Anyone used Emagic Unitor8 with WinXP?

nprime · Post by **nprime** » Fri Nov 12, 2004 7:57 pm

The studio that I work at is using an Emagic Unitor8 MKII 8x8 MIDI interface. We built a new computer about a month ago and I have been unable to get this thing to install and work properly...I had it working before with the old system.

I really going out on a limb to ask you people for any info/experience you may have had with installing this piece of gear.

I can't seem to find an active Emagic forum. The two I found have lots of questions, but no answers. And, of course, most of the talk is about Logic, not the interfaces.

I have been to emagic support page and have tried everything they suggested, all to no avail.

I won't be surprised if I get no replies, but quite frankly I am at my wit's end, so this is my last desperate effort.

R

<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: nprime on 2004-11-12 19:58 ]</font>

darkrezin · Post by **darkrezin** » Fri Nov 12, 2004 10:11 pm

Have you tried it over serial instead of USB or vice versa?

nprime · Post by **nprime** » Fri Nov 12, 2004 10:32 pm

Well, what's annoying is that it worked over USB before.

But, no, I haven't tried serial. Unfortuantely we have two Eventide Orvilles hooked up the Serial Com ports, I guess I could get a switcher.

R

at0m · Post by **at0m** » Sat Nov 13, 2004 2:14 am

Yes, my first thought when I saw the topic was 'only on serial'.. I had 2 (AMT8's, same driver I think) a couple of years ago. That was something I hadn't count on. Big bummer, cos the serial port was also the only way to put the two in serial.

nprime · Post by **nprime** » Sun Nov 14, 2004 2:13 pm

What with the company being bought by Apple, and the fact that they will no longer support any Emagic hardware... we have decided to buy a new MIDI interface. The owner went out and got a MOTU Express XT, I will install it today.

http://www.motu.com/products/midi/xpres ... dy.html/en

Problem solved, anyone want to buy an Emagic Unitor 8 MKII? Cheap...

R

scary808 · Post by **scary808** » Sun Nov 14, 2004 5:19 pm

On 2004-11-12 22:32, nprime wrote:
Unfortuantely we have two Eventide Orvilles hooked up the Serial Com ports...

I never thought I would see the words "unfortunately" & "we have two Orvilles" in the same sentence. Lucky bastard.

braincell · Post by **braincell** » Sun Nov 14, 2004 7:15 pm

I'll never buy an MOTU product for the rest of my life. I bought one and a month later Windows 95 came out. The company never released drivers for Windows 95 for that product! What kind of mark does a unicorn make anyway? I imagine it would be a single round hole -----> o kinda like something we all have.

nprime · Post by **nprime** » Sun Nov 14, 2004 8:23 pm

Well, the MOTU piece of sh*t unit appears to be all f**cked up, It will not even power up, back to the store tomorrow. Another afternoon wasted. Why does eveything have to be so difficult?

If I didn't have bad luck I'd have no luck at all.

R

nprime · Post by **nprime** » Sun Nov 14, 2004 8:24 pm

On 2004-11-14 17:19, scary808 wrote:
On 2004-11-12 22:32, nprime wrote:
Unfortuantely we have two Eventide Orvilles hooked up the Serial Com ports...

I never thought I would see the words "unfortunately" & "we have two Orvilles" in the same sentence. Lucky bastard.

Yeah, bad choice of phrase.

R

blazesboylan · Post by **blazesboylan** » Wed Nov 17, 2004 9:36 pm

Kill 2 birds with one stone: I'll trade you my working MOTU Express XT (serial) for one of your Orvilles.

Out of curiosity: I've got a serial-to-USB converter which I've never tried. Has anyone tried those things?

(I intended to use it with my MIDI Express XT, until I realized that everything MOTU makes sucks, or at least sucks for PC users. q.v. braincell's post above.)

nprime · Post by **nprime** » Thu Nov 18, 2004 12:40 am

Try it! Try it!

What's really cool is that one of the Orvilles is currently winging it's way back from NJ after having a major upgrade. It will return as an H8000. Go the Eventide website and drool. We will be going via ADAT lightpipe from the H8000 directly into the RME Hammerfalls, this is going to be so much fun! the new unit will have fully implemented surround capabilities, and we do mix in surround (on Blue Sky speakers, another drooler website). The coolest part is that the Owner/Composer actually has the head programmer in Italy writing presets for us because of the wierd way we are using it.

The owner, Rob, plays a Gittler guitar (http://electricguitar.50megs.com/favorite.htm). He has had a custom pre-amp made for it that seperately outputs each string over a multipin connector...so when he records he is recording six seperate tracks on each pass...well in fact he records twelve tracks on each pass because he records the Eventide outputs on six tracks as well. We process each string individually and then pan them and their effects about the surround field, sometimes in a very active way with the joystick...it's very very cool!

R

nprime · Post by **nprime** » Thu Nov 18, 2004 12:44 am

Oh, by the way, got the (replacement) MOTU beast to cooperate finally, the drivers weren't installing correctly.

Today we booted up and XP says "found new hardware device", so we threw the disk in and did it all again and everything seems to function.

R

at0m · Post by **at0m** » Thu Nov 18, 2004 2:31 am

Blazesboylan wrote: Out of curiosity: I've got a serial-to-USB converter which I've never tried. Has anyone tried those things?

I bought my laptop second hand, from a guy that did alarm installations in houses, but for the rest a complete PC n00b. The device he wanted to control from the laptop uses a Serial connection, but the laptop hasn't got one. The shop dude insured him the USB2Serial connector would do the trick, but eventually it didn't work. So after 2 weeks, he put the laptop on ebay and wanted to get rid of it ASAP. Needless to explain that I'm a big fan of this kind of adapters

I would never bet on it, but if a problem presents you could give it a try of course, if it works you could save some cash. Although nprime's employer doesn't seem to take cash for a roadblock

nprime, that hexa pick-up must be fun! We tried some hexaphonic pitch2cv on the holiday in Israel, but some things made it quasi unuseable. I remember the band/string separation of the Roland device not being to good, it was optimised to work with the Roland synthie that came with it I suppose. One day I'll have to find a decent hexa pick-up over here! Have you tried hexa pickup with pitch2cv (Flexor)? Apart form the panning and efx tricks you play with now, you could drive 6 osc synth with it...

And yes, the only reasonable machine IMO to run Unitor on is a mac with Logic - if you really want the performance from it that your studio seems to be after.

blazesboylan · Post by **blazesboylan** » Thu Nov 18, 2004 3:11 am

On 2004-11-18 02:31, at0m|c wrote:
I remember the band/string separation of the Roland device not being to good, it was optimised to work with the Roland synthie that came with it I suppose.

I use a GK-2A pickup with a GI-10 module (all the GI-10 does is converts the hex signals to MIDI). It does quite a good job of tracking, even with thick strings, IMHO.

However there were earlier models (GK-2, others too e.g. GK-1?!?) and I can't vouch for them.

I have also heard that the GR-30, or whatever that dedicated Roland guitar synth was called, wasn't very good at sending MIDI signals. The GI-10 was a later development.

Incidentally the GI-10 is good at tracking 1/4" inputs too. I've run mono drum buses into it just for crazy effects. Lots of fun.

Not as much fun as an H8000 though... *Sigh*...

nprime · Post by **nprime** » Thu Nov 18, 2004 1:53 pm

Yeah it's great to work at a place where money isn't an issue, when we need something we just buy it. He has every plug-in known to man, and a UAD card to boot. The best part is that he is actually really talented and uses all this gear to create some great music. It would seem be pointless to post it in stereo, although I might do that anyway just for you guys to get a taste.

It's kinda wierd for me though, to go home to my simple little set-up and "just" stereo.

Rob hasn't messed with using the six way pick-up for MIDI, just audio. Isolation between strings is not perfect, there is of course some bleed, but it's all part of the sound.

R