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

[Marc Girard]

Hello guys,

Sorry for the lack of updates, Frank has been real busy at work and I'm loaded with mixes to do at the studio! Plus, I wrote a complete message yesterday and got wiped when I clicked accidentally on a user's name... Doh! I'll make this one short!

@dcodotto: So far, we're doing the MCU, not HUI. We might do the HUI if we get enough demand. Does Pro Tools support MCU? MCU is supported by most DAWs...

@Axeman098: I'm not really familiar with Sonar but if it supports MCUs, it'll work with our software.

@Boopaul: We're progressing, but still no dates available. Sorry, we're doing this part time, as we've got full time jobs.

@abeatle: We're still deciding on the price... Take not that it's not a super controller, it's just an old d8b converted in a MCU (x3).

Me and Frank got a meeting planned for next week, we'll probably have something new to show afterwards...

Cheers all,

Marc

[Boopaul]

Mark, thanks for the response. I'm very excited about this as I'm sure many others are.

Thanks

[dcodotto]

Hi Marc,
I checked on the Avid website and it looks like Pro Tools only supports HUI for 3rd party controllers.
http://www.avid.com/US/products/family/ ... ls/compare (at bottom of the page).
Oh well... I may have to shell out for an Avid surface (or maybe switch back to Cubase?!??)
Still very exciting to watch this d8b evolution unfold even though I may not be able to use it. Cant wait to see your next vid.
My hats off to you guys.
Cheers
Damo

[Marc Girard]

dcodotto: Don't despair! I can't promise you HUI compatibility for now but it's not out of the question, Pro Tools is a major player in the DAW world, it would be lame of us not to support it! As soon as we get the MCU working good, we'll check on the HUI, I already briefed Frank about this many weeks ago...

[Petersueco]

Hey Marc, thanks for the update and please do not apologize for the lack of updates. We all understand that this project is done by you guys in your free time.

Oh, and if this thread ever gets to he second page, be sure that I will be here to bump it up

[Marc Girard]

Thanks Peter for your support, it's appreciated!

Is there any one here who would have faders for sale? I'd buy 3 or 4... I found some on eBay but the guy is asking a bit too much for them. Any alternative sources? Thanks!

Marc

[jumbodingo]

Hey Marc, Cudos on your success'. I am running the new Presonus Studio One on my G5 with D8B. For a while I used the Tascam FW 1884 and two FE-8 expanders as (3) MCU's ... very basic functions only were mapped. Looking forward to using the D8B that way. I got a shoebox full of money under my bed waiting for " D" day. Haha !!
Brian

[Marc Girard]

Hey guys!

Just came back from Frank's. We worked on the "thing" a little more tonight and made a new video!



YES! Finally, we got 24 faders working! 24 meters too! It's starting to get usable now, I had much fun playing around with the faders and scrolling through my session channels with the jog wheel. The coolest thing is that it still feels like a D8B board and it's easy to forget that everything is running in Nuendo instead of being processed by the board. In fact, there's no audio and no SMPTE going to the board at all... There's no DSP and no CPU being used neither, it's all our software... You want proof? Look at the VFD, it's not your normal D8B messages there! :p

We are progressing! We still got some bugs to squash, looks like the MIDI in Windows 7 x64 is a bit doggy. Might be our fault, might be not, gotta investigate on this.

Let me know what you guys think!

Marc Girard

[dcodotto]

That looks just brilliant!! Very very exciting! And those meters are refreshing uber quickly too.... Great work guys!

[synthjoe]

Marc, your project is great! Me too, I'd be interested in the ProTools solution - but it already looks fantastic as it is!
BTW, I guess you cannot get rid of the CPU box because of the power supply, but the serial cable is disconnected and goes directly to the PC, right? Not using the regular MIDI out of the D8B, are you? Maybe you boot the d8b CPU with a small remote host/client SW to the DAW via Ethernet? This latter would be way too cool...

Thanks Peter for your support, it's appreciated!

Is there any one here who would have faders for sale? I'd buy 3 or 4... I found some on eBay but the guy is asking a bit too much for them. Any alternative sources? Thanks!

Marc

Reichelt.de sells them for around EUR 18, but their shipping policy is not that nice (a minimum order of about EUR 200 lingers in my memories but I might be wrong). Still, it might be OK if you want to purchase 10-14 pieces, or so...

I had few orders with them years ago when I lived nearer to them (Ntherlands) and was always a happy customer. If you order, I'd be curious to hear about your experiences - maybe I'd order some myself!