HAL's Amazingly Incredible Nearly Prototype Music Server

HAL · « **Reply #220 on:** 24 Feb 2015, 03:50 am »

Just updated an MS-1 to do recording work like another that I sent to a friend in a band in Detroit. Setup Audacity to do the recording with an Echo Audio Echo2 ADA with balanced I/O.

Used it to transcribe 1/4" stereo tape to digital 24bit/192KHz WAV files to the SSD.

Had not done Microsoft updates in 4.5 years. That took awhile!

Will be working with his new dspMusik crossover once the unit arrives this week.

HAL · « **Reply #221 on:** 22 Apr 2016, 06:14 pm »

Just found a basically new MS-1 chassis for sale and purchased it.

Need a chassis to run Windows XP for installing CLIO Standard 8.5 measurement system. Will see what happens.

S Clark · « **Reply #222 on:** 22 Apr 2016, 09:55 pm »

Rich,
I'm curious. It's been several years since I made the first post in this thread with one of the earliest units (still working fine, I might add) and I'm curious how the early MS-1's stack up sound wise to the latest and greatest. Are bits still bits, or are the newest super bits now more musical?
Scott

HAL · « **Reply #223 on:** 23 Apr 2016, 02:00 am »

Scott,
I found that with these chassis, the sound quality is more dependent on the OS.

Windows 10 and Windows 8.1 sound better to me than Windows 7. It is a free download until June for the new version to try. The latest upgrade works well with Windows 7, so you can try it on the MS-1. About ready to upgrade Chris MS-1 that he got just after yours.

Rich

HAL · « **Reply #224 on:** 26 Apr 2016, 06:51 pm »

The MS-1 chassis arrived and wiping the Windows 7 Pro install and going to Windows 10 Home 64 bit OS for some trials before reloading with Windows XP Home 32bit SP3 for CLIO.

Will see how well Audio Weaver runs on the Atom 330 with Foobar2000. Might even give Math Audio a try with this one. Have the ultra quiet fan on order for converting it once it arrives.

HAL · « **Reply #225 on:** 1 May 2016, 11:34 am »

For MS-1 Music Server owners, Windows 10 64bit OS upgrade worked on my chassis here with improved sound results. The only thing I have noticed is that my BluRay player for ripping CD's is no longer talking to the OS. That maybe a registry issue I am working on, but will most likely not effect the original DVD drives most folks probably have.

Since the free upgrade from Windows 7 to Windows 10 64bit OS expires in June 2016, you should decide soon if you are going to try it. You can go back to Windows 7 with tools Microsoft install. The upgrade process takes about 4 hours on the MS-1 chassis.

My suggestion is to backup anything you have added to your MS-1 along the way and then do the upgrade. It will keep your files and programs, but certain default settings like Power Management get reset. That is an OS level change that I make to turn off the sleep mode and not disable USB power ports for low power operation. Easily corrected by the user under Control Panel, that is now a right click on the Start Icon.

For one MS-1 I am upgrading, I will be adding Math Audio Room EQ to Foobar2000 for the customers trials with his ACA LS-9 speakers being modified for a dspMusik digital crossover. I am installing all the software along with the Windows 10 OS upgrade once it arrives.

Good luck and let me know if you have any questions.

HAL · « **Reply #226 on:** 15 May 2016, 12:05 pm »

The customers HAL MS-1 for running Windows 10 64bit OS, Audio Weaver for the dspMusik digital crossover and MathAudio Room EQ is complete. Did find that Windows 10 is finiky about BluRay players, as my ASUS USB one would not work after the upgrade. The Lite-On USB DVD drive will work and no problems. Calibrated EAC with the Lite-On and ripping is fine.

Will be installing a 120GB SSD in the CLIO MS-1 when it comes back from it's measurement task.

martinr · « **Reply #227 on:** 15 May 2016, 04:41 pm »

Rich,

When the Windows 10 upgrade is no longer free (after June), will this affect the purchase price of your server? If so, what will the new price be?

Thanks

Martin

HAL · « **Reply #228 on:** 15 May 2016, 06:33 pm »

Martin,
The price for the MS-3 will remain the same. The MS-1 chassis is long out of production, so those can be upgraded until June. After that the os is $100 for the upgrade + shipping.

martinr · « **Reply #229 on:** 15 May 2016, 10:00 pm »

Quote from: HAL on 15 May 2016, 06:33 pm

Martin,
The price for the MS-3 will remain the same. The MS-1 chassis is long out of production, so those can be upgraded until June. After that the os is $100 for the upgrade + shipping.

Sounds good thanks!

HAL · « **Reply #230 on:** 14 Jul 2016, 12:29 pm »

Updating Avoosl's MS-1 with Windows 10 before the deadline of 29 July. Only 2 weeks to go before the 1 year free upgrade is over.

If you have Windows 7 on the MS-1, I really recommend the upgrade as it sounds better in my system running Windows 10.

Microsoft has added extra programs with the upgrade, but it is easy to remove them by right clicking the tiles and say uninstall. Clean up only takes a few minutes.

WGH · « **Reply #231 on:** 14 Jul 2016, 06:01 pm »

Quote from: HAL on 1 May 2016, 11:34 am

The upgrade process takes about 4 hours on the MS-1 chassis.

The upgrade took about 1 hour on my old CAPS server using the Atom D525 (1.8GHz) processor but there are some tricks involved:

Make sure Windows 7 has all the Windows Updates installed (without errors). I left the server on for a week and let Win 7 automatically download updates because manually updating was a failure.

Download and run the Windows 10 Media Creation Tool - use it to install or reinstall Windows 10 using a USB or DVD.
https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/software-download/windows10/

Type CMD into the Start search window to get a command prompt, in the new window type "cleanmgr" without the quotes. Clean your "C" drive.

Use the free CC cleaner to clean the registry only, the other parts clean way too aggressive for me, I want my cookies and other stuff.
https://www.piriform.com/

Download the free Paragon Backup and Recovery and image your C drive to a separate backup drive, don't forget to make a boot disk.
https://www.paragon-software.com/home/br-free/

Do a reboot
Put in the Windows 10 disk you made and upgrade
Uncheck everything in the 3 setup pages when asked, you can enable them later if you want
Turn off all the Windows 10 phone home programs - http://bgr.com/2015/07/31/windows-10-upgrade-download-install-tips-tricks/

Once you have Windows 10 installed and registered you can roll back to Win 7 or use the disk or USB you made to do a clean install of Windows 10.
Since your computer was registered with Windows 10, you can now format the C drive, install Windows 10 from scratch and it will be re-registered. For now, this is the only way to do a clean install with the free upgrade.

Wayne

HAL · « **Reply #232 on:** 14 Jul 2016, 06:55 pm »

Wayne,
Thanks for the tips!

Hopefully this is the last MS-1, MS-2 or MS-3 that need Windows 10 upgrade installed. Making the Win10 install DVD from the ISO as backup for future use.

Best,
Rich

HAL · « **Reply #233 on:** 16 Jul 2016, 12:24 am »

Avoosl's MS-1 is now running Windows 10 64bit OS.

Adding Audio Weaver for his dspMusik DSP crossover and HiRez DAC and MathAudio Room EQ for this version.

HAL · « **Reply #234 on:** 17 Jul 2016, 12:06 pm »

When Avoosl has time, will take over my Dayton Audio UMM-6 calibrated mic and make measurements on his VMPS RM50's for MathAudio Room EQ. It has been working very well with The Megaliths on my MS-3.

Will see if the MS-1 has the capability to run the correction in realtime for digital file replay. My MS-1 for the CLIO measurement setup is back as well for some trials. Always fun to see if I can add new capabilities to the earlier systems for owners.

HAL · « **Reply #235 on:** 20 Jul 2016, 02:22 pm »

Heading to Avoosls this evening for the MS-1 install and possibly some MathAudio Room EQ trials.

Have calibrated mic and mic stand, will travel!

Phil A · « **Reply #236 on:** 20 Jul 2016, 02:33 pm »

Quote from: HAL on 20 Jul 2016, 02:22 pm

Heading to Avoosls this evening for the MS-1 install and possibly some MathAudio Room EQ trials.

Have calibrated mic and mic stand, will travel!

If you're in the mood to travel a bit further

let me know

Seriously, I have the mic and have not tried MathAudio but used Room EQ Wizard a couple of times on both my Windows 10 MS-2 and MS-3 (I do have an outboard one third octave RTA but probably over time one of the programs will be easier to use - just hanging on to old guy ways).

HAL · « **Reply #237 on:** 20 Jul 2016, 02:42 pm »

Phil,
Already talked to my wife and the next trip south to FL, wanted to come to the east coast side. Been many years since we visited NASA, and one of my favorite places to go.

Will keep you posted. It will be a driving trip, so lots of things are possible.

Phil A · « **Reply #238 on:** 20 Jul 2016, 07:14 pm »

Quote from: HAL on 20 Jul 2016, 02:42 pm

Phil,
Already talked to my wife and the next trip south to FL, wanted to come to the east coast side. Been many years since we visited NASA, and one of my favorite places to go.

Will keep you posted. It will be a driving trip, so lots of things are possible.

Rich, just let me know. Except if I go on a short vacation, I'm home and around most of the time (go to monthly Space Coast Audio Society meetings and getting some of the guys up on computer audio - starting slower with some like a hard drive attached to an Oppo - there are lots that still just use physical media). KSC (NASA) is about a half hour north of me and downtown Orlando about an hour. Miami is about 3 hours south down Rt. 95 (I'm less than 4 miles off 95). Using around mid-October thru April is citrus season and one of the biggest growers has their main store about 5 miles up the road (on Rt. 1) from me.

HAL · « **Reply #239 on:** 21 Jul 2016, 11:09 am »

Updated Avoosl's MS-1 from Windows 7 to Windows 10 OS with the Microsoft free upgrade until 7/29/2016. Same sound quality increase I experienced here as well with the MS-3 running Windows 10. His 2032 watch battery for BIOS settings died on startup, but he had a spare, so popped that in, changed the BIOS for the IDE interface to AHCI for the SSD and back up running. That is normal for after 3-5 years for those Lithium batteries.

I brought over the demo dspMusik and we tried the second minimum phase filter available in the dspMusik for his VMPS RM50 speakers and on listening, his preference last evening is for the new one with an increase in overall clarity.

Last step was doing a room measurement with MathAudio Room EQ from the MS-1 and dspMusik with the calibrated Dayton Audio UMM-6 mic. This did a nice job of balancing the frequency response of the system for digital file replay. Only parts of the system running are the MS-1, dspMusik, Parasound JC-1's and VMPS RM50's for the Music Server portion with the 8 channel digital volume control on the dspMusik Audio Weaver UI.

A very good evening of great food, beer and music listening ensued.