XITE-0.03 :D

[Neutron]

its a pulsar1 in a rack unit!
with a computer.
now it is fully working and can run delays and samples for days without any problems.

xite_003_working.jpg (525.02 KiB) Viewed 6075 times

I called it 0.03 because a pulsar1 is about 1/35 as powerful as an xite

I bought a rack box from ebay for $50 and used the back panel from an old 2u pentium3 server (which was way too long)
took quite a bit of hacking to make it fit.

the intel fan is the only moving part in the box, and i hope to eliminate it soon
the total power at the plug when scope is running is 34 Watts.

It could probably have fit in a 1u unit but i didnt have a panel for that and didnt feel like farting around trying to shoehorn it in. (and i may need the space for something, thinking of putting LM3875 amplifier in there.
As you can see i havent hooked the power brick up to the IEC plug yet, or set up a power switch and LED. (turn on by shorting the pins

xite_003_inside.jpg (408.41 KiB) Viewed 6078 times

CPU is a E7300.
Motherboard is intel DG41MJ
2 GB ram only running single channel. (thats what i had)
OCZ 60 GB SSD.
Power supply is a DC-DC converter from mini-box.com

Once again thanks to CAPACITOR for a working pulsar board!

If you are wondering WTF would anyone do that for, well it will be used for my guitar project.
i could also use it for modeling speaker crossovers, extra effects unit or use scope at work!
lots of things

[dawman]

I am glad you finally racked it up.
It looks great and I assume the G41 using system RAM and resources doesn't pose much of a threat.
This is great news. I was thinking I had to use Sideport RAM to avoid the sharing of resources.
The AMD's worked great but are way too hot for a 1U. and probably a 2U as well.
I am still running an E6850 and it's plenty fast.
Wow, now my vision of a dual Mini-ITX using the Intels is feasible.
Have you tried putting some STS samples in RAM to see the effect on the onboard GPU..?
I would be curious to see what's up with that.
I am thinking Mini-ITX's are great for 1U/2U's as long as they can each use 4GB or 8GB's for samples.

Congrats. It's a beauty..

[Neutron]

Well i havent used STS samplers for years (they sound good, but i hate the interface on them!) and i deleted most of the samples except a few for testing, they dont seem to cause any problem with the GPU, im sure if you loaded up too many it would start swapping or something, or whatever would happen when you normally run out of RAM. apps simply do not see that RAM dedicated to the GPU it is not available to windows either.

I was watching a movie in 1080p on it because im thinking of getting one for HTPC, i put the audio through some PC RAM based delays and things it did not cause any jittering in the movie.

[garyb]

good work!

[wayne]

Rack one up to Neutron

[HUROLURA]

Waouh: a flexible klangbox !!!

I am thinking about something similar maybe with two boards and extra MIDI CC control on the front panel side.

[netguyjoel]

That is pretty damn cool! W/ the SSD, and the fan (as you mentioned), I can easily see a 1U.
Great stuff...

[HUROLURA]

Total cost of your unit Neutron ?

[Neutron]

Hmm, well i already had some of the items, but i will try and break it down. (not including scope card)

CPU $40 on ebay
Motherboard $100
Ram i had, its very cheap these days. maybe $25
case $50 on ebay
riser card i got out of an old server. they are cheap though.
power brick and DC-DC converter about $70
and the SSD is the biggest hit. if you used a regular HD you could save $120 or so. it was $180
case was $50 from "antek" on ebay. but you can probably get a case thats actually made for a PC and you wont have to do any work. (but you have to spend more)

[HUROLURA]

You should have added the price of the Pulsar I which would lead you to something like $650/750 in total.
Not that bad ...

I have to think about that.

[Neutron]

Funny thing is i got to use this for 2 days at work. completely not for its intended purpose.
They dont have an in-house sound guy and needed something right away.

also, i managed to find a use for a xiosynth that was sitting in the corner for months.
despite everything bad i may say about novation USB drivers they do support 64 bit and came in really useful

Workstation > USB > Xio > MIDI > Pulsar > Audio > workstation > ahem..soundblaster x-fi
super easy to set up and they were very happy with the sounds i did for them, mostly with paradox and lightwave. (and even a xio sound)

What i DID notice was that it gets rather hot after running for hours with the cover on, especially the chipset heatsink.
i think it can be cured by drilling some vent holes above the CPU heatsink, right now it is just circulating hot air around and around. the case has some very small vents but hardly anything to speak of. (and the bottom ones are not doing much convection being blocked by the pulsar and the motherboard).

Anyways, it worked flawless after being transported to work in an unexpected production scenario, and i learned that even 34 watts can build up a lot of heat!

And i left the xio at work where it might become a productive member of synth society instead of a freeloading layabout

[HUROLURA]

OK, after thinking a bit about it, I just collected two extra scope boards I had there and bought myself a fanless 1.5 U 19" Rack PC for setting up my own Xite 0.04

Come on it is almost the DSP power of the original NOAH (the standard version, not the Rack)

The PC is here (Via eden C1 1GHz + 256 Mo RAM).

Hurolura Xite 0_04 host.jpg (11.63 KiB) Viewed 5447 times

The two boards are also here and would probably be connected to their LUNA 2496 IO boxes.
My idea would be to use a 2GB Compact Flash as a hardisk instead of the 120 GB HDD provided with the rack, but the first thing I noticed is that the adapter I have with the card is to hight for the box !!! I have to get a right angle adapter.
Removing the original hardisk would also allow me to upgrade the rack with some longer board (only the 3 DSP boards are short enough to find place for the moment).

The idea regarding the extra midi control system will come in second place as I just orderd myself a Core32 board to set up my very own midi controller. I do not know yet what shape I will give to it but probably something to control one of the SDK synth device I am working on currently, just to be able to have a kind of homemade ASB synth.

I will keep you informed.

PS:
I just noticed I already have an Xite 0.16 as I racked up my Scope Pro SDK board in a 3 U rack PC 19" 3U RACK INTEL PIII 1GHz 512MB together with 1 Pulsar II and my very first Scope Home card. The Compactflash disk there is just a 4GB one.

Hurolura Xite 0_16 host.jpg (25.86 KiB) Viewed 5431 times

CheerZ

[Neutron]

I hope the eden can handle 2 cards, its a VIA chipset, and its usually pushing it to get it to handle one
thats going to be nice though

[siriusbliss]

Good work! Nice to see progress on this.

Greg

[chriskorff]

I think that's the coolest PC case I have ever seen.

Beige FTW!

[HUROLURA]

The "Beige" is the one that already works as my Scope SDK Unit.

The "new" one has started to breathe. After some fight, I finally succeed to install an OS on it (a brand new Win 98 SE !!!).
I had to fight with no floppy disk issues but after some time, the system is now running.
I still have to update the graphic card driver and then I could start to try to install the Scope cards... but I have to solve mechanical issues before:
- the CF card used as a 4 GB main HD is to high above is IDE adapter (I ordered an angled one but I think the unit will stay open for a few days more
- only 3 DSP card would find place inside the unit (as I expected) but I will also have to move the power supply circuit connector (maybe I will remove the original 120 GB HDD to save place for this board and maybe allow the use of longer DSP boards).

I will continue to keep you informed.

CheerZ

[HUROLURA]

Last news: the scope cards are installed up and run perfectly during my 1 hour test.
I finally succeed to install 1 Luna + 1 Pulsar 1 SRB (meaning 7 DSP running there ...)

I still have to remove the original HDD and wait for the angled CF 2 IDE adapter before being able to close the box.
What is really amazing there is the silence of the system (no fan, no HDD noise, ...).

Here are some pictures of the mess that there is still in the open box

Still a few things to do to clean up the box:
- remove the original harddisk
- clean up the power supply board wiring
- replace the IDE to CF adapter
- remove the CD-ROM drive
... and I will get a simili NOAH fed with free Scope plugs !!!

inside Xite 0_04.jpg (54.54 KiB) Viewed 5064 times

And the running setup screen

Scope 4 screen:
- 1 OSS 107 synth + 1 Graph EQ

Xite 0_04 running.jpg (39.68 KiB) Viewed 5059 times

My only error is that I selected some extra scope board I had:
- 1 Pulsar 1 SRB (no key except SFP)
- 1 old Luna with only Modular 2, STS 2000P/3000 and graph EQ (no mixer actually).
Does anybody know where I can find the RM242 and RM166 devices ?

Else I could swap the Luna with my Scope Home to get a minimal setup ...

CheerZ

[Neutron]

Very good that it worked with the VIA cpu and motherboard, especially with 2 cards!

Do you have a kill-a-watt or something to measure how much power its using?

BTW that is an awesome case with built in heatsinks, can i get one somewhere?
I could just connect that external heatsink to the CPU with some heatpipes i have
(it looks like it is designed for a particular eden board?)

[HUROLURA]

Meanwhile I found the RM242 and RM166 for download on SC FTP site.

I bought on ebay.fr and they still put auction for such "tranquilpc" often.

http://cgi.ebay.fr/SERVEUR-PASSERELLE-I ... 5d26f8e7cd

The only thing is that they just ship to France but maybe you can ask them.

CheerZ

[garyb]

you guys are outta control...