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[smilesdavis]

Digigram Laptop / PCMCIA Audio Cards on Macintosh — PCXpocket & VXpocket Anthology

Scope: Digigram Type II PC Card / PCMCIA laptop audio hardware with documented Macintosh support: PCXpocket / PCXpocket AD / PCXpocket v2 → VXpocket v1 → VXpocket v2 → VXpocket 440.

Mac chronology: PCXpocket launched in 1997; PowerBook support appeared in late 1998. VXpocket followed in 1999 with Sound Manager + ASIO, VXpocket v2 and VXpocket 440 in 2000, and Mac OS X drivers for VXpocket v2 / 440 on 21 October 2002.


QUICK INDEX
Mac hardware · PCXpocket / AD / v2 · VXpocket v1 · VXpocket v2 · VXpocket 440
Classic Mac drivers · Preserved driver files · Application compatibility · Advertisements · Reviews


Mac Hardware

Model	Mac support	Supported PowerBooks	Analog I/O	Digital / sync	Mac driver
PCXpocket	PowerBook support announced late 1998; Mac OS 8.1+	2400 / 3400 / G3	2 balanced mic/line in; 2 unbalanced line/headphone out	—	Sound Manager; PCX Driver / Enabler / Library / Control
PCXpocket AD	PowerBook support via the late-1998 PCX Sound Manager driver; Mac OS 8.1+	2400 / 3400 / G3	PCXpocket analog architecture	S/PDIF input + time-code input	Sound Manager; PCX Driver / Enabler / Library / Control
PCXpocket v2	listed on Digigram's 4 February 1999 Mac Sound Manager download page; Mac OS 8.1+	2400 / 3400 / G3	PCXpocket family	—	Sound Manager; PCX Driver / Enabler / Library / Control
VXpocket v1	1999; Mac OS 7.6+; Mac OS 9 supported	2400 / 3400 / G3	2 balanced mic/line in; 2 balanced out	stereo S/PDIF I/O; S/PDIF consumer / AES-EBU professional mode	Sound Manager + ASIO 2.0
VXpocket v2	2000; Mac OS 8.1+	2400 / 3400 / G3 / G4	2 balanced mic/line in; 2 balanced out	stereo S/PDIF I/O + LTC/SMPTE	Sound Manager 16-bit + ASIO 24-bit
VXpocket 440	2000; Mac OS 9.1+	G3 / G4	4 balanced mic/line in; 4 balanced out	stereo S/PDIF I/O + LTC/SMPTE	Sound Manager 16-bit + ASIO 24-bit

Mac OS X — 21 October 2002: Digigram released drivers for VXpocket v2, VXpocket 440 and VX222 supporting Mac OS X 10.1 and 10.2 Jaguar. VXpocket v1 was not named in the announcement.

↑ Index


1997–1999 — PCXpocket / PCXpocket AD / PCXpocket v2

1997 — PCXpocket: Digigram's first professional laptop sound card; Type II PC Card; 2 balanced mic/line inputs; 2 unbalanced line/headphone outputs; PCM linear + MPEG audio; simultaneous record/playback; onboard Digigram audio/DSP processing. Macintosh support was not available at launch.

Fall 1997 — PCXpocket AD: PCXpocket variant with S/PDIF input and time-code input; advertised alongside PCXpocket by October 1997.

Late 1998 — Macintosh support: Digigram introduced a PowerBook Sound Manager driver supporting PCXpocket-family cards on PowerBook 2400, 3400 and G3 with Mac OS 8.1+, Sound Manager 3.3+ and PC Card Interface 3.0+.

4 February 1999 — surviving Digigram Mac download page: explicitly lists PCXpocket AD and PCXpocket v2.

July 2000 — PCXpocket software distinction: Electronic Musician explicitly warned against treating the PCXpocket line as a mainstream music-production interface:

“Unfortunately, the PCXpockets don't support popular, commercially available music software. The PCXpockets are special-purpose devices intended for testing, measuring, and industrial applications, and they include onboard processing for which custom applications must be written, often by third-party software developers.”
Electronic Musician, July 2000, p. 194

Mac distinction: PCXpocket AD / v2 had Digigram Sound Manager support, but the documented third-party Mac music-software compatibility path is the VXpocket family: Digigram's 23 November 2001 chart lists Logic Audio, Digital Performer, Cubase, Nuendo, Peak, Deck, SpectraFoo, Reason, Spark and others via ASIO and/or Sound Manager.

Installed Mac components: Extensions — PCX Driver, PCX Enabler, PCX Library; Control Panels — PCX Control; Apple's Sound control panel also required.

↑ Index


1999 — VXpocket v1

Hardware: Type II PC Card; 24-bit converters; 2 balanced mono mic/line inputs; 2 balanced mono outputs; stereo S/PDIF input/output; S/PDIF consumer / AES-EBU professional mode.

Original Mac requirements: Mac OS 7.6+; QuickTime 2.5+; PowerBook 2400 / 3400 / G3; standard Type II PC Card slot. Mac OS 9 was explicitly supported; Mac OS X was explicitly unsupported at this stage.

PowerBook compatibility / why the 1400 does not work: the VXpocket requires more than a physical Type II PC Card slot. Apple's PC Card implementation changed between the PowerBook 1400 generation and the later PCI-based PowerBooks.

Apple documents PC Card Manager 2.0 for the PowerBook 520 / 540 / 190 / 5300 / 1400 families. PC Card Manager 3.0 supports PCI-architecture PowerBooks; Apple's 1997 developer documentation specifically identifies the PowerBook 3400 and 2400 as this later generation.
Apple Directions, August 1997 — PC Card SDKs

This matches Digigram's VXpocket hardware support boundary. Digigram's December 1999 FAQ lists PowerBook 2400, 3400 and G3.

Sound On Sound — February 2000: “Due to hardware issues related to the PC Card interface, the VXPocket won't work with the PowerBook 190, 5300, and 1400 series.”
Sound On Sound — Digigram VXPocket, February 2000

AudioTechnology — Issue 11: Brad Watts tested the VXpocket in a G3 500 MHz PowerBook, PowerBook 3400/200 and G3-upgraded PowerBook 2400, then states: “These are the only Apple models that support the card – anything above the 1400.”
AudioTechnology Issue 11 — Digigram Pocket VX, p. 88

Compatibility boundary: the PowerBook 1400 has two Type II PC Card slots, so the incompatibility is not caused by the absence of PCMCIA hardware. The 1400 belongs to Apple's older PC Card Manager 2.0 / non-PCI PC Card architecture; VXpocket support begins with the later PCI / PC Card Manager 3.0 PowerBook generation.

PC Card Manager 2.0: PowerBook 520 / 540 / 190 / 5300 / 1400
PC Card Manager 3.0 / VXpocket-compatible generation: PowerBook 2400 / 3400 / G3 and later supported PowerBooks.

1999 FAQ audio formats: PCM 8/16-bit at 8 / 11.025 / 16 / 22.05 / 32 / 44.1 / 48 kHz. Later Mac ASIO drivers added 24-bit operation.

Sound Manager / ASIO behavior: both drivers could be installed together but could not access VXpocket simultaneously. For ASIO use, VXpocket was left unselected as the Mac Sound Manager device, allowing built-in Mac audio through Sound Manager while VXpocket served the ASIO application.

Input/output behavior: analog or digital input could be recorded, not both simultaneously; analog and digital outputs operated simultaneously; VX Control selected analog/digital input and mic/line mode; hardware monitoring routed the selected input directly to VXpocket output.

Multiple cards: two VXpockets in one PowerBook were not supported by Digigram's contemporary Mac Sound Manager/ASIO implementation.

↑ Index


2000 — VXpocket v2

Hardware: Type II PC Card; 2 balanced mic/line inputs; 2 balanced outputs; stereo S/PDIF I/O; LTC/SMPTE time-code input; stereo headphone connection on breakout cable.

Mac support: Mac OS 8.1+; Sound Manager 3.3+; PowerBook 2400 / 3400 / G3 / G4; standard Type II PC Card slot; Sound Manager 16-bit; ASIO 24-bit.

VX kit 3.1c: Sound Manager 2.7.4 + ASIO 2.7.4. The preserved ReadMe identifies Version 2.7.4, September 2001 and installs Digigram VX Driver, VX Enabler, VX Library, VX Control and Digigram VX ASIO Driver.

↑ Index


2000 — VXpocket 440

Hardware: Type II PC Card; 4 balanced mic/line inputs; 4 balanced outputs; stereo S/PDIF I/O; LTC/SMPTE input; stereo headphone connection.

Mac support: Mac OS 9.1+; Sound Manager 3.3+; PowerBook G3 / G4; standard Type II PC Card slot; Sound Manager 16-bit; ASIO 24-bit.

Active-I/O limitation: all eight analog channels were not available simultaneously at maximum operation; Digigram documented 4-in, 4-out or 2-in/2-out configurations according to active I/O and audio format.

VX kit 4.0b: Sound Manager 2.8.0 beta + ASIO 2.8.0 beta. Driver 2.8.0 introduced VXpocket 440 support, a new ASIO engine, selectable active ASIO I/O and revised VX Control.

2.8.3 ReadMe: explicitly covers VXpocket, VXpocket v2, VXpocket 440 and VX222; VXpocket 440 requirements are Mac OS 9.1+, Sound Manager 3.3+ and PC Card Interface 3.0+.

↑ Index


Classic Mac OS — VX Driver Chronology

2.2.4 — public: first CD version.
2.3.3 — public: initialization issue fixed.
2.5.3 — public: full 24-bit ASIO support; S/PDIF playback synchronization.
2.5.6: Mac OS 9 operation restored; line/mic selection with digital clock; ASIO driver file type/creator corrected; Smart Installer finds ASIO Drivers folders and updates them.
2.5.7: configurable buffer latency in VX Control; Reaktor frequency-change freeze fixed; 24-bit Digital Performer recording freeze fixed.
2.6.0 — public: time-code support under ASIO 2.0 applications.
2.7.1: VX Control adds mic gain, digital input gain, playback level, direct-monitoring level and analog output level; AES/EBU copyright-bit fix.
2.7.2: Sound Control Panel 8.5.2 VU-meter fix.
2.7.3 — public: first ASIO underrun fix; latency optimization; Pro Tools Free buffer-size checkbox.
2.7.4 — public, September 2001: ASIO monitoring fix; further underrun optimization; included with VX kit 3.1c; preserved as a complete MacBinary installer set.
2.8.0 — public / VXpocket 440 beta support: first VXpocket 440 support; new ASIO engine; selectable active ASIO I/O; VX kit 4.0 generation.
2.8.1: simultaneous playback with Sound Manager audio components on VXpocket 440; per-fader audio level display.
2.8.2 — public: playback/recording in data mode; 29.97 dfps time-code.
2.8.3 — public, April 2002 ReadMe / 23 May 2002 VX kit 4.0e notes: fixes 2.8.2 ASIO initialization/preferences defects affecting levels, digital-output format and Nuendo startup at specified buffers; S/PDIF data mode; numerical dB level display; 29.97 drop-frame LTC under Cubase/Nuendo; preserved as MacBinary installer set and StuffIt package.

2.8.3 performance note: Digigram advised some VXpocket v2/VX222 users to revert to 2.7.4 if ASIO performance was lower with 2.8.3.

Buffer requirements: reboot after changing buffer size; 512 samples or less for QuickTime synthesizer; 512 samples specified for Pro Tools Free.

↑ Index


Preserved Classic Mac Driver Files

Digigram_VXpocket_MAC OS 9_drivers.zip — 1,778,805 bytes · SHA-256 fe311f2aba4260867a8170be3308f4542fd3877f6ea635274c28888ee0d5dc23
Contains separate 2.7.4 and 2.8.3 MacBinary installer directories, preserving classic Mac file/resource-fork metadata.

2.7.4 — September 2001: Digigram VX ReadMe 2.7.4.bin · Install Script.bin · Install pieces.bin · installer.bin. ReadMe covers VXpocket and VX222.
Installed files: Extensions — Digigram VX Driver / VX Enabler / VX Library; Control Panel — VX Control; ASIO — Digigram VX ASIO Driver.
Requirements: Mac OS 8.1+; Sound Manager 3.3+; PC Card Interface 3.0+.

2.8.3 — April 2002: Digigram VX ReadMe 2.8.3.bin · Install Script.bin · Install pieces.bin · installer.bin. ReadMe covers VXpocket, VXpocket v2, VXpocket 440 and VX222.
Requirements: VXpocket/v2 — Mac OS 8.1+ / Sound Manager 3.3+ / PC Card Interface 3.0+; VXpocket 440 — Mac OS 9.1+ / Sound Manager 3.3+ / PC Card Interface 3.0+.

DIGIGRAM VX_Ext_Ctrl_Asio.sit — 1,228,613 bytes · SHA-256 727fa7ae8ca1a69cf4f5c4c9441ed8d4867c59e00772b98412037508e467084a
Internal archive strings identify Digigram VX 2.8.3 ReadMe and Digigram VX Control, confirming 2.8.3-era Mac VX components.

Missing from the collected ZIP: no earlier PCXpocket Sound Manager installer for the PCX Driver / PCX Enabler / PCX Library branch; the surviving executable Mac software is the VX branch.

↑ Index


Documented Mac Application Compatibility — 23 November 2001

Developer	Application	Mac audio path / requirement
Arboretum	HyperEngine 2.4+	Sound Manager
Apple	Final Cut Pro 1.2.5 / 2.0; iTunes 1.x / 2.x	Sound Manager
BIAS	Deck 2.6+; Peak 1.65 / 2.x	Sound Manager / ASIO
Digidesign	Pro Tools / PowerMix 3.41 / 4.3.2; Pro Tools Free 5.01	Sound Manager; Pro Tools Free requires VX 2.7.3+; Sound Manager 16-bit; Digidesign sessions limited to 44.1 kHz
Emagic	Logic Audio 4.x	ASIO
Fidelity Media	MegaSeg 2.0	Sound Manager
IK Multimedia	GrooveMaker 1.x / 2.0; T-RackS 1.x / 2.0	Sound Manager
Metric Halo	SpectraFoo 3.0 / 3.0f12	Sound Manager / ASIO
MOTU	Digital Performer 2.6 / 2.7 / 3.0	ASIO; VX 2.7.4+ recommended
Native Instruments	B4	ASIO / Sound Manager; VX 2.6.0+ required for live-compatible latency
Propellerheads	Reason 1.x	ASIO
Steinberg	Cubase 4.0 / 4.1 / 5.x; Nuendo 1.0 / 1.5	ASIO 2
TC Works	Spark / Spark XL 1.x / 2.0	ASIO / Sound Manager
Not compatible	Opcode Studio Vision Pro 4.x	VX driver initialization problems

↑ Index


Contemporary Advertisements

1997
19 March — PCXpocket — Radio World, p. 47
2 April — PCXpocket — Radio World, p. 69
3 September — PCXpocket — Radio World, p. 65
17 September — PCXpocket — Radio World, p. 66
29 October — PCXpocket / PCXpocket AD — Radio World, p. 42
26 November — PCXpocket / PCXpocket AD — Radio World, p. 16

1999
December — VXpocket — Studio Sound, p. 52

2000
January — VXpocket — Studio Sound, p. 62
February — VXpocket — Studio Sound, p. 44
March — VXpocket — Studio Sound, p. 44

↑ Index


Contemporary Reviews

20 August 1997 — PCXpocket: “Do It Yourself With a PCXpocket” — Rich Rarey — Radio World, p. 47, continued p. 69.
2 February 2000 — VXpocket: “Digigram Card for Road-Ready DAW” — Carl Lindemann — Radio World, p. 46, continued p. 46.
July 2000 — VXpocket: VXpocket PC Card Audio Interface review — Electronic Musician, pp. 192–194.
18 December 2002 — VXpocket 440: VXpocket 440 review — Stephen Murphy — Radio World, p. 27, continued p. 32.


Excluded from this Mac anthology: PCXpocket v3, PCXpocket 240 and PCXpocket 440. The collected material documents them in Digigram's later PCX/DSP branch, but does not document Classic Mac support.

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