msg wrote:
Greetings,

I would appreciate some suggestions for implementing a stand-alone
audio mixer/equalizer box using commodity components, in the shortest
development time at the least possible cost. I am tending to
want to to use four PCI sound cards in an older PIII 1u rackmount
cpu to create a four audio bus/eight inputs mixer, with
four independent equalizer channels. It should be controllable
using an arbitrary protocol over RS232 or ethernet, not require a
resident GUI, nor local mass storage except perhaps flash for program
loading, and won't do any local capture, only audio I/O at 44.1 or
48kHz sampling rate to and from unbalanced line level connections.

Some preliminary thoughts are to use a version of *IX as the o/s
and layer ALSA and LADSPA with plugins on it, connected with the
'jack' framework, and for testing just control it through remote
shell command scripts until a complete control program is written.
Since I'm using low-end hardware, I had dismissed using 'Pulseaudio'
as a framework (unless convinced otherwise).

Should I be considering some other o/s or RTOS?

Has this been done as an opensource or freeware project (I don't
find much on the 'net)?

Replies are much appreciated.

Michael

PCDJ will let you controll multiple outputs, not sure if it had a remote
function - but it can be controlled via keyboard short cuts and I have
seen somewhere a keyboard rs232 interface so that a dumb terminal can
be used as a keyboard on a remote machine bit like a remote KVM. There
are also KVM's via ethernet about.

thoughts about your hardware - can you get four PCI cards in a 1u rack,
is there physically enough space ?