How to convert midi to vca CV to automate my Sony MXP2000 . . or anything else!

[strangeandbouncy]

Hi Guys,


  I have a Sony/MCI MXP-2000 console. It's Awesome. Solid, reliable, maintenance free(so far . . . ) Sounds fantastic, and Has been used for many many projects. I love it! Great for Protools.

  It has a dbx2151 vca per channel which is multifunctional. It controls channel fader, vca grouping, and dynamics. I have just noticed on the schematic, that there are more control options for each vca card, since the desk was also designed to be controllable by a video automation system. I haven't worked out just how yet, but there appears to be an accessible port for each vca card.

  What grabs me is that it might be possible to actually AUTOMATE my faders. I am sick of only being able to automate "In The Box", ie PRE any dynamic processing. I am aware that several manufacturers have made midi controlled automation systems(Mackie?), and wonder if anyone has any suggestions as to how to implement this. I would be very happy with only a few(actually even just one!) faders "automatable" at the end of the day.

  I do accept that I might be asking too much, but would seriously welcome any suggestions. If it is not possible to adapt anything currently or previously made, perhaps someone else around here would welcome a project to add some "analogue" automation to their otherwise uncontrollable analogue processing via good old MIDI?


  Kindest regards,



        ANdyP

 

[strangeandbouncy]

Maybe I should clarify,


  I just want vca to "playback" whatever the DAW tells the vca to do. I don't need to record from the Sony Fader. . . .



  How about breaking a Soundcraft Spirit Auto for the relevent bits?



    ANdyP

 

[jackies]

There's a number of midi-to-cv controllers, used primarily in synth diy.
Check out ucapps.de, they have pretty cool stuff, pcbs available too..
Build a needed number of those controllers and you good to go...

 

[ruairioflaherty]

Hi Andy,

I've thought about this some and I had one idea which I have not had the time to follow through on.  I have and use a Mackie control and I was also given a baby Hui at some point.  They work pretty seamlessly with PT.  It occurred to me that there must a voltage present on the fader to represent the value onscreen which varies as the fader moves up and down (either by hand or by motor control).  If we could tap that voltage and scale it, buffer it and clean appropriately then we should be able to use it to drive a VCA control port.

Someday in the distant future I'll probe around inside the Baby Hui and see if my hunch is correct.  The beauty of this would be that it would actually give you a fader to automate the fades too (or 8 of them if it worked).  Like the tonelux system you would then need to take your audio from a pre fade aux send on that channel so as not to have a digtal fader and an analog fader working at the same time on one signal.

Cheers,
Ruairi

 

[Rob Flinn]

Andy

I second that you should visit www.ucapps.de.

 

[burdij]

How about a multi-channel serial input DAC connected to a USB port and not use MIDI? Something like an AD5362 (16 bits, 8 channels, voltage output). There are other versions with up to 40 channels. You will need to so some SMD though.

 

[jackies]

serial input DAC connected to a USB port and not use MIDI?

Sounds cool.. How do you access that from the DAW though?

 

[playboss]

How about a multi-channel serial input DAC connected to a USB port and not use MIDI? Something like an AD5362 (16 bits, 8 channels, voltage output). There are other versions with up to 40 channels. You will need to so some SMD though.

but even digikey carrier evkits for those with LPT parallel port input

 

[helterbelter]

I had the plan to modify a Behringer cybermix or a Mackie Ottomix for that purpose. The only problem I have is that the CV's don't match, so, there has to be a circuit added to each channel to get the VCA's in my console working with the same faderlaw. I laid this plan aside for a while, but I hope I'll pick it up in a few months.

 

[sahib]

Hi Guys,
........

  What grabs me is that it might be possible to actually AUTOMATE my faders. I am sick of only being able to automate "In The Box", ie PRE any dynamic processing. I am aware that several manufacturers have made midi controlled automation systems(Mackie?), and wonder if anyone has any suggestions as to how to implement this. I would be very happy with only a few(actually even just one!) faders "automatable" at the end of the day.

   I do accept that I might be asking too much, but would seriously welcome any suggestions. If it is not possible to adapt anything currently or previously made, perhaps someone else around here would welcome a project to add some "analogue" automation to their otherwise uncontrollable analogue processing via good old MIDI?

   Kindest regards,

        ANdyP

If you would like to e-mail me the schematic at info [at] robotica [dot] co [dot] uk then I would be happy to investigate to see what the posiibilites are.

@Ruairio,

Your hunch would be corrrect.

If it is a simple resistive track then it would act as a voltage divider and the voltage output on the wiper would be read by a micro through the analogue input port in whatever bits that it operates.

If it is an encoder it would output pulse  which again would be read. This would be a bit more complicated to work with but still possible.

 

[burdij]

Without thinking about the interface too much, I believe you would need a microcontroller between the USB and the DACs. Something like this:

http://www.schmalzhaus.com/UBW/index.html

The USB needs to be identified to the computer as a type of device. The USB firmware in the PIC does this, I guess. You could then program it to activate the DACS through the IC2s port as seperate midi channels and use MIDI over USB.

SparkFun has the UBW board for about $25. The Analog DAC is $43 for 8 channels (AD5362) or $53 for 16 channels (AD5360). Linear has an 8 channel unit (LTC2600CGN) for $28. They don't make a 16 channel so you would have to use multiple chips.

For quicker but more costly results, you could use a BASIC Stamp2 and write the program in their high level language. That will set you back $75-$150 depending on which kit you go with (http://www.parallax.com).

 

[playboss]

also this front end would be wonderful wih LDR attenuators