|
Thanks to
Brent Ross and James DeBenedetti's evil influence... This is by
far the biggest project I have undertaken so far and also the greatest
expense. I feel though that investing in a good base control system
will allow me the flexibility to add props with greater ease at a later
date. |
|
|
Hardware: |
 |
|
Recipe |
|
 |
|
|
|
 |
Look at those sexy welds! |
 |
Here, I have mounted the effects processors to test the spacing of the mounting strips. |
 |
This is the project case I got off of Ebay to house the power supply and the MIDI controller cards. It's nicer than a blank face box since it have all those nice transmitter buttons! The power switch on the front of the box powers on the 24v power supply. |
 |
Here I am starting to wire
in the power supply which with minor modifications fit perfectly into the
project case. |
|
|
|
 |
This computer was purchased on EBay for the sole purpose of running this system. It was recommended that I set the system up on a computer dedicated to this purpose. I plan to build this into some kind of rack cabinet which will house the whole system. The processor should be fast enough and it really only needs the Delta 1010LT card installed in it... and that's all the cards in the system save for video. This way I
can setup CuBase 2.0 SX and that will be the only software on the system
eliminating glitches caused by running an excessive amount of
applications. Like I am on the computer I am typing this on... hehe
|
 |
I then gutted the computer and converted it to this rack mountable case. |
 |
Here you can see the power supply mounted and wired, the Sprawling Delusions MIDI card mounted on standoffs and a DIN Rail terminal block to distribute the power from the PS. The terminal block is interesting as I found it in my junk drawer and with a tester it measures 25vdc out the bottom row of screws and 23vdc out the top row so there must be some reason for it... but I don't know what that would be... although it may be useful to use the top 23vdc screws one day. The power supply is wired into the ON switch on the front of the rackmount transmitter box which I was pretty happy about... but.... small things amuse me these days. |
|
|
I added two rackmount keyboard shelves for the keyboard (no mouse needed) and the Oxygen 8 keyboard. I moved the computer up and left room for the surround amp when it comes this week. The LCD will be mounted permanently to a wall mount VESA compliant arm giving it more movement. It is thus far, everything I hoped it would be. |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Setting-Up The System The first thing I did was format the computer with a fresh installation of Windows XP. This is going to be the only function of the computer so it might as well be nice and clean. I entered the BIOS and disabled the onboard sound card and MIDI ports so as not to add to the confusion later. Then I downloaded the latest drivers from M-Audio for the Delta 1010LT sound card and the Oxygen-8 Keyboard and installed them. In the Windows Control Panel enter the sound card settings and make sure they are all set to use the Delta 1010 "Multi" setting.
The next thing to do was obtain a copy of CuBase SX 2.0 and install it.
The SD midi card
"midi-in" gets plugged into the "midi-out" of the Delta 1010 by using a
standard midi cable or one of the older style AT keyboard cables (5 pin
din). In the box with the the SD midi card should be hook-up instructions
for where to plug in the midi cable and where to plug in power and
valves. Before shipping James preconfigured the SD midi card to be on the
Oxygen8's default channel 1 (SD board selectable via jumpers - see
included paper) and starting from note one (left most key on Oxygen8 when
set down 4).
At this point I am ready to add some tracks to a blank project. The first track to add is a Midi track set (should be options on end side of track) the track to midi channel "ANY" and set both the midi-in and midi-out to use the Delta 1010.
Next make sure all of your audio output are configured for use by entering the VST connections menu in the Devices menu. Then if you don't see this... Click "Add Bus" and add 4 additional Stereo bus. Then expand each and configure as shown by right clicking the right hand listing (ASIO Device Port). Once this is done you can add Audio tracks to your project and have them sent to any of the 10 outputs of your sound card. You can have sound playing in 10 different areas of your haunt all from the same screen.
By the way you should
have plugged the Oxygen8 keyboard out to the Delta 1010 midi in. With the
Oxygen8 turned on shift the octaves down 4 (use the two buttons at the
middle top of key board, red display should move to D4). When you press a
key on the keyboard you should see both a red and green indicator move in
the transport bar (floating window normally at the bottom) this is telling
us that a midi signal is coming into CuBase and also going back out. You
should also be seeing two green bars move in the left end of the midi
track indicating the same thing. If this is the case then the SD midi
board and CuBase should be talking and whatever you have hooked to the SD
board should be controllable at this point with the left most 16 keys of
the Oxygen8. |
|
|
Supplies:
Inspiration: |
|
