R/E/P Community

Please login or register.

Login with username, password and session length
Advanced search  

Pages: [1] 2  All   Go Down

Author Topic: Renamed: CAD MegaMix  (Read 14242 times)

xAm

  • Jr. Member
  • **
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 72
Renamed: CAD MegaMix
« on: April 26, 2004, 08:07:54 PM »

This post has been edited for the archives/search engines.

Keywords: CAD, MegaMix, IFI-8, M1600

There are virtually no resources on the internet for the CAD MegaMix VCA Automation system. Hopefully this might actually be of some use to someone else... someday.

I was originally haing a problem getting the MegaMix software syncing to the rest of the gear in my system. The Megamix system worked independantly, but not when using the external sync as the manual describes.

According to how the manual(s) indicate to hook up this VCA automation, the chain is supposed to include sending external synch (MTC) to the MIDI 2 input of the IFI-8. This is apparently incorrect.

If you move the MTC directly into a second MIDI input on the MIDI controller, mine is a Studio 4, you get MTC into the OMS software/MegaMix software and sync occurs. (Be sure to activate the second input channel of the controller.)

I do not know if this is a misprint in the manual, a problem with the IFI-8 or a problem with the IFI-8 firmware.

Max
Logged
WOW!

xAm

  • Jr. Member
  • **
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 72
Renamed: CAD MegaMix
« Reply #1 on: April 26, 2004, 08:53:27 PM »

Edited for posterity.

This post was the original discovery of the error in the wiring scheme for the midi cable runs on the CAD Megamix VCA Automation system.

Thanx,
Max
Logged
WOW!

Guillermo Piccolini

  • Newbie
  • *
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 35
Re: Renamed: CAD MegaMix
« Reply #2 on: September 24, 2007, 06:04:30 AM »

Hello,
I?ve found a CAD Megamix M1600 and I?m thinking to buy it... wich computer is required to run the software?.
Sorry to ask this basic Q here, but the info on the web is non-existent...

Thanks in advance
Logged

Fletcher

  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 3016
Re: Renamed: CAD MegaMix
« Reply #3 on: September 24, 2007, 06:27:40 AM »

The last time I saw a Megamix system it was running on a "386" PC... this was about 15 or so years ago...
Logged
CN Fletcher

mwagener wrote on Sat, 11 September 2004 14:33
We are selling emotions, there are no emotions in a grid


"Recording engineers are an arrogant bunch.  
If you've spent most of your life with a few thousand dollars worth of musicians in the studio, making a decision every second and a half... and you and  they are going to have to live with it for the rest of your lives, you'll get pretty arrogant too.  It takes a certain amount of balls to do that... something around three"
Malcolm Chisholm

Guillermo Piccolini

  • Newbie
  • *
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 35
Re: Renamed: CAD MegaMix
« Reply #4 on: September 24, 2007, 05:02:25 PM »

Thanks a lot for the answer Smile
It?s pretty clear... I was ready to run W98...but another computer and an older one is not an option...I tought it ran in W98 so I could use my W98 Lexicon machine for the automation also.... I?ve found another option and seems a lot better (at least for my needs).
Logged

Berolzheimer

  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 2709
Re: Renamed: CAD MegaMix
« Reply #5 on: September 26, 2007, 05:05:08 PM »

I think I used to run it on a mac 512k....or was it the MacII?

Logged
The film sound side of my life:
http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0077235/

A bunch of songs I've recorded and/or mixed are here:
http://www.zget.me/billionaires/

breathe

  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 1104
Re: Renamed: CAD MegaMix
« Reply #6 on: September 27, 2007, 04:58:50 AM »

I was just about to buy a CAD Megamix system about five years ago.  I had heard from a number of people that it was by far the best sounding VCA based automation system around.  There were two kinds of CAD Megamix systems, one of which involved replacing the faders of your console with their faders, and another system was just their I/O boxes being patched in between your tape recorder and your mixer.  When I called CAD I actually got to speak with the elderly man who designed the Megamix system (he had discovered a VCA that was much more transparent than DBX's).  The systems they had to sell were WAY old stock, and they only ran on Macintosh System 7 computers, but he had 'NOS' systems to sell for way cheap.  I don't remember why I didn't plunk down for a couple CAD boxes.  Now that I use a computer for recording (and use an analog mixer for mixing), and use more plug-ins for processing than outboard gear, I probably wouldn't need a CAD system, but it would be really nice to automate the level of a track after it had been processed by my analog hardware.

Best,
Nicholas
Logged

Guillermo Piccolini

  • Newbie
  • *
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 35
Re: Renamed: CAD MegaMix
« Reply #7 on: September 27, 2007, 10:55:23 AM »

I just need to automate like 8 channels maximum, the other stuff will be automated in the DAW and are @ unity gain in the console, but some things go into compressors, so I need a way to automate these... I?ve found a Niche for 50 euro and I?ll try it... I suspect I?ll hear what I paid for... In that case, I?m looking at the Hoef HF-16.... wich seems more modern and professional.  Both work with midi... wich I like because I can write directly in any DAW.
Logged

Fletcher

  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 3016
Re: Renamed: CAD MegaMix
« Reply #8 on: October 01, 2007, 09:11:04 AM »

breathe wrote on Thu, 27 September 2007 04:58

I was just about to buy a CAD Megamix system about five years ago.  I had heard from a number of people that it was by far the best sounding VCA based automation system around.


The VCA's they used were from a California company called "VCA Associates"... at one point they tried to pitch them to SSL but wouldn't lower the price enough for SSL to consider them.

We installed a MegaMix system in a Vintage API desk in the very early 90's... and I'll be damned if the resulting sound wasn't actually better than the non automated faders!!
Logged
CN Fletcher

mwagener wrote on Sat, 11 September 2004 14:33
We are selling emotions, there are no emotions in a grid


"Recording engineers are an arrogant bunch.  
If you've spent most of your life with a few thousand dollars worth of musicians in the studio, making a decision every second and a half... and you and  they are going to have to live with it for the rest of your lives, you'll get pretty arrogant too.  It takes a certain amount of balls to do that... something around three"
Malcolm Chisholm

John Noll

  • Sr. Member
  • ****
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 253
Re: Renamed: CAD MegaMix
« Reply #9 on: October 01, 2007, 09:34:10 PM »

My understanding is that they used Aphex VCa's.  The software will run only on older Macs with a 601 or earlier processor like a 7200, 7500, etc.

We have a MegaMix inboard system.  It is a system of 8 channel circuit boards that you install inside the console and wire to the existing faders.  We have 4 PCBs for a total of 32 channels. When the system is powered off, relays click and the VCA's are disengaged and the faders work normally.

Our system consists of a 19" rack mount CPU, the internal PCBs, and a little controller that you can put on top of your console sort of like a larger LARC.  The controller lets you arm tracks, select mute/fade, etc. The faders act as controllers.

It's a really cool system and is VERY transparent.  I would agree that it's probably the best sounding non-moving fader automation system there is (was).  The software is old and clunky but it is very simple and fairly reliable.  It hasn't been updated/supported since '95 therefore the old Mac requirements.  We don't use ours as often as we used to but once in a while we'll do a project entirely on tape and it comes in handy.

If you search the old rec.audio.pro archives you'll find some discussions from a few years ago.

Guillermo Piccolini

  • Newbie
  • *
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 35
Re: Renamed: CAD MegaMix
« Reply #10 on: October 02, 2007, 06:37:54 AM »

I`m looking at the external system. I have a Soundcraft 1600 and I like how it sounds, but the mod expenses to automate it are out of the question. As said before, I just need like 8 channels to be automated. The CAD external has 16 and it`s more than enough to me. For the pictures I see, it`s a box with 16 ins, 16 outs and MIDI in/thru, The seller says it comes complete with soft for Mac and NEW...The seller sells all kind of electronic trash and doesn?t know a word about the system.... Neither I... :lol . How it?s supposed to be controlled?... It has MIDI... In my dreams I want a system wich can be controlled from Logic. Can it be possible? The People at CAD said the system is not supported anymore and don`t gave me ANY info... Nice people Smile

PS: It`s the insert system.
Logged

John Noll

  • Sr. Member
  • ****
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 253
Re: Renamed: CAD MegaMix
« Reply #11 on: October 02, 2007, 11:09:07 PM »

Those are the Megamix 1600 19" 1 RU boxes. The 1600 is a 16 channel system with the same Aphex VCAs in them. That was the last version they sold.  CAD had a few left NOS in their factory and were selling them a few years ago for $400.  They can be found pretty cheap these days.  They are very good systems if you don't mind patching them into your inserts and making the moves with a mouse. The software is the same as used in all their systems. The manual is poorly written and very confusing, but once you figure it out it's a pretty good system.

You'll need an old Mac but those can be found for less than $50 or so. Get a mid-nineties Quadra, 6200 or 7200 with system 7.  The software requires very little CPU power. I believe you'll also need a simple MIDI interface. You patch a Mac serial cable to the MIDI interface. Then you connect two MIDI cables from the 1600 to the MIDI interface.  The Mac software sends it's info via the serial port to the MIDI interface where it's converted into MIDI commands that vary the audio level on each fader.

For 8 channels you'll have to wire 16 cables to the 1600 box - 8 in and 8 out.

What we did in our TAC Magnum (before we had the MegaMix inboard system) was hardwire the insert cables to the monitor pot on each channel (of an inline console) That way when you engaged the fader flip switch it switched over from the regular faders to the Megamix VCA's.  We never use the mic preamps on our console so that worked out pretty cool because we could still use the inserts for outboard gear.

Guillermo Piccolini

  • Newbie
  • *
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 35
Re: Renamed: CAD MegaMix
« Reply #12 on: October 03, 2007, 04:10:44 AM »

Thank You very much for your clear and helpful reply. Smile

I?ll buy it. Now I have to investigate what kind of MIDI commands it uses for controlling the VCAs. ... Did You (or anybody) recorded the MIDI output of Megamix into a MIDI sequencer?...Maybe it?s already done and known and will save me (and others that may read this in the future) a lot of time finding and setting old macs.
Logged

John Noll

  • Sr. Member
  • ****
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 253
Re: Renamed: CAD MegaMix
« Reply #13 on: October 03, 2007, 06:18:27 PM »

I don't know too much about specific atributes of the MIDI commands.

Correction:  I was wrong. The VCAs are not Aphex they are the MTA 1537 class A VCA.

breathe

  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 1104
Re: Renamed: CAD MegaMix
« Reply #14 on: October 06, 2007, 09:33:15 PM »

You would think there is a market for a very high quality MIDI controlled multichannel VCA box that doesn't require an ancient computer, just runs off MIDI (like from a modern sequencer).  Am I wrong that there is none out there?

Best,
Nicholas
Logged
Pages: [1] 2  All   Go Up
 

Site Hosted By Ashdown Technologies, Inc.

Page created in 0.11 seconds with 19 queries.