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• USB Passthrough working well

  Craig Hissett • 08/19/2026 at 15:13 • 0 comments

  Still buoyed with joy following docker containers saving the day, I wanted set up a little test audio interface ahead of audio testing next week.

  I plugged in my Alesis Core 1 interface ( a tiny, single input interface) and it appeared instantly in my DAW:

  I just need to install ALSA to actually allow the device to be used in Reaper, but it's coming together nicely. Next week I'll run a bog standard Dynamic mic (this interface does not support phantom power, so I can't use my usual condenser of choice) and some headphones and test it for real.

  My only concern at this stage is any latency added to the journey from mic>reaper>headphones, as a high latency can make recording extremely difficult if trying to record along to existing takes.

• Docker compose FTW!

  Craig Hissett • 08/13/2026 at 09:46 • 0 comments

  Using ZVM, I found that running complete VMs put a lot of strain on the Zimaboard when using the stock images presented. I believe the OS is the same as what is installed on the all the boards, so these images make sense for the more powerful Zimacube which is targeted at that kind of workload alongside being a NAS.

  The Zimaboard 2 versions I have are the 832 models, which translates to 8gb RAM, and 32gb onboard storage.

  There's also a 1664 version which doubles those figures, which I think would be provide some more resources but would still struggle with the larger images as it still uses the same intel N150 CPU.

  I first contemplated looking for some other Operating Systems I could run as VMs, but when cycling through the Zima App store I spotted Portainer, and the penny instantly dropped - docker containers were the answer.

  I use Portainer to manage my homelab services, which are all hosted using docker (more specifically docker compose). Portainer provides a nice UI to managing the compose scripts, allowing you to manage your stacks of services.

  Docker is perfect for this kind of deployment, as there are a number of images which have been stripped of any bloat and unused services, allowing you to build an image of exactly what you need. The docker images are also not full OS images, which reduces both storage use and running requirements.

  To test the performance I selected an old image recommended on forums for its VNC integration, and set up a minimal environment to test the premise:

  services:
    reaper:
      image: dorowu/ubuntu-desktop-lxde-vnc
      container_name: reaper
  
      privileged: true
  
      devices:
        - /dev/snd:/dev/snd
  
      volumes:
        - /DATA/AppData/reaper/config:/config
        - /DATA/ReaperProjects:/projects
  
      environment:
        - TZ=Europe/London
  
      ports:
        - "6080:80"
  
      restart: unless-stopped

  Worked perfectly - connected via my browser to see the lxde desktop environment and install Reaper, my DAW of choice. System resources were barely troubled, jumping to ~25% at worst. When going for full VM the CPU was around 90% so this was a significant improvement.

  ZimaOS - In ZimaOS you can add custom apps to the platform that are not in the available store - looking at the yaml templates behind the wizard that assists with that process it is also docker compose friendly, with an additional config block for how it looks in the ZimaOS UI. This is great - I will be able to complete my testing in portainer and then run the completed stack as a custom app in the OS and remove portainer. It saves a few gb in storage and keeps the unit as sleek as it can be.

  Next steps:

  • Research the best docker images to use for my use case [Both Units]
  • Test USB passthrough with Docker images [Field Recorder]
  • Migrate container setup from Portainer to ZimaOS when testing complete. [Editor Unit]

• ZVM

  Craig Hissett • 08/11/2026 at 22:28 • 0 comments

  ZVM is the Zima VM management software in ZimaOS.

  The platform is extremely simple to use, and present a list of suggested VMs from Windows to Ubuntu. It also allows you to upload your own ISOs.

  I've tried the Windows 11 VM and found it to be really quite sluggish, and I ended up giving up and trying out Ubuntu. It was much more tolerable to use, although it still found it a little slow in places.

  Over the next few days I'm going to try some lighter linux VMs such as Lubuntu and see if that is favourable.

  If not I'll try flashing Ubuntu to the device itself and going from there. 

• ZimaOS

  Craig Hissett • 08/11/2026 at 13:48 • 1 comment

  This is not aimed to be a review of ZimaOS per se, nor is it a guide on how to set it up - there are some fantastic guides on YouTube over getting started.

  I must say - getting my first unit to the point of software installation has been so easy. I connected it to my network switch and powered it up, and used my router to find its IP address. You can connect a monitor to the display port, but it was much easier to check the router for new devices. Popped the IP address into my browser and was prompted to create a local account, then boom - I was in. Nice to see my two drives are already recognised from the off.

  For this particular unit I'm going to add some fileshares and a VM.

• SSD Storage

  Craig Hissett • 08/11/2026 at 13:44 • 0 comments

  The Zimaboard's NAS Kit is fantastic for what I need for my project. Both nodes require storage and need to be enveloped into one unit. 

  The only issue for me is that, certainly for the mobile unit that will be moved frequently, I need solid state storage. The speed of the drives will help for editing over any network connection, and I'd feel much better carrying my audio on solid state rather than mechanical.

  The NAS Kit doesn't natively cater for 2.5" drives, just 2 x 3.5" drives. I picked up some cheap adapter sleds for some of my old SSDs for testing, and bored the mounting holes out for the Zimaboard thumb screws. They do the job, but aren't ideal. I'd like to design an insert for the mobile unit that spans both 3.5" bays, secures with the thumbscrews (to hold the PCI-e bracket on, although I may remove this from the mobile unit), and has better slots for 2-3 SSDs plus space to hold the mobile router.

  For the home-based server I'll use an SSD to work from and a HDD for archived projects.

• Unit 2 | Audio Ingesting and Editing

  Craig Hissett • 08/07/2026 at 22:01 • 0 comments

  For the second unit I will be aiming to provide a central point to take my recorded audio and work on it across different machines at home.

  In previous builds getting into the innards of the recording box to remove the portable SSD was difficult, as was getting at the lattepanda to connect it to my network.

  In addition to this I also found myself mixing across different devices depending on where I was and what I was doing. Currently I have a laptop, mac mini, MS Surface and Windows gaming machine that I have Reaper installed on. Hopping between devices is a nightmare; each instance must be kept identical, which involves ensuring all instances have the same VST plugins and effects used in each project. I've tried centralising my content before on my home NAS, but that has given poor results as WiFi proves a bottleneck.

  The proposal for the second unit it to turn the Zimaboard into a dedicated music server, complete with everything every device could need to edit.

  I will create two fileshares:

  Audio Projects - this will host the audio and project files for Reaper

  VST plugins - this will be a central folder for all VSTs and plugins I use in my projects.

  I will add both of these shares to all my machines so they can use them as a source.

  I'd like to take advantage of the Zimaboard's dual 2.5G ethernet ports here, and connect via ethernet (using the device's ethernet ports or USB>2.5G ethernet dongles) to work from this central network setup without suffering from the problems I had with WiFi. All devices I use for mixing and editing connect to my home network via WiFi so all have that free ethernet port to use.

  I will also create two VMs:

  one will be a lightweight Debian headless VM for monitoring the network/s the unit is connected to. Upon detection of the other Zimaboard's MAC address being connected to it a sync will be triggered, ingesting any new projects and audio to the Audio Project fileshare.

  For the second VM I'd like to create a full Windows/Linux desktop with Reaper installed, with access to the fileshares; I'd like to test whether remoting into the device and using the VM to mix and edit is feasible, as if it is it means I can remove my many instances across my machines and use the attached box as an all in one device.

  Future improvements

  The projects I edit aren't usually that VST-heavy; I tend to mostly prepare the recorded audio, comp together final takes, then send them to an audio engineer for mixing for release. However, for my own personal recording where I record guitars and vocals in addition to brass and use drum plugins it can get quite plugin-intensive.

  One concern is how much the intel N150 CPU can handle before it would struggle with larger projects.

  In order to help the CPU as much as possible I have been looking into DSP (Digital Signal Processing). Universal Audio create a fantastic array of Audio interfaces and PCI-e cards that work exclusively with their plugins and offload their processing to their own interface or PCIe card. The devices are expensive, as would be repurchasing Universal Audio versions of the effects I like to use, but doing so would be a great long-term investment. 

  I believe this project would be great to demonstrate the power of this on-device DSP processing, so I have reached out to Universal Audio to see which of their interfaces or PCIe cards would be best for this. I believe the PCIe card may be the best fit, as it could fit in the footprint of the NAS enclosure and hopefully keep the audio coming from whichever device is running the VM. 

• Unit 1 | The Field Recorder

  Craig Hissett • 08/07/2026 at 21:18 • 0 comments

  The purpose for this setup to be taken out into the field to record rehearsals and gigs, store the raw audio and return it to be edited and mixed at home. 

  The hope is that with a quick and easy recording setup it will not be a chore to mic up our rehearsals and gigs and yield a lot of raw audio, with that audio potentially being releasable. This will mainly be used with my 8-piece brass group, Small Town Brass, but will also be used with my other bands such as the Welfare Collective. The rig can also be used to record other band performances too on a freelance basis.

  Hardware Outline

  The Zimaboard will be mounted in its NAS Kit case, allowing two SSDs to be mounted in some 2.5" to 3.5" adaptors. In the future when looking to encase the Zimaboard and the mixer I may opt to move away from the kit's chassis and swap the two SSDs for a single external drive to keep space consumption down. I do hope to keep it on the chassis though, as the mounted bracket for PCI-e use is a great touch, and could be handy for future expansion.

  The Behringer XR18 has two points of connection to the Zimaboard; firstly via USB to record the audio over, and secondly is via ethernet to allow for the mixer control software to interact with the mixer. The Zimaboard lacks native WiFi and I also do not want to waste resources on running a software Access Point on the SBC, so I will add a mobile router to the build. The mobile router has 2 ethernet ports so allows for the two devices to be connected. It also adds WiFi, so I can connect to the setup from my laptop, tablet or even phone to operate.

  Software Outline

  The Zima OS allows for VM and container use out of the box, so I am going to try using a combination of the two rather than wiping the OS and putting Windows or Linux on, although that remains an option should performance be impacted by using ZimaOS almost like a hypervisor.

  Firstly I will setup a RAID array using the two mounted SSDs, and use these to store the captured audio. Secondly I will use ZimaOS to set up an Ubuntu VM and install my recording software of choice, Reaper, and the Behringer's mixer control software. Remoting into this VM will give complete control over the mixing and the recording all from one spot.

  Reaper offers the ability to run a web interface with custom html, so I will aim to create controllers set to sit nicely on phone or tablet screens. 

  In addition OSC is a fantastic protocol that can be used to control various aspects of the software too. There are several OSC apps (and an app for controlling the mixer called Mixing Station) available for android and iOS, so fully remoting into the VM may not be required.

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