Behringer ADA 8000 conversion ideas

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kristianjohnsen

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Mar 13, 2011
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Lillehammer, Norway
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Many lounge-level users of digital mixers put these to good use, but many complain about the inputs being on the front.

Would it be an improbable proposition to run a lenght of multicore into the back of the unit and just solder the ends inside the box to the solderpoints where the existing XLR chassis connectors are mounted? I'm thinking the lenght of multicore could just fan out into XLRs or something like a DB25 connector outside of the box.

Bad idea?
 
Behringer ADA 8000 conversion idea2

After starting to think about my conversion idea number 1 I got to thinking:

How hard would it be to cut one of the legs of each gain pot on these units and route the current running through it through some sort of semiconductor that could be remotely variable to mimic the resistance of the pot?

Remote control is the challenge, I guess? A system revolving around DMX control protocol comes to mind as a candidate.

My thinking is that ADAT-cat5 extention is affordable and readily available, yet the remote control preamps still cost a lot.

Any of this even remotely (no pun intended) acheivable to a clever DIYer?
 
Re: Behringer ADA 8000 conversion idea2

This reference may not make a lot of sense to someone outside the US, but there was a comedy show a few years back called Home Improvement with Tim Allen. He and his sidekick Al occasionally worked on cars on the show.

In one episode, it is revealed that Al has chromed and hot rodded his very un-cool old station wagon. Al's time and money investment into the mods exceeded the (modest) value of the station wagon by several times.

Are the things you suggest possible? Certainly. I think an Arduino controller could do some pretty cool stuff. Unfortunately at the end of the project, you're still stuck with ADA8000s.
 
Re: Behringer ADA 8000 conversion idea2

TJ.

What I remember most about that show was Pamela without all the plastic...

Soldering a multicore into the box should hardly cost more than right-angle XLRs for the front panel+blank panels, etc.

The remote idea I have no idea how much effort it would take to build, I haven't DIYed component level electronics for way too long. My thinking is that if it's good enough to be used locally it's good enough to be used remotely, so it becomes a matter of "how cheap could one build it" I guess.
 
Re: Behringer ADA 8000 conversion idea2

You might look into the Focusrite Octopre MKII Dynamic- it will cost you a little more, but no soldering required! It's the ADA 8000, but superior in many ways.
 
Re: Behringer ADA 8000 conversion idea2

kristianjohnsen said:
TJ.

What I remember most about that show was Pamela without all the plastic...

Soldering a multicore into the box should hardly cost more than right-angle XLRs for the front panel+blank panels, etc.

The remote idea I have no idea how much effort it would take to build, I haven't DIYed component level electronics for way too long. My thinking is that if it's good enough to be used locally it's good enough to be used remotely, so it becomes a matter of "how cheap could one build it" I guess.
Click to expand...

Heidi was cuter.

I don't know how the pot is used on the ADA8000 - if it's actually in the signal chain or if it is a VCA. That would affect the difficulty of the remote mod a lot.

Here are the Arduinos:
http://arduino.cc/en/Main/Hardware

Most of the models only support 6 PWM outputs (8-bit), so you'd either have to put two of them in or get one of the Mega 2560s:
http://arduino.cc/en/Main/ArduinoBoardMega2560

that have more PWM outs.

Or you could go even more Rube Goldberg and wire up a bank of servos to actually turn the knobs for you.

My memory is fuzzy, but I believe the Basic Stamp and Propeller chips:
http://www.parallax.com/ProductInfo...Default.aspx?gclid=CLO8r9ay9qcCFYNx5QodFhlIbw
have PWM capability on all of the I/O pins.
 
Re: Behringer ADA 8000 conversion idea2

G*d how people love to hate these things, but they are still a ripper box irrespective of the name on the front. Rather than trying to remote a reverse log gainpot, it would probably be easier to replace the whole front ends with these:
http://www.ti.com/lit/ds/symlink/pga2500.pdf
which are made for the job, and control them with whatever micro and protocol you like (DMX is as good as any).
M
 
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Re: Behringer ADA 8000 conversion idea2

Mike Diack said:
G*d how people love to hate these things, but they are still a ripper box irrespective of the name on the front. Rather than trying to remote a reverse log gainpot, it would probably be easier to replace the whole front ends with these:
http://www.ti.com/lit/ds/symlink/pga2500.pdf
which are made for the job, and control them with whatever micro and protocol you like (DMX is as good as any).
M
Click to expand...

Mike.

Thanks for the link. I truly wish I had time for a proper DIY project - like making a 48 channel remote snake. That would be cool!

I think the Appsys kits look promising: Inexpensive, available for several preamp types - as well as them being willing to tailor kits to any preamp as long as you hand them the gain pot specs. Also: Unplug the power of the MIDI module and the preamps works with the front controls instead.

Considering that the ADA 8000 probably costs less than what a rack housing and 16 XLR chassis jacks cost, I think they make a good platform for at little experimentation with this.

I'm awaiting a reply from the designer regarding the possibility of having a Yamaha mixer control the Appsys MIDI remote via the gain encoders. This is the make-or-break for me on this product.

PS: How would one go about getting the TI preamp to feed phantom power or convert it's output to ADAT?
 
Re: Behringer ADA 8000 conversion idea2

kristianjohnsen said:
PS: How would one go about getting the TI preamp to feed phantom power or convert it's output to ADAT?
Click to expand...

The ADA8000 feeds the output from the preamps into AL1101 (Alesis/Wavefront) ADCs, then into an AL1401 ADAT encoder.
There is very little glue logic. The PGA has some general purpose output port pins which could be used to turn on phantom,
flip a phase reverse relay etc....anything you wish to embed in your control bitstream.
The Wavefront chips are super cheap, but as you suggested, probably a pile of ADA8ks would make a fine development platform.
M
 
Re: Behringer ADA 8000 conversion idea2

kristianjohnsen said:
Mike.

Thanks for the link. I truly wish I had time for a proper DIY project - like making a 48 channel remote snake. That would be cool!

I think the Appsys kits look promising: Inexpensive, available for several preamp types - as well as them being willing to tailor kits to any preamp as long as you hand them the gain pot specs. Also: Unplug the power of the MIDI module and the preamps works with the front controls instead.

Considering that the ADA 8000 probably costs less than what a rack housing and 16 XLR chassis jacks cost, I think they make a good platform for at little experimentation with this.

I'm awaiting a reply from the designer regarding the possibility of having a Yamaha mixer control the Appsys MIDI remote via the gain encoders. This is the make-or-break for me on this product.

PS: How would one go about getting the TI preamp to feed phantom power or convert it's output to ADAT?
Click to expand...

If you are remotely serious about rolling your own, there are entire websites dedicated to this kind of stuff... mostly for recording applications, but chips is chips and these all use the same guts.

JR
 
Re: Behringer ADA 8000 conversion idea2

Mike Diack said:
The ADA8000 feeds the output from the preamps into AL1101 (Alesis/Wavefront) ADCs, then into an AL1401 ADAT encoder.
There is very little glue logic. The PGA has some general purpose output port pins which could be used to turn on phantom,
flip a phase reverse relay etc....anything you wish to embed in your control bitstream.
The Wavefront chips are super cheap, but as you suggested, probably a pile of ADA8ks would make a fine development platform.
M
Click to expand...

Ah, I gotcha now, I thought your suggestion was to build something from scratch. Which would be way cool, but not a feasible proposition at the moment. If one were to mod the ADA 8000 with a chip like the one you suggest, would the original gain pots still work when needed?

I have to say, I find the Appsys product really interesting as it can be controlled from just about any MIDI device, no need to roll a control system of your own. If it turns out the Yamaha DM 2000 can output something on the MIDI port that allows control of the preamps we might have a winner.
 
Re: Behringer ADA 8000 conversion ideas

kristianjohnsen said:
Many lounge-level users of digital mixers put these to good use, but many complain about the inputs being on the front.

Would it be an improbable proposition to run a lenght of multicore into the back of the unit and just solder the ends inside the box to the solderpoints where the existing XLR chassis connectors are mounted? I'm thinking the lenght of multicore could just fan out into XLRs or something like a DB25 connector outside of the box.

Bad idea?
Click to expand...

When I had these, I just made up a rear panel for the rack and used right angle xlrs bringing the inputs under the unit. Solved it with no mods.
 
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