Yamaha GO44 Music interface

[Chris]

Well,
At last I have just picked one of these up off ebay, unused, still in its box, at a good price. I understand that amongst many other things it is quite a useful DAC which will enable me to connect my Macbook via the firewire port to my system and can give very good results.
I already have plenty of music on an external drive in Apple Lossless, basically as a back-up to my ipod and hopefully with time I will learn to exploit its possibilities with higher res files, but for now any tips on how to set-up my Macbook for use with this gizmo to max performance on playback through my system would be much appreciated
I am essentially a vinyl only person at home who happens to use an ipod as a library for my car player but I will now be able to scratch the surface of this digital lark a bit.
Cheers,
Chris

[Filterlab]

Hi Chris, can you tell me what Macbook you're using, the specs and OS etc.

Ta.

[Chris]

Hi,
It´s a Macbook 2,1 running OS 10.5.3, 2GHz Core 2 Duo with 1Gb 667Mhz DDR2 and SDRAM - the heavy one that always looks dirty.

whatever all that means.

[Chris]

Is your silence thru lack of time or after seeing my specs, have I dropped one ?

[Filterlab]

Haven't had a moment to look at it yet to be honest, will have a look as soon as I can.

[Chris]

Cheers Rob,
I´m away on business next week so no sweat at all.
Thanks in advance,
Chris

[Filterlab]

Firstly you need to ensure your Audio Midi set up is correct, look for Audio Midi through Spotlight and open it. Depending on the music files you listen to (i.e. whether they're 16/44.1 files ripped from CD or 24/96 files downloaded from a high resolution music provider), simply set the sample bit rate and frequency to match the source. If these are exactly the same then it will remove any potential for aliasing and the associated jitter and distortion. The DAC will automatically alter its input to match the Mac's output. Audio Midi should look as below:

http://s560.photobucket.com/albums/ss49/aos_images/random_stuff/Rate2.jpg

http://s560.photobucket.com/albums/ss49/aos_images/random_stuff/Rate.jpg

[Chris]

Hi Rob,

Well, I´ve got it working but I don´t know if it´s right. Do all manuals for such things just assume we are all studio engineers and don´t need instructions ?

When I go to my audiomidi set-up as you suggested, the page I get is like a mirror image of the one you included in your post i.e left is right and right is left. Where yours says "input is not supported" on the left, mine says "output is not supported" on the right. ??????

When I go to the GO44 control page, it says "input for phones" is DAW1/2. Apparently DAW is digital work station ?????? but when I change it to digital in no sound comes out asm I have checked via the built-in phones output. Sounds considerably clearer than the ipod/macbook phones output.

Anyway, as I say sound is forthcoming so I shall knock up the right cables to enable connection to my system this weekend and see how it goes.

I find it highly ironic that in the age of I/T and knowledge at our fingertips, the bloody manufacturers don´t bother making comprehensive instructions. Suck it and see, I guess.

[Filterlab]

Hi Rob,

Well, I´ve got it working but I don´t know if it´s right. Do all manuals for such things just assume we are all studio engineers and don´t need instructions ?

Yes, and they always have. Your GO44 is intended for professional use and therefore the manual is written assuming a certain level of knowledge. You think that's bad, you should see the user manual for a professional synthesiser workstation. :(


When I go to my audiomidi set-up as you suggested, the page I get is like a mirror image of the one you included in your post i.e left is right and right is left. Where yours says "input is not supported" on the left, mine says "output is not supported" on the right. ??????

Interesting, sounds like the GO44 is taking care of the output (as it should) and since it's an output device only then it should say 'output is not supported'.


When I go to the GO44 control page, it says "input for phones" is DAW1/2. Apparently DAW is digital work station ?????? but when I change it to digital in no sound comes out as I have checked via the built-in phones output. Sounds considerably clearer than the ipod/macbook phones output.

Sounds like it's working fine. If you have audio output then the digital source (playback software) is communicating with it seemingly with no problem. Adjust the settings so that the audio is audible and leave it at that. Experiment with them if you feel something is not right, but nine times out of ten the automatic settings are usually the most ideal.


Anyway, as I say sound is forthcoming so I shall knock up the right cables to enable connection to my system this weekend and see how it goes.

Good luck! :)


I find it highly ironic that in the age of I/T and knowledge at our fingertips, the bloody manufacturers don´t bother making comprehensive instructions. Suck it and see, I guess.

I refer the honourable gentleman to my first comment. ;) :)