Simple USB audio devices with OS 9

[MacOS Plus]

  I had a few fairly basic USB audio output devices lying around doing nothing and I wondered if they would work in OS 9.  Here's what I've got:

- Plantronics USB Adapter-01 (headphone and mic jacks)
- Zalmann ZM-RSSC (5.1 audio capable, three x 3.5mm headphone/line out jacks, plus coax/optical out)
- Xitel MD-PORT AN1 (line out jack only)

  All of these show in System Profiler as multiple device elements recognized as USB Audio and USB HID.  They either won't show in the Sound control panel at all or not work if they do though.  In the case of the Xitel, the manual for it clearly states that as long as you're running a minimum of OS 9.0.4 and Apple Audio Extension 1.0.5 or higher, it should work.  I'm trying this with 9.2.2/2.4 combination, which you'd think should  still work.

  Am I missing something?  I'm not expecting all of these devices to work, but the Xitel absolutely is supposed to.  I'd like to put one of these to work as a basic sound output from the 9serve, which has no built-in audio, or the G4 Mini on OS 9 if we can't get its built-in sound output device to function.

[macStuff]

https://web.archive.org/web/20021222171714/http://www.xitel.com:80/subset_MDPAN1.htm
https://web.archive.org/web/20021207112158fw_/http://www.xitel.com:80/content/content_MDPAN1sysreq.htm

[darthnVader]

Did you ever get the Xitel to work with OS 9?

I find it interesting that USB Audio Devices use the Apple Audio Extension under OS 9 as the driver, you would think it would be one of the USB extensions, however it's not.

[MacOS Plus]

  Alright, so things got interesting.  Probing all possible points of failure led me to test these USB interfaces on another machine (yes, I should have done this to begin with, but I didn't have much time for the project before).

  I got the distinct impression something was critically wrong with the config on the Mini, whether it be files or otherwise.  Using a Pismo PowerBook, I repeated testing of all the interfaces on the 9.2.2 drive in that machine.  All three of them worked properly!  The Xitel and Plantronics don't give any direct indication in Sound control panel that they are present other than that the graphical image of the speakers in the Speakers tab looks different.  These devices take over completely from the built-in sound and appear simply as "Built-in".  The Zalmann, on the other hand, appears as a second output labelled "USB Audio" and must be manually selected.

  My first instinct was to take the slightly older versions of the various extensions/control panel that could have been responsible and transfer them to the Mini to replace the versions on there.  Was it a version issue  or a corruption issue perhaps?  Still no function on there.  Winamp won't even start playback when any of the USB interfaces are connected.

  This leads me to suspect it is precisely something that was changed to be able to boot the Mini to OS 9 in the first place that actually mangled the sound support and control including for the built-in audio device.  In a sense it's like we're chasing our own tail on this issue.

  The great news is that all of the above USB audio interfaces will work with OS 9 under ideal conditions!  I haven't yet tested the mic input on the Plantronics, but I will report back when I do.

[ELN]

Great test, MacOS Plus. I was just starting to get frustrated with the mini audio problem. Before I get myself in too deep, could I please ask you for a bit more data? Do these USB devices work with an MDD G4 (or, if none is available, the 9serve)?

[IIO]

These devices take over completely from the built-in sound and appear simply as "Built-in".

which would be what we originally needed for the mini project. if the built-in doesnt work anyway, we dont need to select between built-in and alternative.

gotta try this with some roland, behringer, m-audio with no OS9 drivers later this week.

[MacOS Plus]

  I just tried the Plantronics on my primary 9.2.2 MDD FW800 machine and it works, through the keyboard hub port no less!  It is important to remember that this is of course an 'unsupported G4' platform booting a modified ROM, but the nature of the changes are somewhat different and don't interfere with audio in this case.  (It's also running Sonnet MDX with patched Apple CPU Plug-ins file for dual CPU support.)

  I'll deem that sufficient proof of function.  If we can sort out what got unintentionally broken on the Mini, we may find the sound should have worked fine all along.  I have to think that the breaking of support for USB audio too must relate back to the PMU hacks.  It could be dumb luck the Mini outputs any sound at all the way we're booting it.  Very intriguing discovery, anyway.

  BTW, the drive I'm booting the Mini from right now is the one that was originally booting the 9serve, just with the necessary files swapped for the Mini.  When I get a chance I will swap all the files back and try USB audio on the 9serve now that I know these three interfaces should work.

[macStuff]

wasnt there a ploytec usb driver that worked for os9? for many different devices?

https://www.usb-audio.com/

[MacOS Plus]

  That would be fine for apps that support ASIO only.  In my Winamp example there is no ASIO support - it only sends through the standard system audio path.  Separate ASIO support would still be useful for other things though and may provide a tempory run-around/workaround while we sort out the primary system audio path issue.

[ELN]

Thanks again, MacOS Plus. I agree that the PMU hack is quite suspicious. I will investigate both the prim-info property, and the Intrepid-specific code paths in the Darwin sources.

[nanopico]

Thanks again, MacOS Plus. I agree that the PMU hack is quite suspicious. I will investigate both the prim-info property, and the Intrepid-specific code paths in the Darwin sources.

There are no files/projects for intrepid.  They are all in the keylargo stuff.  They are commented when there is a difference between the standalone keylargo and intrepid so it is pretty easy to identify intrepid stuff.
The biggest things that vary are usb sleep control and io address for usb and pmu access.
The usb sleep differences is probably the biggest problem relating to PMU functionality. Just an FYI to help you out there.

[Roman78]

A little topic kick...

since today i call me proud owner of an Apple Cube. And therefor i need a USB or Firewire Audio device or speakers.

What audio device is working? I just need it for games and maybe some times a little music. But mainly for games....

[teroyk]

A little topic kick...

since today i call me proud owner of an Apple Cube. And therefor i need a USB or Firewire Audio device or speakers.

What audio device is working? I just need it for games and maybe some times a little music. But mainly for games....

Just any USB Audio class compatible device should work with games with drivers that come with Msc OS 9.2.2.

[IIO]

at least we have reports that several class compliant decives will work. if any, not sure.

even more tricky is the use of usb-asio https://www.usb-audio.com/download/

[teroyk]

at least we have reports that several class compliant decives will work. if any, not sure.

even more tricky is the use of usb-asio https://www.usb-audio.com/download/

Every (but only 3 tested) I have tested and worked with Mac OS 9 drivers. One was Logitech USB-speakers (I don't remember model, but officially was WinXP-Vista only ), two unbranded models, I remember one of these well it was white and blue with text USB 7.1 channel sound USB2.0 and had optical connectors. It worked at 16bit/48khz with 2 channels.
Have to remember that drivers with come with Mac OS 9 is only for sound manager apps, games.
I don't recommend USB-devices for ASIO use, but your only audio device is USB then it works if device is listed with that page what IIO said.

EDIT: fixing language

[pmj]

Edirol UA-1EX works fine here under 9.2.2 with these drivers (scroll down):

https://www.roland.com/uk/products/ua-1ex/downloads/

Tascam US-122 also fine, this one has additional MIDI i/o and is recognised by FreeMIDI 1.48 (not tested the driver here but seems the same as the original install disk that comes with the soundcard)

https://www.tascam.eu/en/downloads/US-122

[zefrenchtoon]

Hello!!

I did some tests too. Almost all my results are here:

http://macos9lives.com/smforum/index.php/topic,5952.0.html