Calling all owners of rare ADB devices!

Have you ever seen a JL Cooper CS-1? It's an ADB controller specifically for early audio editing software such as ProTools and SoundEdit.

Manual here: https://www.jlcooper.com/_manuals/legacy/CS-Series/CS-1_Mac_User_Manual.pdf But no software.

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I put the software on Mac Garden a while back. I'll find a link when I'm back in the house.

It works without software with things like Premiere 4 if I remember. Works well with SoundDesigner II.
 

Ah! Cool. I couldn't find it because I was expecting a space in JL Cooper.

Have you got one? I wonder if it would be easy-ish to clone it.
Yeah, the search is really picky.

I've owned one since around 2000. Got it with a cast of IIci based SoundDesigner II / ProTools system. I think I've talked about them with Tashtari before... It is a few years since I've looked inside one. Thinking about it, the one I have here isn't actually my original one. My dad has that. This is a boxed one I got off eBay about 6 years ago.

A fun thing to do is try to find a game that works well with it :)
 
I don't know a whole lot about ADB, but the manual mentions "secret" codes - so to a first approximation, is it just sending a fixed code for each button, which then gets translated by the software? Because that seems... simple to redo.
 
@paws
Looking at your manual, keep in mind that my version of the software is much older, so the manual doesn't seem to exactly match in some ways. There is 7 years difference between them. They made these things for a long time!
 
I have a wireless mouse, never seen any other before, working great, using two batteries in the receiver side.
 

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Have you ever seen a JL Cooper CS-1? It's an ADB controller specifically for early audio editing software such as ProTools and SoundEdit.
I haven't! I did get my hands on a JL Cooper Media Control Station at one point and RE its protocol, but it sounds like the two are quite different animals... the Media Control Station has a mode that sends proprietary ADB commands, but mostly it seems you program it to send keystrokes or mouse movements. It sounds like the CS-1 is entirely dependent on the extension. Would definitely be interested in reverse engineering it.
 
I have a wireless mouse, never seen any other before, working great, using two batteries in the receiver side.
Interesting! I'd love to add that to the device list - there are some special questions that can be asked of mice, like which of the three possible protocol handlers they support. I'll message you about it shortly (been crazy busy lately...)
 
@paws
Looking at your manual, keep in mind that my version of the software is much older, so the manual doesn't seem to exactly match in some ways. There is 7 years difference between them. They made these things for a long time!
I'm just happy some version has been preserved. I couldn't find anything at all beyond that manual.
I haven't! I did get my hands on a JL Cooper Media Control Station at one point and RE its protocol, but it sounds like the two are quite different animals... the Media Control Station has a mode that sends proprietary ADB commands, but mostly it seems you program it to send keystrokes or mouse movements. It sounds like the CS-1 is entirely dependent on the extension. Would definitely be interested in reverse engineering it.
It's a bit niche, but everything deserves to be documented, doesn't it? I'll grab it if I ever find one, that's certain.
 
I haven't! I did get my hands on a JL Cooper Media Control Station at one point and RE its protocol, but it sounds like the two are quite different animals... the Media Control Station has a mode that sends proprietary ADB commands, but mostly it seems you program it to send keystrokes or mouse movements. It sounds like the CS-1 is entirely dependent on the extension. Would definitely be interested in reverse engineering it.
I also have a CS-1 (in Black) here and I had a short look on the ADB communication before.
Depending on the mode it sends keystrokes or proprietary ADB commands. So very similar to the Media Control Station.
 
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