[Sherwood]

Hey friends.

A significant step up has replaced the 0404 USB in my system as the primary DAC. The 0404 served both as a USB DAC from my iMac, but as a 2 channel DAC from my transport.

I no longer need it for those purposes, but it's still a capable ADC for needledrops, as well as a good recording interface, so I intend to keep it in the system. My hope was to use it as a USB/Spdif converter, and send coaxial Spdif out of the front jacks.

This, however, seems to be impossible.

I've tweaked every setting, twirled every knob, and read every thread I could find to no avail. I read cryptic messages about how the spdif out can only be used by ASIO devices, which is bad news for me. OS X uses core audio, not your silly ASIO, and if that's the case it would seem to be a pretty big oversight on E-Mu's part.

Any help, suggestions, condolences? If this fails I can easily just order a 25' optical cable and run clean out of the computer. Would that be a reasonable option, or should I spring for something like this?

So many questions, kids. Luckily, Head-fi always has the answer.

 

[EnOYiN]

I can try the 0404 as a transport when I get home. I've only got Windows machines at the moment though.

I haven't been using it for anything else than recording so far...

 

[Sherwood]

I appreciate it, enoyin, though I fear that the hangup here is my OS.

 

[milkweg]

That's what you get for buying a "silly" Mac.

 

[Sherwood]

ZING!

 

[EnOYiN]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Sherwood /img/forum/go_quote.gif I appreciate it, enoyin, though I fear that the hangup here is my OS.

You don't have to thank me yet. I'm still stuck at school for the moment so I haven't done anything yet.

 

[EnOYiN]

So, I tried the thing, but I couldn't get it to act as a transport either. Bit odd if you ask me. Since I'm not really using the feature I don't mind as much though.

 

[milkweg]

So what's different about Core audio and Asio anyway? On Vista you don't need Asio because it's sound layer is done differently than XP and talks more directly to the hardware. Asio is for low latency recording and that is all I would bother to use it for. I've played around with it in the past and prefer not to be bothered with it for just listening to music on headphones because I don't hear a difference. Maybe a bit more neutral but I think that may be placebo effect too. Not enough of a difference for the added hassle anyway, IMO.

 

[Sherwood]

Core Audio is driverless on OS X. It's just what you get. It's low latency and unprocessed all on its own, which is really nice.

The problem seems to be that ASIO, and only ASIO, is what activates the spdif out on the 0404. I'm still in talks with E-MU support, so perhaps we'll get a better answer, but for the time being it seems like using the 0404 as a USB-Spdif transport is out of the question unless you're using ASIO.

When I used Windows at home, I loved ASIO. I did a lot of recording, though, so I had a good reason to bother with it. Nonetheless, I suspect it's more a "peace of mind" thing than anything else.

 

[milkweg]

So does Core audio use lots of cpu percent like some asio drivers do? I use my EMU 0404 purely as an external DAC so just connect 2 PCs to it using both coax and optical in. I use the headphone amp too but am looking for a better amp now.

 

[Sherwood]

Core audio is extremely slim. It uses almost no cpu power, as it's not a driver but part of the OS architecture. For that reason, it's better than ASIO. Also, every piece of software written for OS X is written for Core audio, so there's nothing special you have to do to use it. My itunes puts out a bit-perfect signal, and even dirt cheap recording programs have extremely low latency. It's nice to work with audio on a mac

UPDATE: I got sound out of the digital outs, thanks to ph0rk. Unfortunately, the 0404 routes their output to channels 3 and 4, instead of 1 and 2. I'm currently trying to figure out how to duplex my audio, i.e. have channels 3 & 4 mirror channels 1 & 2.

 

[linuxworks]

Quote:

Originally Posted by milkweg /img/forum/go_quote.gif So what's different about Core audio and Asio anyway? On Vista you don't need Asio because it's sound layer is done differently than XP and talks more directly to the hardware.

I'm NOT a vista guy or even fan of vista (...) but vista is never 'closer to the hardware'. the acl's (permit/deny stuff at the driver and 'policy' layers) are always in the way! vista is the DRM OS and so it has to be that way to keep the entertainment guys 'happy'.


Quote:

Asio is for low latency recording

playback, too, I believe.

 

[linuxworks]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Sherwood /img/forum/go_quote.gif Core audio is extremely slim. It uses almost no cpu power, as it's not a driver but part of the OS architecture. For that reason, it's better than ASIO.

the mac has a MUCH better media 'story' (its APIs and architecture) than xp or vista. don't let the winblows guys push ya around!

 

[Sherwood]

Alright, resolution.

Hopefully anyone with this problem in the future will find this thread.

First off, it can't be done without an external program. The one necessary is called soundflower.

Once soundflower is installed it has a little flower icon on top of your screen, next to your wireless bar, clock, etc. click on the flower to bring up options.

1) Mouse over Soundflower (2ch)
2) Mouse over "Channel 1"
3) Set Channel 1 to "E-MU 0404 | USB [3]"
4) Set "Channel 2" to "E-MU 0404 | USB [4]"
5) Set your sound output in "Audio MIDI setup" (found under Applications/Utilities) to "Soundflower (2ch)"
6) Enjoy

There may well be a similar program to solve this problem in windows, but I do not have the inclination to find it at this time. Anyone else is welcome to do so and add to this thread.

Thanks for all the help, Enoyin and ph0rk!

 

[ph0rk]

I was just about to post the bit about using soundflower

By combining it with au lab you can get 2 channel audio out of both the main and spdif outs - will find the link when I get home

Code:

[left]You can add AU lab to your login items via system prefs if you'd like that to be the default config at boot. [url=http://www.rottenbrains.com/?p=232]RottenBrains » Use all your speakers under OS X 10.4[/url] They're talking about spreading 2ch audio to 5 speakers, but the principle is the same. Also: be careful futzing with this - AU lab will allow you to make feedback loops that you don't wish to hear.[/left]

Actually, I haven't managed to get the above to work yet, so nevermind