TOPIC:

I started playing with miniDSP and I'm not disappointed.
Still I need to investigate a bit more and start working on technical data to understand better how to setup efficient delay depending on speakers.

There is a couple of things that could be perhaps slightly improved:

- I don't feel totally comfortable with HE10 connectors on board: safest way to use it would be to plug here another HE10 30F but connecting only one pin is not very reliable (e.g. volume control) from pure mechanical standpoint. Soldering is not very convenient neither.

- in term of connectivity, it might help to have 2 pins available for volume control so that one could connect potentiometer on first board and then have simple link from first board to second board (and then third etc...) instead of Y cabling from potentiometer to all boards.

- USB: either CINCH or pins on connector are available for IN/OUT signal. In case HE10 is used, It's really helpful. Then in case pins are used, board still needs to be located so that USB is reachable. Is it realistic do have USB available in HE10 too?

- software interface: I might wrongly use the interface but it look like each and every time I try to save current config, some settings revert back to default value. e.g. I customize 4-ways filter. Everything is OK, curves on graphic are updated. Then I save XML. Notice that I was expecting some resync here but sync button is grey, not green. Anyway, once saved, if I come back to 4-ways filter page, then some filter are back to default values. On the other hand, drawing is still reflecting previous settings. I'm a bit confused here but I perhaps just don't understand how it's supposed to work.

I hope this helps.

Hello Christian,

Thanks for your detailed comments and here are some answers to your questions:

- Just to clarify, but by HE10, do you mean the female (on each miniDSP board) or male (add-on to miniDSP and miniDIGI/miniAMP). Looking at your online order, it seems that you have 2 miniDSP. Were they shipped with the male connector stacked on top of the female (plug)? If so, you can always remove that male connector if you don't need it. (therefore having the PCB mounted female connector now on each minidSP). We however agree that if you want to control 2 boards with a single potentiometer, you'll need to do a bit of soldering. The way we do it here is using male to male connectors plugging into the female header of each miniDSP. Makes sense? (otherwise can send a drawing)

- I agree with your idea of potentiometer pins. It's something we have in mind for the next batch of miniDSP boards. Will have to wait until we sell our first batch though.

- USB: Not sure i understand your question fully (in&out and cinch?). But in short, the USB signals (D+/D-/+5V/GND) are indeed available on the miniDSP headers. I can send you more information if you send us an email at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. . We would rather make sure that you do this modification correctly and not damage anything on the board.

- Software: I'm not able to reproduce these symptoms but let me maybe clarify a couple of things about how the software works behind the scenes. Plug-ins have an active configuration file whether online or offline. When you go online by clicking synchronize, you're basically loading that configuration file to the miniDSP. Makes sense?
Now on the System settings page, there are 2 sections: Load/Save.
- Load button will basically copy a known configuration you may have saved to the "active" configuration(see above). If offline, it will just show the settings there. If online, it will automatically synchronize that active configuration to the miniDSP kit.
- Save button will basically make a backup of the "active configuration" you may want to keep and "Load" at a later time. So if you "save" a configuration while online, the synch button will indeed not change since the only thing you're doing is saving the active config to your PC. Makes sense? If it doesn't, don't hesitate to send me an email, I speak French so might be easier to explain that in French.

Take care,

Hi Tony,
Thank for for this reply. It clarifies some points:

- Correct, I've 2 miniDSP with male connector on top of female. The point it that I even did not realize that male connector was plugged on top of female but rather thinking (I even did not check) that male was soldered directly on board
- soldering is not an issue. My (little) concern was more mechanical reliability with connectors that cannot be locked, especially when you plug only one or two pins.

- Cool, USB signal, including power is available on headers, which means I could use one USB power supply for 2 boards. I'll send you an email.

- Regarding software, your explanation is clear and matches what I previously understood. Just to clarify further: do you mean that, once online, any modification is applied "real time" without requiring synchro? (at least that's my understanding).
I've some proposal:
- Does it make sense here do display name of configuration currently loaded (either default or last loaded)
- Although it would make interface a bit heavier, I would appreciate capability to load setting "from board" instead of launching "default" configuration (Am I correct thinking that default settings are always launched first?).
- While we discuss about interface potential improvement: is it easy to add, in the "delay & RMS" section, field showing numeric value of RMS adjustment like what we have for delay. I've to admit that I hardly understand purpose of such large scale (from 0 to 70, I suppose, dB) while I believe mainly first part of this range is really used and I would appreciate to be able to directly "read" value without having to click on the interface. On the other hand, I fully agree that once you start to measure your system, what matters is what you get, not what the interface shows...

I will reproduce and document behavior I was explaining in my previous email (assuming it's not mistake on my side) so that you can then reproduce it. I'll send you an email.

Let's do it in (broken ) English at least on this forum so that it also helps community. I'll sent you an email in French in case I'm totally lost. For the time being, your explanations are crystal clear. Thank you.

Hi Tony,
Thank for for this reply. It clarifies some points:

- Correct, I've 2 miniDSP with male connector on top of female. The point it that I even did not realize that male connector was plugged on top of female but rather thinking (I even did not check) that male was soldered directly on board
- soldering is not an issue. My (little) concern was more mechanical reliability with connectors that cannot be locked, especially when you plug only one or two pins.

- Cool, USB signal, including power is available on headers, which means I could use one USB power supply for 2 boards. I'll send you an email.

- Regarding software, your explanation is clear and matches what I previously understood. Just to clarify further: do you mean that, once online, any modification is applied "real time" without requiring synchro? (at least that's my understanding).
I've some proposal:
- Does it make sense here do display name of configuration currently loaded (either default or last loaded)
- Although it would make interface a bit heavier, I would appreciate capability to load setting "from board" instead of launching "default" configuration (Am I correct thinking that default settings are always launched first?).
- While we discuss about interface potential improvement: is it easy to add, in the "delay & RMS" section, field showing numeric value of RMS adjustment like what we have for delay. I've to admit that I hardly understand purpose of such large scale (from 0 to 70, I suppose, dB) while I believe mainly first part of this range is really used and I would appreciate to be able to directly "read" value without having to click on the interface. On the other hand, I fully agree that once you start to measure your system, what matters is what you get, not what the interface shows...

I will reproduce and document behavior I was explaining in my previous email (assuming it's not mistake on my side) so that you can then reproduce it. I'll send you an email.

Let's do it in (broken ) English at least on this forum so that it also helps community. I'll sent you an email in French in case I'm totally lost. For the time being, your explanations are crystal clear. Thank you.

Hello Christian,

In answer to your comments:

- Regarding software, your explanation is clear and matches what I previously understood. Just to clarify further: do you mean that, once online, any modification is applied "real time" without requiring synchro? (at least that's my understanding).

Yes, that's completely correct. Once online, you're basically making "live" changes which won't require any synchronization

- Does it make sense here do display name of configuration currently loaded (either default or last loaded)

Answer: we like this idea, very good suggestion. we'll look into it to see what it requires to make it happen

- Although it would make interface a bit heavier, I would appreciate capability to load setting "from board" instead of launching "default" configuration (Am I correct thinking that default settings are always launched first?)

Answer: Not really correct since settings shown on the plug-in at startup are the last known settings (online/offline) the plug-in was configured to. As explained before, all settings of the plug-in are saved in an active configuration (whether online or offline). When you load a configuration (from system settings - > load), you're effectively loading your settings to that active configuration. So next time you open the software, it will open with the exact same settings.

is it easy to add, in the "delay & RMS" section, field showing numeric value of RMS adjustment like what we have for delay

Yes, we've meant to add the RMS value to the meter. It really won't be hard and is already on the long list of future features we plan to introduce. All these will slowly get upgraded over time as we constantly upgrade plug-ins.

Hope this info helps.