a lot harder hehehe by the way, I'm BACK!!! I will continue development, (i have been very busy but now I will have more free time) but as time is money, maybe I will have to get money for the time I will have to invest :p hehe for now I'm working in the HUI translation, I have tested it with Pro Tools 10 (in Windows) and Its almost working, all 24 channels, (just need to fix the Vpot leds) for people using Mac OS , maybe they wiil need to use a virtual machine running windows, and create some virtual Serial Ports, and use a program that sends the Serial Port Info from the Virtual Machine, to MIDI ports, so you could use Pro Tools in Mac, (or also you can use a netbook running Windows and the program with physical MIDI ports to your MAC )

[fred620]

Very interested in seeing what you have. Please make sure it can do more than just 24 channels of midi fader control. Some of my mixes consist of 50 channels. I had the mackie control universal with 2 8ch faders but sold it to use the d8b desk. If you can make it so the channels are unlimited like the Mackie control universal setup that would be amazing!
Now I just have a D8B sitting here taking up space not being used. Folks come in to my studio and ask why arent you using that board. Every time i say im waiting on the software upgrade.

[elperroromel]

Hi, it can use more than 24 channels, as the original Mackie MCU, it can use Bank+,Bank-,etc to move which group of channels will use the 24 physical channels strips, so you can use channels 1-24, 25-48,...etc

Very interested in seeing what you have. Please make sure it can do more than just 24 channels of midi fader control. Some of my mixes consist of 50 channels. I had the mackie control universal with 2 8ch faders but sold it to use the d8b desk. If you can make it so the channels are unlimited like the Mackie control universal setup that would be amazing!
Now I just have a D8B sitting here taking up space not being used. Folks come in to my studio and ask why arent you using that board. Every time i say im waiting on the software upgrade.

[bitSync]

Hi, it can use more than 24 channels, as the original Mackie MCU, it can use Bank+,Bank-,etc to move which group of channels will use the 24 physical channels strips, so you can use channels 1-24, 25-48,...etc

Very interested in seeing what you have. Please make sure it can do more than just 24 channels of midi fader control. Some of my mixes consist of 50 channels. I had the mackie control universal with 2 8ch faders but sold it to use the d8b desk. If you can make it so the channels are unlimited like the Mackie control universal setup that would be amazing!
Now I just have a D8B sitting here taking up space not being used. Folks come in to my studio and ask why arent you using that board. Every time i say im waiting on the software upgrade.

@elperroromel,

Great to see you back on the board. If I understand fred620's concern correctly I share that same interest, which would be to be able to concurrently control 48+ channels without having to bank +/- through the 8-channel segments to get to channels 25 and up. In otherwords, a 2 d8b setup might look like 1 MCU plus 5 XT units, so you would have a contiguous 48 tracks available to you across 2 d8b's. Presumably, the capability to increment through 8-channel segments would still persist in the implementation. So for a 2 d8b setup you'd be banking from channels 1 - 48 at the lowest mapping to channels 9 - 56 with a bank +, etc. We're (at least I'm) encouraging Marc in his D8Bridge implementation to allow the user to define the number of XT units in a config file to emulate 1 MCU and n XTs in a single configuration.

@fred620,

Please let me know if that's your point or if I got it wrong.

[fred620]

@bitSync

Im not as fortunate as you to have 2 d8bs but yes sir! Being able to bank over 24 at a time vs the 8 that the hui enables plus my meter bridge levels moving in real-time and talkback and is my dream setup!

[system32]

I have 2 d8bs put together and i have written software to it. One is working in standalone mode (with custom power supply), the other is capable of switching between original mode and DAW. It supports 48 channels at one time + you can do bank up/bank down by 48channels. The app creates automatically virtual midi ports, which can be selected in DAW as a control surface, very simple setup - you only select COM ports which one is a console and which one is a d8b's pc in gui.

I haven't implemented lcd, but i don't think I will need it, so I don't care.

[anyhorizon]

That Marc Girard guy is a little touchy. Not sure I'd want to jump into that product.

Peter