Black Lion Audio Mod Owners

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earth tones
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Black Lion Audio Mod Owners

Post by earth tones » Tue Nov 22, 2016 3:00 am

Are these Black Lion Audio modded devices all destined for the landfill? Will the technological upgrades held within all be made operationally obsolete via incompatibility with drivers/versions of Pro Tools or Operating Systems rather than mechanical or electronic failure? It seems that in order to make use of my Signature-modded Digi 002r, I'll have to permanently dedicate a computer to running a legacy OS (10.9.5) and Pro Tools 10 or 11. Is there a longterm solution to using these BLA upgraded devices?

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A.David.MacKinnon
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Post by A.David.MacKinnon » Tue Nov 22, 2016 11:33 am

The sad truth is that everything digital related seems destined for landfill at some point. It's just a matter of when. If you've got a compatible computer and don't mind running older software you could effectively keep using it until something goes bad (computer or 002).

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Post by The Scum » Tue Nov 22, 2016 12:27 pm

To be fair, this has very little to do with Black Lion.

It comes back to planned obsolescence, and Avid/Digidesign's less-than-great track record surrounding it. It's not the first time that they've told their customers "if you want to run the latest software, you'll need to buy all new hardware."
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gregovertone
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Post by gregovertone » Tue Nov 22, 2016 1:22 pm

sadly, this is not on BLA.

just the woe's of digital recording.


i feel like you can hope to get 10-15 years out of a digital device, and those last few will be brutal.


i have a BLA 002r gasping for life with an iMac on 10.8.5.

such is the way of the (digital) world.
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earth tones
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Post by earth tones » Wed Nov 23, 2016 4:03 am

Yes, agreed. Planned obsolescence, indeed. I was in no way throwing Black Lion Audio under the bus. I was mostly wondering how other proud owners of BLA mods were coping with the loss of it's utility due to the inherent shelf-life of digital devices, in general. I love what BLA does. I only wish the efforts of the BLA technicians would be able to age like a well-maintained 1176, U47 etc...

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Nick Sevilla
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Post by Nick Sevilla » Wed Nov 23, 2016 7:50 am

Hopefully, BLA eventually will just make their own, fully modular converter systems.

Until then, well, they are just modders, so they are stick with other companies product specs.

If they looked at things like what every other company is doing re modularity, I am sure they could come up with something great.

Apogee Symphony for example. Or the Focusrite boxes which have different computer peripheral adapters you can swap out
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Post by kslight » Fri Nov 25, 2016 7:56 am

In all fairness, the 002 is 14 years old.

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A.David.MacKinnon
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Post by A.David.MacKinnon » Tue Nov 29, 2016 6:53 am

kslight wrote:In all fairness, the 002 is 14 years old.
True but I've got gear from the 40's & 50's thats just as useful and functional as the day it was made.

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Post by kslight » Tue Nov 29, 2016 10:46 am

A.David.MacKinnon wrote:
kslight wrote:In all fairness, the 002 is 14 years old.
True but I've got gear from the 40's & 50's thats just as useful and functional as the day it was made.
Is the 002 not still just as functional and useful though? If you change your computer that's not the 002's fault.

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A.David.MacKinnon
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Post by A.David.MacKinnon » Wed Nov 30, 2016 8:42 am

My 002 is still going strong (or as strong as an 002 can go). The longevity problem is not specific to the 002 but digital audio in general. When the drivers, connectors (Firewie, thunderbolt, whatever is next) and everything related change every 2-4 years it renders the interface useless in the long run.

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Post by mrc » Sun Mar 05, 2017 10:18 pm

I have an Adat ai3, bla modded focusrite pro 40 and Audient 880. My old rme 9652 wouldn't come along any more, so I had to get a rme Raydat. I think Adat is still a viable interconnect, and may well be for some time. LAN can be a long term solution, too, and there are devices offering Adat to Lan interconnection. I'm actually considering sending the AI3 to bla, I'm 65, and if I can keep on for 10 or 15 years, I'm good with the cost. I have several outboard pres and line out devices, and 48k is as good as I'll ever hear. If your modded units have Adat outs, there you go, they remain revelant. Remember the quote, 'if they sound good, they are.'

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alexdingley
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Re: Black Lion Audio Mod Owners

Post by alexdingley » Thu Apr 20, 2017 5:26 am

earth tones wrote:It seems that in order to make use of my Signature-modded Digi 002r, I'll have to permanently dedicate a computer to running a legacy OS (10.9.5) and Pro Tools 10 or 11. Is there a longterm solution to using these BLA upgraded devices?
Permanently dedicating a computer to a Legacy operating system IS A PERMANENT SOLUTION... and, honestly, it's not a bad one.

A Blue & White Mac G3 w/ a MOTU 828mk1, running mac classic OS 9.2.2 would still record music just fine in 2017...

I think that we're often tempted by "new", even if it comes at the cost of "practical"... Think of it this way... if you want to keep using PT on a machine with converters you have already paid for & that work well... all you have to do ? is nothing. Simply don't ask that system to be anything that it's not. Let it stay "old" and it will serve you for many years to come. The upgrade cycle is meant to sustain the manufactuerers' business, NOT YOURS.

I had made this decision for myself a few years ago... deciding I would stay on a Mac Pro 2009 w/ Apogee SYmphony64 PCIe & the AD-16x...etc... all converters from the early 2000's (and they sound amazing for my work)... I recently was forced to change, NOT by a desire to run a newer OS / Newer DAW... but by my location. I work in a small upstairs room and the gear made too much heat for my air conditioning solution to handle... so I moved to a Macbook Pro & Antelope Orion for ONE REASON ONLY... I could use a 100' long thunderbolt cable to keep the computer in a different part of the house & just have a single rack converter handle all 32 i/o of my system. If not for the struggle of the heat (and computer fan noise) in this open-control-room area... I wouldn't have switched for years. I even had a backup 2009 mac sitting in a plastic bag in the closet... in case my primary tower ever died (lucky find for a bargain... didn't pay full price).

Basically... I'm just saying that there's plenty of merit to staying with trusty old gear / old platforms... and that it can be dangerous to let the allure of the new spend our money for us. I suppose the real question one has to ask themselves is: "What are the real & tangible benefits TO ME of X feature(s) and will that be worth having to spend Y dollars on changing out Z gear/software? I literally had to make that same call. Was spending ~$6400 on new converters / fiber-optic thunderbolt cabling & swapping to thunderbolt UAD systems worth having a much quieter & cooler control room / working room? It totally was... now begins the slow process of selling off my amazing (if a bit warm) older gear.

mrc
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Post by mrc » Sun May 14, 2017 8:48 pm

+1

mrc
re-cappin' neve
Posts: 620
Joined: Sun Nov 23, 2003 5:07 pm
Location: Dead Center, Bible Belt, USA

Post by mrc » Sun May 14, 2017 8:48 pm

+1

mrc
re-cappin' neve
Posts: 620
Joined: Sun Nov 23, 2003 5:07 pm
Location: Dead Center, Bible Belt, USA

Post by mrc » Sun May 14, 2017 8:49 pm

+1

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