ADATER – The lightpipe interface for DELTA1010 RACK

ADATERI have developed this interface in 2011 because I had two M-Audio DELTA 1010 sound cards at the studio, gathering dust. Later, it seemed to be good idea to sell them. But I have never managed to make and sell many ADATERs therefore the price stayed too high.

After two years, in 2013 the manufacturer Wavefront Semiconductors has stopped producing the ADAT chips. I would have to buy even more expensive IC’s from people who bought the remaining stock. Therefore I have decided to end the production of ADATERs.

 

Eight ADATERs at the developer's workbench

However, I have also decided to reveal the secret and make it public. Unfortunatelly (and this may sound unbelievable) my old PC’s power supply badly died and blown my hard drive with the only copy of the schematics and all the documentation. The only bit I have left is the PCB design, which I send to my mate when he was making the PCBs for me. It looks like this:

ADATer PCB rev.1b

I don’t remember all the details but I thought these few points:

  • ADATER uses 5V internal VCC for everything.
  • The logic counter 193 and 74 flip-flop are used to delay WORDCLOCK for 31 BCLK cycles. This is because of different mode of DELTA’s converters and Wavefront’s ICs
  • You may have noticed that the DSUB connector is mounted at the wrong side. Its my mistake. I have mess it up when I was making the part for Eagle’s library. When I was finished, I was too lazy to do it again. Wires are correct, just place the connector as every other part at the top.
  • The logic must be 74HCT family. The 74HC does not work.
  • The Sync LED’s cathode is facing to the resistor R2
  • The DSUB 25 is HIRSCHMANN make. I didn’t find any better yet cheaper replacements. This one used was simply the best for the job.

The whole device is so simple it works on the first try. Have look at the datasheets, especially the OptoGen and OptoRec will tell you a lot.

Links:

DangerousDevices.co.uk – home of ADATer

Downloads:




17 thoughts on “ADATER – The lightpipe interface for DELTA1010 RACK

  1. Hi I don\’t suppose you know of anyone selling an Adater? I own four delta 1010\’s that will possibly be going to landfill as I\’m upgrading to a new motu 16a soundcard. I\’d love to make use of the delta\’s. Cheers Max

  2. Hi max, where are living ? I could be interested in buying your four delta1010 to save them from landfill fate…

  3. To all: I don’t have any ADATers left, and I will ignore any emails of this subject.

    1. Hi Jiřin

      Do you still have the schematic ? Can you send it to me ? I’ll build one but wish to reduce the size to 50x50mm.
      Thanks.

    2. Hi PureBasic,
      no I don’t have a schematics because of my HDD crash. But with a little effort it could be derrived from the PCB. It’s not that complicated.

  4. Hi and thanks for making the PCB layout available for free. So I already got 2 PCBs and ordered the parts (apart from AL1401/2 and TOTX/RX which I found on some old RME Digi 96/8 PCI cards), but I can’t find a case that seems to fit. Where do you got the nice Adater cases from? Are they still available?

    1. Hi Tom. I’ve found some AL14xx chips on Ebay recently. And the cases has been made in a factory especially for the Adater. I have non left, sorry.

      Jiri

  5. Thanks Jiri. Got enough AL14xx chips to make two boards, assuming they still work after de-soldering. 😉
    Actually they made me 2 PCBs for the price of one.
    Can you remember the name of the factory you got the cases from? – Otherwise I’d have to build my own out of Lego, I suppose… 😉

  6. Jiri, can you tell me about the orientation of the LED, please? – The cathode is on the left side, close to the TORX, right? – And do you know if I can use a 74VHCT00AM chip instead of 74HCT00D?

    1. Good point! I did not notice it’s not clear. Cathode is facing to the resistor R2. The chips VHCT … I’m not sure what V stands for…

      As far as I know you’re the first guy making Adater. Please share your experience and photos on our facebook https://www.facebook.com/dangerousdevices

  7. Thanks, Jiri. I’ve got a bit of trouble to get all the parts together. Had to order from seven different sellers from local to Japan and China. I couldn’t find some of the parts on the list and it’s very difficult to tell all the similar named chips from each other. Some seem to be compatible, some not and I’m a bit confused about all the abbreviations – I’m far from being an expert in this. Eventually I’ve found the original 74HCT00D from an italian seller.
    I think I’ll start soldering in a few days, have to get some practice in SMD soldering first. There are some good tutorials on YouTube. I’ll let you know about the results.
    Best
    tom

  8. Hi Jiřin. Thanks for your job. Do you have PCB again or we must product it ourselves ? if no, do you know someone who can produce it cheap ?

  9. Hi Flavien,
    This project has been terminated long ago. I have nothing left, sorry. Ask some high schools, they might produce it for you from the files. To make A4 PCB costs around 20 quid and you can fit about 6-8 adaters into this format. That makes one pcb really cheap. You can sell the rest to get back your expenses 😉

  10. hallo. where can’I buy the adater The lightpipe interface for DELTA1010 RACK for delta1010?thanks

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