Treeline
New member
Here's an oddball question for you. I didn't find a discussion using the search function. Maybe that's ominous...
I have an old AKAI DPS16 multitrack recorder that keeps on trucking - it was a phenomenal machine in its day, but came out just before the widespread acceptance of USB connectors and does not have much for digital communications. I've been able to dump six channels of audio at once into my computer, so its been useful for remote recordings. The I/O is a real pain.
I can connect external burners and disk drives through a 50 pin SCSI connector. That works well but is a bit archaic.
There is also a set of MIDI in and out connectors, and S/PDIF digital I/O.
Internally the thing uses an IDE drive with standard connectors for additional drives. It will recognize multiple IDE drives through this standard arrangement.
Is there anything in this box of wires that might suggest a way to install a USB connector so I can pass multiple tracks directly to my computer? AKAI has a rudimentary AKSYS program that will allow a PC to work with the AKAI file format, so I think I can get the files into .wav format without a disaster. The later DPS24 unit incorporated a USB connector for exactly this purpose and worked well with a PC based DAW. But with this unit, getting the signals into the computer - other than one at a time - has eluded me.
So - any USB to IDE conversion gurus out there? I'd like to keep using this unit as long as I can, as I have yet to hear something that records as well without getting into moderately high end gear. The preamps sound phenomenal, although its digital effects are *meh*.
Thanks for any ideas!
I have an old AKAI DPS16 multitrack recorder that keeps on trucking - it was a phenomenal machine in its day, but came out just before the widespread acceptance of USB connectors and does not have much for digital communications. I've been able to dump six channels of audio at once into my computer, so its been useful for remote recordings. The I/O is a real pain.
I can connect external burners and disk drives through a 50 pin SCSI connector. That works well but is a bit archaic.
There is also a set of MIDI in and out connectors, and S/PDIF digital I/O.
Internally the thing uses an IDE drive with standard connectors for additional drives. It will recognize multiple IDE drives through this standard arrangement.
Is there anything in this box of wires that might suggest a way to install a USB connector so I can pass multiple tracks directly to my computer? AKAI has a rudimentary AKSYS program that will allow a PC to work with the AKAI file format, so I think I can get the files into .wav format without a disaster. The later DPS24 unit incorporated a USB connector for exactly this purpose and worked well with a PC based DAW. But with this unit, getting the signals into the computer - other than one at a time - has eluded me.
So - any USB to IDE conversion gurus out there? I'd like to keep using this unit as long as I can, as I have yet to hear something that records as well without getting into moderately high end gear. The preamps sound phenomenal, although its digital effects are *meh*.
Thanks for any ideas!
