Akai EIE (not Pro)

Akai EIE

I never really had a solution for simultaneous multi-track recording on the computer, so it's high time I got to experiment with it. I got this old AKAI EIE for so cheap it doesn't much matter if it disintegrates tomorrow.

The EIE is from 2011 so it's a little long in the tooth. Technically, I can use the likewise old Fostex MR-8 to record four mono-tracks, but it is a cumbersome solution and I don't even really have the cables to do that.

By the way, it's easy to miss the distinction between the EIE and the EIE Pro version. They have the same interface, but the Pro version has higher sampling rates available. The pro has a silver panel, whereas this older EIE has a red panel. The mistake is easy to make, after all the word "professional" is stamped around the box about four times.

This is in a way fortunate because the ordinary EIE does not have any complications with drivers on Linux, and I could quite happily record 4 simultaneous tracks on Audacity on first try. But the quality remains at 16bit 44Khz.

The front panel

Before relating my experiences, I'll have a peep at the panels.

In front, there are the four inputs, combo XLR/TRS style, four gains and settings for guitar/line/mic levels and phantom power.

There are two round analog VU meters, which contribute to the somewhat naive styling of the box. The late 00's saw these weird retro aesthetics on synths and gear. Hence the analog amp look, replete with metal toggle switches. Usefully, the VUs flash violently red if peaking. In a dark room you'd probably see the flashes even if you weren't looking at the VUs.

Volume Unit meters

Some further knobs and switches adjust the headphone level and channel combinations. There's a toggle for stereo/mono which is useful when recording mono channels. You can also decide which channel pairs are shown in the VU, or if they indicate input or output.

At the back there are four outputs and inserts, and apparently the inserts can be used for external sound processing. Without a bus and level adjustments (it's not a mixer after all) I'm unsure what is their value. Perhaps the idea is to control the levels from the separate equipment itself. The short manual isn't much use here, apparently monitor speakers can be connected to the outputs.

The back panel

There's MIDI in and out, and the main USB connection between the EIE and the computer. An 1.1 USB doesn't sound much, but it should be enough for the 16-bit 44Khz traffic. The Pro version I suppose must have USB 2.0.

The EIE also works as an USB hub for three devices, but again with 1.1. so maybe only useful as a power source. Ok, it's possible to insert an USB-MIDI keyboard.

Somewhere I read a comment saying these USBs produce very little electric disturbance and hum, so perhaps there's that too. It might be the one area where the EIE has become a little more valuable over age, as so many tiny synths can be USB-powered these days.

EIE and Ardour

I was mainly interested in having multi-channel audio recorded with MIDI-clock sync. Recording without synced clock would be nearly useless. A "120 BPM" in the source machine might not agree with the recording computer, and there would be a mismatch between the bar grid and the sound data.

As the recorder sends a clock signal, the audio will be instead happily laid over the bar grid, facilitating further bar-based editing and song construction.

I tried Qtractor at first as I'm already familiar with it, but I just couldn't bother with getting EIE to work with Jack, so I installed Ardour and used ALSA.

Ardour5

I'm not that keen to move over to a full-on DAW that does everything, Ardour looks sufficient for recording and has good editing facilities.

As I have a Roland Boutique synth, on occasions I found Linux had chosen that as an audio device (the boutiques do that) so I had to explicitly tell the system the EIE is the desired output device. Looking with Alsamixer there are no adjustable parameters for the EIE.

Ardour tracks explicitly connected to outputs

Setting up things with the EIE and Ardour had some complications, as it wasn't always obvious if I'm meant to hear the sound or not. I fought for a while with something I thought was a clock sync misunderstanding, only to find out I had to flip a switch in the EIE to hear the sound. It's a little uncertain if the same would have helped with Qtractor, but I doubt it.

Also, Ardour can lose the configuration and it may need to be re-set for each new project.

I can also have four-channel output from the Ardour but in practice it's better to re-route to "stereo".

Ardour MIDI clock setting for EIE Midi interface

Likewise, to have the MIDI clock working, I have to use the Ardour "patching matrix" style interface. Here the Boutique has imposed itself as a possible MIDI device too.

I have to say the editing is quite intuitive, the audio blocks can be cut, spliced and moved about quickly. 

What I got with my setup is a slight mismatch between the recording starting point, which didn't exactly line up with the beginning of the tracks. Not sure if this has anything to do with EIE, or some parameter in Ardour.

Anyway, it was easy to fix in the edit, by cutting the obvious extra and moving the tracks to the start position. After that it's simple to cut, paste, remove and repeat song portions.

Some empty space at the start of the recording, to be cut away

A problem with a small number of recording tracks is that separating percussion could easily take four or more channels.

There's a cheap way to improve the situation a little, by recording permutations of the beat after the "song" proper has been recorded. So you can have bars with kick or hihat only, then use repeats to create new tracks for all of them.

In any case it looks it would be better if the basic bones of a song fit into four tracks. Afterwards, four more tracks might be recorded for further embellishments. Again it looks like the gear is aimed at the classic 4-person band who want to record a demo.

Trying to figure settings for punching in some MIDI USB keyboard playing ultimately crashed Ardour, and I started recalling why I moved away from this type of software in the first place.

But anyway, in the end the EIE box did what I wanted, it records four (mono) channels simultaneously and it wasn't expensive. In addition, it does perform as a funny-looking sound card, and I don't have to switch between general computer use and sound recording contexts.

Vammala Party 2024

This was the thirtieth Vammala Party, and Thirty years of Vammala Party. It was also the tenth anniversary for me, and the eleventh visit overall. 

The location is the almost standard Kauppila farm, with good accommodation and suitable outdoors options. The weather was mixed, but not limiting in any way.

The event is not purely a demoparty, one could say the demoscene events only occupy one corner of the whole thing. This in some ways makes it more appealing than many demoparties, but it's also apparent the compos don't have many entries.

The Wild compo was strong as usual, there are even certain traditions and styles observed, which have grown (or in-grown) during the years.

I had nothing to contribute beforehand to the compos, except an idea for the Tuplain compo where existing youtube audio is combined with another video. I combined a slowed down C64 Delta footage with Koyaanisqatsi music. When I have little expectations about winning the compo, I submit something I'd personally like to see, or want to show to others.

The reverse also exists, of combining slowed down SID Delta music with a Koyaanisqatsi clip, but I spared the audience from this as the music sounded rather horrible.

The customary on-site Commodore 64 PETSCII was done, and it turned out ok.

Pals, Commodore 64 PETSCII

Then I began working on a Tic-80 fantasy console image. This I supposed would be small enough to do on location. Yet my ambition grew and I saw the idea would not really fit into that resolution. So, I switched over to Atari ST format and kept on pixeling.

I am working on adding a Tic-80 mode to Multipaint, but the more I understand about it the less interesting it seems. With 24-bit RGB colors, the mode is so flexible as to be almost pointless.

Also, using the two layers, 32 colors could be invoked, and with some tricks I believe even more is possible. So I could almost just as well enable a low resolution 24-bit RGB mode. Meh.

But enough of that.

Pixels in Space, Atari ST, 320x200, 16 colors out of 512

The Atari ST outcome is nice, and although I could see a few more evenings would help a little, the hands are a little lazy and the dithering could be more refined. But there's also a certain roughness I like.

Perhaps using the default Tic-80 palette as a starting point helped take the image in this direction, instead of doing the "one color slide and accents" approach. I'm also relatively unaware what peak Atari ST images look like, so I was not too much pressured by precedents.

https://demozoo.org/parties/5037/

Z-Saw guide "Best"

Saw, guide and clamped piece in place. Angle ruler just for scale.

Quick on the heels of the Z-saw guide "F" I also got this simpler guide, intended for 90-degree and 45-degree cuts. It also promises to help with parallel sawing.

This is smaller, but it's still quite heavy and the instant appearance is that of robustness and high definition.

It's not simple to claim 90-degree accuracy, and I'm not sure if I can ever expect perfection from something like this. For example, there are more expensive try squares that do little else than verify an angle.

Here the removable guide part is more clearly positioned to the the side of the tool than it was with the "F" guide. I feel more confident about that detail. 

Small but effective.

The guide part itself is smaller and thinner, and I'm not certain it wouldn't sway under the forces hand sawing can produce. It's only secured from the top with two adjustment screws.

Even the first time I could more easily do a 90-degree cut. But I also saw ever-so-slightly lopsided result with a 21x45 profile board – better results may require some experience and the right "touch". But at least while sawing 21x21mm profiled rods, I encountered no problems.

There are two blade thicknesses, and switching between the two means altering between two guide parts, which can be hand-screwed loose and re-inserted in desired order.

The other thickness is the same as with the "F" guide so I could use the saw supplied with that guide and attach the smaller blade with the grip that came with this guide.

The guide plate in place, the angle ruler just for scale.

From the manual it looks like I could just press the device against a wood piece and cut. Hence the rounded "handle". I much prefer to use clamps.

It's actually possible to remove the handle part, giving a more straight surface for clamping, but as it doesn't make a huge difference I left it on. Who knows, the pressure might be better distributed when it's on.

Again, doing repeats has to be figured out by other means.

I set a reference rod side by side with the work piece using a try square, while clamping them together. Then I inserted the dummy blade to the saw guide, pulled it down against the reference and clamped it to position. This needs to be done carefully as the dummy blade bends easily.

Pulling the guide dummy blade against the reference rod end.

This way I could get the length to the territory of less than 1/10th of a millimeter accuracy compared to the reference piece. This doesn't sound that bad but actually is rather annoying if you really need the pieces to be of the same length.

For my practical case this was ok, as gluing and clamping resulted in more inaccuracies than my sawing...

But I could do better by using a dedicated stopper. Also, it might be better to rely on something else than the dummy blade.

For the modest gate-like object I'm making, I needed to have 9 equally long rods with preferably no deviation from the 90 degrees. The method I used, this tolerance was bearable and I was pleased enough with the result. Especially the angles appeared to be smooth.

Another way might have been to clamp together multiple rods at once and attempt parallel sawing. Perhaps another time!

The Best saw guide is easier to use for this task than the "F" guide. I'll look into doing the 45 degree cuts later. Is it exaggeration to have both? Perhaps not, as I have no other silent options for making cuts.

Nice enough!