Ezbus And Ez8 Discussion, Continued from other thread... Options

[Levon River]

Or: how efforts at clarification become greater confusion.

First, there is a report from Yukele (in another thread) that BusError wrote some driver or drivers for the Event EZBus and/or the Event EZ8 PCI card for OS X. My efforts to get more information just resulted in greater confusion. So let me lay this out as simply and completely as possible.

Clearly and unequivocally, it's the Event EZBus (digital mixer, audio/MIDI interface, and control surface unit) that has *both* USB and digital (S/PDIF and ADAT Lightpipe) I/O capabilities. The only way to connect it directly to the Mac, though, is via USB, *unless* you have a supported S/PDIF and/or ADAT digital interface to your computer of some sort. Which is where Event's companion EZ8 PCI card comes in.

The EZ8 is a PCI card that has the same two DIGITAL I/O types that the EZBus has, allowing a user to connect the EZBus to the COMPUTER via S/PDIF and/or ADAT Lightpipe, in *addition* to the two-channel USB I/O that the EZBus unit has on board for direct connection to the computer.

So I am and have been all clear on that and don't need any info on what types of I/O either of the two units supports, because I know that going in. That fully established, here are my original questions from the other thread, and hopefully BusError can respond:

Official Request for Clarification: Okay, now, I just got it from what I will describe as "an unimpeachable source" that Event is planning to have Mac support for their EZ8 PCI card, which is the only way I know of that the EZBus can push 8 channels in and out of a computer. It sure ain't going to do it through USB.

So I am aquiver with questions (which I guess only BusError can answer, but probably only within the strictures of a non-disclosure agreement--which probably means not at all.) But of course I'm going to ask anyway.

1. When you [Yukelel] say buserror made "the driver for OS X," uh, what driver is that? Generally, the OS X driver for the EZBus itself, meaning, I guess, for the USB I/O? Or...

2. Is he doing the driver for the EZ8? Or...

3. Is he doing/did he do (sigh) drivers for both? Or...

4. Does it all mean something else altogether that somebody needs to walk me through without using big words?

BTW, these aren't just idle curiosity questions. I am about --><-- that far away from springing for the EZBus on the basis that I *will*, at some point, be able to push and pull 8 channels through the digital I/O, so any specific information would be greatly appreciated.

[BusError]

The EZBus doesn't need any particular driver for OSX. it works fine with Apple's driver, thats a blessing.

What I did is a driver for the EZ8 PCI card; you can plug both it's ADAT connectors in the EZBus 2 ADAT connectors, and you then have 8 24/48 channels both ways between the mixer and the mac; with tiny latency.
You also still have the 2*2 channels over USB, if you needed them ;-)

The driver is a prototype, there is no word from event as to when and how it will be available. It is not finished, anyway.

And to answer your questions about how it works, I'd say "damn well". I've hand coded in assembly language the sensitive audio path not to lose a microsecond for no valid reason.

For now I can present a 8 channels interlaced input and output to the system. it works perfectly with the system (as 'audio out') or in Peak.

I have a plan; if I have time; to also present 'shadow' devices for stereo 1&2, 3&4, 5&6 and 7&8 independantly, so you could assign a program to 2 channels independantly of it's capabilities.

There, that answer the questions?

As always, I reiterate I bought the EZbus before I worked for Event; just because I tought it was a really cool device; and well, with the EZ8, its amazing :-)

I have the EZBus in a mode that sends the main mix on ADAT 1&2, Alternate on 3&4, and the sends on 5,6,7 & 8.
If I want to record the mix, well, it's easy. If I want to record a pair of channels from the EZBus, I select them as 'Sends' with 0dB and record them on 3&4 for example.

I'm also preparing (iven time as always, no promise) a small tool that displays the status of the 16 channels as small vu meters in the Dock icon.

[Levon River]

There, that answer the questions?

Ohhhhhh, man, does it ever!

That is great news indeed.

Kudos and garlands to you, BusError. I hope it comes to fruition soon, that Event rewards you well, and that they speed (I didn't say "rush") it to market.

I think the EZBus/EZ8/OS X combination will become a very popular recipe for making music, especially as the DAW packages start hitting the market and control-surface maps for them become available.

I've looked at the existing control-surface maps you can download from their site (just in a text editor), and though I can't tell exactly what is going on, the things are pretty tiny; it doesn't look (to a non-programmer, at least) like there's all that much to them. (That may be an idiotic assessment, but I've also looked at their docs for rolling your own control-surface MIDI assignments--which you can save on the machine, as I understand it--and it looks like it could be done pretty easily with a little investment of time.)

Well, this is great news. Very promising news indeed.

[BusError]

Here, I made a small Docklet that displays the levels of the 16 channels. It's programmer's art, and it's 1/2h old so be kind

http://www.pollet.net/ez8status.pdf

[Levon River]

Here, I made a small Docklet that displays the levels of the 16 channels. It's programmer's art, and it's 1/2h old so be kind  :D

http://www.pollet.net/ez8status.pdf

Wow, BusError, that's great! I think I've figured out what's going on, but would you care to provide a caption for the picture?

What's confusing me a bit is that it looks like in the docklet there's a signal on 1+2, 7+8. 9+10, and 13+14 of the EZBus, but in the Spark record window it says the Source is 5+6, and there's a stereo signal in the meters.

I know that one of the main features of the EZBus is the ability to bus-route things like mad, but that part in the picture has me scratching me 'ead. What am I missing?

Anyway, I really appreciate your going to all the trouble to put that up for a sneak peek. Pretty darn exciting.

(Except, do something about that d@|||n dock, for the love of Aunt Mary! It looks like my garage.)

[BusError]

No, what you are seeing is not the EZBus, it is the EZ8. the top line is the outputs from 1 to 8 (left to right), the bottom line is the inputs from 1 to 8.

In this case the EZBus was configured as "Mixers + Sends" for ADAT output. So I had main mix on 1&2, alternate mix on 3&4, and some music on sends 1&2 (thus on optical 5&6)

So, in the screenshot, I have iTunes playing on output 1&2, and Spark recording the inputs 5&6 and sending them back on optical 7&8.

There are 3 or four way you can send your audio from the EZbus to the EZ8, the "mixes + sends" is a good general one. There is also a "line input" that literaly sends the 8 EZbus channels to the 8 opticals drectly.

What? Whats wrong with my dock? this is a WORKING dock, sir, not one of those pretty-for-the-picture one !

[Levon River]

No, what you are seeing is not the EZBus, it is the EZ8. the top line is the outputs from 1 to 8 (left to right), the bottom line is the inputs from 1 to 8.

Generally: Doh! And: OhhhHHHHhhh.

So, in the screenshot, I have iTunes playing on output 1&2, and Spark recording the inputs 5&6 and sending them back on optical 7&8.

There are 3 or four way you can send your audio from the EZbus to the EZ8, the "mixes + sends" is a good general one. There is also a "line input" that literaly sends the 8 EZbus channels to the 8 opticals drectly.

That's outstanding. All of those routing options is one of the great features of that combination of EZBus and EZ8, it seems to me. On several of the input channels, you can gang and sum sources--like several synths on one channel--as well, can't you?

What? Whats wrong with my dock? this is a WORKING dock, sir, not one of those pretty-for-the-picture one !

Well, just don't let my wife see it; you'll never hear the end of it.

[BusError]

That's outstanding. All of those routing options is one of the great features of that combination of EZBus and EZ8, it seems to me. On several of the input channels, you can gang and sum sources--like several synths on one channel--as well, can't you?

Oh yes, 4 of the analogic INs (ADC) have in fact 3 jacks each, so you can indeed plug 12 mono sources in there. Note that each group of 3 has only one trim, but thats very easy to change on the unit you plug in anyway.

There are 18 input jacks on the face, plus two mikes (with phantom power)

What? Whats wrong with my dock? this is a WORKING dock, sir, not one of those pretty-for-the-picture one !

Well, just don't let my wife see it; you'll never hear the end of it.

I compensate by having a lurvely desktop picture; that i rarely get to see of course