# V5.14 beta 12



## JohnM (Apr 11, 2006)

V5.14 beta 12 is now available from the installers directory. I've made a few updates relating to distortion in this beta, including an option to show the phases of harmonics on the RTA:









and the ability to add distortion to the sine wave generator output:
















I have also added the ability to save any of the signal generator signals to file as a 16-bit stereo wave file containing the selected signal in both channels. The file duration is approximately 1 minute for sine, square, dual tone, CEA-2010 burst, pink noise and pink/white PN signals. The sweep signal durations are per the settings for the signal. Signal level is per the RMS Level setting of the signal generator. The signal sample rate is the same as the current soundcard sample rate.

Also in this build is the ability to save the generic equaliser filter coefficients to file with selectable sample rate.

For completeness, here is the full list of changes in 5.14 beta 12 compared to the V5.13 release:


Added option to distortion graph to plot normalised to fundamental
Added option to distortion graph to use fundamental level at harmonic frequency instead of at excitation frequency when normalising (per Steve F. Temme "How to graph distortion measurements", 94th AES 1993)
Show percentage distortion figures on Y axis of distortion graph when plot is normalised and values are percent.
Removed the raw measurement trace from the distortion graph, so graph has fundamental, harmonics and THD
Added option to show phases of harmonics in the RTA distortion data panel
Added option to add harmonic distortion to the sine wave generator output with individual control of level and phase for each harmonic
Added ability to save all signal generator signal types to a WAV file
Signal generator pink and white periodic noise sequences can be limited to a selected range
Added support for audio devices that only provide or accept mono data
Improved detection of USB mics on linux
Improved detection of port mixers on linux
Improved detection of UMIK-1 on Windows 8.1 and Windows 10 for English locales
Added workaround for generic labelling of UMIK-1 inputs when using ASIO4All
Added ability to save generic equaliser filter coefficients to file with selectable sample rate
Improved filter sorting for filters that aren't peak or modal when sorting by frequency or gain
When changing equaliser, keep as many useful filters as possible
Increase range of target level adjustment for Set Target Level to plus/minus 100 dB (from 50).
Allowed sweep level down to -60 dB
Tweaked optimiser for DSP1124, FBQ2496 etc
Added explanation of Spectrum vs RTA mode in the RTA window help
Changed SPL logger data files to not use digit grouping and have . as the decimal delimiter, regardless of locale
Bypass animations when deleting measurements via the keyboard shortcut

Bug fix: SPL logger would not load more than 1000 seconds of data from files using comma as decimal delimiter
Bug fix: When using time of day on SPL logger times should wrap at midnight
Bug fix: Change file dialog directory handling to accommodate change in behaviour under OS X El Capitan
Bug fix: If confirmed removal of a soundcard cal file when using a USB mic the cal file was not unloaded
Bug fix: Predicted SPL traces were not updated when measurement offset was changed if measurement had filters
Bug fix: Removing several measurements in quick succession could stop further removals
Bug fix: Valid start frequency was being set incorrectly when smoothing was applied


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## ajinfla (May 10, 2009)

Thanks again for putting so much time into this John


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## jtalden (Mar 12, 2009)

JohnM,
Thanks!
The signal output file capability will be big help for me. My workaround was a real pain.
I also look forward to experimenting with the new features regarding distortion. It is a good opportunity to learn a little more as try to understand these new capabilities.
Great program- getting even better :T


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## FargateOne (Mar 3, 2015)

ajinfla said:


> Thanks again for putting so much time into this John


John,
you are a very special person !
Thank for all your works in REW!


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## giordy60 (Aug 5, 2013)

JohnM said:


> I have also added the ability to save any of the signal generator signals to file as a 16-bit stereo wave file containing the selected signal in both channels.


this is very interesting, because John :clap:
:T


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## draki (Dec 14, 2012)

Respect!:clap::clap:


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## JohnM (Apr 11, 2006)

jtalden said:


> The signal output file capability will be big help for me. My workaround was a real pain.


Bear in mind that there can be small changes in details of the sweep between releases, so make sure you use a sweep generated with the version you use to measure.


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## jtalden (Mar 12, 2009)

Thanks for the heads-up!
I will update my test file today.


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## AudiocRaver (Jun 6, 2012)

Wow, John, a lot of really worthwhile changes here. Thank you again for all of your great work. All of that signal generator capability and output recording capability is really a big plus


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## jtalden (Mar 12, 2009)

JohnM,
I am having difficulty with the exported measurements sweep '.wav' file.
I edit the file slightly to add tics at the start in Audacity and then resave it. I had some trouble in the past finding the proper Audacity export format so that was my first thought. I usually resolve that pretty quickly though. '.flac' and MS 24bit '.wav' have both worked before for me. I now have tried many different options (Audacity has lots of confusing choices). After a couple hours of trials I am starting to wonder if there is something else wrong.

I am using; 44.1k sample rate, 12-20kHz sweep, 256k length. These are the settings to both save the file and to play/measure with it.

I notice that the sample rate is not a selection in the creation of the file with the signal generator so I assumed that is picked up from my setting in 'Preferences/Soundcard'. Maybe that is the problem? The recorded measurement IR is spread in time like the sample rate is wrong. The actual SPL response looks somewhat familiar if the window is set very wide to include the entire IR. The SPL looks a little like my response shape in general, but 12-50Hz and some 18-20kHz are truncated. Maybe it is just compressed due a sample rate difference? If not can you look at the attached file to spot anything that may help me work this out?

Thanks,

View attachment Temp.mdat


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## JohnM (Apr 11, 2006)

That is a strange looking IR. The sig gen picks up its sample rate from the current soundcard preferences setting, the exported WAV file is 16-bit stereo. 

I suspect the problem is that if you set up 12 to 20k on the sig gen what you get is not what REW generates when it wants to measure 12 to 20k, because REW starts its sweeps lower and ends them higher than the requested range to make sure the results over the measurement range aren't affected by transient effects near the start and end of the sweep. To get the same sweep REW would generate, go through the motions of making a measurement then go to the sig gen and save the Measurement Sweep without altering any of the displayed settings. That should work fine (I tried it and it worked for me).


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## jtalden (Mar 12, 2009)

Thanks for the suggestions. I did export the file before running a measurement. I will start over using your suggestion and will advise when it's working. Hopefully I can confirm what the issue was so I can share that as well.

The issue could still be in my Audacity export step as I have struggled with that previously because of similar IR issues. I never completely understood why it suddenly worked by just repeating the same export process several times. :scratch:


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## bobkatz (Mar 28, 2009)

Thanks, John. This will help, especially the ability to present the amplitudes of the distortion harmonics as percent. 

Once again I'd like to request the ability to calibrate the signal generator according to the IEC standard. I need compatibility between REW's signal generator level as displayed in dBFS and the vast majority of the measurement world. I use Spectrafoo, Acourate and Fuzz Measure, and these are all calibrated according to the IEC standard.

This could be done in a preference. Some applications will say, "Preference RMS +3 dB" or something like that. But IEC-compatible RMS measure would also be good. 

Please think about it. Thanks,


Bob


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## bobkatz (Mar 28, 2009)

Dear John: I'd like to report a bug in 5.13. On Mac. The zoom in (+ button on the lower right of the window) is broken. It does not zoom into the current cursor time. The zoom out button is working correctly.


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## JohnM (Apr 11, 2006)

Can you be more specific about which graph and the circumstances, Bob? Seems to behave as expected when I try it.


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## jtalden (Mar 12, 2009)

JohnM said:


> I suspect the problem is that if you set up 12 to 20k on the sig gen what you get is not what REW generates when it wants to measure 12 to 20k, because REW starts its sweeps lower and ends them higher than the requested range to make sure the results over the measurement range aren't affected by transient effects near the start and end of the sweep. To get the same sweep REW would generate, go through the motions of making a measurement then go to the sig gen and save the Measurement Sweep without altering any of the displayed settings. That should work fine (I tried it and it worked for me).


Yes, that worked fine on my first try. 
If I run a measurement 12-20k the range in the 'signal generator panel' changes to 6-22050. If I 'Save Wav' with that 6-22050 setting then the external sweep works just fine. I was resetting the sweep to 12-20k in the 'signal generator panel' and that results in a larger fade-in and fade-out and thus the erroneous measurement. It's confusing, but now I understand how to get what I want. If the 2 need to be different for a reason, maybe there should be a 'Save Wav' button right on the 'measurement panel' as well as on the 'signal generator panel' or maybe a note in 'Help' - although in this case, I forgot to look there before I sent my help request. :doh: 
Anyway, I'm good now that I understand.
Thanks.


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## bobkatz (Mar 28, 2009)

JohnM said:


> Can you be more specific about which graph and the circumstances, Bob? Seems to behave as expected when I try it.


I've got the tab "Impulse" open and a single impulse on the screen. Because I'm looking at the latent FIR filtering of Acourate Convolver with a loopback timing, the impulse is at approximately 800 ms. so it's off screen. 

I zoom out with the - button on the bottom right of the screen to see where the impulse is.

I click approximately at the beginning of the impulse, expecting the + button to zoom me into where I click.

Instead, it zooms into about 10.8 ms., which (coincidence?) is near to the timing of another impulse that was taken of the raw drivers without the latency of Acourate convolver. In other words, that would be about 9 ms, representing loudspeakers about 9 feet away. But I'm just theorizing where REW got the idea to zoom into 10 ms. instead of where I clicked. 

As a test I zoom out (always hitting either the - or pls button at the lower right. 

Now the cursor remains in the 10 ms. or so region. 

So I zoom out tremendously again until I can see the impulse circa 800 ms.

I click again near 800 ms. and to no avail, zoom in returns circa 10 ms. instead!!!

Now, my ctrl then right click mouse zoom comes into play. This is not so good for me on the mac, because for whatever reason it's really really really sensitive to motions of my wacom tablet (either with hand gestures or the pen) and I cannot easily get the zoom that I want with this ctrl- keystroke and mouse manipulations.

With the ctrl+ right mouse zoom I get myself to the 800 ms region. Kind of with the zoom size that I want, but I need to use the + - onscreen button instead because as I said, the ctrl+ gesture just isn't sensitive enough. On another point, I wonder if you can include sensitivity for this gesture in the preferences? I know I'm asking too much, but a guy's gotta ask . Both the built-in trackpad on the Mac AND the Wacom exhibit this extreme sensitivity with this gesture so I'm out to lunch unless I plug in a regular mouse, and there's not enough room on my physical desktop for one!

Ok, now the zoom is approximately where I want it and I need to use the + button to zoom in horizontally. Let's try it now.

Oy. It takes me to 1.6 seconds and the impulse is off screen again.

Lather, rinse repeat, struggle.... 

This does not happen on the PC. 

Hope this story helps.


Bob


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## vitt (Nov 5, 2010)

Hi JohnM and thanks for the great program.

I've got a problem with this beta version: running REW blocks MiniDSP plugin from communicating to MiniDSP device (connected via USB, Windows 7):

- Connect MiniDSP 2x4. Run Plugin, Connect it to device. Select any block with live update (input or output level). 
- Run REW 5.14 b12. Do not do anything in it.
- After several seconds MiniDSP plugin stops updating signal level. After that MiniDSP plugin won't connect to board anymore (until closing REW and re-connect board).

This happened in previous betas as well (I didn't pay attention which one, thinking it was comms glitch). Latest Release version works fine.

Let me know if I can provide any useful info (my REW's setup is pretty default: Java Audio, internal Realtek soundcard on Windows 7 laptop),
Vitt.


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## JohnM (Apr 11, 2006)

Strange stuff Bob, are you using a 'retina' display?


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## JohnM (Apr 11, 2006)

Hi Vitt,

Been a long time since I used my 2x4, unfortunately it now doesn't want to connect at all. A DDRC-22 stays connected OK though, with or without REW running. I'm presuming REW's scans for a connected UMIK are causing an issue with the 2x4 plugin, although REW only checks to see what devices are connected, it doesn't try to access them. I could change REW to just make a single scan on power-up, though it would then miss a UMIK connected after it started. Probably better than having a problem with the 2x4 though.


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## JohnM (Apr 11, 2006)

Bob, as a workaround for the problem you are seeing try showing the scrollbars and moving the graph using the scrollbar and the scrollbar buttons at the bottom.


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## JohnM (Apr 11, 2006)

I've uploaded V5.14 beta 13 to the installers directory. Changes in this build are:


Added averaging of RTA harmonic phases
Changed the View preferences default trace colours behaviour so that changing them does not change the colour of existing measurements
Changed behaviour so that changing the colour of a trace does not change the default colours, default colours are only changed from the View preferences
Added a panel to the colour chooser to allow one of the default colours to be selected
Allow signal generator sweep start frequency down to 0 Hz (1 Hz for log sweeps) and end frequency up to half the soundcard sample rate
Initialise the signal generator sweep frequency and level settings according to the last measurement sweep
Only scan for UMIK on USB ports once on startup

Vitt, please see if this helps with the problem you were seeing.


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## bobkatz (Mar 28, 2009)

JohnM said:


> Strange stuff Bob, are you using a 'retina' display?


Yes. Let me try it on my built in macbook pro display. But that's also a Retina. Hmm, you're onto something, John. When I move the REW window over to the Retina, which is a 15" macbook pro, clicking at the impulse and then hitting the + zoom works properly. I believe the res. is set to 2880x1800, but the Apple control panel for this does not allow me to see that. 

The attached 27" Thunderbolt display, the one where zoom is not working right, is set to 2560 x 1440, the double Retina resolution.

Let me set it to "standard res, 1280 x 720" and see how REW reacts. Woah.... things look giant.... BUT the cursor click on the impulse works and the + button works correctly. 

When I reset the display to 2560, holy cow.... everything went black. I restarted the Mac and fortunately this submit message is still there. 

The next time I reset the display to 2560 there is no crash. And the + button misbehaves. Hitting plus takes the cursor to a time location that's not so good! 

So the problem is the giant 2560 pix screen. Hope you can diagnose this, it's a drag :-( I know you can do it!!!! (words of encouragement)


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## vitt (Nov 5, 2010)

JohnM said:


> Vitt, please see if this helps with the problem you were seeing.


Good, beta 13 fixes it.

Just thought: maybe there is some kind of "false detection" of UMIK ? I don't have UMIK; what I see in "Hardware Ids" ("device manager") for MiniDSP 2x4:
USB\VID04D8&PID_003F&REV_0002
USB\VID04D8&PID_003F

Anyway, thank you again for the great program,

Regards,
Vitt


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## JohnM (Apr 11, 2006)

bobkatz said:


> Now, my ctrl then right click mouse zoom comes into play. This is not so good for me on the mac, because for whatever reason it's really really really sensitive to motions of my wacom tablet (either with hand gestures or the pen) and I cannot easily get the zoom that I want with this ctrl- keystroke and mouse manipulations.


Bob, does this sensitivity problem happen when you use displays other than the thunderbolt display?

Also can you get some screenshots for me of the problem with the zoom buttons? Ideally, one before you click + and one after you click + on the thunderbolt display, then the same pair of before/after images but using the Macbook's display (starting from about the same view as you had on the Thunderbolt display).


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## AudiocRaver (Jun 6, 2012)

bobkatz said:


> Once again I'd like to request the ability to calibrate the signal generator according to the IEC standard. I need compatibility between REW's signal generator level as displayed in dBFS and the vast majority of the measurement world. I use Spectrafoo, Acourate and Fuzz Measure, and these are all calibrated according to the IEC standard.
> 
> This could be done in a preference. Some applications will say, "Preference RMS +3 dB" or something like that. But IEC-compatible RMS measure would also be good.


FWIW, I would like to see it, too. It bothers me that a sine wave clips at -3 dBFS. What happened to the other 3 dB? my brain asks. FS = Full Scale = the point where the signal clips. That should be "0." How on earth can a full-scale clip point be -3 dB???? These are rhetorical questions, of course. I know you have a perfectly logical mathematician's answer, but it does not help me. I am left with having to name reference level signal tracks myself so I can remember what they mean.

I understand that we are dealing with RMS, and that a square wave at clipping reaches 0 dBFS. But who uses square waves to calibrate their systems? Using a sine wave, FS clipping is at -3 dB, so a -20 db signal would be -23 dBFS. I have recorded reference level tracks at -20 dB *[I am not even sure what to call it] (= -23 dBFS RMS) and at -20 dBFS RMS [-17 dB *again, what do I call this level?]. From the standpoint of needing to know what a number means and being able to communicate it to someone else, it is anything but simple.


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## bobkatz (Mar 28, 2009)

JohnM said:


> Bob, does this sensitivity problem happen when you use displays other than the thunderbolt display?
> 
> No, John, as I mentioned I think in a message I just posted, you hit the nail on the head. When I move REW over to the native display of my Macbook pro, the problem does not occur. And when I readjust the screen resolution of my Thunderbolt display downward, the problem does not occur.
> 
> Also can you get some screenshots for me of the problem with the zoom buttons? Ideally, one before you click + and one after you click + on the thunderbolt display, then the same pair of before/after images but using the Macbook's display (starting from about the same view as you had on the Thunderbolt display).


Got it! The MBP after zoom in in this attachment is after several successful zoom ins to the cursor position. The Thunderbolt after zoom in, as you can see, locates to hundreds of milliseconds off target :-(.


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## BVa (Jul 22, 2011)

This feature


> Added option to show phases of harmonics in the RTA distortion data panel


is removed in REW_windows_5_14_beta14_offline.exe ?
EDIT 
My mistake, sorry..


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## JohnM (Apr 11, 2006)

V5.14 beta 15 is now available from the installers directory. Changes in this build:


Added an extra IR windows control to apply window settings to all measurements but keep each measurement's current window reference time
Bug fix: When IR peak was not at zero waterfall and spectral decay had wrong start time
Bug fix: Corrected USB mic gain mapping for Linux


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## ultrabike (Jul 1, 2012)

Thanks John!:bigsmile:


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## bobkatz (Mar 28, 2009)

Thanks John. Keeps on getting better and better. I like a developer who actually must use the product!


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