Iyonix gains audio capture software

By Chris Williams. Published: 29th Jun 2004, 13:52:58 | Permalink | Printable

Is this mic on?

Christian Ludlum has developed AudioIn, a new application that records a WAV file from "any available audio channel" in the Castle Iyonix. As announced on the Iyonix support mailing list, the software is available to Iyonix users from the Castle disc update site.

An audio input socket is provided in the Iyonix by the on-board AC97 chip.

Links

Iyonix website

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Discussion

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Perhaps time for revival of some multi track editing software? StudioSound was starting to get there but it appears to have been released as Freeware with no guarantee of updates. It's a shame there isn't a package like this with the source code available.

jonix on 29/6/04 2:21PM
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Great news! It was just at the recent Expo show I asked Jack Lillingston when the Audio In port became usable and he said they're working on it in the Merlin project... Nice to see it is here already

Also interesting is that the iyonix has built-in hardware support for MIDI. Meaning it will also be a matter of time when the drivers are written.

Now I only have to save up and get an Iyonix...

hEgelia on 29/6/04 3:10PM
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The audio capture software works great. Well done Christian!

After loading the software, you have the choice of bit rate, format and input. Choices of input include microphone, line input (ie. from a TV card), CD or stereo mix (which will pick up internal system audio, etc).

ksattic on 29/6/04 4:05PM
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Fab stuff!

harmsy on 29/6/04 4:46PM
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hEgelia: Although the Iyonix does have MIDI hardware on-board, its only presented as as unbuffered header on the motherboard. You would need some isoltion/buffer circuitry and physical connections to connect it to the outside world.

We did look at doing something similar for the S/PDIF output, but the cost of custom producing such a board was greater than supplying a complete PCI sound card.

Cheers,

/Neil/

spellinn on 29/6/04 5:26PM
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So then, who wants to do drivers for the LynxOne?

(An *extremely* lovely high-end, mastering-quality sound card)

nunfetishist on 29/6/04 5:55PM
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Well done, Christian, and another "bullet point" feature for Iyonix too !

Congrats and thanks for a job well done !

Annraoi

AMS on 29/6/04 6:38PM
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Although to be fair, when comparing the Iyonix to anything else modern, from the point of view of somebody considering joining the RISC OS world, having "Can record audio" is about as common as "Has a CPU" these days.

nunfetishist on 29/6/04 6:53PM
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nunfetishist> Gradually over time *all* the "blanks" will be filled in, thanks to efforts of people like Christian and they should be encouraged, wouldn't you agree ?

Kind Regards

Annraoi

AMS on 29/6/04 7:03PM
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Way hay! And I haven't even tried it yet.

I do agree with Nunfetishist but my Risc PC has no sound input and my other half's iBook (which is "modern") needs extra hardware so it is genuinely useful to me.

TonyStill on 29/6/04 7:04PM
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AMS: I'm sure they will, to an extent. It does seem a shame that it's left to third parties to implement stuff that other recent machines all have out-of-the-box.

nunfetishist on 29/6/04 7:22PM
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nunfetishist> Agreed. But at the moment that seems to be the only option. I'd imagine CTL will "fold in" the new feature into the ROM (or Disk) distribution in later Iyonixes.

RISC OS is in a sort of "weird" state like a commercial OS but yet relying on a lot of user support (in that respect its more like Linux than Windows) - and perhaps that's a good thing as people can actually feel that *they've* had some sort of part in adding a fundemental feature to the OS. A good thing I would think and probably one of the reason why this OS just won't die !

Thanks

Annraoi

AMS on 29/6/04 7:42PM
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Having just watched Steve Job's keynote speech, audio on the Iyonix looks a bit lame in comparison. Still, I wouldn't be without my Iyonix.

Eddie on 29/6/04 7:44PM
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<fx:Wonders>Are there any finance deals available on the Iyonix?

The Doctor on 29/6/04 8:46PM
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The Doctor: [link] Almost at the bottom.

jmb on 29/6/04 8:56PM
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Does the Iynoix support surround sound yet? Hardware-wise I mean. No doubt Cine DVD have this in the works or plan to develop it, the software side I mean. This issomething else which is becoming a standard out-of-the-box feature.

Smiler on 29/6/04 9:42PM
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We're working on a software driver for the Creative SB Live 5.1 (/Audigy) PCI card which have enough outputs for surround sound, yes. (6 analogue outputs, coupled with the mobo's stereo we may even get DTS 7.1, who knows?)

adrianl on 29/6/04 11:28PM
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Very Good News!! Just got a reply email from R-Comp earlier today about MusicMan new 1.20 version and the possibilities (if any) of how to get !Sibelius7 on RISC OS to CD (in Wav and/or MP3 format?). R-Comp have just advised me that the external MIDI Keyboard and/or the external Roland Sound Canvas (an external sound module) can be output connected back into the new Audio Recording Card's INPUT in the computer for the INPUT of Wav signals. Finally, R-Comp mentioned that the NEXT release of MusicMan will allow a wave file to be dragged in for conversion to MP3!! This will be a great benefit also for !Sibelius users (like me) who want to use RISC OS to burn their !Sibelius files as audio sounds on RISC OS CD burn.... Cheers, Steve :grin:

Sawadee on 30/6/04 1:03AM
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Sorry, I forgot the last bit.... R-Comp mentioned that IF it is possible to install and connect some sort of sampling audio card to a RISC OS 3 or 4 (simailar I presume to the Iyonixs job), then the same should be the real solution to a RISC OS 3 & 4 user's problem. Cheers, Steve. ;-)

Sawadee on 30/6/04 1:47AM
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Sawadee: "IF it is possible" seems a bit weird. VTi released a parallel port sound sampler more than a decade ago, and Audio Dynamics DMI50 card has MIDI, line and mic ports, all of which work. Unless I'm missing the point totally.

mikeg on 30/6/04 7:54AM
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Swawadee: Connecting the output of a MIDI keyboard to the WAV input means the Iynonix will sample the sound - it won't relay the MIDI signals to Sibelius. Unforunately I have now experience with Sibelius7, I've only used 2 and 3 on PCs. If they are as similar as I believe, then you will not be able to record in with FlexiTime on an Iyonix until some body implements true MIDI support (for Iyonix).

Smiler on 30/6/04 8:12AM
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Swawadee: Connecting the output of a MIDI keyboard to the WAV input means the Iyonix will sample the sound - it won't relay the MIDI signals to Sibelius. Unforunately I have no experience with Sibelius7; I've only used 1 to 3 on PCs. If they are as similar as I believe, then you will not be able to record into Sibelius with FlexiTime on an Iyonix, until some body implements true MIDI support (for Iyonix).

Smiler on 30/6/04 8:14AM
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mikeg and Smiler: Sorry if my wording is not 100% clear, but I'll try again. Much of what I said here was new to me and only this week I have found out more info about how to get !Sibelius7 to Audio CD (that is FROM !Sibelius7, NOT MIDI or something elso TO !Sibelius7). I want to hear my !Sibelius files on CD in an AUDIO format like MP3. Before this week I only knew that RISC OS !Sibelius7 could be saved as MIDI and then exported to a Windows PC where the PC has software available to grab the MIDI (imported from RISC OS) file and convert to Wav and/or MP3 where i can be burned to CD as an Audio file to listen to. Earlier this week, I learned from some Sound Studio technicians that I phoned, that there are Digital Mixers with CD Writer that will record my RISC OS !Sibelius to CD (converted to MP3). While the Digital Mixers do have MIDI inputs to receive my RISC OS MIDI Card output or MIDI output from the Roland SC8850 Sound Canvas that I have connected to my RISC OS MIDI Card, the Sound Studio techie said that all I need is to connect the RCA speaker ouputs from the Sound Canvas or the MIDI (piano) Keyboard RCA speaker outputs to the Digital Mixers input and the mixer will convert the signal to MP3 and burn it to it's own onboard CD Writer!! I was surprised to learn that there are such external stand alone devices that will do this without having to go to the Windows PC for help, the Digital Mixer quoted to me was portable and affordable for around NZ$1300 (about £400 I think). Now R-Comp said a similar thing in their email to me today. As I understand, if a RISC OS 3 or 4 had a Sampling (audio recording) Card installed, or you had the new Iyonixs with the new AudioIn features, the a Wav file of !Sibelius7 can be created all within RISC OS. By the computer's MIDI output to an external MIDI (piano) keyboard or Sound Canvas, the MIDI keyboard or the Sound Canvas "speaker" ouput can send the !Sibelius7 signal back to the (Iyonixs?) AudioIn and the computer now has a Wav format file of !Sibelius7. Finally, R-Comp said that the next release of MusicMan will allow a wave file to be dragged in for conversion to MP3 and burned to CD as an MP3 Audio file. I don't have an Iyonixs yet, but what would an AudioIn sampling card cost for a RISC OS 4? Is such a card available for RO4? I don't even have an OUTput sound card on my old RO4. I hope that I have understood all this info that's been given to me this week correctly, if not please help if you could clarify clearly. Cheers, Steve. :-)

Sawadee on 30/6/04 9:36AM
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The difficulty on RiscPC machines is obtaining the hardware. AFAIK the best sampler card was the Irlam i16 board, which is no longer avilable. Then the was the nice ESP/Audio Dynamics Powerwave family, but again there's an availability issue, and some people had diffculties with audio recording on their machines. CC/Wild Vision did something too IIRC. Then there are the 8bit parallel port widgets, but they won't really be high enough quality for Sawadee's intended purpose. If someone knows of an available RPC sampling board, than that'd be great.

arawnsley on 30/6/04 10:28AM
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AFAIK, Liquid silicon are porting the midi modules (MIDISupport etc) to the iyonix. The board required to interface to the outside world would be small and fairly cheap but demand would probably be very small (so they would likely be hand made to order).

john on 30/6/04 2:24PM
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Sawadee: I realise this is what you wanted to do, that was clear from your wording. The point I was making is there is no true MIDI on an Iyonix yet. In order to get from Sibelius7 to your synthesiser, what ever it may be (ie. your keyboard) you need a MIDI connection.

Smiler on 30/6/04 3:56PM
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One possibility is using a USB device to record audio, if somebody were to write the relevent drivers. If no suitable hardware is available, it should be quite cheap to plug an ADC onto a Cypress EZ-USB microcontroller.

nunfetishist on 30/6/04 4:45PM
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Trouble with USB and Audio is that you're generally looking at Isochronous mode, which isn't supported by the Simtec stack.

Better would be to use something like Kortink's PCIFace and shove an Audigy or something on it. Oh, but he refused to send us any docs now didn't he. Which was stupid. Then he shut down windfall. What a waste.

imj on 30/6/04 5:27PM
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john: MIDISupport on Iyonix? I've been waiting to hear this quite a while..

Hopefully LiqSil can add some more drivers for (possibly) PCI/USB/Internal MIDI interfaces. MidiWays' apps like SysExy are invaluable on a decent music pc and act as a free-routable MIDISupport plugin.

hEgelia on 30/6/04 11:31PM
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Adding drivers is easy(er) because the specs for the API are available. The problem is them finishing the MIDI modules where the source code isn't generally available and also making the hardware to take the motherboard header to the back of the case (unless the driver is for the non-internal interface).

john on 1/7/04 12:10AM
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Smiler: Sorry, I think I've got what you mean now. A MIDI connection or MIDI Card as I understand it's name. So is the Iyonixs able to handle a MIDI Card (if a suitable one can be found and installed), but it doesn't have a stock "Off the Shelf" compatible and ready to go MIDI Card available?? Your wording sounds like that Iyonixs has no Specific MIDI Support for Iyonixs. I never realised how much work is or has to be done to get Iyonixs sound features up to date! AudioIn, MIDI support, USB and Audio...... and whatever else!

imj: A friend here in Auckland has !Sibelius on RISC OS and when he installed ViewFinder and got it working, he found that ViewFinder stops his ESP MIDI II podule from working, so !Sibelius suddenly has no input or output. He was disappointed more by the lack of support ending with "It's not ViewFinder's fault" However, the only thing that concerns me about things like this is that when people like us install various software and ViewFinder, MIDI Cards, AudioIn, and various devices from many of the suppliers we have, the worry is will it work? But having said that, I do appreciate the wonderful support from most suppliers and users. Cheers, Steve

Sawadee on 1/7/04 12:19AM
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