I'm well surprised at how well <a href="http://www.behringer.com/EN/Products/BCD3000.aspx">Behringer BCD3000</a> works as a four channel analog I/o (mostly output) with Linux. It worked well with Windows XP&Media-Center prior to my near complete switchover to new hardware and F12-only. It is about the size and weight of a laptop, given all the buttons, jog-dials and faders all of which appear as simple midi controllers or note on/off in Linux. Caveat/benefit: it is not USB-powered -- 120VAC line current plug on back -- no wall wart. IMHO this provides an additional level of noise isolation, and can be separately plugged into the power amps in live perfomance situations, and powered off the same power to avoid ground loops.<div>
<div><br></div><div>The BCD3000 works "out of the box" with <a href="http://www.mixxx.org/wiki/doku.php/hardware_compatibility">Mixxx</a> (tho i had to turn off the jog-dial midi to prevent crashes).</div><div>Those wanting a similar sized and styled controller-only option might consider <span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Helvetica, Arial, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; color: rgb(68, 68, 68); font-weight: bold; line-height: 18px; ">Behringer BCF2000<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: arial; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal; font-size: small; "> which is well supported under linux (note <a href="http://www.linuxjournal.com/article/10240">http://www.linuxjournal.com/article/10240</a> -- note the mackie emulation:</span></span></div>
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There is a better way to use the BCF2000 with Ardour, and that's in Mackie Emulation mode. Basically, you tell Ardour you're already connected to an eight-track Mackie control surface. </blockquote><div><div><br></div>
<div>I haven't run my BCD3000 for hours on end under heavy musical load and heat (e.g. burningman :-) ) so i can't vouch for it's total stability, but it certainly impressed me, especially given the price for 4 channels of USB output with low latency (two mains out on RCA, and a stereo pair to drive a separate headphone monitor).</div>
<div><br></div><div>Although the BCD3000 presents itself as a DJ console -- it's really just a class compliant hi-speed USB 4 in/out audio device w/ MIDI including phono preamp, mic preamp (which are noisy and sub-par). The remaining stereo line-in is ok. Best feature is you can use jackd to hook it up to whatever you want with 14 assignable knobs, 5 sliders, lots of buttons and two jog-dials. It is not "pro" (A/D and D/A locked to 44.1 K, 24 bit a/d and d/a but only 100db S/N, which is fine given RCA I/O, no TRS 1/4", no XLR except for mic input) but it also doesn't have the toy look of the hercules DJ console. </div>
<div><br></div><div><div>Niels<br><a href="http://nielsmayer.com" target="_blank">http://nielsmayer.com</a><br><br>
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