Artesia

A little while back behringer made a pioneer djm 600 mixer clone.. it sucked really badly on many levels, it was wrong and poorly built. they obviously got their fingers burnt, as their new flagship ddm 4000 digital dj mixer is quite the opposite ;) (NOTE: new test results added afew postings down this thread) http://www.behringer.com/EN/Products/DDM4000.aspx (their new, rubbish website) Dispite being lighter than you might expect, it is built as well as any mixer youd pay top dollar for; it packs more features & sound fidelity than its 'rivals' and rolls in at an obscenely cheap £250 / $300 :) and honestly, after using it.. i personally couldnt justify buying the priceier alternatives ;) hmm, its based on 2x 400mhz analog devices blackfin dsps & cirrus logic 114db adc/dacs.. under specced it is not ;) certain widgets like bpm syncronised effects are increadibly fun & useful, also features eq and dynamics processing on all channels. the mic section also has its own effects section for adding reverb etc ..and supports channel ducking for announcements/radio talkover. digital out also, however no digi ins :/ ..would be nice to see, as would remove one more adc/dac stage when using the cdj-1000's the mixer was probably designed with being paired up with the cdj's in mind, as dispite the odd orange and blue dominated lighting scheme it actually fits in very nicely with the decks :) also, took the time to test the players and mixer with midi control from the mixer to use it as a control surface for traktor ! ..and used the time code cd's in the cdj 1000's to control the scratching section of traktor to manipulate music on the pc also. i can confirm all of this works flawlessly :) ..supprised at that ! ..was expecting a niggle. unfortunately, this does mean ill never build a mios traktor controller ;) :) ..ah well, more time for other projects :) right.. down to business: ..and lights off, ooh ! pretty ;) nice speckled silver/black finish :) also modded the usual problem of overly bright blue leds, 4.7k added worked a treat.. tho maybe the next value up for some peoples tastes, only this doesnt burn the retinas out now ;) EL backlit screen. sliders are standard resistive tracks, not optical as reported some places ! nice, slightly resistive feel.. marked with a B in a triangle new power opamps for headphones, supprisingly good. manages to run even relatively insensitive headphones like my other set, the akg k702 reference cans quite loudly. the sony mdr's are dangerous ! dsp card with two 400mhz blackfin dsps ! a supprising ammount of shielding & rfi filtering for a 'budget' product ;) very simple smps ..not many linear psus in berry stuff these days. the plastic screen guard needed wiping from the inside to clear some residue from manifacturing ..not bad, but a noticeable streek on the plastic. main board: * 2x xtal - 16mhz * 2x headphone amps - cool audio V4580L high current opamps. * 2X AMTEL - ATMEGA8 RISC PIC 8-Kbyte self-programming Flash Program Memory, 1-Kbyte SRAM, 512 Byte EEPROM, 6 or 8 Channel 10-bit A/D-converter. Up to 16 MIPS throughput at 16 Mhz. 2.7 - 5.5 Volt operation. (lots of:) * 74HCT165 - 8 bit parrallel in serial out shift registers * 74HCT595 - 8-bit serial-in, serial or parallel-out shift register * 74HC4051 - 8-Channel Analog Multiplexer * 74HCT244 - Octal buffer, line driver; 3-state (afew) main board, analog i/o section: * jrc - 4580 - dual bipolar opamp, 0.0005% dist, 15mhz, 5v/us slew, 0.8uv/vn (standard behringer faire) * st - 074c - quad jfet opamps, 0.01% dist, 3mhz, 16v/us slew, 15nv/vn (old opamps, very odd !) dsp card: * 2x analog devices - black fin, adsp-bf532 - 400mhz !! (800 MMACS) 32 bit dsps. http://www.analog.com/en/embedded-processing-dsp/blackfin/adsp-bf532/processors/product.html * samsung k4s281632i-uc75 - 128mb sdram, 3.3v 133mhz/cl3 * hynix - hy57v161610ftp-7 - sdram, 3.3v, 16m, 64ms, 133mhz * xtal - 25mhz * xtal - 11.289 * 74LVT244 - Low Voltage Octal Buffer/Line Driver * 1x cirrus logic - cs4351 - 24-Bit, 192kHz, 2ch dac, 112 dB, -100db thd, with Line Driver * 2x cirrus logic - cs4345 - 24-Bit, 192kHz, 2ch dac, 105 dB, -90db thd (marked 345c071) * 4x cirrus logic - cs4272 - 24 bit, 192khz, 2ch adc & dac codec, 114db snr, -100db thd/n. * 1x cirrus logic - cs4271 - 24 bit, 192khz, 2ch adc & dac codec, 108(adc)/114db snr, -98/100db thd/n.

it appears the petition has raised afew eyebrows, although not in the general news that i know of; dolphin have now posted it on their 'news' section of site :) ..also its the last day of the petition and 81,000+ votes in :) thats twice the number of responses that any of the other petitions have received in the current active frame !

http://www.coolaudio.com/products.html and many other goodies at fair prices. looks like direct ordering for small quantitys is possible too :)

oh yes.. and theres always earplugs :) staff should wear them & punters should have access to them (for free wouldnt be bad) ;)

yeah 696 is worrying too.. id agree with that; but it seems that live entertainment is under a general attack ..how long before they all want us under cerfew, in our own homes ;)

im all for venues in areas subject to causing a noise nusance being dealt with; infact current noise regs already stipulate this ..its already legislated under enviromental health :) ..they are usually expected to fit sound proofing/attenuate levels such that they dont disturb people outside of the venue. Apparently the levels are likely to be around 80db, and given that speech is 60db, this is just absurd.. a drummer with no amplifycation would have no trouble tripping them. the problem is in telling people they have nowhere legal to go where they can choose to go to listen to music loudly.. thats just plain wrong & unworkable.. On the otherhand, whilst volume levels above a certain point for mid/top are pointless; your ears attenuate the levels to compensate aka 'temporary' deafness. that all the impact and depth of music is in the bass register, which incidentally is the least harmful to hearing.. and you require far more spl in this range to really 'feel' the music ;) ..thus blanket spl levels across all frequencys are impractical and poorly thought out; even if we're going to talk about personal safety. its not the goverments business to resetrict personal freedoms of choice over how we choose to 'risk' our health in our own free time :) if anything, dynamics processors need to be setup to tailor live material across these ranges respectively.. so that the best experience is had without too high a hazard :)

hi everyone, the UK goverment is proposing the mandatory fitment of automatic sound level cutoff boxes for all music venues; this concept is unworkable & damaging to live music in this country & removes our freedom to listen to music LOUDLY when we feel so inclined. please help our cause by signing an online petition at the govt petition website below & also please feel free to invite your friends to the facebook group below to spread the word Smile Petition: http://petitions.number10.gov.uk/NoNoiseControl/ Facebook Group: http://www.facebook.com/home.php?ref=logo#/group.php?gid=57725287224&ref=mf 37,318 votes up so far from a handful over the past few days, and afew points off being the NO. 1 petition on the site.. please help us clock up a record petiton number.. im sure we -ALL- do not want the uk goverment interfereing in how we enjoy our music Smile thanks for reading Smile

interesting approach :)

good work, a little more thorough than i could be asked with sometimes :) unfortunately the actuators are almost always a custom part designed by the company to fit the design & ordered in a silly quantity from a plastic fab. let us know if you find some tho :)

couldnt see too well form that photo; so took a rm1x appart which i have here. they are absolutely standard microswitches (with the exception of the rubber tactile motion) used in everything; cheap as chips.. look up your local big supplier and theyll carry something suitable. try these maybe: http://uk.farnell.com/1555982/switches-relays/product.us0?sku=tyco-electronics-fsm4jh Manufacturer: TYCO ELECTRONICS Order Code: 1555982 Manufacturer Part No: FSM4JH

hmm, much like Texas Instruments buying up a ton of people; who next.. linear technology, akm ? ;)

the silk screen is the underside of the soldered on rom board :) chips present. no idea about the 535's being a generic rom chip; never seen them in my life in this format outside of roland rom cards ..tho maybe the local coin op specialist knows of them from elsewhere too ;) :) of note tho, when certain rom banks where required in large numbers, some company's actually had the chip fabbed with the data already on the die as part off the silicon manufacturing process itself ..somehow, that turned out cheaper than flashing generic chips for some company's. apparently apple did this back in the day with certain chips.

:]

Heres an interesting bit of synth history, the roland d-550 - their first digital synth i believe; which was built on the principal of digital emulation of analog synthesis oscillators + filters & envelopes ..with the addition of a wave engine which played rom stored short snippets of sampled audio to give an initial realistic attack portion (or crude audio loop) over layered ontop of a more conventional virtual 'analog' patch. also this synth features eq, chorus & reverb (and others i may forget) ..everything done in the digital domain to make it at all affordable for the era :) its far from perfect, which is what makes it particularly interesting, full of noise, aliasing artifacts and its very rough round the edges. it maybe possible to tune out some of the less desirable artifacts if one cared to do so; by piggybacking on a more refined DAC section (anyone up for making a parallel to serial converter with afew stock logic ic's ? ;) ); and the existing one could be improved a little if you really wanted to start messing with its original design. the DAC section consists of a mono 16 bit DAC (pcm54hp), which works on a parallel interface ! ..and stereo output is achieved through toggling the output between left and right channel with a 4066 silicon switch. this switching mechanism in particular i feel could be improved & maybe the most significant acheleies heel in introducing the least desirable of the artifacts present :) TOP RIGHT: 32.768 XTAL ROLAND (CUSTOM) - R15229851 / MB87136A / 8735 E83 ROLAND (CUSTOM) - 532000P-7474 ROLAND (CUSTOM) - 532000P-7473 RIGHT-LOWER: 12MHZ XTAL ROLAND (CUSTOM) - R15229849 / HG61H25B18F / 7K2 HITACHI - HM6264ASP-15 HITACHI - HM62256LP-10 ROLAND (CUSTOM) - R15229848 / D65005G062 NEC - D78312G 022 / 8739PX700 TOP-LEFT: ROLAND (CUSTOM) - R15229842 / MB87137 / 001 / 8743 E47 ROLAND (CUSTOM) - R15229866 / MB87126A / 006 / 8743 Z81 HITACHI - HM6264ASP-15 ? - MB81416-10 OUTPUT: C4570HA M5216L LEFT-LOWER: BURR BROWN - PCM54HP ? - D4066 (4066 ANALOG SWITCH) OPAMPS - 5238 ? & 4570 DAC section.

exactly doug, hit the nail on the head :) iv'e hardly had a good run of luck with my heath either & a screwed up state of affairs has in some respects denyed me things that others may tend to take for granted in their lifes; but i dont make too much of it :)

i didnt say i sided with or against them ;) i just find it really amusing in a observational fashion; that such a deviance managed to spread amongst such a profession & that a particular language developed around it. sadly the reality of it is that pretty much everywhere one group of people will have in jokes & stereotypes about another.. which is just everyday life for you frankly. it was only a matter of time before a profession that spends so much time writing about people, would get rumbled with ink to paper.

very, very random & totally off topic.. tho too damn funny to not repeat everywhere: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/3159813.stm Doctor slang is a dying art Surgeons Is doctor slang on the wane? The inventive language created by doctors the world over to insult their patients - or each other - is in danger of becoming extinct. So says a doctor who has spent four years charting more than 200 colourful examples. Medicine is a profession already overflowing with acronyms and technical terms, and doctors over the years have invented plenty of their own. However, Dr Adam Fox, who works at St Mary's Hospital in London as a specialist registrar in its child allergy unit, says that far fewer doctors now annotate notes with abbreviations designed to spell out the unsayable truth about their patients. TOP MEDICAL ABBREVIATIONS CTD - Circling the Drain (A patient expected to die soon) GLM - Good looking Mum GPO - Good for Parts Only TEETH - Tried Everything Else, Try Homeopathy UBI - Unexplained Beer Injury The increasing rate of litigation means that there is a far higher chance that doctors will be asked in court to explain the exact meaning of NFN (Normal for Norfolk), FLK (Funny looking kid) or GROLIES (Guardian Reader Of Low Intelligence in Ethnic Skirt). Dr Fox recounts the tale of one doctor who had scribbled TTFO - an expletive expression roughly translated as "Told To Go Away" - on a patient's notes. He told BBC News Online: "This guy was asked by the judge what the acronym meant, and luckily for him he had the presence of mind to say: 'To take fluids orally'." Quaint up North Regional dialects abound, even in the world of the medical abbreviation. In the north of England, the TTR (Tea Time Review) of a patient is commonplace, but not in the south. And the number of terms for patients believed to be somewhat intellectually challenged is enormous. Patient "I can't believe what he just called me..." From LOBNH (Lights On But Nobody Home), CNS-QNS (Central Nervous System - Quantity Not Sufficient), to the delightful term "pumpkin positive", which refers to the implication that a penlight shone into the patient's mouth would encounter a brain so small that the whole head would light up. Regular visitors to A&E on a Friday or Saturday night are also classified. DBI refers to "Dirt Bag Index", and multiplies the number of tattoos with the number of missing teeth to give an estimate of the number of days since the patient last bathed. A PFO refers to a drunken patient who sustained injury falling over, while a PGT "Got Thumped" instead. MEDICAL TERMS - A GLOSSARY Digging for Worms - varicose vein surgery Departure lounge - geriatric ward Handbag positive - confused patient (usually elderly lady) lying on hospital bed clutching handbag Woolworth's Test - Anaesthetic term (if you can imagine patient shopping in Woolies, it's safe to give a general anaesthetic) This is an international language - Dr Fox's research reveals that a PIMBA in Brazil can be translated as a "swollen-footed, drunk, run-over beggar". Doctor insult And much of the slang is directed at colleagues rather than patients. Thus rheumatology, considered by hard-pressed juniors one of the less busy specialties, becomes "rheumaholiday", the "Freud Squad" are psychiatrists, and "Gassers" and "Slashers" are anaesthetists and general surgeons respectively. Dr Fox is keen to point out that neither he, nor the other names of the paper, published in the journal Ethics and Behavior, actually advocate using any of the terms. He said: "It's a form of communication, and it needs to be recorded. "It may not be around forever." He said: "I do think that doctors are genuinely more respectful of their patients these days." If that is the case, perhaps the delights of a "Whopper with Cheese", "Handbag positive" or "Coffin dodger" could be lost forever.

jingle, jangle... - "Lawyers, Guns & Money" (warren zevon)

ooh ? ..what circumstances made it xmas for you ? :)

the display & ui in general is frickin' sweet :) no probs mte :)

happened across a pair of these due to a friends dibs on a bankruptcy sale for silly money :) a fairly impressive bit of engineering ; just wish they made these things out of more metal ;) has the most useable scratching capability ive encountered so far; then again, given the resolution of the scratch tracker encoder, the reason why can be seen :) almost perfect, only i wish that they would include mp3 play off memory card/usb device in the future.. and possibly option a platter that actually rotates (you get used to it tho). Chip details: (DSP) ti - tms160 320da150pge (PLA) xilinx - spartan - xc3s50 (RAM) samsung k4s281632i-uc75 (? - dolby wtf) dts dspd56567ag150 65.9 mhz crystal (? - ic) 6417709S / sh3 / 133v (? - ic) panasonic nm103s71f the suspension system pitch/nudge tracking correction, adjustable mechanical platter friction ! general tracking also done by the scratch tracker; depending on the state of the pressure sensitive platter ribbons status. scratch table mechanism, note the pressure sensitive, multi contact ribbon. scratch tracking mechanism. ha! jrc 4580 - as output stage (hmm as seen in berry stuff) one scarily big switch mode psu for this ..hmm !

23 :)