Topic: Exactly why this forum exists

[Fanny Pack]

LOL.  Until you hash out things you disagree on, how you ever agree on anything?

There are all kinds of DACs and they pretty much all have their own native interface.  Most of the USB DACs have an FTDI USB chip in them and the communication across the USB bus is via commands that it understands.  At that level, the commands are pretty ugly because it's just moving a few bytes here, then a batch of bytes there, etc.  They mean something to the FTDI chip and DAC firmware but unless you have a tech sheet in front of you they won't make much sense.  But, almost all of those same DACs come with a higher level DLL that is an API with commands like:

InitializeDevice()
SendFrame(byte array)
CloseDevice()

This is a very intuitive interace because the laser software only has to call Initialize and then start sending frames via the SendFrame function.  In the meantime, it is very easy to adjust the frame's data before it gets sent to the device.  If you look at my code, the part that displays the show is very simple.  It opens the device, reads a frame, adjusts the frame based on the settings that you specify in the Scanner Settings form, and then calls SendFrame and waits until it is time to do it again.

Anyway, with this approach, their is a software layer between the laser software and the device that can do pretty much anything you want.  They layer can exist in the driver DLL, or it can exist in the firmware.  If you put it in the DLL, it is easy to update.  If you put it in the firmware, it is harder to update but takes load off the computer.

DrLavas driver is a wrapper is a good example.  All of the color shifting stuff could be placed in there if desired.  That's one way of adding additional functionality to the soundcard that is invisible to the laser software.

I kind of lost my train of thought there, but I guess what I wanted to say is, maybe stop thinking of the sound card as a sound card and start thinking of it as just a DAC with a weird API to it.  Then write a nice driver for it (DrLava already did actually) and deal with it as a laser device instead of an audio device.

I still think the use of WAV files is cool because you can multiplex audio and a lasershow and just play it.  But, there are problems with that approach that make it unattractive for most cases and it causes the funneling of ideas into a single hole instead of opening up the ideas to infinity.

On a different note, my RIYA DAC is pretty cool because you can run a utility to set up color offsets inside the device as well as a few other settings.  Then, the device handles that for you.  It also has a slot for SD media and a LCD display.  I can take the little box with me with no computer and play laser shows (no sound, though, bummer).  Anyway, that's an example of a DAC that is more than just something that converts digital into analog.

[Absolom]

Sorry James, but I agree with Hyena and Blinken.  I like Hyena's idea of building a DAC that has a firmware.  It could also be a multiplatform DAC that could play WAVs, ILDs and a new format.

Hyena, yes, I too like new and old industrial.  :Wumpscut:, KMFDM, Zeromancer...  

[Absolom]

I think there is also a driving force for Hyena, I could be wrong, but I get the notion he would like to construct a Pangolin killer.  I would like to see that incarnation myself...

[Fanny Pack]

I'm not out to get anybody.  This is just my hobby for the time being.  Before this I spent 5 years and around $10K restoring an old car.  It took up my entire garage and I didn't get to enjoy it in the meantime.  After I finished I decided to take on something smaller and so I got into laser stuff. I can fit everything on my workbench, I don't have to spend any money to type in code, and when I am done I don't have to worry about going inside and getting dirt and grease on everything.

[James]

While you are dreaming of pie-in-the-sky laser DACs, I'm projecting high resolution RGB laser shows with sound.

Whatever!

Let's not forget that LaserBoy has been the core inspiration for a LOT of development by other people too; yourself included!

James. 

[Fanny Pack]

OK Bill Benner, you win.

[James]

Slight difference there....

LaserBoy is free and you can make your own sound card DAC anytime you want to.

LaserBoy is also open source and you can see every part of what makes it work.

I also do my best to help other people understand it; not just MY application, but the technology in general.

James. 

[Absolom]

Wow, Call him Bill?  Holy shit, why didn't you just kick him in the balls and say he has ugly children.... that would be the equivalent.  LOL. 

[BlinkenLights]

Bill is an advocate for Pangolin just as James is an advocate for LaserBoy.. just as I am an advocate for  laserboy GUI development and Hyena is an advocate for something other than wav files.

[Absolom]

Yeah, but at least with you guys, you are an advocate of something good and valid.  As James alluded to awhile ago, Bill is an advocate of BS.

[Absolom]

Don't get me wrong people.  I love LaserBoy.  I think it is great stuff.  It definitely needs a GUI, but I love it none-the-less.  I also see the other side of the coin too.