Anyone still using the old Gadget Labs 824?

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monty

monty

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Mine is still working fine. In fact I've hardly used it. When I have used it, it seems like the sound is so close to original, my playback equipment can't detect any difference. I'm thinking maybe the reason they went out of business was because they were selling to cheaply. Like they gave away the store...? :confused:
 
Glad it's still working! Back in 2000, I was deciding between the Delta 44 and the GL equivalent (whatever had 4 I/Os). I had emailed both vendors some questions, and both got back to me promptly. I can't recall why I went with the Delta, but I guess I'm somewhat glad I did, as GL went out of business not too long after. Did folks write Win2K/XP drivers on their own? My Delta started out on Win98, and has since been living in first Win2K and then on XP without too many problems.
 
Mine died a few years ago, though I still have it. I never did determine what the exact problem was. I just remember that Windows (98SE) could no longer see it, and reinstalling the drivers did nothing. And by that time, GL had gone under.
 
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I've been using it quite often since 2002... a Wave 8/24. I bought it knowing GL had gone out of business, but I knew it was a great choice anyway. I plan on continuing to use it for a lot longer too.

The Win XP drivers were written after Gadget Labs went out of biz, but the Win 2000 drivers that you download from gadgetlabs.org are the same ol' things Gadget Labs originally made for it. I've used it with Win 98 and Win 2000 drivers. I always have had great results even during my lazy months of not even bothering to resolve an irq conflict with my agp display adapter.
 
I had the daughter card for spdif also, but I couldn't get rid of the clicks and pops when I used it for copying into the computer. Sold it on Ebay for $50. Now I just use a Delta Dio card for optical spdif or playback. I use Win ME. Is there any noticible advantage to using 2000 or xp?
 
monty said:
I had the daughter card for spdif also, but I couldn't get rid of the clicks and pops when I used it for copying into the computer. Sold it on Ebay for $50. Now I just use a Delta Dio card for optical spdif or playback. I use Win ME. Is there any noticible advantage to using 2000 or xp?
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Well...??? :confused:
 
I've only used it in Win 98 and then in Win 2000. As far as the card goes, there wasn't any difference that I could tell in those two oses. The way software runs and the way files are handled is the thing that makes Win 2000 a hundred times better than Win 98, so I guess the actual card's performance has been the same as it ever was... great in both oses. Same computer though. Same computer, same ram, same hdd.

Installing the Win 2000 drivers was an unusual process compared to Win 98, but it does work if do it exactly how they explain it in the driver's documents.
 
I used mine last night. Somebody said it earlier, Gadget Labs gave away the store. This is a great unit in the bang for the buck catagory. There's a user group on Yahoo thats writing drivers for XP Pro that work for some people, but don't support midi. So I continue to use 98SE as happily as ever. XP seems to be such an upgrade hassel, it's not worth it to me. Why fix what ain't broke.
 
Oh, and I never heard of ANYONE who got the spdif daughter card to work correctly under any circumstances!
 
Thanks jdavidb & mikemorgan. Ya, that spdif card cost me a lot of time and hassle. I must have spent days, maybe weeks trying to get that thing to run right. The little optical card I use now is great. I believe they (Gadget Labs) actually increased the price of the 824 card to $599 at one point. They knew at that time they were giving them away, but I guess too many people were still only interested in lower cost less functional cards. I’ll have to try the Win2000 drivers. Maybe I have them already…don’t know… :confused:
 
I use a 496 On my home Machine still. (Windows 2000) Mostly just playback. The GL's sound great though. Much Better than anything in that range at the time. I now use a MOTU 828MKII. The MOTU is a great sounding unit, clean and detailed. I think the GL has a distinct sound - for one It's a little hotter (louder) than a lot of cards. Not sure how or why.
 
James HE said:
I use a 496 On my home Machine still. (Windows 2000) Mostly just playback. The GL's sound great though. Much Better than anything in that range at the time. I now use a MOTU 828MKII. The MOTU is a great sounding unit, clean and detailed. I think the GL has a distinct sound - for one It's a little hotter (louder) than a lot of cards. Not sure how or why.
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Hey old timer, how's it goin'...? :p
 
jdavidb said:
I've only used it in Win 98 and then in Win 2000. As far as the card goes, there wasn't any difference that I could tell in those two oses. The way software runs and the way files are handled is the thing that makes Win 2000 a hundred times better than Win 98, so I guess the actual card's performance has been the same as it ever was... great in both oses. Same computer though. Same computer, same ram, same hdd.

Installing the Win 2000 drivers was an unusual process compared to Win 98, but it does work if do it exactly how they explain it in the driver's documents.
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Where does one acquire those Win 2000 drivers?
 
Okay, I found the site from another thread. I'll have to see if they work or whatever. Are they tricky to install?
 
monty said:
Okay, I found the site from another thread. I'll have to see if they work or whatever. Are they tricky to install?
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I don't know. My 824 died while I was using 98SE.
 
Okay, I got the directions from that website. Maybe I'll try it, maybe I won't.
 
sorry I didn't remember to make this thread subscribed, so it got away from me. The Win 2000 drivers... I got them from here: http://www.gadgetlabs.org They are probably the most unusual driver install you'll ever do. There's a text file included with that download that you have to go through step by step. It looks like a hopeless disaster while doing the install, but it ends up working perfectly.

The downside to Win 2000 with Wave 8-24 is that Windows Media Player doesn't have sound but Realplayer does. For sound in those kinds of applications, you'd be better off to direct their audio output to onboard sound or a 2nd regular sound card. The 8-24 is for recording i/o anyway.
 
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