Home Theater Forum and Systems banner

REW Sound Card Database

Tags
chain survey
96K views 118 replies 53 participants last post by  PeterPP 
#1 · (Edited)
It's been discussed that maintaining a list of sound card/mic pre/mixer/mic options might be valuable, including any pros and cons or notes on use. To kick it off, please post your REW signal chain components (not including cables) and what operating system you are using.

Here's my current setup:

Mic: Dayton EMM-6
Soundcard/mic pre/phantom power: M-Audio MobilePre USB (this old school one)
Operating System: Windows 7 Home Premium 32-bit
Notes: Works well with java or ASIO driver, TS in/out connectors (use RCA adapters where necessary), No longer sold / $40-50 on ebay
 
#72 ·
Hello All,

just wanted to give a quick update... I read and read that the UMIK-1 was more than enough and recommended for home theater, I checked, and due to shipping costs to Puerto Rico, it turns out that getting it from Cross-Spectrum is actually the same total price as getting it straight from miniDSP...so there you go...Cross-Spectrum calibrated UMIK-1.. I wait for you!!
 
#76 ·
Re: REW Sound Card Database - Sound Blaster X-Fi Surround 5.1 Pro

REW Sound Card Compatibility

Would I be able to use the below external USB sound card and a UMIK-1 with REW 5.01?

Thanks!

RE: Sound Blaster X-Fi Surround 5.1 Pro (USB) External Soundcard

•Audio Processor

X-Fi


•SBX Pro Studio

Yes

•Max. Playback Quality

USB 2.0:
Stereo / Surround: 24-bit / 96kHz
USB 1.1:
Stereo: 24-bit / 96kHz
Surround: 16-bit / 48kHz


•Max. Recording Quality

24-bit / 96kHz


•Output

5.1 Channels


•Key Features


•Signal-to-Noise Ratio (SNR)

100dB


•Upmixing of Stereo to Multi-channels

Yes


•Connectivity Options (Main)

Headphone Out:
1 x 3.5mm jack
Line Out:
2 x RCA jacks (L/R)
1 x 3.5mm jack (Rear)
1 x 3.5mm jack (C/Sub)
Line In:
1 x 3.5mm jack
Microphone In:
1 x 3.5mm jack
Optical Out:
1 x TOSLINK


•EAX

EAX Advanced 5.0


•Dolby Digital Live Encoding

Yes


•Audio Fidelity

Up to 24-bit / 96kHz


•Software & Compatibility


•Supported Operating Systems

Windows® 8
Windows® 7
Windows Vista® SP1 or higher
Windows® XP SP2 or higher


•Compatible Platform

USB 1.1
USB 2.0
 
#77 · (Edited)
Budget REW setup

Hi all,

looking for a budget REW setup. Thinking of buying the Dayton EMM-6 mic and some kind of sound card (2 input/ 2 output) to get the timing reference feature. Looked at the Beringer UM2 as a cheap sound card, will it work? If not, may you please help me pick another one from the site thomann.de/se/cat.html?gf=usb_ljudinterface&oa=pra
I live in Sweden and this site offer many alternatives at good pricing.

BR Niklas

Edit 12/11/21
Just found an SB X-Fi 5.1 (SB1090) I had forgotten about. Guess this will work, but still need a pre-micamp for the phantom power. Any suggestions?
Will the X-Fi card work for timing alignment (timing reference feature)?
 
#78 · (Edited)
I have successfully gotten REW and Holmsresponse to work with this arrangement:

Behringer UMC204 USB interface
calibrated Dayton EMM-6 (was using an un-calibrated Behringer EMC8000 but sold that as it had a lot of low frequency noise).
I have had a lot of success using ASIO drivers. A few tricks to be aware of. I was completely unable to use ASIO 4ALL, the drivers didn't work for me. Just use the latest ASIO Behringer drivers. I can get 96khz sampling rates in REW and the Java drivers in REW will limit this to 48khz sampling rates.
Also, the unit can be a bit temperamental so I use a dedicated laptop and make sure I always plug the USB connector into the same USB port - hard to believe but swapping USB ports can screw things up!
As a note, the frequency response of the Behringer is 1-db at 5hz and 50,000hz (from memory). I did the feedback loop calibration and to be honest I don't even use it whilst testing as it is well beyond the limits of my speakers anyway. I guess if I was testing a subwoofer I would use it.

On another note I have noticed that this unit seems to suffer a lot from latency problems. Even at "safe" settings using ASIO drivers, whilst listening to music, there are small glitches in the audio stream about once every 10 seconds and there is some smearing of the sound. Luckily I can use another USB DAC for the purposes of listening to music but based on my experiences whilst I would recommend it for speaker testing, I would not recommend this unit for listening to music.
 
#83 ·
My Measurement setup for REW5.01 and Windows 8 running on quad-core i7 laptop with 16GB memory and graphics accelerator:
  • Focusrite Scarlett 2i2 mic preamp / USB audio interface
  • Dayton EMM-6 fully calibrated by Cross Spectrum Labs
  • Radio Shack digital SPL ,meter (BTW I heard the analog versions were better)
  • Generic boom microphone stand
  • Mogami & Audioquest cables, splitters/adapters
  • Johnson 40-6174 torpedo laser level
  • Audio Control R-101 RTA and Broadband Pink Noise Generator
  • Various Test CD's including Real Traps 1Hz -increment bass test tones
 
#86 ·
ASIO drivers for a device only support that device, the only outputs the Behringer driver will support is those on the card. ASIO4All creates a synthetic ASIO driver that actually talks to devices via the Windows drivers for the device or devices selected.
 
#88 ·
Hi I am using a M audio fast track pro USB pre . When i try to do a calibration it dosent show me a flat response on the REW. it shows a slope on the frequency indicating that the low frequency response is poor . The same unit tested with another software shows a flat response what could this be due to
 
#90 ·
Probably need a screenshot to know whether what you are seeing is normal. When comparing results for different programs make sure the graph scales are similar - REW uses a highly zoomed in SPL scale when looking at the loopback response, for example, so what looks like a large slope may be just a few tenths of a dB from flat.
 
#89 ·
I downloaded the REW, but was confused on how any adjustments I made in it would translate into all (or at least components aside from laptop) of my system.

After seeing the gear some of you are using, does connecting it to a beringer like many of you have allow you to get the adjustments the software makes into your AVR, DVR, PS4, Oppo?
 
#94 ·
Need external soundcard advice!.

Looking at an ASUS Xonar U5 5.1 Channels 24-bit 192KHz soundcard. Works with WIN 7 on my laptop and I already have the Behringer ECM8000 mic and a Sound Devices MP-1 pre and phantom power supply. With ASIO drivers the latency is supposed to be 2ms and FQ of 48K.

My other option is a Creative Sound Blaster X-Fi Surround 5.1 Pro USB Audio System with SBX SB1095 24-bit 96KHz.

Any thoughts? Thanks for the advice!!!
 
#99 · (Edited)
Are the Focusrite Clarett series soundcards compatible with REW?
I'm interested in the 4Pre model. It looks to have a Thunderbolt interface instead of the USB. Is that a problem? My laptop is Asus Zenbook UX31A and it runs on Win8.1. I have been using M-Audio Fast Track Pro with REW for years before, but now I would like to upgrade.

EDIT: I just found out that the Clarett series is currently not compatible with Win8.1, which is a bigger problem in my case. Still, I'm interested in the REW compatibility for the future plans.
 
#102 ·
The Clarett series are very nice for recording, but is overly complex for REW.

What you (and I) want for REW is a very simple 2-in/2-out USB sound device with phantom power, flat response, low noise, and up to at least 96KHz sampling frequency (for other things besides REW). No fancy DSP effects, mixing, aux sends/returns, none of it. Just 2 ins and 2 outs (especially for Mac users), front panel gain and phantom power, and USB powering (no external wall blob).

Why this simple? I've tried several complex interfaces, and all they do is get in my way. I work on both Windows and Mac platforms, the multi-channel Mac/Soundflower work-around is a royal pain. I need something I can just plug in a go. In the last week I spent several hours trying to get my Motu 4Pre to work at all, then to work right, after it was working fine the last time I used it with REW. Of course, all of this after discovering it's failure when I really needed to use it with REW. The issues were mostly to do with all of the internal mixing/routing, and some driver issues. So my reaction is, simple is better. Simplest is the best.

So I did up this short list. Tried to stay within the parameters above, there's a couple of exceptions:

The Focusrite Scarlet 2i4 - seems a pretty good match, though I've heard somewhere of driver issues, that may be solved by now. In fact, the only downside to it is the 4 outs, which complicates life for a Mac user.

The Presonus AudioBox iTwo - looks promising, hits the requirements, and is bus-powered for both PC and iOS. Might must be the winner.

The Tascam US-2x2 adds midi, but partially fails by requiring external power when connected to iOS devices.

The Roland Duo-Capture EX is another contender, has bus power, external and internal battery power (nice!) and midi, fails at only 48KHz, but would be fine for REW.

Steinberg UR22 looks interesting, up to 24/192, midi, bus power. No iOS compatibility, though.

IK Multimedia iRig PRO DUO - very compact! Includes midi, bus power and battery, PC and iOS compatibility, limited to 48KHz.

IK Multimedia iRig PRO - same as above, but 1 channel an up to 24/96. Tiny! I'd like two inputs, though.

I'm sure there are others, but so far, the Presonus AudioBox iTwo seems to be the closest to ideal. I don't know if it's been tested with REW, but I don't see a reason it wouldn't work.
 
#100 ·
Thunderbolt cards are aimed at OS X, although it is possible to buy Thunderbolt interfaces for PCs. It would be much easier to go for a USB interface, but there's no need to change if you are only using the interface for acoustic measurement - making measurements places quite modest demands on the soundcard and just about anything can do a decent job, no need for a high end interface.
 
#103 ·
Thank you gazoink.
Obviously I made my choice too quickly. You are absolutely right - the bus power, light weight, compact size and simplicity are the key specs to me too. I already bought Focusrite 18i8 and noticed rightaway that I have overlooked the bus power question. However, there are features in it I need for other porposes, like Midi, dual head phone outputs, etc. I just have to buy a minimalistic model as well. Luckily they are a bit cheeper too.
I travel a lot to make acoustical measurements for my friends and in some cases for previoustly unknown persons. I even plan to make a small business out of acoustical measurements, room treatment and consultation.
 
#104 ·
Yeah, it's way to complex for reliable easy setup with REW. On-board MIDI is nice, but not necessary, as there are simple/cheap MIDI interface cables available.

Anything that comes with an application like "Scarlett Mixcontrol" is trouble because the application controls what's going on inside the box, which can be a whole lota stuff you don't want if you're taking measurements. I downloaded the Scarlett Mixcontrol app to take a look at it but it checks for hardware and wouldn't run, so I uninstalled it. My Motu 4Pre has these apps too. The problem is, unless you familiarize yourself with the correct mix control settings that work for REW, and hopefully can load a default preset, you can get weird unpredictable results for stuff going on in the box that you don't know about.

Watch out for any plug-ins that run natively in the box, they WILL bite you!
 
#108 ·
Got a Presonus Audiobox iTwo today, running through some basic tests on OSX and Win7. Couple of things I found.

Just connecting line out to line it for a test, distortion isn't as low as the Motu 4pre, and is a very soft onset starting at -20dBFS.

Win7 behavior was fine, but it's weird on OS X. Seems like lots of delay, can't run a cal because of the "impulse isn't where it should be" error. Just watchin level meters, the out meter pops right up, the in meter is like 3 seconds behind. Level test output is -20 in OSX, -10 in Win7. Pink pn > RTA test shows very flat on both OS.

Noise is good, not great. Minimum THD is not as good as the Motu, I'll get some figures and post. So far, setup was easy, but this looks like it's ok for acoustic test, not so good for electrical tests.

Will test some more in detail tomorrow.
 
#109 ·
Here's a bit of test results, line out to line in only. I'll get to the mic pre later.

The L line out was connected directly to the L line in. Output knob was all the way clockwise, and the input knob was adjusted for unity gain (equal levels in and out, per REW's level meters).

See image, posting tabular data here is a pain.

Note that the OS X measurements are different. The big difference is line output level. Nothing was physically changed on the box itself. All voltage measurements were made with a physical volt meter at the output terminals. Sampling frequency was 44.1 in all cases. Note the OS X produced levels 5dB lower than Win 7 for the same REW generator settings. Distortion measured higher with more harmonic content. We're not dealing with an awful lot, though.

Another OS X phenomenon was a periodic "glitch" that seemed to momentarily bump the noise floor up, then go away.

OS X routing was tried several ways, direct with sound preferences, through Lineout and Soundflower, and by creating a new aggregate device for the Presonus. The Lineout/Soundflower method didn't work at all, the other methods produced identical results.

At this point I don't have an idea why it doesn't work as well on OS X. Anyone have a theory?

The other observation is that the system seems to mush into nonlinear behavior slowly between -10dBFS and -6dBFS (I didn't go higher) rather than remain clean until clipping. This could be a function of the Presonus "Class A" input, but I couldn't pin it down.

I'll look at noise and response as well as the mic input another time.
 

Attachments

This is an older thread, you may not receive a response, and could be reviving an old thread. Please consider creating a new thread.
Top