Installing the Yamaha USB MIDI Driver - Windows 7 1. Download the compatible Yamaha USB MIDI Driver for Windows 7 (32/64bit) 'UM3XXX.zip'. NOTE: Yamaha USB MIDI Driver versions can be found at the following link: 2. Locate the downloaded file'UM3XXX.zip'.
NOTE: The Download location of the file is based on the web browsers settings 3. Uncompress the downloaded file 'UM3XXX.zip'.
NOTE: Compressed files can be uncompressed by either 'double-clicking' on the compressed file or by using an expander or uncompressor software (i.e. Stuffit Expander, WinZip, etc.) 4. 'Double-click' the Yamaha USB MIDI Driver 'Setup.exe' file found in the uncompressed 'UM3XXX' folder to run the driver installer. Follow the Windows installer prompts to successfully install the Yamaha USB MIDI Driver.
Quote The DSP Factory in Cubase VST By using the DSP Factory in conjunction with Cubase VST, you get a complete graphical interface with full control over the card’s features. The DS2416 audio card will behave like an external digital mixer, feeding digital signals into VST’s inputs and accepting digital signals from VST’s output buses.
All controls can be auto- mated in the same way as with VST’s internal Channel Mixer. The Cubase VST/DSP Factory combination allows you to:. Record and play back using multiple inputs and outputs. By itself, the DS2416 provides four inputs and outputs (two analog and two digital). Each AX44 unit adds four analog inputs and outputs, and there is also support for upcoming 8 in/ 8 out units (up to two per DS2416 card, for a total of 20 inputs and outputs in a one DS2416 configuration).
Use the DS2416 EQ, dynamics and effects for separate VST channels or for combinations of channels. Route DSP Factory outputs to external effects, accessible from the VST effect sends. Synchronize audio playback to external wordclock.
Quote The DS2416’s mixer provides the power of the industry standard Yamaha 02R digital mixer - and much, much more - on a desktop platform. This includes 24 channels of digital mixing with a full range of on-board digital effects and dynamics processors, along with everything else professionals need, including a generous 16 tracks of 32-bit hard disk recording.
A built-in audio-streaming engine provides 8-tracks of simultaneous recording and 16 tracks playback of up to 32-bit audio to and from the computer’s disk drive. On-board effects include 12 reverb types, 11 modulation types, 2 distortion types, 3 dynamics types, and 12 special combination types.
What’s more, unlike most other audio cards, the DS2416 runs on its own power and not the computer’s CPU, which ensures that all functions of the card are available simultaneously, to provide a level of flexibility and performance previously not possible. And certainly not at this price. Quote SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS Since so much of the functionality of the DSP Factory is provided by the onboard DSP chips, computer requirements are modest, and depend largely on how many audio channels you want to achieve.
Yamaha suggest a minimum of an Intel Pentium 100MHz with 24Mb RAM, and recommend an Intel Pentium 166MHz and 48Mb RAM. For once the question of using other makes of CPU is largely irrelevant, since the audio processing is carried out on the soundcard itself. However, if you want to run DirectX real-time plug-ins as well, then an Intel processor is recommended, and preferably a Pentium II. During my time with the review model, I sometimes found using such a well-endowed software mixer with a 17-inch monitor screen a little unwieldy - even at 1280 by 1024 pixels some software will struggle to display more than a section of the mixer. This is a fundamental stumbling block with any digital mixing console controlled via software alone, and each software developer will have a different idea on how to design the user interface so that you can quickly and easily access any parameter without losing sight of the whole picture. Quote Superficially, it may look no different from other soundcards, but Yamaha's new DSP Factory is a real TARDIS when it comes to facilities.
MARTIN WALKER explores a soundcard that's bigger on the inside than it is on the outside. If you were offered a brand new soundcard for under £600, which not only provided hard disk recording facilities but also contained the inner functions of a Yamaha 02R digital mixer, you might suspect that it had fallen off the back of a lorry.
But there's nothing shady about the DS2416 digital mixing card, which will be available from all Yamaha dealers by the time you read this. The DS2416 forms the heart of Yamaha's DSP Factory hard disk recording system, and is a PCI soundcard which supports up to 24 channels of digital mixing and 16 simultaneous channels of audio playback from a hard drive. The secret of the DSP Factory's amazing price is that while it provides onboard DSP (Digital Signal Processing) functions that will make many people's jaws drop, the I/O on the basic soundcard has been kept to a sensible minimum. On the backplate of the card, therefore, there are just six phono sockets - In L and R (analogue), Out L and R (analogue), Digital In, and Digital Out - although the system can be expanded to provide more external inputs and outputs if required (more on the expansion options in a moment). By now, however, you may be slightly confused: what's the point of having 24 channels internally if there are so few hardware ins and outs? The secret is in the 02R mixer functions provided by the DS2416's onboard DSP chips.
If you are using the DS2416 by itself, you can record mono or stereo audio channels separately to your hard disk at up to 32-bit resolution (depending on the software you use). When it comes to playback, however, up to 16 channels of audio can be streamed from your hard drive simultaneously, each with its own internal mixing channel which provides a four-band parametric EQ, dynamics processor, six aux sends, 10 buss outputs, and comprehensive metering. There are also two on-board stereo multi-effect units (based on the Yamaha REV500), and these provide a choice of 12 reverb types, 11 modulation types, two distortions, three dynamics processors, and 12 combination effects. The DS2416 is also free of the limitations faced by some other systems where resources must be shared between the channels - you will never have to decide whether to remove some EQ from existing mixer channels to release enough DSP power to add compression to another, for instance.
The DS2416 can simultaneously run a total of 26 channels (by default these are mapped as the 16 hard disk audio channels, four effect returns, two external analogue inputs, two external digital inputs, and a stereo master output channel), 104 bands of parametric EQ (four bands for each channel), and 26 dynamics processors. All of this, moreover, is accomplished without using up any of your computer's CPU processing power at all, since the processing is all done by the soundcard's DSP chips. Given the number of people struggling to run a small selection of real-time plug-ins with their chosen MIDI + Audio sequencers, DSP hardware effects support is more than welcome. Although most modern soundcards have at least one DSP chip which normally controls audio mixing and routing, and several manufacturers have promised future updates with some of their spare DSP power devoted to proprietary effects, it is much safer to rely on a system that ships with this built in from the start. EXPANDING YOUR HORIZONS Although the DS4216 is a standard PCI expansion card, it is only seven inches long, and should therefore fit into nearly all PCs or Macs. Little touches of quality abound, such as the black anodised finish of its backplate, complete with gold-plated phono sockets.
The analogue inputs and outputs both feature 20-bit converters, and the S/PDIF input and output will operate at up to 24-bit resolution. If you only tend to record your music a track at a time, this basic I/O will probably be enough, but four additional internal connectors are provided along the top edge of the circuit board for expansion purposes. The IO-A and IO-B connectors let you add one or two optional AX44 expansion units. Each provides an extra four analogue ins and outs using unbalanced quarter-inch jack sockets, as well as a headphone output, attaches to the DS2416 by an internal ribbon cable, and is fitted into a spare 5.25-inch drive bay on the front of a PC (see box for further details). The audio streaming engine supports up to eight simultaneous recording channels, and with a full complement of a DS2416 and two AX44s, you will have a total of 10 analogue inputs and 10 analogue outputs, as well as the digital in/out. An 16-channel ADAT-style optical interface has also been mentioned for future release (both the IO-A and IO-B connectors can accommodate either four- or eight-channel expansion units). The other two internal connectors are Serial In and Serial Out, which allow either a further DS2416 card to be cascaded for 48-channel operation, or the integration of the forthcoming SW1000XG card.
This adds a 64-voice polyphonic MIDI synthesizer, complete with 20Mb of ROM waveforms from the MU100 MIDI module, and a further five multi-effects processors. The SW1000XG should run in perfect sync with the DS2416, with the former's MIDI voices having access to all of the latter's 02R mixing and effect functions.
INSTALLATION The DS2416 requires a single IRQ and no DMA, and since PCI cards have their IRQ settings chosen automatically, installation is simple. Once the new hardware has been recognised by Plug and Play, Windows requests the supplied floppy disk containing the Multimedia driver files, and you should be up and running in only a few minutes. The drivers appear to Windows as eight stereo output pairs (DS2416 #1 to #8 Wave Outs), and four stereo input pairs (DS2416 #1 to #4 Wave Ins). Mac drivers, as well as ASIO drivers for Cubase VST, are both promised in about October. Because of the Multimedia drivers, the DSP Factory should immediately work at the basic recording/playback level with any Windows 95 or 98 audio application, which means that anyone already using packages such as Logic Audio, Cubase VST, Cakewalk Pro Audio, or one of the stereo sound editors like Sound Forge or Wavelab, will be able to get useful work done straight away, without having to learn a new recording package. There is little to see once the drivers have been installed - when you run the Setup.exe file (also on the driver floppy disk) a small Check utility is installed which reports on how many DS2416 cards have been found and whether the drivers have been installed properly, and checks for correct functioning of the onboard DSP chips.
A 1kHz sine wave test tone can also be sent through all analogue and digital outputs, including any connected AX44 expansion unit outputs, which is useful when checking your external wiring. On the accompanying CD-ROM (along with the PDF version of the supplied printed manual and various demos), a separate Patch.exe utility is also provided. This provides basic input/output patching, word clock source and digital I/O format selection, if you don't have an audio application that directly supports the DSP Factory (see the lower screenshot on page 184).
SOFTWARE SUPPORT The DSP Factory is primarily a hardware product, and Yamaha are relying on third-party developers to add support for it in new or existing software. Given the exciting nature of this product, there is no shortage of companies who are adding the required low-level calls to the Yamaha hardware so that their software can talk to it directly.
It is up to the individual developers to decide how these extra facilities are marketed - some may provide free updates downloadable from a web site, others may introduce them in a chargeable upgrade, and there are some completely new products as well. At the time that this review was written (late August), much of this software was still in beta form, but even so there were various applications being demonstrated at the Yamaha press launch, some of which I was allowed to take away. By the time you read this, more of these applications should have been launched.
Yamaha Dsp A2070
Cakewalk have been quick off the mark - there is already a free update (DSPFactory.exe) available on its web site for Cakewalk Pro Audio 7, which installs and registers the various audio effects plug-ins that are supported by the DSP Factory. All the MIDI and audio channels appear in the Console view (see screenshot on page 181), and the right-hand side of this shows the eight new DSP Factory stereo track pairs (the Master sections). By right-clicking the patch-point in any Master section module, you can patch in any DirectX or DSP Factory function. DirectX Insert effects can be used both as track inserts and in aux busses, but the DSP Factory FX can only be used as master effects. In essence, you can use DirectX plug-ins (if required) on individual audio channels, and then route any number of these channels to any of the eight stereo pairs of DSP Factory channels for further EQ, dynamic or effect processing. This allows more than 16 channels of audio to be played back and mixed simultaneously.
Controls to edit individual channel EQ, Dynamics and Effects appear on demand in separate floating windows, which keeps the main display comparatively uncluttered. Cakewalk also seem to have cleverly re-engineered the DSP Factory effects as DirectX compatible plug-ins - after installing the Cakewalk update I found three extra entries for the Equaliser, Dynamics, and dual Multi-effects in my other DirectX compatible applications, with identical Cakewalk windows. I was lucky enough to be authorised to try out a beta version of the forthcoming Cubase Audio VST/24 version 3.6, which also has specific DSP Factory support. This is an upgrade to Cubase Audio VST (and not the standard VST and Score versions).
It wouldn't be fair to comment on any of the other new features of this software here, since it wasn't a completed version, and some things may well have changed before the release date. However, there were three completely new windows specific to the DSP Factory, controlling the Mixer, twin Effects processors, and the Buss/Aux outputs (see screenshot above). Steinberg have implemented the mixer with mono channels (rather than the stereo ones of Cakewalk), so each has its own pan control.
Although this seems more v ersatile, you currently have to set up alternate channels in the VST mixer as Buss 1 left, Buss 1 right, Buss 2 left, and so on, so that they are routed correctly to the DSP Factory mixer. The VST mixer graphics look wonderful, and to cope with the huge number of extra controls, various display options are available - these are switched by clicking on the narrow strip running horizontally across the mixer above the faders. The 'Narrow' option shows only Pan, Fader, Meter, and Mute and Solo buttons at the bottom of the channel strip, whereas the EQ, Dynamics, Buss Send, and Aux Send options each expand the channel to double the 'Narrow' width, and provide the appropriate controls for each of these functions in the area above the fader section. The new DSP Factory Mixer console can be used alongside the existing VST mixer console, to provide access to both hardware effects and software-based effect plug-ins, and every one of the hundreds of new DS4216 controls can be fully automated. Since the twin effects of the DS2416 are more easily used for providing more global effects such as reverb, I found myself using the VST Channel Inserts for specific DirectX plug-in effects to supplement those of the DSP Factory. My main reservation here is that to access both ActiveMovie and DSP Factory effects, you currently need to run both mixers (VST and DSP Factory) side by side, which not only takes a bit of getting your head around, but also needs a large monitor to fit everything on screen at once. However, these are early days, and by the release date there may be more integration.
Emagic's Logic Audio Gold and Platinum are also being provided with DSP Factory support, and these are again up to the beta stage, although I didn't manage to try the new facilities for myself. The update will be free to registered users, with release expected by the end of September. However, Emagic's approach seems to be a combination of those taken by Cakewalk and Steinberg. Each of the 16 Tracks can use up to six Inserts (any combination of DirectX plug-ins or the Yamaha EQ or Dynamics), as well as two Effect Sends to the DSP Factory multi-effects.
Control of the two effects and the stereo Master channel is on the right-hand side of the mixer. The advantage of this approach is that you only have to deal with a single integrated mixer, and each of the 16 channels can have its own Pan (or Balance) control.
However, without any further submixing facilities, there will be a maximum number of 16 channels available for audio use. Logic Audio uses the Yamaha multimedia driver for playback and recording, and therefore their PC AV driver (for other MME soundcards) cannot be used simultaneously with the DS2416, although (as is often the case with Emagic) parallel operation with Audiowerk8 is still possible. At this stage, it's not clear whether Logic will offer support for multiple cards, or just one. If your favourite hard disk recording package doesn't provide direct support for the DSP Factory system, there are also stand-alone programs which you can run alongside it.
Yamaha Dsp Factory Ds2416 Drivers
C-Mexx have already produced several pieces of software which provide remote control and a computer front end for other Yamaha digital mixers such as the 02R and 03D. Their C-Console provides a more traditional mixer view for the DSP Factory (see top screen above), which may suit some people better than the other virtual interfaces. It has snapshot facilities, as well as providing libraries for functions such as EQ and Effects, and if you are running it alongside SEKD's Samplitude package, up to six parameters on each channel can be chosen for automation. However, while well designed and graphically easy to use, at £149 (including VAT) it is an expensive way to gain access to functions that other sequencer manufacturers are providing as free updates or for a modest upgrade fee. IN USE I was able to spend some time using most of the applications listed above, and was very impressed with the DSP Factory's audio performance - as you might expect, considering the excellent SOS reviews already received by the 02R and 03D digital mixers (August '95 and June '97 issues respectively) and the REV500 reverb (March '97 issue). Audio sound quality was excellent, and although all of the packages I used were currently only capable of 16-bit operation, background noise was still very low.
Using my standard Sound Forge test for A/D conversion, I measured signal/noise ratio at 90dB, which would equate to about 93dB when A-weighted (exactly what the manual claims). I was particularly interested in comparing the effects to other DirectX plug-ins at my disposal. There are 39 algorithms for Effect 1, and 40 for Effect 2 (the extra algorithm provides 'High Quality Pitch Shift').
These range from various reverbs, early reflections and gates, through echoes and delays, chorus, flange, and phaser, t o more unusual options such as ring mod, an amp simulator, dynamic filter, and various combinations of effects such as distortion and delay. These are all up to Yamaha's normal high standards, with clean smooth reverb tails and low noise (although, as you might expect, you do have to be careful with the distortion options where unwanted noise is concerned). Yamaha's reverbs, in particular, sounded very smooth when compared to a variety of DirectX plug-ins (including Waves' TrueVerb, the Hyperprism Hyperverb, and the TC Native Reverb), and I suspect this may be due to having the luxury of more processing power allocated from the DSP chips than anyone could afford to give to a DirectX plug-in. All of these reverbs sound good, and I would happily use any of them in a track, but of course the beauty of the DSP Factory effects is that switching them in gave absolutely no increase in the computer's CPU overhead - it almost seemed too good to be true. CONCLUSIONS Many people need to record only a single mono or stereo track at a time, but still want multitrack outputs to patch in external effects (largely because you normally need such a powerful computer to run many effects in software).
The beauty of the DS4216 is that with high-quality integral effects (which take no processor overhead from your main computer CPU at all), the requirement for multiple outputs becomes less important. The onboard DSP mixing power may also enable your computer to manage a larger maximum number of simultaneous audio channels. In case you do decide that you want more access to the outside world, however, buying an AX44 in addition will give you a total of six analogue ins and outs for a total outlay of just under £800. £1000 will get you a DS4216 with two AX44 units, giving 10 ins and outs (not to mention the stereo S/PDIF digital I/O). You can even cascade a second DS2416, giving a potential 48 mixer input channels. The DSP Factory looks destined to appear on many musicians' shortlists. It sounds good, and provides an incredible amount of hardware capability on a single soundcard.
My main reservation is in the area of the user interface. Although you can use the DS2416 immediately with any Windows 95/98 application for recording and playback, access to the mixer functions relies on third-party software support. Whilst developers are beavering away adding facilities to existing software, each of them is accessing the hardware features in a different way. At the time of writing, Logic Audio seems to have the most elegant implementation (at the expense of having a maximum of only 16 audio channels, and no confirmed support yet for an additional DS2416). Cakewalk takes the straightforward option of effectively letting the DS2416 provide eight additional stereo subgroups to its previous maximum of 64 audio tracks.
Cubase VST provides the most ambitious interface, and you can quickly create a huge virtual mixer alongside the existing VST one. This, however, can rapidly get unwieldy, especially when inserts have to be set up on one mixer and DSP Factory effects on the other, although things may well have changed by the time of the release version. There are currently no options for a hardware control surface, which would make day-to-day operation a lot easier. Given that every implementation of software is different, however, additional hardware support may be unlikely to appear.
Yamaha are to be firmly congratulated on their hardware achievement. When I first mentioned the DSP Factory way back in the March '98 PC Notes, the only mention of likely price was 'under £1000'. Now that it has arrived, with a shipping price of £599 (including VAT), it represents remarkable value for money. The DSP Factory blows most of the competition out of the water in terms of facilities, but whether or not you find these facilities easy to use will depend largely on your choice of software. Quote TECHNO TALK The bulk of the DSP Factory's clever bits are contained within five Yamaha DSP3 custom DSP chips (three for mixing, one for audio streaming, and one for the effects). These can also be found in both the 02R and 03D mixing consoles, and there is also one on the forthcoming SW1000XG soundcard. Unlike most other manufacturers who use third-party chips (often from the Motorola range) Yamaha actually design and manufacture their own DSP chips, which are apparently optimised for audio use.
However, there are other proprietary chips on the DSP Factory circuit board - the 20-bit A-D converters are CS5335s, made by Crystal Semiconductor, which are also found on the Event Gina/Darla cards. The converters on the AX44 expansion unit are even better, and typical noise levels are several dBs better than on the DS2416 (though these are pretty low already).
The mixer sections feature a 32-bit data path, 24-bit coefficient, and 42-bit accumulator, and the EQ has a 44-bit data path, 32-bit coefficient, and 54-bit accumulator. This all sounds suitably awe-inspiring, but it is the host software that determines the recorded bit depth, and all the applications I looked at only work at 16-bit resolution at the time of writing.
The same situation applies to aspects like sync'ing to MIDI Clock, MTC, and SMPTE timecode, all of which is dependent on the host software to a large extent. The DS2416 has its own internal clock, but it is up to individual applications to support this facility. Software has to communicate with the DS2416 using fairly low level API (Application Program Interface) calls, but it is also possible for the software to provide MIDI control of some of the functions, which is apparently what Cakewalk Pro Audio 7.0 does. This means that if any hardware control surface is released, it will also need special drivers - the sheer numbers of possible controls make it difficult for MIDI controllers to be used, and the amount of SysEx data needed for real-time MIDI automation doesn't bear thinking about. Quote THE AX44 AUDIO EXPANSION UNIT If you need more inputs and outputs, the AX44 is a neat solution. Housed in a standard 5.25-inch drive enclosure, this fits in your computer exactly like a CD-ROM drive, and connects internally by a ribbon cable to the DS2416 card.
Four inputs and four outputs are provided, all on quarter-inch unbalanced jack sockets. The first two inputs each have an associated slide switch which selects either Mic (-50dBV) or Line (-10dBV) operation, while the other two are both at Line level. All feature 20-bit, 128-times oversampling A-D converters. All four outputs are identical, with a -10dBV level, and using 18-bit eight-times oversampling D-A converters. In addition, outputs three and four also appear at a headphone output alongside, which has its own level control.
A useful touch is the LED power indicator, which can be interrogated from the Check utility - the LED can be made to illuminate by clicking on a button, and this can also be useful if you connect two AX44 units to a single DS2416, and wish to identify which is which. Since the case provides reasonable shielding from the rest of the computer, noise levels are fairly low, and although you can't expect the mic inputs to compete with those of an external mixing desk, they are still very capable, with a quoted equivalent input noise of 120dBV. Quote Star Component in the Yamaha DSP Factory A breakthrough computer audio card that provides a complete digital mixing and recording environment inside a standard personal computer - at a breakthrough price that puts pro quality sound and performance within reach of more musicians and audio production professionals than ever before. Audio DSP Taking advantage of Yamaha's unique position as the world's leading manufacturer of audio DSP, the DS2416 offers the mixing power of the Yamaha O2R digital mixer, complete with 24 channels of digital mixing, on-board digital effects and dynamic processors, along with everything else professionals need, plus 16 tracks of hard disk recording with up to 32 bit resolution. Relies On It's Own Processing Power Unlike most other audio cards, the DS2416 relies on its own processing power and not the computer's CPU, which at an unprecedented price point, makes all functions of the card available simultaneously, to provide a level of flexibility and performance previously not possible.
A built-in audio-streaming engine provides 16 tracks of recording/playback of 32-bit audio to and from the computer's disk drive. Supports Windows 95 Platform The first release of the DS2416 supports the Windows 95 platform. Installed in the PCI card slot of a standard PC, the DS2416 is controlled using software from the world's leading developers of MIDI and Hard Disk Recording applications. This lets you either stay with the software you're already familiar with, or select one which best suits your composing, recording and mixing style.
Add Top-Performance Non-Linear Recording to Your System The most convenient and affordable way for musicians, sound designers and audio production professionals to add top-performance non-linear recording, with its inherent creative advantages of editing and instant access to audio data, to their systems. It's ideal for the musician already using a PC for sequencing of MIDI instruments, as well as for anyone looking to augment or replace a tape-based recording system. Total DSP Factory System Concept This concept includes features and options capable of attracting recording professionals to a PC platform as a replacement for conventional mixer/recorder component systems. Stereo digital and 20-bit analog inputs and outputs allow you to record and mix to, from a wide range of digital and analog two-channel audio devices. DS2416 cards can be linked to create a larger system, expansion cards are separately available which permit multiple-channel digital and analog input and output options. The Mixer The DS2416 is the only computer card to provide a complete digital mixer (24 channel, 32-bit digital mixer) with the power and sonic performance of the Yamaha O2R.
Includes two effect processors equal in quality to the REV500; 26 dynamics processors. All features are available all the time.
Since all the processing is present on the card, little or no outboard equipment is needed. Multichannel analog and digital I/O with optional interface hardware. The Recorder 16-Track playback from hard disc, with up to 32-bit resolution. 8 Track simultaneous recording with up to 32-bit resolution. Sample-accurate synchronization between tracks.
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The recorder is 'hot-wired' to the internal mixer in the digital domain. Synchronization to outside sources via software. System Expandability Optional expansion cards are under development with permit multiple-channel audio connections to and from the DS2416 - for connection of multi-channel digital equipment such as outboard digital multitrack recorders and signal processors. A single DS2416 can provide up to 12 external inputs and outputs. Multiple DS2416 cards can be cascaded to create larger systems.
Yamaha DSP Factory Computer-Music.com contains articles and product reviews related to making music using computers and creating 3D computer animation in sync with music. Computer-Music.com is also the home page of Donald S. Griffin, an experienced professional composer, sound effects designer and audio consultant with an emphasis on computer games, video games and internet music and sound effects. For pricing and contract availability send email to: DGriffin (@) Computer-Music (.) com Yamaha DSP Factory This review is partly out of date. This review was written a long time back. While the DSP Factory has had a relatively long and successful shelf life and seen wide support it has been outclassed in most aspects by a combination of new hardware and faster computers that can do much better effects in software than back when the DSP Factory first came on the market. As this product is still quite usable I will not be removing this article from the site any time soon but I also have no plans for an update.
The Yamaha DSP factory consists of the DS2416 mixing card and up to two AX44 expansion bays. Two DS2416 cards can be internally linked to effectively double their functionality and each can support two AX44s (for a total of four) but you might need a taller computer tower case than shown here. The DS2416 and AX44 have $800 and $250 street prices respectively. The DS2416 can also be internally connected to the Yamaha SW1000XG synthesizer card but since this requires one of the DS2416's two digital bus connections you won't be able to set up a full bi-directional connection with another DS2416.
Don't mistake the DS2416 for just another sound card or set of inputs and outputs. This card packs the punch of five DSPs (digital signal processor chips) and performs most of the tasks of a professional digital mixer several times the price. The DS2416 comes with absolutely no supporting software other than drivers so the DSP factory is difficult to review separately from the supporting software since its interface will look different depending on which software you are using and to what extent it supports the specific features of the DS2416. For this reason reviewing the DSP Factory is a major task.
If this was a normal review it would be a long time before we could post any more for you to read about the DSP Factory but since this is a Spot Review you will be able to read more about this impressive hardware on a regular basis. Because the DSP Factory is such a major piece of hardware we will be referring to it in most of our sequencer reviews and some of our digital audio editor reviews. So far I have been testing the DSP Factory and SW1000XG with Emagic Logic Audio 4.1.1, Steinberg Cubase VST/24 and Musicator Win 3.08 (with DSP Factory extensions). Musicator is the only one which handles all of the features of both cards as well as their integration including controlling which of the eight direct digital audio busses between the SW1000XG and the DS2416 are used to send each MIDI channel so that individual MIDI channels on the SW1000XG can be recorded to different audio tracks or receive different audio processing from the DS2416. Although Musicator is probably the least powerful program of the three it gains very high marks for ease of use and a short learning curve. In spite of this it is still quite a powerful and useful program. Probably the best compromise I have seen between power and ease of use.
If you need to jump in quickly but don't want to get stuck with a dog of a sequencer you will need to quickly trash then Musicator is the program for you. Logic 4.1.1 totally replaces its software mixing with the hardware mixing (and other functions) of the DS2416 so, if you want to get the full functionality of the DS2416 in Logic 4.1.1 you will have a few restrictions on the number of plugins you can use but thanks to the 4.0.4 upgrade you can use 4 DirectX plugins on each DSP Factory channel even when operating in DS2416 mode. Before this version you could not use DirectX plugins in this mode so if you have not yet upgraded here is a good reason to do so. This is a welcome update because the DS2416 mode in Logic offers one of the easiest ways to access the features of the DSP Factory. There is a wealth of very good audio processing algorithms built into the DS2416 and they are all done in hardware so not only will they probably sound better than your DirectX Plugins but they won't suffer from stuttering or crashing and you can use more of them at the same time without needing to own the fastest computer on the market. You can also easily switch from using Logic in the DS2416 mode to its standard mode where most of its higher functions are missing but you can now use as many DirectX Plugins as your system can handle. At this moment it looks like you will need to be in PCAV mode if you want to use the new audio instrument object necessary for having a ReWire compatible sofware synthesizer on a Logic Track.
If this proves to be the case then this may be fixed for DS2416 mode in a near-future update. Logic 4.1.1 still has no support for selecting which MIDI channels are routed to which audio channels for passing to the DS2416. It is possible to set this with an external program that does support this feature (if you have one) but this is yet another inconvenience, a bigger one this time.
Logic version 4.0 for Windows adds the Autolink to SoundDiver feature so if you have SoundDiver it may eventually be possible to control this routing from the XG SoundDiver module. I am told this is a possible addition to the SoundDiver XG module but it is not included in the present version. These (hopefully temporary) problems should not cause you to question the value of Logic. I have found it to be one of the most thoroughly thought out and conceived programs, of any kind, I have ever seen and I have faith that Emagic will eventually address these few remaining issues. Hopefully sooner rather than later. Cubase VST/24 supports the DSP Factory by adding it on top of its own software mixing as an additional mixer layer.
The closest analogy is that you feed your audio into one mixer (Cubase) then have the option to feed to further to a second mixer (the DSP Factory). While this allows you to keep all of your previous functions like DirectX (and VST) plugins and use of other audio devices you gain a layer of complexity in an already very complex program. On the plus site Cubase has lots of very pretty panels for controlling all of the various functions of its internal mixer and the DSP Factory. On the minus side it has LOTS of panels. While they are attractively designed to look like a real mixing console which helps to make it easier to understand how to use them there are so many different consoles that it can become a full time job just finding your way around. Time sure changes things.
I used to use Musicator GS DOS for all of my composing. It had very few features but its basic interface design was very composer friendly and I have NEVER known a program that was less likely to crash. However, I found myself having to take short trips into other programs like Cakewalk or Cubase to handle the more complex tasks that Musicator GS DOS was totally incapable of handling. So I started looking for something better. I spent a while with Cakewalk but it has never taken notation seriously as the main window for composing so I could not take the program seriously even though most other aspects of Cakewalk are excellent. So I tried Cubase Score (version 1.0) and while it took notation as a composing window much more seriously it kept confusing and frustrating me with small oversights in design that were just too much and too many for me to feel comfortable using it as a my composing tool.
It was still a very good program so I was sad to leave it behind. When Logic for Windows came along I snapped it up. I had heard nothing but good things about this program on the Mac and Atari. I had even briefly considered buying an Atari computer just to be able to use Logic. While I found Logic wonderfully powerful and useful I also found it to be terribly hard to learn to use.
Ease of use is of paramount importance in a program that must free up your mind to be creative. While I am confident that somebody that had finally mastered Logic would find it easy to use I just could not get myself to that point. Still I was impressed enough to keep buying upgrades and trying each upgrade to see how it had improved the program. Finally the need to take a fresh look at many sequencers for this web site's Spot Review section made me take yet another look at Logic, this time version 3.6. Then I received my review units of the DSP Factory and SW1000XG from Yamaha and I was finally convinced that I would have to make the commitment to moving my composing operation permanently over to Logic.
The program has improved in ease of use over the years and the few problems I mentioned before will probably be solved either in version 4.0 or in the addition of SoundDiver autolink to the equation. But then something unexpected happened. A PR campaign by Emagic gave the distinct impression that Logic 4.0 would be available at the start of the Frankfurt MusikMesse so I decided to put Logic on hold until I could get the new version and decided to spend the intervening time reviewing Musicator which recently added support for the DSP Factory through an upgrade that must be purchased separately. Musicator has continued to send me upgrades over the years but their first move from DOS to Windows was a big disappointment for me. Under the philosophy that it should be possible to control everything in the program via the mouse they had discarded several aspects of the program that I had found key to its brilliance.
They had added a lot of power and features to the program while removing nearly everything that I had loved about it. Over the years the upgrades had shown little tendency toward restoring any of those removed features. So I fully expected my review of Musicator's DSP Factory implementation to be an experience of sentimental longing for the good old days. Imagine my surprise when I discovered that Musicator not only supported the the DSP factory pretty well but their support of the SW1000XG in conjunction with the DSP Factory far exceeded that of either Cubase or Logic! In addition I slowly discovered that they had added enough features over the years that Musicator is not only catching up to Cubase and Logic in power and complexity but most of what I was missing has been replaced by one feature or another and plans for the next major version promise to completely remove any lingering reservations I have about the product's change over from DOS to Windows. I discovered through idle conversation that my new dentist's two young daughters were very fond of the music I had done for Aladdin for the Sega Genesis and I am reviewing a new CDR burner from Yamaha so I promised him I would make a custom CD with the Aladdin music done on the sound canvas (the device on which it was originally composed) just for his girls. When I finally got around to it I discovered I did not actually have digital audio versions my arrangements of the five tunes from the movie that were used in the game.
I only had recordings of my originals. So I decided to do the recording of the arrangements using the SW1000XG instead since its TG300B mode (used for Sound Canvas compatibility) would make it sound very similar to the original Sound Canvas version with the added benefits that it would feed its audio signal digitally directly to the DS2416 for mixing then the DS2416 could feed the mix directly to another track for recording. Since the sound would never have to go to analog it should sound pretty good (which it did). In Musicator I had to add GM&GS reset sysex to the starts of the files and since the SW1000XG reverb was stronger than that on the Sound Canvas I had to adjust the initial reverb settings. I also had to set up audio tracks in Musicator to receive the final mix and set up the DSP Factory to receive the mix from the SW1000XG and route it back into the mixer for recording to a track. This included setting the digital audio sync to SUB so it would be controlled by the SW1000XG card and patching channels DS2416 strips 9&10 to receive SUB 1&2 (via the internal cable from the SW1000XG).
I then simply hit record and watched my pristine digital audio file being mixed and recorded. The first tune took a while since I had never used any of these functions before. I had not even read the manual or help files for the program. But in spite of all this, and the complexity of the process, it did not take any where near as long as I expected.
The following tunes went so fast that I decided to re-record my five originals as well so that the whole CD would have a consistent audio quality. This experience made me reconsider my commitment to moving to Logic as my sole composing sequencer. It turned out that Logic 4.0 was going to be release much later than they implied so I have had a lot more time to work with Musicator and it looks like the two programs will be running neck and neck in my studio. I will probably be using Musicator for developing ideas and assembling notes then setting up SW1000XG sysex then exporting a MIDI file to be loaded into Logic for the more complex arrangement, audio processing and mixing chores. Frankly there are things I really like about nearly every sequencer I have ever tried but I have found you have to settle on one or two or you will never get any work done. My current use of these two programs very much reflects my personal preferences. For example I like to work in a notation window as much as possible and recording in real time is the exception rather than the rule so notation and non-real-time functionality are very important to my way of working.
Yamaha Dsp Factory
You may not even be able to read music notation fluently or you may have gotten used piano roll. You may work solely in real-time recording mode or you may not even use MIDI as much as the audio features of your software. These personal preferences will, and should, influence you choice of sequencer. This is why I continue to examine all aspects of every PC sequencer I can lay my hands on.
You, my readers and my clients all have different needs so I try to review products with that in mind. When choosing a sequencer or any other computer music product you should try to keep in my how you would like to work and resist forcing yourself to work in a different way simply because that is how one sequencer does things. Your own style rather than the preferences of any other composer should form your checklist of desired features. Well, I can see that I have moved somewhat out of the realm of the DSP Factory review but I thought you would rather read this additional material now that wait until I was ready to move it into the various sequencer reviews. You can link to Yamaha's web site at (more specific links will be added soon) For questions or comments contact the webmaster at (you will have to remove the parentheses and spaces; sorry but spam is a problem) dgriffin (@) computer-music (.) com Copyright © 1996-2004 Donald S. Griffin - Computer Music Consulting.
All rights reserved. Revised: February 04, 2004.
HELP PLEASE (Sonar 3/Yamaha DSP factory (DS2416). Can anyone please help here? I can't get any of my midi to play through Sonar 3 and my Yamaha DSP factory (DS2416). Any audio plays fine as do the DXI instruments.
It is showing midi activity but alas no sound. I have installed the demo of xpi-software's DspCtrl 3.2.0 which installed fine but hasn't helped the midi playback. Because of this I am still using cakewalk pro audio V9 which as I remember (it was so long ago) I had the same problem until I installed the Audio X console and then it worked fine.
The Audio X console or any reference to the DspCtrl 3.2.0 does not appear in the Sonar 3 view menu however. I am using the latest WDM Driver. The driver version is 1.01.0014.1 Driver mode - WDM/KS I Have also tried - ASIO and MME 32 bit modes I am using a Midiman Midisport 8x8 with the latest driver (4.1.21) Has anyone please got any ideas? It's driving me mad (no pun intended). Cheers for the reply Giorgio the dspfactory (I owned and loved for years) is an AUDIO board and NOT a MIDI board I know it has nothing to do with the midi directly it's just the fact that nothing is coming in through the inputs of the DSP Factory in Sonar 3.
Sonar shows signs of midi activity but there is no sound. Any sound direct from sonar (Audio tracks or DXI's) are fine though. I run the exact same set up in CWPA 9 and everything is fine. I can have the 2 programmes open simultainiously with the same project loaded and flipping between one and the other CWPA works, Sonar does not. Any thoughts?
Is your sound from the MIDI devices showing up in DSPCtrl? DspCtrl works separately from Sonar, but must be loaded before Sonar is loaded. Once you are getting the sound from your MIDI devices showing up on the DspCtrl meters, then it is a matter of routing the sound from that particular DSP track to Sonar. What type of audio inputs are you using for the DSP factory? DSP Factory functions as an external mixer to Sonar: DSPF physical input - DSPF channel - DSPF channel assigned to DSPF Bus 1-8 - DSPF Bus 1-8 feeds Sonar audio inputs (listed as DS2416 ## Wave IN in Sonar) to Sonar tracks-Sonar tracks to Sonar busses-Sonar busses to other Sonar busses to DSPF inputs (listed as DS2416 ## Wave OUT in Sonar) Remember, Sonar has no control over the DSP Factory, that is why DspCtrl has to be loaded and running at all times. DspCtrl handles all the functionality of DSP Factory. To get the sound from the RCA analog in's of DSP Factory to Sonar: 1) The RCA's shoud be channel 17/18 on the DSP factory/DspCtrl.
2) Turn on buss 1/2 of Channel 17/18 with DspCtrl 3) Assign Buss 1/2 to Rec 1/2 with DspCtrl output assignment window (this is what sends the audio to Sonar inputs) 4) In Sonar, insert audio track then assign its input to DS2416 Stereo #1 Wave IN) (wave profiler should have been run and driver input/outputs assigned in Options-Audio beforehand step #1) 4b) Arm the track in Sonar (Press the Square R). You should now see the meter moving to your audio coming through Channel 17/18 of the DSPF) 5) Assign output of the same Sonar track to the DS2416 Wave OUT #1. 6) In DSPCtrl Channel 1/2 assign the input for that channel to HD. The StMix button for that channel should also be turned on.
This will get you going. You can set up templetes in Sonar and DspCtrl so you don't have to go through all these steps everytime you want to record.
It may be a good idea to dedicate one stereo track in DspFactory (I use channel 15/16) to the output from the Sonar mixer (do all mixing of Sonar tracks inside of Sonar) and use the other DSP Factory channels for just your hardware synth outputs.
32bit PCI sound card. Comes with original manual and drivers for Windows XP and Windows 7. Base card only. The DS2416's mixer provides the power of the industry standard Yamaha 02R digital mixer - and much, much more - on a desktop platform. This includes 24 channels of digital mixing with a full range of on-board digital effects and dynamics processors, along with everything else professionals need, including a generous 16 tracks of 32-bit hard disk recording.
A built-in audio-streaming engine provides 8-tracks of simultaneous recording and 16 tracks playback of up to 32-bit audio to and from the computer's disk drive. On-board effects include 12 reverb types, 11 modulation types, 2 distortion types, 3 dynamics types, and 12 special combination types. What's more, unlike most other audio cards, the DS2416 runs on its own power and not the computer's CPU, which ensures that all functions of the card are available simultaneously, to provide a level of flexibility and performance previously not possible. Product Specs Condition: Brand: Model: Finish: Categories:, Year: Made In: Japan.
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