Studio clock display (SMPTE?)

[Ben]

Hi guys,
I have a Mackie SDR24/96. I'm trying to figure out a way of having a
large external display showing the hours/mins/secs/frames clock for my
studio. All I need is effectively a replica of the red LED display
from the front of the SDR24/96, just bigger!

I'm sure I've seen something like this before being sold on e-bay:
think it might have been designed to connect to SMPTE outputs of
digital multitracks, or it could have been the ADAT sync connector.

Has anyone seen one of these recently, or know where I could get one?
Failing that, does anyone have links to resources where I could work
out how to build somthing like this myself? Would SMPTE or ADAT sync
provide the simplest source of this timing position data?

Thanks in advance,
Ben.

[nmm]

On Tue, Nov 11, 2003 6:43 PM, Ben > wrote:
>Has anyone seen one of these recently, or know where I
>could get one?

Made in Canada

Leitch Technologies

They make all sorts of clocks that will track to your house black. Some
even generate time cope so you can use them as a master clock.

You might find one on EBay .. but a TV station's surplus would be a good
place to look.

[Eric Toline]

Studio clock display (SMPTE?)

Group: rec.audio.pro Date: Tue, Nov 11, 2003, 3:43pm (EST-3) From:
(Ben)
Hi guys,
I have a Mackie SDR24/96. I'm trying to figure out a way of having a
large external display showing the hours/mins/secs/frames clock for my
studio. All I need is effectively a replica of the red LED display from
the front of the SDR24/96, just bigger!
I'm sure I've seen something like this before being sold on e-bay: think
it might have been designed to connect to SMPTE outputs of digital
multitracks, or it could have been the ADAT sync connector.
Has anyone seen one of these recently, or know where I could get one?
Failing that, does anyone have links to resources where I could work out
how to build somthing like this myself? Would SMPTE or ADAT sync provide
the simplest source of this timing position data?
Thanks in advance,
Ben. <<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<

www.horita.com

[Mike Rivers]

In article > writes:

> >Has anyone seen one of these recently, or know where I
> >could get one?
>
> Made in Canada
>
> Leitch Technologies

But they're all so friggin' expensive. I want a big LED time code
display over my console that I can drive with the time code out of my
HDR24/96 but I don't want to pay $300+ for a little LCD.

There was one that Midiman sold quite a while ago that I had my eye
on. I think Analogeezer ended up with it after the power supply
finally showed up. Don't know if it ever worked out. But I've never
seen another one for sale used.




--
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 here: double-m-eleven-double-zero at yahoo

[Mike Rivers]

In article > writes:

> I have a Mackie SDR24/96. I'm trying to figure out a way of having a
> large external display showing the hours/mins/secs/frames clock for my
> studio. All I need is effectively a replica of the red LED display
> from the front of the SDR24/96, just bigger!

I'm looking for exactly the same thing but I haven't found it for a
price I'm willing to pay.

> Failing that, does anyone have links to resources where I could work
> out how to build somthing like this myself? Would SMPTE or ADAT sync
> provide the simplest source of this timing position data?

SMPTE is the way to go, but I don't know of a SMPTE-to-BCD (or
somthing that will easily drive a display) chip so I don't see this as
a good do-it-yourself project for anyone other than a designer.



--
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 here: double-m-eleven-double-zero at yahoo

[Bob Smith]

Ben wrote:
>
> Hi guys,
> I have a Mackie SDR24/96. I'm trying to figure out a way of having a
> large external display showing the hours/mins/secs/frames clock for my
> studio. All I need is effectively a replica of the red LED display
> from the front of the SDR24/96, just bigger!
>
> I'm sure I've seen something like this before being sold on e-bay:
> think it might have been designed to connect to SMPTE outputs of
> digital multitracks, or it could have been the ADAT sync connector.
>
> Has anyone seen one of these recently, or know where I could get one?
> Failing that, does anyone have links to resources where I could work
> out how to build somthing like this myself? Would SMPTE or ADAT sync
> provide the simplest source of this timing position data?

If you can use a computer & display, you might check this out:

http://www.bsstudios.com/index2.html

It replicates many of the transport and track arm controls on the
computer. The time display is reasonably large, run from MTC.

Bob Smith
BS Studios
we organize chaos
http://www.bsstudios.com

[Scott Dorsey]

In article <znr1068601505k@trad>, Mike Rivers > wrote:
>In article > writes:
>
>> >Has anyone seen one of these recently, or know where I
>> >could get one?
>>
>> Made in Canada
>>
>> Leitch Technologies
>
>But they're all so friggin' expensive. I want a big LED time code
>display over my console that I can drive with the time code out of my
>HDR24/96 but I don't want to pay $300+ for a little LCD.

So, this sounds like a GREAT project for a DIY article. You get yourself
an LED array and one of the cheap multiplex driver chips, then you get a
UART rigged to convert the serial stream to BCD and clock it in. Fun digital
project.

You might even be able to get a big digital wall clock and use the driver
electronics and LEDs from it.
--scott

--
"C'est un Nagra. C'est suisse, et tres, tres precis."

[S O'Neill]

How about an 8051 or derivative decoding MTC? It has a serial port that just
*happens* to run at 31250 bps, and plenty of I/O to drive digit segments.


Scott Dorsey wrote:

> In article <znr1068601505k@trad>, Mike Rivers > wrote:
>
>>In article > writes:
>>
>>
>>>>Has anyone seen one of these recently, or know where I
>>>>could get one?
>>>
>>>Made in Canada
>>>
>>> Leitch Technologies
>>
>>But they're all so friggin' expensive. I want a big LED time code
>>display over my console that I can drive with the time code out of my
>>HDR24/96 but I don't want to pay $300+ for a little LCD.
>
>
> So, this sounds like a GREAT project for a DIY article. You get yourself
> an LED array and one of the cheap multiplex driver chips, then you get a
> UART rigged to convert the serial stream to BCD and clock it in. Fun digital
> project.
>
> You might even be able to get a big digital wall clock and use the driver
> electronics and LEDs from it.
> --scott
>

[Scott Dorsey]

S O'Neill > wrote:
>How about an 8051 or derivative decoding MTC? It has a serial port that just
>*happens* to run at 31250 bps, and plenty of I/O to drive digit segments.

That would do it nicely, or even an 8048 thing. I'd probably do it with TTL
personally, but the microcontroller route might be easier.
--scott

--
"C'est un Nagra. C'est suisse, et tres, tres precis."

[Michael R. Kesti]

Scott Dorsey wrote:

>S O'Neill > wrote:
>>How about an 8051 or derivative decoding MTC? It has a serial port that just
>>*happens* to run at 31250 bps, and plenty of I/O to drive digit segments.
>
>That would do it nicely, or even an 8048 thing. I'd probably do it with TTL
>personally, but the microcontroller route might be easier.

It just so happens that last year, while I was not otherwise employed,
I designed 8051-based hardware that provides MIDI IN, OUT, and THRU, a
four bit DIP switch, and 24 bits of I/O on three 8X2 headers. I have an
ExpressPCB (http://www.expresspcb.com) layout completed but have not yet
had it fabricated. It's a variation on my Urge To Merge device
(http://www.gv.net/~mkesti) whose software I could readily adapt and
extend to decode received MTC and output BCD, 7-segment, or ASCII
parallel data. I picture multiplexing the data using one header to
output the data and another to output 8 bits of digit select.

How many of you might be interested? How much might you be willing to pay
for such a board, fully assembled, programmed, and tested? Remember that
you would still need to interface to a display to obtain a complete clock.
I suppose that I could design, lay out, and build a display board or two,
too. Then all purchasers would need to do is package the boards to get a
complete clock.

I might be convinced to proceed if I feel there is sufficient interest.

--
================================================== ======================
Michael Kesti | "And like, one and one don't make
| two, one and one make one."
| - The Who, Bargain

[Mike Rivers]

In article > writes:

> How many of you might be interested? How much might you be willing to pay
> for such a board, fully assembled, programmed, and tested? Remember that
> you would still need to interface to a display to obtain a complete clock.

$100, but for that YOU have to interface the display. Maybe Scott's
idea of using a Radio Shack digital clock would give you a display,
power supply, and case.

And I'd prefer that it work from SMPTE time code rather than MIDI time
code, but I could live with it.


--
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 here: double-m-eleven-double-zero at yahoo

[James Perrett]

Mike Rivers wrote:
>
> In article > writes:
>
> > >Has anyone seen one of these recently, or know where I
> > >could get one?
> >
> > Made in Canada
> >
> > Leitch Technologies
>
> But they're all so friggin' expensive. I want a big LED time code
> display over my console that I can drive with the time code out of my
> HDR24/96 but I don't want to pay $300+ for a little LCD.
>
> There was one that Midiman sold quite a while ago that I had my eye
> on. I think Analogeezer ended up with it after the power supply
> finally showed up. Don't know if it ever worked out. But I've never
> seen another one for sale used.
>

Did the XRI Systems SMPTE to MIDI synchronisers ever make it to the USA?
They had a big LED time readout. Another alternative would be a Fostex
4050 remote control - I've seen them go for under 100 pounds here. And
following up Bob Smith's reply - I have a similar MTC display program
with MMC control at http://www.soc.soton.ac.uk/OED/jrp/locate.html which
I wrote before finding that Bob had done almost exactly the same thing.

Cheers.

James.

[Rob Reedijk]

Ben > wrote:
> Hi guys,
> I have a Mackie SDR24/96. I'm trying to figure out a way of having a
> large external display showing the hours/mins/secs/frames clock for my
> studio. All I need is effectively a replica of the red LED display
> from the front of the SDR24/96, just bigger!

> I'm sure I've seen something like this before being sold on e-bay:
> think it might have been designed to connect to SMPTE outputs of
> digital multitracks, or it could have been the ADAT sync connector.

> Has anyone seen one of these recently, or know where I could get one?
> Failing that, does anyone have links to resources where I could work
> out how to build somthing like this myself? Would SMPTE or ADAT sync
> provide the simplest source of this timing position data?

How about an old/used Steinberg SMP? That was the Atari rack-mounted
syncronizer. The neat thing is it has a fairly large LED display. It
will work as a standalone SMPTE/MTC sycnronizer. Just feed it SMPTE.

Want something bigger? Find some old computer based sequencer that runs
on a pentium 1 or something, that allows you to blow up the T/C display.

Rob R.

[James Perrett]

Rob Reedijk wrote:
>
> Want something bigger? Find some old computer based sequencer that runs
> on a pentium 1 or something, that allows you to blow up the T/C display.
>
> Rob R.

Voyetra's Sequencer Plus is now free from the Voyetra web site and it
runs on just about any PC from an 8088 upwards. It has a large character
SMPTE display as far as I remember.

Cheers.

James.

[Ben]

Thanks guys for all the responses on this subject. My studio is still in its
infancy and I'm just at the stage of trying to 'get with the times' and
involve the computer and sync everything properly etc, and both of the
simple computer based MTC controllers look just the ticket. Thanks to both
posters for the pointers.

However... my computer currently doesn't have a dedicaed MIDI card, only the
port which is part of the onboard sound (which of course I do not use).
There appears to be a driver installed to operate this MIDI port (which is
the 15 pin 'joystick' type) and according to Device manager it is working (I
realise this means very little in reality).

I've set the multitrack to chase MTC (tried all the different settings), but
it just won't respond to the PC's transport or track arm commands at all.
The cable I'm using is one meant for connecting keyboards to the PC. I'm
guessing this is the most likely problem? Would the best idea be to get a
MIDI card for the PC with propper in and out connectors (and drivers I know
are for the correct device!) and just use standard 5 pin cables, or are
there other troubleshoot options? Am I missing something obvious?

Incidentally I also tried setting the SDR to generate MTC itself, and
connected the cable to its MIDI out to see if the PC would simply display
the time info (which was my most basic requirement) but it wouldn't even do
that.

Thanks again for previous replies!

Ben.

[S O'Neill]

Ben wrote:

> However... my computer currently doesn't have a dedicaed MIDI card, only the
> port which is part of the onboard sound (which of course I do not use).

It's been awhile since I did MIDI on a peecee, and then I used an
MQX-32M or whatever, but I thought this worked, for the cost of a $15
adaptor (music store item). The adaptors even patch through to a joystick.

IOW, I don't understand the "of course" part, unless you're referring to
windoze' tendency to not be all there.

[Dave Martin]

"S O'Neill" > wrote in message
...

> It's been awhile since I did MIDI on a peecee, and then I used an
> MQX-32M or whatever, but I thought this worked, for the cost of a $15
> adaptor (music store item). The adaptors even patch through to a
joystick.
>
> IOW, I don't understand the "of course" part, unless you're referring to
> windoze' tendency to not be all there.
>
Unfortunately, most computers these days don't come with an ISA slot (which
that card is), and there aren't any drivers for the MQX-32M for anything
past (I believe) Win 95. I have a couple of unusable Musiquest cards...

--
Dave Martin
Java Jive Studio
Nashville, TN
www.javajivestudio.com

[Ben]

> It's been awhile since I did MIDI on a peecee, and then I used an
> MQX-32M or whatever

Was this card only ever produced in ISA format? I had my eye on one and
assumed (without really looking at it properly) that it was PCI... good job
this issue has been brought up, I'll have to check that. Are there any more
recent cards doing effectively the same thing but PCI? All the current MIDI
stuff seems to be USB these days... is this the only way to go? I'd prefer a
card if possible simply for tidyness.

> IOW, I don't understand the "of course" part, unless you're referring to
> windoze' tendency to not be all there.

I just meant that 'of course' I don't use the on-board sound card for my
studio work (because its useless, very much like most on-board and other
'consumer grade' sound cards in terms ofl audio quality). I have a 'real'
sound card, with balanced in/out etc, but unfortunately no MIDI capability.

[S O'Neill]

Ben wrote:

> Was this card only ever produced in ISA format? I had my eye on one and
> assumed (without really looking at it properly) that it was PCI... good job
> this issue has been brought up, I'll have to check that. Are there any more
> recent cards doing effectively the same thing but PCI? All the current MIDI
> stuff seems to be USB these days... is this the only way to go? I'd prefer a
> card if possible simply for tidyness.

It's ISA only, and they're out of business anyway. Don't know about PCI
MIDI, I use USB on my Mac.

> I just meant that 'of course' I don't use the on-board sound card for my
> studio work (because its useless, very much like most on-board and other
> 'consumer grade' sound cards in terms ofl audio quality). I have a 'real'
> sound card, with balanced in/out etc, but unfortunately no MIDI capability.

You are wise to ignore the sound card for audio, but MIDI is a
very-low-bandwidth system, but you should at least see how your built-in
MIDI performs, it could save you a bunch of buxx.

[david]

In article >, Ben
> wrote:

> Incidentally I also tried setting the SDR to generate MTC itself, and
> connected the cable to its MIDI out to see if the PC would simply display
> the time info (which was my most basic requirement) but it wouldn't even do
> that.


I know this is slightly off what you're looking for, but if you get
something that will spit out real time code, I'd highly recommend an
Otari EC-201 Time Code Reader/Refresher. You can buy them occasionally
on ebay for around $100. It's a very well made, solid little box that
reads out timecode that's very easy to read. I have one on the bridge
of my console to see where am in Protools. Very nice. But you have to
feed it TC.



David Correia
Celebration Sound
Warren, Rhode Island


www.CelebrationSound.com

[Mike Rivers]

In article > writes:

> > It's been awhile since I did MIDI on a peecee, and then I used an
> > MQX-32M or whatever
>
> Was this card only ever produced in ISA format?

Yes. Music Quest got bought out by Opcode before PCI became popular
enough for Music Quest to design a card. David Rowe, the owner and
most of the brains behind Music Quest, became Opcode's chief engineer
for audio products for a while, and designed a couple of serial and
maybe a PCI card for them, but then they went out of the interface
business. I don't know where David is now, but I hope he's happy and
well off. His partner-in-crime and chief tech support person, Paul
Messick, is still around and pops up here on rare occasions.

> assumed (without really looking at it properly) that it was PCI... good job
> this issue has been brought up, I'll have to check that. Are there any more
> recent cards doing effectively the same thing but PCI?

Nothing that straightforward. There are some multi-port PCI, serial,
parallel, and now probalby USB MIDI interfaces that support SMPTE, but
the MQX-32M and its little brother the MQX-16S were the only
SMPTE/MIDI cards at the time.



--
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 here: double-m-eleven-double-zero at yahoo

[Mike Rivers]

In article > writes:

> I know this is slightly off what you're looking for, but if you get
> something that will spit out real time code, I'd highly recommend an
> Otari EC-201 Time Code Reader/Refresher. You can buy them occasionally
> on ebay for around $100.

I never have any luck finding what I want in eBay and actually buying
it for the price I'm willing to pay. If anyone has one of these for
sale for $100, let me know. That's my offer for an easy-to-read time
code display that takes SMPTE in.



--
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 here: double-m-eleven-double-zero at yahoo

[Bob Smith]

James Perrett wrote:
>

> Did the XRI Systems SMPTE to MIDI synchronisers ever make it to the USA?
> They had a big LED time readout. Another alternative would be a Fostex
> 4050 remote control - I've seen them go for under 100 pounds here. And
> following up Bob Smith's reply - I have a similar MTC display program
> with MMC control at http://www.soc.soton.ac.uk/OED/jrp/locate.html which
> I wrote before finding that Bob had done almost exactly the same thing.

Nice job, James. Goes to show, brilliant minds think alike. <g>

bobs

Bob Smith
BS Studios
we organize chaos
http://www.bsstudios.com

[James Perrett]

Mike Rivers wrote:
>
> In article > writes:
>
> > I know this is slightly off what you're looking for, but if you get
> > something that will spit out real time code, I'd highly recommend an
> > Otari EC-201 Time Code Reader/Refresher. You can buy them occasionally
> > on ebay for around $100.
>
> I never have any luck finding what I want in eBay and actually buying
> it for the price I'm willing to pay. If anyone has one of these for
> sale for $100, let me know. That's my offer for an easy-to-read time
> code display that takes SMPTE in.

I entered smpte in the search box on the UK version of Ebay and it came
up with two XRI systems boxes for the equivalent of around $50 each.
There were a few others too.

Cheers.

James.

[Mike Rivers]

In article > writes:

> I entered smpte in the search box on the UK version of Ebay and it came
> up with two XRI systems boxes for the equivalent of around $50 each.
> There were a few others too.

I really, really, really want to make a straghtforward purchase from a
person. I looked there too and saw a Midiman Syncman Pro for too much
money, rightfully with no bids. If the seller (or someone else) is
reading this and wants to make a sensible deal, contact 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 here: double-m-eleven-double-zero at yahoo

[nmm]

On Wed, Nov 12, 2003 12:37 PM, Scott Dorsey >
wrote:
>In article <znr1068601505k@trad>, Mike Rivers <mrivers@d-
>and-d.com> wrote:
>>In article >
>writes:
>>
>>> >Has anyone seen one of these recently, or know where I
>>> >could get one?
>>>
>>> Made in Canada
>>>
>>> Leitch Technologies
>>
>>But they're all so friggin' expensive. I want a big LED
>time code
>>display over my console that I can drive with the time
>code out of my
>>HDR24/96 but I don't want to pay $300+ for a little LCD.
>
>So, this sounds like a GREAT project for a DIY article.
>You get yourself
>an LED array and one of the cheap multiplex driver chips,
>then you get a
>UART rigged to convert the serial stream to BCD and clock
>it in. Fun digital
>project.
>
>You might even be able to get a big digital wall clock and
>use the driver
>electronics and LEDs from it.
>--scott
>
>--
>"C'est un Nagra. C'est suisse, et tres, tres precis."
>

Dos it have to be an LED Display?

I mean after looking at this thread .. and thinking My Mac Plus used to
have a Clock program, and could follow Midi.. How hard would it be to
translate SMPTE pulse waves into somethig that could be put up on the
screen of my Old Mac Plus, that has been gathering dust for many years ..
But can't get rid of because it's got Woz, and Jobbs names embossed on
the inside of the case.


Wasn't there a program that ran in sys 5/6 that did this?

[Mike Rivers]

In article > writes:

> Dos it have to be an LED Display?

Maybe not for someone else, but for me it does.

> I mean after looking at this thread .. and thinking My Mac Plus used to
> have a Clock program, and could follow Midi.. How hard would it be to
> translate SMPTE pulse waves into somethig that could be put up on the
> screen of my Old Mac Plus, that has been gathering dust for many years ..

Not that hard, in fact I have several programs I could run on my
computer that display time code. However, the computer isn't the
center of my universe when I'm mixing, my console is. The computer
monitor is perpendicular to the console, over to my left. I couldn't
face forward and see the monitor at the same time. A computer monitor
placed in front of me would take up too much space. A single rack
space panel or 1/3 to 1/2 rack width box on top of the console is just
the ticket. And in a room that isn't always brightly lit, an LED is
easier to read than an LCD.



--
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 here: double-m-eleven-double-zero at yahoo