# Lets try this soundcard cal thing again.



## Chrisbee (Apr 20, 2006)

Hi

I hate to bring this up again but something is still broken. :crying: 

I'm not complaining because it is almost certainly something I am doing wrong. :blush:

I have just checked my soundcard calibration yet again after seeing the parallel thread.

I have been through the USB SB C Live! controls dozens of times and everything is set to default (no effects, no monitoring, no nothing) 

I have tried default, wave, C-media etc. Now I'm using the default "emulated SB Live 24 bit" option. Sampling rate 48kHz.

I have tried all the input and output options without any improvement. 

Here I'm using Line in and Front Speakers (out) sockets. 

My cables are phono coax with solid RCA/jack adaptors. Only one side of the cable is being used. 

The surround console is set to 2/2.1 and Line in. It looks exactly like the help files. 

I cancelled the soundcard cal and meter cal files and have the following to show for it:

20 meters of cables:










I thought that awful result may have been my long test cables. So I tried a two foot long cable:










I have about 5dB of headroom during the final test sweep after manually adjusting levels to avoid earlier clipping.

Computer AMD 1600+ XPSP2 with auto updates set.

Help! :surrender:


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## JohnM (Apr 11, 2006)

What does the impulse response look like? If you look on the scope plot and zoom in on parts of it are there any odd features? Spikes, discontinuities, ...


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## Chrisbee (Apr 20, 2006)

Thankyou for your patience.

I am not really sure what I'm looking for. So if I post an impulse and a scope graph perhaps you would be kind enough to suggest areas for closer inspection.

Impulse










Scope


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## JohnM (Apr 11, 2006)

Looks like something fairly drastic is being done to the sweep before it gets captured, which has some similarities with an audio effect of some kind. Can you confirm exactly which soundcard you have? I'm curious about the "Emulated SB Live 24 bit" you mention, is this the device you see in the devices list? An SB Live 24-bit external card normally appears in the list as "SB Live 24-bit External". I'm also curious about your need to change the levels, please post a screen capture of the soundcard settings tab.


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## Chrisbee (Apr 20, 2006)

Soundcard is Creative Soundblaster Live!24 Bit. External.


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## Chrisbee (Apr 20, 2006)

All effects shown in EAX console are NOT enabled.


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## JohnM (Apr 11, 2006)

Do the volume settings in the Soundcard tab normally read 0? What other devices appear in the device list?


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## Chrisbee (Apr 20, 2006)

JohnM said:


> Do the volume settings in the Soundcard tab normally read 0? What other devices appear in the device list?


The volume settings are manual only. If I try to adjust Line in Volume or Output volume they immediately return to 1.000. 

If I set Sweep level to -10 the sweep has headroom of around 5dB.

Devices: in this order:

Output. 

Default device 
Primary sound driver 
SB Live! 24-bit External (emulated) 
Java sound audio engine

Input:

Default device
Primary sound capture driver 
SB Live! 24-bit External (emulated)

It has now reached 1.30am here so I've got to go to bed.


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## brucek (Apr 11, 2006)

> SB Live! 24-bit External (emulated)


Something is not right here. I have read that creative has some drivers that allow better compatability with DOS. Can you download the latest driver software and then reload the soundcard software and see if you can clear that (emulation) notation..

brucek


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## Chrisbee (Apr 20, 2006)

Hi

I have reinstalled the Creative software. 

But REW now locks up repeatedly on the soundcard "Measure" 1kHz signal.

I am getting a good input signal but output remains steady at-129.4dB and nothing happens no matter how long I wait! 

I have had to switch off the computer at the wall several times now! 

Then I thought I'd reinstall REW in case it was corrupted but I still have exactly the same total lockup problem. 

I have got rid of the "emulated" in the process but REW is waking up each time showing "default" (input and output devices) rather than "Live! 24bit External".

It makes no difference to the total lock up whether I use "default" or "Live 24 bit external". 

Bwah! :crying:


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## JohnM (Apr 11, 2006)

Look in the log files in your home directory (location is in the REW About... dialog) to see if any error messages have been recorded.


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## Chrisbee (Apr 20, 2006)

JohnM said:


> Look in the log files in your home directory (location is in the REW About... dialog) to see if any error messages have been recorded.


Sorry, nothing useful. Just a few numbered 1k txt. files saying that Room EQ has started.


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## JohnM (Apr 11, 2006)

Very strange. When you say REW locks up, what actually happens? If REW no longer responds to any key presses/mouse clicks you can kill it from the Task Manager by stopping the Java.exe process.

To make a fresh start with REW use the "Delete settings and shut down" option in the Settings menu, the next time you start REW will be the same as a new install. Check that you have selected the SB Live as your default input and output device in the Windows control panel audio properties. Are you able to use the REW Signal Generator?

You might want to try again with the Creative software installation, something may have gone wrong with that.


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## JohnM (Apr 11, 2006)

You may also find you can simply uninstall the Creative software and use the card with the generic Windows USB driver and the Windows volume controls.


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## Chrisbee (Apr 20, 2006)

JohnM said:


> You may also find you can simply uninstall the Creative software and use the card with the generic Windows USB driver and the Windows volume controls.


The Creative software won't uninstall, won't repair or modify! :hissyfit: 

Even more amusing is that "emulated" is back again! :crying:


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## JohnM (Apr 11, 2006)

Maybe worth trying System Restore to go back to how things were a couple of days ago.


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## Chrisbee (Apr 20, 2006)

JohnM said:


> Maybe worth trying System Restore to go back to how things were a couple of days ago.


Thankyou. Probably worth a try.

The lockup is total. The only thing that works is "Restart". I'm afraid that I can't close REW by your method because the large settings box covers most of the buttons at the top and the box can't be dragged clear. It just left a pretty blue smear when I tried to drag the box away. Not your problem of course. Thankyou very much for your patience and helpful advice.


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## brucek (Apr 11, 2006)

Do you have an internal soundcard on your motherboard that perhaps needs to be disabled in bios?


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## Chrisbee (Apr 20, 2006)

Can't restore. 

I have disabled the internal soundcard in BIOS and Device Manager.

I have lost the mixer panel in the Creative software.

I have downloaded Creative software updates but they didn't help.

I have uninstalled REW and downloaded it again.

What happens: I start soundcard calibration and get as far as pressing the "Measure" button followed by Next and Next for the 1kHz tone test.

The *output* bar shoots up in a best rainbow tradition to stop at whatever *sweep level* I have chosen. Input remains stubbornly at -129.4. I then lose my keyboard. I have discovered I can* Log Off* to close REW using the cursor. Which saves a bit of time over a complete *Restart*. I can try to close settings or REW as many times as I like but they won't respond.

Without the Creative *Mixer* I have no access to the controls I need.

In Device Manager Sound, Video and Games controllers: I have a range of headings. Soundblaster has now disappeared from the sound,v and games list and been replaced by USB Composite Device lower down in Devices. 

My computer is running incredibly slow while I wait for REW to respond but it obviously can't. Task manager shows the CPU is at 100%.


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## brucek (Apr 11, 2006)

I'm afraid you've got more problems than just REW not working..

Windows is in a funk. You need to repair it first.

brucek


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## Chrisbee (Apr 20, 2006)

Hi brucek

I'm afraid have to agree. Unfortunately my 6 year old XP disk is no longer acceptable after SP1 & 2. It just gets a rejection notice when I put it in the drive. Something is trying to tell me to get a new computer. I can't see the point right now just to run REW and browse. 

Hardly any software about for Vista and I've just fitted a new 200 Gig hard drive (slave) and DVD R/W drive. I'm darned if I'm paying twice for Bill Gate's smug philanthropy at the Third World's expense.

Zone Alarm Suite has also been screwing everything up since I upgraded from Pro a couple of weeks ago. 

Thankyou to yourself and johnM for your kindness and patience. I realise that REW is very unlikely to be the culprit and this is certainly not the place to try and fix XP's infinite number of Achilles heels. 

These new toasters are much harder to mend than when I dismantled my first at the age of 5. Just browsing for problems with Soundblaster produced 500 questions on one forum. Most went unanswered. :wits-end: 

So it's no more sweeps for the moment. I'll just have to listen to some music. 

Regards
Chrisbee


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## Chrisbee (Apr 20, 2006)

Panic over! I finally noticed that the *Input Volume* on my settings panel was at *0* instead of *1*. 

So now I have a fully functional REW again! :bigsmile:

Here's the proof: Sweep test of my 20 meters (60') of cables in a closed loop.










I can start testing my IB again without all that garbage on the soundcard cal file.










Are we happy with the curves in these graphs? Soundcard is SB Live! 24 bit external. Galaxy 140 SPL meter.


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## brucek (Apr 11, 2006)

> Panic over! I finally noticed that the Input Volume on my settings panel was at 0 instead of 1.


But we already discussed that here and you dismissed that they were at zero.



> Here's the proof: Sweep test of my 20 meters (60') of cables in a closed loop


It would be a flat line if you didn't have the meter calaibration file loaded.

brucek


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## Chrisbee (Apr 20, 2006)

brucek said:


> But we already discussed that here and you dismissed that they were at zero.


You are correct (of course) but for some reason I was only looking over at the level settings on the left. 
I never noticed the 0 for Input Volume. Perhaps we could persuade JohnM to make the numbers in the boxes much larger. 



> It would be a flat line if you didn't have the meter calibration file loaded.
> 
> brucek


Indeed. Correct again. Though the curve still turns down very slightly at the bottom end. (lowest frequency)

When I said that I set *Input Volume* to *1* I really meant that I had set it to *1,000*. Despite the months of use of REW it has taken me this long to notice the comma instead of a decimal point. 

Interestingly (?) the Danes use a *comma* for the decimal point. 

So? Is this setting really *1,000* or *1.000*?


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## JohnM (Apr 11, 2006)

The decimal delimiter is picked up from your regional settings, so 1,000 is 1.000 if your PC is configured to use a comma as the decimal delimiter. The range of those volume controls is 0 to 1. Doesn't explain the original problem, mind, but as that seems to have gone away now let's not tempt it back


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## Chrisbee (Apr 20, 2006)

Thankyou, John.

Still some foibles with low readings using the Galaxy 140 but at least I can get a response curve.


The ragged end to the sweep has completely gone now.


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