Check Levels inconsistent??

[hrpschrd]

Windows XP Professional

[brucek]

Where do I find Windows Mixer?

Double click the speaker icon in your desktop system tray.

The two mixers are setup as below.

To select Recording, select options, then properties pulldown

Playback Mixer



Record Mixer


brucek

[hrpschrd]

Thanks Bruce. Is this all I need to do or are the options Steven listed necessary also?
Also, besides checking the items do I need to adjust the levels just as you show them?

[brucek]

Is this all I need to do or are the options Steven listed necessary also?

Those options won't be available without the SB driver application software.

besides checking the items do I need to adjust the levels just as you show them?

You set the levels as required by the Check Levels routine. I am only giving an example to show you what is enabled and muted.

brucek

[hrpschrd]

SUCCESS!
Thanks very much Brucek! I obviously didn't understand the necessity of adjusting the soundcard volume as well as input volume and preamp volume.

I am assuming that this graph is a correct one of course but I think I can now add a "room curve" adjustment to the bass. The treble doesn't roll off much to 20KHz but I like the sound in the room (which is heavily trapped). With the bass traps I have it looks like I don't have substantial peaks but I may not be able to reduce the troughs too much more. I think the waterfall is fairly good (not much beyond 300ms).

With a little help this software is really easy to use and it gives great results.

[brucek]

Looks good.

Tips:

For subwoofers, always use the standard Vertical graph axis of (45dB - 105dB) and the Horizontal graph axis of (15Hz - 200Hz) using the Graph Limits button in the top right corner of REW.
For full range, use the standard Vertical graph axis of (45dB - 105dB) and the Horizontal graph axis of (15Hz - upper limits you desire, - certainly no higher than your soundcard or SPL meter can extend).
For full range only, enable smoothing to eliminate the comb filtering. Use a 1/3 octave smoothing.

The little floppy icon in the bottom left hand corner of your graph is used to save a jpg at 800 wide so you can post them here.

brucek

[hrpschrd]

Hello again a year later! And a year dummer: I am getting no sound during "Check Levels". I have read and re-read this thread but can't find the problem. It seems everything is setup the same as before with the same hardware.

To review: I have a SoundBlaster MP3 sound board connected to my stereo and my laptop. The Settings screen looks the same as before with the Mixer LineIn selected in Recording and muted in Playback. The "Check Level" output is at 0dB but Left and Right levels are not on scale. There is also NO sound.

What setting prevents output from the stereo (which is working fine)?

[hrpschrd]

Ok, found one mistake and am now getting -18dB in the Right channel but still no sound, so I cannot adjust to 75dB in the room. Arrgghhh.

[hrpschrd]

Just in case anyone reads this thread (brucek?), I have solved the problem but I have no idea how.
I know one has to set up the Windows Volume Control settings properly to send a signal. Although it should have no effect, I found that increasing the volume on the Playback/Wave brought my signal up and it stayed there even though I could turn it down and it wouldn't go away.

This was a case of just fiddling knobs and getting lucky. Any rhyme or reason to that?

[laser188139]

I did not mention it before, as the symptoms of the SoundBlaster card my wife's XP desktop computer were different. There, usually when I start REW I have sound, but no levels show in REW. When I go into Sound in Control Panel and switch from Line In to Mic and back to Line In, the REW now receives the audio and displays the levels. So it seems the SoundBlaster drivers are sometimes buggy, where they are not actually acting identically to the settings they display, but when you touch a control they recognize the new value and the behavior again matches the displayed state.

Bill