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<p style=" margin-top:0px; margin-bottom:0px; margin-left:0px; margin-right:0px; -qt-block-indent:0; text-indent:0px; -qt-user-state:0;">On November 5, 2012 05:16:06 PM Tim E. Real wrote:<br /></p>
<p style=" margin-top:12px; margin-bottom:0px; margin-left:40px; margin-right:40px; -qt-block-indent:0; text-indent:0px; -qt-user-state:0;">On November 5, 2012 04:06:34 PM you wrote:<br /></p>
<p style=" margin-top:12px; margin-bottom:12px; margin-left:80px; margin-right:80px; -qt-block-indent:0; text-indent:0px; -qt-user-state:0;"><br /><br /></p>
<p style=" margin-top:0px; margin-bottom:0px; margin-left:80px; margin-right:80px; -qt-block-indent:0; text-indent:0px; -qt-user-state:0;">On Mon, Nov 5, 2012 at 3:51 PM, Tim E. Real <<a href="mailto:termtech@rogers.com"><span style=" text-decoration: underline; color:#0057ae;">termtech@rogers.com</span></a>> wrote:<br /></p>
<p style=" margin-top:0px; margin-bottom:0px; margin-left:84px; margin-right:80px; -qt-block-indent:0; text-indent:0px; -qt-user-state:0;">On November 5, 2012 06:59:12 AM you wrote:<br /></p>
<p style=" margin-top:12px; margin-bottom:12px; margin-left:124px; margin-right:120px; -qt-block-indent:0; text-indent:0px; -qt-user-state:0;"><br /><br /></p>
<p style=" margin-top:0px; margin-bottom:0px; margin-left:124px; margin-right:120px; -qt-block-indent:0; text-indent:0px; -qt-user-state:0;">On Mon, Nov 5, 2012 at 4:19 AM, Tim E. Real <<a href="mailto:termtech@rogers.com"><span style=" text-decoration: underline; color:#0057ae;">termtech@rogers.com</span></a>> wrote:<br /></p>
<p style=" margin-top:0px; margin-bottom:0px; margin-left:128px; margin-right:120px; -qt-block-indent:0; text-indent:0px; -qt-user-state:0;"><br />His converters are external. Does ALSA know how to work with<br /> such converters? I'll read a bit more tomorrow. I bet some better answers<br /> will appear here though...<br /></p>
<p style=" margin-top:0px; margin-bottom:0px; margin-left:124px; margin-right:120px; -qt-block-indent:0; text-indent:0px; -qt-user-state:0;"><br />external converters are invisible to ALSA, just as they are to CoreAudio or any other audio API. they exist on the "far side" of the device being controlled by the driver, and only exist as far as the driver is concerned in an indirect sense - they might control word clock-driven sample rate, for example. <br /></p>
<p style=" margin-top:0px; margin-bottom:0px; margin-left:84px; margin-right:80px; -qt-block-indent:0; text-indent:0px; -qt-user-state:0;"><br /><br />Thanks Paul.</p>
<p style=" margin-top:0px; margin-bottom:0px; margin-left:84px; margin-right:80px; -qt-block-indent:0; text-indent:0px; -qt-user-state:0;">Wow that's a bummer. No external converters?</p>
<p style=" margin-top:0px; margin-bottom:0px; margin-left:80px; margin-right:80px; -qt-block-indent:0; text-indent:0px; -qt-user-state:0;"><br />i use(d to use) them all the time (they died and are currently in a repair queue). there's absolutely no problem with external converters.<br /> </p>
<p style=" margin-top:0px; margin-bottom:0px; margin-left:84px; margin-right:80px; -qt-block-indent:0; text-indent:0px; -qt-user-state:0;"> </p>
<p style=" margin-top:0px; margin-bottom:0px; margin-left:84px; margin-right:80px; -qt-block-indent:0; text-indent:0px; -qt-user-state:0;">Is there no mechanism to set the converter levels other than hard-coded hacks?</p>
<p style=" margin-top:0px; margin-bottom:0px; margin-left:80px; margin-right:80px; -qt-block-indent:0; text-indent:0px; -qt-user-state:0;"><br />i think you're confused tim. external converters generally have no controls at all. they are hardware boxes with a few switches here and there. there are often no levels to set, and if there are, its under h/w control (and/or physical alteration as is the case with my tango24's)<br /><br /></p>
<p style=" margin-top:0px; margin-bottom:0px; margin-left:84px; margin-right:80px; -qt-block-indent:0; text-indent:0px; -qt-user-state:0;">Could this be solved be someone writing a userspace app to do it,</p>
<p style=" margin-top:0px; margin-bottom:0px; margin-left:84px; margin-right:80px; -qt-block-indent:0; text-indent:0px; -qt-user-state:0;">or is this more of a core ALSA problem which would need wider fixing?</p>
<p style=" margin-top:0px; margin-bottom:0px; margin-left:80px; margin-right:80px; -qt-block-indent:0; text-indent:0px; -qt-user-state:0;"><br />there is no problem to fix. computer OS drivers do not get to reach "beyond" the devices they control to toggle parameters on unknown devices that may or may not actually exist. its that simple. my RME device driver has no idea what type of converters i am using, and no reason to do so. this is what protocols are for :)<br /></p>
<p style=" margin-top:0px; margin-bottom:0px; margin-left:40px; margin-right:40px; -qt-block-indent:0; text-indent:0px; -qt-user-state:0;">Are you talking about straight converters with either no, or just local</p>
<p style=" margin-top:0px; margin-bottom:0px; margin-left:40px; margin-right:40px; -qt-block-indent:0; text-indent:0px; -qt-user-state:0;"> level controls, aka regular old SPDIF converters? Sure, I understand.</p>
<p style=" margin-top:0px; margin-bottom:0px; margin-left:40px; margin-right:40px; -qt-block-indent:0; text-indent:0px; -qt-user-state:0;"><br />From the website:</p>
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<p style=" margin-top:0px; margin-bottom:0px; margin-left:0px; margin-right:0px; -qt-block-indent:0; text-indent:0px; -qt-user-state:0;"><span style=" font-family:'Verdana, Arial, Helvetica'; font-size:small;">ADC&DAC2000 external rack uses AKM AK4524 ADC/DAC (24bit/96kHz, 100dB S/N ratio a-weighted) converters on all stereo inputs and outputs</span></p></td></tr>
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<p style=" margin-top:0px; margin-bottom:0px; margin-left:0px; margin-right:0px; -qt-block-indent:0; text-indent:0px; -qt-user-state:0;"><img src="http://www.st-audio.de/images/leer.gif" width="5" height="5" style="vertical-align: top;" /></p></td>
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<p style="-qt-paragraph-type:empty; margin-top:0px; margin-bottom:0px; margin-left:0px; margin-right:0px; -qt-block-indent:0; text-indent:0px; "> </p>
<p style=" margin-top:0px; margin-bottom:0px; margin-left:40px; margin-right:40px; -qt-block-indent:0; text-indent:0px; -qt-user-state:0;">The chip's datasheet says it has digital output attenuators and </p>
<p style=" margin-top:0px; margin-bottom:0px; margin-left:40px; margin-right:40px; -qt-block-indent:0; text-indent:0px; -qt-user-state:0;"> input gain attenuators.</p>
<p style=" margin-top:0px; margin-bottom:0px; margin-left:40px; margin-right:40px; -qt-block-indent:0; text-indent:0px; -qt-user-state:0;">So there needs to be a way to set their digital levels, at very </p>
<p style=" margin-top:0px; margin-bottom:0px; margin-left:40px; margin-right:40px; -qt-block-indent:0; text-indent:0px; -qt-user-state:0;"> least initialize them - which I know with my card and a fresh install of </p>
<p style=" margin-top:0px; margin-bottom:0px; margin-left:40px; margin-right:40px; -qt-block-indent:0; text-indent:0px; -qt-user-state:0;"> some distro always start out at zero. I think that's the poster's problem.</p>
<p style="-qt-paragraph-type:empty; margin-top:0px; margin-bottom:0px; margin-left:0px; margin-right:0px; -qt-block-indent:0; text-indent:0px; "> </p>
<p style=" margin-top:0px; margin-bottom:0px; margin-left:40px; margin-right:40px; -qt-block-indent:0; text-indent:0px; -qt-user-state:0;">This is what the analog section of the Envy24 and Mudita24 mixer apps</p>
<p style=" margin-top:0px; margin-bottom:0px; margin-left:40px; margin-right:40px; -qt-block-indent:0; text-indent:0px; -qt-user-state:0;"> are supposed to show - but I think only if the chip is on-board. </p>
<p style=" margin-top:0px; margin-bottom:0px; margin-left:40px; margin-right:40px; -qt-block-indent:0; text-indent:0px; -qt-user-state:0;">I thought that because the chip is not on the card, some bus can't see it</p>
<p style=" margin-top:0px; margin-bottom:0px; margin-left:40px; margin-right:40px; -qt-block-indent:0; text-indent:0px; -qt-user-state:0;"> so ALSA can't see it, requiring some extra layer of communication.</p>
<p style="-qt-paragraph-type:empty; margin-top:0px; margin-bottom:0px; margin-left:0px; margin-right:0px; -qt-block-indent:0; text-indent:0px; "> </p>
<p style=" margin-top:0px; margin-bottom:0px; margin-left:40px; margin-right:40px; -qt-block-indent:0; text-indent:0px; -qt-user-state:0;">I mean there's got to be a path to the chips somewhere.</p>
<p style="-qt-paragraph-type:empty; margin-top:0px; margin-bottom:0px; margin-left:0px; margin-right:0px; -qt-block-indent:0; text-indent:0px; "> </p>
<p style=" margin-top:0px; margin-bottom:0px; margin-left:40px; margin-right:40px; -qt-block-indent:0; text-indent:0px; -qt-user-state:0;">Tim.</p>
<p style="-qt-paragraph-type:empty; margin-top:0px; margin-bottom:0px; margin-left:0px; margin-right:0px; -qt-block-indent:0; text-indent:0px; "> </p>
<p style=" margin-top:0px; margin-bottom:0px; margin-left:0px; margin-right:0px; -qt-block-indent:0; text-indent:0px; -qt-user-state:0;">Apparently, that connection path is called "H-Bus". </p>
<p style=" margin-top:0px; margin-bottom:0px; margin-left:0px; margin-right:0px; -qt-block-indent:0; text-indent:0px; -qt-user-state:0;">http://www.staudio.de/kb/english/h-bus/index.html<br /></p>
<p style=" margin-top:0px; margin-bottom:0px; margin-left:0px; margin-right:0px; -qt-block-indent:0; text-indent:0px; -qt-user-state:0;">And here's the Windows app to control it, levels and all:</p>
<p style=" margin-top:0px; margin-bottom:0px; margin-left:0px; margin-right:0px; -qt-block-indent:0; text-indent:0px; -qt-user-state:0;">http://www.staudio.de/kb/english/el/index.html</p>
<p style="-qt-paragraph-type:empty; margin-top:0px; margin-bottom:0px; margin-left:0px; margin-right:0px; -qt-block-indent:0; text-indent:0px; "> </p>
<p style=" margin-top:0px; margin-bottom:0px; margin-left:0px; margin-right:0px; -qt-block-indent:0; text-indent:0px; -qt-user-state:0;">Wow, I don't know about this. Anyone out there have any </p>
<p style=" margin-top:0px; margin-bottom:0px; margin-left:0px; margin-right:0px; -qt-block-indent:0; text-indent:0px; -qt-user-state:0;"> Linux experience with this? </p>
<p style=" margin-top:0px; margin-bottom:0px; margin-left:0px; margin-right:0px; -qt-block-indent:0; text-indent:0px; -qt-user-state:0;"><br />Tim.</p></body></html>