Studer A820 controlled by serial remote controller, resoldered 9pin cable (different studer pinout) to a usb-serial converter directly to Max/MSP (M4L) in Ableton Live. Now it reads the timer, but i will add some more functionality like biasing other audio parameters  as well:) its unbelievable how future proof the whole design in the mid 80´s already was!!!

What drove me crazy (together with Deborah and Daniel as well, thx for your help my friends!) was that Studer did not really document their special pinout for the serial connector.

more info on the cable here (bedankt Jan!!): http://www.tieks.nl/revox/SR-rs232-need_en.html

you can get the patch over here: http://tailout.de/product/studer-serial-ableton-plugin-max4live

this big thing is used for mastering over here btw. www.tailout.de