Set up problems, looking for help pls

[pete6737]

Hello all, I was ready to take the plunge into the REW and see how great this program is for myself. I had to get a soundcard and a usb hub, since the laptop's usb port won't power the soundcard... I've had it tough lately, going through 3 powered usb hubs before I got one to work for more than 10 minutes...The soundcard is loaded, and I'm ready to rock...after an hour of trying to read and re read the help section, I am slightly frustrated with trying to set this up, and now I am turning to you wise folks to steer me through this.
I'm using a dell inspiron 8500 laptop, a creative mp3+ soundblaster, powered by a usb hub. When I try to "set measurement level", I get" cannot detect a wave control and volume control." The wave control is full up and everything else is muted. the volume is halfway up...somehow I manage to set the level with the rs meter..then setting the input volume, I get a warning "cannot get enough volume when set to maximum.I don't even hear anything but some whiney static in the background. I don't know what's happening. the rs meter is connected to the right line in on the soundcard and the right out is connected to the av processor...

so that's it, stuck at step one...Please help, before I pull the rest of my hair out Thanks, Pete

[pete6737]

ok, I read a great, detailed thread and tried to cal the soundcard and it looked like this:
soundcard cal.jpg

It doesn't look right. I'm spent...pete

[brucek]

When I try to "set measurement level", I get" cannot detect a wave control and volume control." The wave control is full up and everything else is muted.

Does REW recognize the card in the pull-downs (mine is a RealTel AC97 as shown) and do you have the input and output selected as shown.



brucek

[Mitch G]

I had a similar problem and I'm not sure exactly what solved it, but one thing I found was that I had to select "Left" instead of the default "Right" - next to the SPL meter box in the left most panel under the graph area. (I hope that makes sense.)



Mitch

[Mitch G]

The soundcard cal graph looks OK to me. Am I missing something? (Did I do something wrong when I did it? )

I thought it only needs to be good (i.e. basically flat) up to 200Hz or so since that's where the sub is playing.


Mitch

[brucek]

I thought it only needs to be good (i.e. basically flat) up to 200Hz or so since that's where the sub is playing

If that's the area you'll be using the soundcard for, then it should be fine....

Note that pete6737's card starts to get funky above 1K, so he may not be able to use it above that.

brucek

[pete6737]

ok guys, so my soundcard is ok up to 1k, I'm happy with that...I'll try checking left for the speaker selection..and yes, I see my soundcard in the drop downs. I re read the thread from brucek where you step by step for another member, and it clarified a few things....another thread had this order of operations:
set measurement level
set input volume
calibrate spl
calibrate soundcard
set target level
automatic measurement
find peaks
assignfilters

if this is coorect, then i will not save the soundcard measurements until all other operations are done to that point..is this right?.I think I starting to see the light....thanks for your help...stay tuned...pete

[brucek]

is this right?.

Yep............

I would personally use Notepad to edit the Soundcard.cal file after I had saved it to remove all the entries above ~1000Hz. Then when you tell REW to load that file it will say it has ~1000 entries and you're good to use it up to that limit with some confidence...

brucek

[pete6737]

Thanks again. I'm gonna try again in a few days..when I get some time off...Pete