dmnieto
Well-known member
I recently bought Skylar's ada8824 which was the OEM version with the RS232 I/F instead of the MIDI.
Searching around it seems that there is no software to control the unit and set the input/output gain. Even symetrix claims that it is impossible. http://www.symetrix.co/forum/viewtopic.php?f=9&t=295
Well, that is not true. I managed to make it work. It is simply the same MIDI protocol they have but over RS232
You simply need three things:
(1) an UART port in your computer (or buy a USB to RS232 adapter, they are quite cheap)
(2) a terminal with Hex support. (I use Coolterm http://freeware.the-meiers.org/)
(3) the manual for the ADAT standalone version (if you need to know the commands)
Then setup the UART port with the following config:
9600 baud/8 bit data/1 stop/no parity/no flow control
Next power off the ada8824, flip the dip switch (1) down, connect the RS232 cable and power on the unit.
Your unit will now spew a lot of data, go to HEX mode and then look for a message with this format.
F0 00 00 5E 58 XX 05 20 F7. => XX is your unit number, retain that.
Send the hex code F0 00 00 5E 58 XX 70 00 F7, and the unit will return a string:
F0 00 00 5E 58 XX 05 70 I8 I7 I6 I5 I4 I3 I2 I1 O8 O7 O6 O5 O4 O3 O2 O1 F7
where I8-1 are the input gains, I8-1 the output gains.
Originally in my unit there were set to 0x60, to set both the input and output to +4dBu standard, the code is the following:
F0 00 00 5E 58 XX 30 58 58 58 58 58 58 58 58 61 61 61 61 61 61 61 61 F7
The unit should return F0 00 00 5E 58 XX 05 30 F7.
And now you can power down the unit again and set the DIP1 back to up, the gain changes are persistent
Searching around it seems that there is no software to control the unit and set the input/output gain. Even symetrix claims that it is impossible. http://www.symetrix.co/forum/viewtopic.php?f=9&t=295
Well, that is not true. I managed to make it work. It is simply the same MIDI protocol they have but over RS232
You simply need three things:
(1) an UART port in your computer (or buy a USB to RS232 adapter, they are quite cheap)
(2) a terminal with Hex support. (I use Coolterm http://freeware.the-meiers.org/)
(3) the manual for the ADAT standalone version (if you need to know the commands)
Then setup the UART port with the following config:
9600 baud/8 bit data/1 stop/no parity/no flow control
Next power off the ada8824, flip the dip switch (1) down, connect the RS232 cable and power on the unit.
Your unit will now spew a lot of data, go to HEX mode and then look for a message with this format.
F0 00 00 5E 58 XX 05 20 F7. => XX is your unit number, retain that.
Send the hex code F0 00 00 5E 58 XX 70 00 F7, and the unit will return a string:
F0 00 00 5E 58 XX 05 70 I8 I7 I6 I5 I4 I3 I2 I1 O8 O7 O6 O5 O4 O3 O2 O1 F7
where I8-1 are the input gains, I8-1 the output gains.
Originally in my unit there were set to 0x60, to set both the input and output to +4dBu standard, the code is the following:
F0 00 00 5E 58 XX 30 58 58 58 58 58 58 58 58 61 61 61 61 61 61 61 61 F7
The unit should return F0 00 00 5E 58 XX 05 30 F7.
And now you can power down the unit again and set the DIP1 back to up, the gain changes are persistent
