Do you have a thread or any info on your PC setup? What are you using to get sound and video out of the PC?
As for DA convertors they are so good these days that even cheap ones are more than just 'competent' IMO.
Myself I use an Echo Audio AF12 which is sadly out of production but for 12 channels of AD and DA conversion I paid £350 new and according to some blind tests at the time it was just as good as an Apogee Rosetta which cost more than 10x as much.
These days even the latest SoundBlaster cards are perfectly ok.
Myself I use an Echo Audio AF12 which is sadly out of production but for 12 channels of AD and DA conversion I paid £350 new and according to some blind tests at the time it was just as good as an Apogee Rosetta which cost more than 10x as much.
These days even the latest SoundBlaster cards are perfectly ok.
Meh the one I wanted was on ebay about 10 years ago. Some guys life's work to build a giant Moog rig. Full 8 note polyphony, which was madness in itself. But the best bit was the gimballed piano seat to give 2 additional axes of input! I seriously thought about the business case of fitting it into a 7.5 ton truck and renting it out!
Here is some of the real hardcore stuff for you to go to bed with!
Attachments
What would you do with a monster like that in a truck?! Rent it to some techno travelers?! they will steal as soon as seeing it! 🙂 Pull it in your basement, it's safer.
I have a huge thread that will take some time to go trough, but it's all there:
http://www.diyaudio.com/forums/full-range/242171-making-two-towers-25-driver-full-range-line-array.html
The PC is a Lenovo Workstation with PCI, in that slot I run an Asus Xonar Essence ST with expansion card getting me 8 channels to play with. Though my main speakers (without crossovers but FIR corrected) are fed with a separate Dac trough optical out on the Asus.
Video I get from my Nividia Quadro workstation card(*) (basically making my TV set a second monitor trough DP -> HDMI). I can feed the sound to the TV as well but never do that anymore.
(*)= chosen because of my love for CAD programs... a game card would be better for most people and probably cheaper as well.
My turn with porn:
https://urbanfragment.files.wordpress.com/2013/02/buchla-modular-synthesizer.jpg
OOOMMMMPHHH!
https://urbanfragment.files.wordpress.com/2013/02/buchla-modular-synthesizer.jpg
OOOMMMMPHHH!
I can't find it now but there's two video on youtube of the same guy spending time playing with his toy... this one is shorter, but it should bring you some tears synth geeks!
https://youtu.be/KTelbZzOV-I
https://youtu.be/KTelbZzOV-I
There was some madness on a corporate level in the '70s.
Google 'Yamaha GX 1' and stare in wonder at what Yamaha claimed to be their top-of-the-range home organ which in reality was a fully programmable polyphonic analogue synthesizer complete with a couple of valve-powered speaker towers that weighed 140kg each.
Yamaha GX 1 Was one of Vangelis's favorite synth ever. You hear it constantly producing drones on 'Blade Runner' soundtrack.
Really loves it. Analogue system produce a clone of the filter i think. I've done similar sounds on my Waldorf MWXT, albeit digital but really close.
Edit: this is MOTM which make the clone.
Really loves it. Analogue system produce a clone of the filter i think. I've done similar sounds on my Waldorf MWXT, albeit digital but really close.
Edit: this is MOTM which make the clone.
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I knew Analogue Systems make an EMS Synthi filter and their odd envelope generator but didn't know about GX 1 filters.
Yamaha only made a dozen or so but it seems all who bought one were famous. Vangelis as you mentioned, Keith Emerson and the guy out of ABBA had two!
Anyway one can not talk (modular) analogue synths without mentioning Vince Clarke so here goes: Vince Clarke.
Thanks. I read through the first page and that is an awesome project. Really cool.
Chris
Sound "card" has analog outputs direct to my amps. My actual setup has two stereo crossover sets (sub/sat), and a third stereo pair for the rest of the house. It's kind of cheap and dirty, but sounds just fine.
The digital crossover replaced an active one with op-amps I built 20 years ago. Digital sounds better, due to lack of parts tolerance issues.
Have any of you tried the MiniDSP U-DAC8? Looks like it was created pretty specifically to take multi channel digital from something like JRiver and convert the individual channels to analog.
Would be really, really nice if it had volume control but I'm thinking seriously about ordering one. For $299 I'm not finding much that seems to compete with it. The main thing I'm trying to figure out is whether or not multiple Curryman DAC modules would be higher quality.
-Chris
Would be really, really nice if it had volume control but I'm thinking seriously about ordering one. For $299 I'm not finding much that seems to compete with it. The main thing I'm trying to figure out is whether or not multiple Curryman DAC modules would be higher quality.
-Chris
Using a single multi-channel dac helps with timing (uses same master clock for all DAs) Splitting digital signal to several indipendent dacs is like asking for trouble, but it has been done by many yes, mostly for prototyping.
I haven't but it seems a great solution for your needs. From my point of view it only lacks clock sync inputs but it shouldn't be a problem once in use at home.
You would have to build your own solution for this. If you want some idea about the kind that work great (from my point of view):
The δ1 relay-based R-2R stereo attenuator
It's not flawless however and has limits of it's quality: as a constant Z input device it's not really open to amp swap : values are calculated for the Z in of next stage (input impedance of amplifier) and not ok if you change it, but you could take over this limitation using some active buffers stage in between its out and amp at the expense of potential lower snr and possible small increase of distortion (both issue could be easily addressed in carefull choice of buffer schematic and implementation).
Second if you use balanced (impedance) gear you'll be limited to number of chanel (6 way max stereo setup as microcontroller can't take more than 2 audio card into account).
The last point shouldn't be a problem if you choose U-dac8 as it's unbalanced (so up to 4 way stereo setup).
Edit: please apologize, but delta1 could not work as it can accept max 2 audio boards/micro controller so max number of way is 2 way unbalanced stereo setup. But you have an idea of which kind of attenuator you could use.
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This kind of kit could be ok for volume control.
AUDIOPHONICS DSP-CONTROL - KIT DSP Controller - DCX2496 - Audiophonics
AUDIOPHONICS DSP-CONTROL - KIT DSP Controller - DCX2496 - Audiophonics
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