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TC
 
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Default S/PDIF transfer of audio into 'puter: An adventure in digital transfer!

The quest was simple.... I wanted to transfer a bunch of DATs (several
hundred) to the 'puter so I could make them into CDs. Of course, I
wanted to do it all digitally (why go Digital to Analog to Digital?).
The obvious solution was the usage of an Edirol UA-1D. (Disclosure
mode: I should note here that I am an authorized Edirol dealer) The
objective was to dub directly into CoolEdit 2000.

The UA-1D plugs into the USB port on the 'puter an allows you to do
either Optical or Coaxial in/out to the puter. (I chose Coax).

I installed the unit on a brand new Compaq XP machine w/a 2.5ghz
processor and 512 megs of ram. Failure! No audio, no indication of
it working, crash 'n burn. After fiddlin' with the sucker for a
couple of hours, I ended up nowhere. I emailed and called the tech
support folks at Edirol. They couldn't figure it out. I asked if it
would work in my older Compaq running WinME. They thought not, saying
it had an unstable operating system. Hmmmm.... let's try it anyway!

Into the older puter the UA-!D went. ...and no success. Once again,
I contacted the folks at Edirol. They went on to email me a sheet
discussing IRQ sharing and the conflicts involved with them. Now
what?

Under the audio tab in control panel I started playing with the
different settings. There was a 'test mode' under voice recording. I
went into it and could visually see the audio signal getting into the
machine. I hit "next" and could see the signal after a delay and get
sound out of the machine.... but it was distorted and screechy at
best. But -- I noticed the signal looked normal at that point within
the VU meters of CoolEdit. What the heck... I hit RECORD and ran
about 15 seconds of audio for grins.

Okay... I played back the piece (and this is on the old WinME machine)
and it sounded great!!! Now... could I replicate this on the WinXP
machine?! A few mins of rewiring... and... voila... it worked.
But... I have to keep the machine in the test mode to lock-up the IRQs
and can't monitor through the computer (big deal).

I've dubbed about 100 hours of audio this way, so far, with no
problems. While it took several hours to figure things out, I solved
a problem for just north of seventy five dollars.

I just thought I'd share this for those who have a similar need and
want (what I consider to be) a cheap solution. ...and want to know
the 'fix' in advance when the unit appears to fail.

-TC topcat at mailblocks dot com
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Mike Rivers
 
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In article writes:

The quest was simple.... I wanted to transfer a bunch of DATs (several
hundred) to the 'puter so I could make them into CDs. Of course, I
wanted to do it all digitally (why go Digital to Analog to Digital?).


Because it solves a wealth of problems and it is highly unlikely that
it will affect the sound quality in any significant way. But go ahead
and make things hard for yourself. It's easy (anyone will tell you)
but you have to get everything right.

The obvious solution was the usage of an Edirol UA-1D.


I installed the unit on a brand new Compaq XP machine w/a 2.5ghz
processor and 512 megs of ram. Failure! No audio, no indication of
it working, crash 'n burn.


Into the older puter the UA-!D went. ...and no success. Once again,
I contacted the folks at Edirol. They went on to email me a sheet
discussing IRQ sharing and the conflicts involved with them. Now
what?


With USB, particularly in WinXP, you shouldn't have an IRQ problem.
However there were, in the early days of USB audio interfacing, some
USB audio interfaces that didn't work with some USB interface chips.
You might check that using the Device Manager (Control Panel System
Hardware Device Manager). Look under the USB Controller and you
should see the type number for the chip. The one I'm looking at is
80821CA/CAM. Check with Edirol (or the documentation) to see if that's
included in the "supported" list.

I've never noticed that test mode. It doesn't sound kosher to me.

--
I'm really Mike Rivers )
However, until the spam goes away or Hell freezes over,
lots of IP addresses are blocked from this system. If
you e-mail me and it bounces, use your secret decoder ring
and reach me he double-m-eleven-double-zero at yahoo
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Peter Larsen
 
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Default

TC wrote:

The quest was simple.... I wanted to transfer a bunch of DATs
(several hundred) to the 'puter so I could make them into CDs.
Of course, I wanted to do it all digitally (why go Digital to
Analog to Digital?).


Good thinking.

The obvious solution was the usage of an Edirol UA-1D.
(Disclosure mode: I should note here that I am an authorized
Edirol dealer) The objective was to dub directly into
CoolEdit 2000.


Allow me to humbly suggest that you don camouflage clothes and sneek
along the street under cover of darkness to yonder corner where there is
a shoppee called ye old midimanne shoppee. Sneak in and get thee a
midiman audiophile pci card. You can also use a webshop and everybody
will think that what arrives via overnight express is something
completely different.

I just thought I'd share this for those who have a similar need and
want (what I consider to be) a cheap solution. ...and want to know
the 'fix' in advance when the unit appears to fail.


The Edirol is probably OK, it is just that Compaqs apparently still can
be strange when it comes to usb audio. And even if you think it is OK it
can still be glitchy. It is not fun to think of having to redo it all
because you later determine that it was not a glitchless transfer.
Chances for that are better with a PCI card.

What servicepack level did the Compaq XP have?


-TC topcat at mailblocks dot com



Kind regards

Peter Larsen

--
*******************************************
* My site is at: http://www.muyiovatki.dk *
*******************************************
  #4   Report Post  
Peter Larsen
 
Posts: n/a
Default

TC wrote:

The quest was simple.... I wanted to transfer a bunch of DATs
(several hundred) to the 'puter so I could make them into CDs.
Of course, I wanted to do it all digitally (why go Digital to
Analog to Digital?).


Good thinking.

The obvious solution was the usage of an Edirol UA-1D.
(Disclosure mode: I should note here that I am an authorized
Edirol dealer) The objective was to dub directly into
CoolEdit 2000.


Allow me to humbly suggest that you don camouflage clothes and sneek
along the street under cover of darkness to yonder corner where there is
a shoppee called ye old midimanne shoppee. Sneak in and get thee a
midiman audiophile pci card. You can also use a webshop and everybody
will think that what arrives via overnight express is something
completely different.

I just thought I'd share this for those who have a similar need and
want (what I consider to be) a cheap solution. ...and want to know
the 'fix' in advance when the unit appears to fail.


The Edirol is probably OK, it is just that Compaqs apparently still can
be strange when it comes to usb audio. And even if you think it is OK it
can still be glitchy. It is not fun to think of having to redo it all
because you later determine that it was not a glitchless transfer.
Chances for that are better with a PCI card.

What servicepack level did the Compaq XP have?


-TC topcat at mailblocks dot com



Kind regards

Peter Larsen

--
*******************************************
* My site is at: http://www.muyiovatki.dk *
*******************************************
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