Konnekt8 & Mac/iTunes - help!

hi Obsessed1

Have you tried System Preferences and the Sound Pannel to see what's listed there?

Disconnect everything, restart Mac, connect the Konnekt with a proper Firewire cable, check the pannel(s), fire up iTunes, all systems go?

Hope that at TC's Customer Support you won't be "helped" by the *ssh*l* that I stumbled upon

Good luck keep us posted!

Go to the Audio/Midi App and check the Configure Speaker button. If you use the Konnekt between a DAC and the Mac as a Firewire - SPDIF converter it should show 5 and 6 outputs. If the Konnekt is the DAC it should show 1 or 2 / 3 or 4 depending on what output you plan to use.

Start at the beginning, plug the device in then goto system prefs and sound, click on output and check its using the firewire device.

If the device does not show it might be faulty or not compatible with your old mac.

It seems ubsurd to get a 700 quid dac and various interfcaes to make it work with an old mac.

A beresford, express and a new macbook would have been a better balance.

quote:

Originally posted by ferenc:
Go to the Audio/Midi App and check the Configure Speaker button. If you use the Konnekt between a DAC and the Mac as a Firewire - SPDIF converter it should show 5 and 6 outputs. If the Konnekt is the DAC it should show 1 or 2 / 3 or 4 depending on what output you plan to use.

A-ha! Now we are getting somewhere. When I configure the speakers, it shows 1 or 2, or 3/4. So, how do I configure the Konnekt as a Firewire - SPDIF converter??

quote:

Originally posted by garyi:
It seems ubsurd to get a 700 quid dac and various interfcaes to make it work with an old mac.

Thanks for that heart-felt concern, Gary. Absurd, certainly, if it doesn't work.

If it does work, and I can use the MAC and iTouch remote, I will be a happy camper, as I'm very happy with the Lavry sound (almost as good as my current cd/sacd player). And, yes, I know I could further improve on both.

If you have wirleess on the lappy then an express would be the logical recourse.

Did you check the sound preference pane?

I will double-check the sound preference panel tonight.

quote:

Originally posted by Obsessed1:

quote:

Originally posted by ferenc:
Go to the Audio/Midi App and check the Configure Speaker button. If you use the Konnekt between a DAC and the Mac as a Firewire - SPDIF converter it should show 5 and 6 outputs. If the Konnekt is the DAC it should show 1 or 2 / 3 or 4 depending on what output you plan to use.

A-ha! Now we are getting somewhere. When I configure the speakers, it shows 1 or 2, or 3/4. So, how do I configure the Konnekt as a Firewire - SPDIF converter??

3/4.

Plus you should have to go to the Konnekt Control Panel and set the SPDIF out as DAW. Then it goes directly to the SPDIF output, not through the internal mixer. It is the purest setting, usually it sounds the best as well.

Let me know if you have more question.

Obsessed1,

Since you have two audio devices on the mac, I assume you choose which to use in the iTunes menu (lower right corner, IIRC).

Charlie

quote:

Originally posted by ferenc:
Plus you should have to go to the Konnekt Control Panel and set the SPDIF out as DAW. Then it goes directly to the SPDIF output, not through the internal mixer. It is the purest setting, usually it sounds the best as well.

Let me know if you have more question.

I finally got the thing to work, but not without a lot of grief. However, I can only get it work via the Mixer. If I set the SPDIF output to DAW, there is no output. Via the mixer, I can't say that the Konnekt8 adds a whole lot to the party.

Overall assessment?
The instruction manuals provided are completely useless;
Customer support is shite;
Questionable improvement to sound quality (though I have my doubts I have it optimally configured).

One other thing - even when working, if you watch the "mixer desk" it will regularly report signal dropouts (even though not audible).

It's crap, and going back. I'm astonished that others have found this piece of equipment to be an amazingly useful insertion between MAC and Lavry.

quote:

Originally posted by Obsessed1:
I've picked up a konnekt 8 to fit between between an older Mac (that doesn't have an optical digital out) and a Lavry...

Since you do not have an optical out from your older Mac, it was a well-worth effort to give it a try.

However, it is convoluted IMHO if you plug a Konnekt 8 between a (latest generation) Mac and a Lavry DA10.

quote:

Originally posted by Obsessed1:

quote:

Originally posted by ferenc:
Plus you should have to go to the Konnekt Control Panel and set the SPDIF out as DAW. Then it goes directly to the SPDIF output, not through the internal mixer. It is the purest setting, usually it sounds the best as well.

Let me know if you have more question.

I finally got the thing to work, but not without a lot of grief. However, I can only get it work via the Mixer. If I set the SPDIF output to DAW, there is no output. Via the mixer, I can't say that the Konnekt8 adds a whole lot to the party.

Overall assessment?
The instruction manuals provided are completely useless;
Customer support is shite;
Questionable improvement to sound quality (though I have my doubts I have it optimally configured).

One other thing - even when working, if you watch the "mixer desk" it will regularly report signal dropouts (even though not audible).

It's crap, and going back. I'm astonished that others have found this piece of equipment to be an amazingly useful insertion between MAC and Lavry.

I know at least 50 guys around here who is using the Konnekt 8 and 24 for hifi or pro audio purposes without a problem on Mac. However all of them have the Intel Macs, not an old Power PC one. It is easily possible that the problem you faced are somehow exclusive for the Power PC Macs as I have never experienced them on an Intel Mac, and I am using different Konnekts some 2 years ago.

They only work better now. On the TC control panel, go to system settings and the option other than system. I don't know what that is for a MAC. Choose coax L and R instead of line 1 and 2 where ever you can or something like it and DAW should work. If you don't get drop outs, you're probably fine regardless of what it tells you but increasing the buffer size in in the 'system' window may help. You should never need more than 512 samples for your setup. It should still sound lots better even through the mixer with everything at the default max settings but DAW is best. The difference between DAW and the mixer is subtle with ITunes as a source and either is clearly your best options to an outboard DAC. It's a pro piece and quite the opposite of shite. Don't let frustration guide your opinion. Much that's second nature for recording guys is far from obvious for us. Most consumers have some problems without help. If it came with a program that you can use for playback like Qbase, set it to ASIO in the programs preferences and give that a listen. You may also have to select channels again in a drop down if it doesn't play. All your settings are remembered so it's a get it right one time thing and then your good. Hope that helps and I always like to say that I still prefer any Naim CDP for CDs as perspective. Perhaps with a DAC that cost HDX type dollars it would be similar but at least you're not very source limited once you're set up right in ASIO. Oh, all the recommendations that you've heard about setting up the MAC mixer should be in effect for your current arrangement when not in ASIO.

qbase LOL.

quote:

Originally posted by patevil:
qbase LOL.

Oops. Cubase. Never used it.

Don't......Ever.

quote:

Originally posted by patevil:
Don't......Ever.

I've heard as much. I wasn't recommending such except to try ASIO if it was available to him. Any ideas of a free way for him to do so on a MAC as an experiment?

Apogee Duet
FireWire Audio Interface with 2 XLR Inputs and Bus Power - 24-bit/96kHz 2-channel


$495.

check it out.

or the apogee mini dac
$900 something with firewire.
24 192.



not free but $500 is worth a try.

quote:

Originally posted by patevil:
Apogee Duet
FireWire Audio Interface with 2 XLR Inputs and Bus Power - 24-bit/96kHz 2-channel


$495.

check it out.

or the apogee mini dac
$900 something with firewire.
24 192.



not free but $500 is worth a try.

Konnekt 8 is fine for an interface and he has it. I meant a play program he could download for free or trial on a Mac that had ASIO accessability.

most asio drivers are native to the products they were designed for. I am not aware of any 3rd party universal ASIO drivers.

USB 2 Audio

USB-ASIO universal drivers tuned for a small subset of interfaces are available–originally for Mac OS 9, now available for OS X.

Whether these make a significant difference in playback performance from a sonic perspective is altogether another story.

quote:

Originally posted by patevil:
most asio drivers are native to the products they were designed for. I am not aware of any 3rd party universal ASIO drivers.

I'm aware of that but many media programs can't access the ASIO driver and is why I asked abour a program for MAC that could, It's why I mentioned Cubase if supplied to just try a track for fun. It's clearly not a freindly program as a player. Seems like we both know what's going on but aren't communicating very well.

quote:

Originally posted by js:
... On the TC control panel, go to system settings and the option other than system. I don't know what that is for a MAC. Choose coax L and R instead of line 1 and 2 where ever you can or something like it and DAW should work... It should still sound lots better even through the mixer with everything at the default max settings but DAW is best. The difference between DAW and the mixer is subtle with ITunes as a source and either is clearly your best options to an outboard DAC. It's a pro piece and quite the opposite of shite. Don't let frustration guide your opinion. Much that's second nature for recording guys is far from obvious for us. Most consumers have some problems without help. ....

Choosing coax L&R output doesn't seem to be an option with any of the Macs I have tried with the Konnekt8, so getting the straight DAW output is a no-go. The old Q4 Mac doesn't seem to work at all (defaults to quad 4-channel 32-bit output!). With a newer Mac, through the mixer is OK, but quite frankly is not much of an upgrade to the straight optical out.

As for the Cubase and ASIO stuff to which you refer, that is so far beyond my limited computing skills that I dare not tread there. If I can assume that these would be alternative sources to iTunes, though, I would have no interest as I am solidly behind the iTunes interface even if it doesn't deliver the very best sound.

Thanks everyone for the suggestions.

quote:

Originally posted by Frank F:
Hi,

Maybe Ferenc, PCS etc. can help me. I have a Konnekt 8 and when I use it with my Vaio it only shows as speakers - not as digital. I am using Windows Vista, can I bypass the internal sound card and go digital out to the Konnekt. The control panel shows DAW no problem btw

FF

Hi Frank,

I can not help unfortunately, as I have installation experience with the Konnekt in Mac environment only.

Frank, I would either contact the manufacturer directly TC or see if you can contact JS via e-mail at his shop, he may be willing to give you the information you need. I know that they use the K8 with a Vaio and there are a number of settings which need to be checked/unchecked to get it to work properly.


Check the search function, but I am pretty sure that JS did not give a setup dissertation on the forum for this.