REW Mac OS X problems

[bhunt]

I'm trying to run REW on a Macbook and I'm having problems. The initial setup goes fine until I get to the step where you Measure Soundcard Response - I get an error dialog that says the measurement may be corrupted. I'm using the line input on the Macbook, and it appears that I can't get the input gain low enough.

I purchased a Griffin iMic which is basically a USB soundcard and have different problems. Output of the iMic works, but input doesn't. When I select the iMic as input on the system preferences, REW either throws an exception or uses the Macbook internal microphone.

I'm also experiencing the popping sound when generating pink noise reported in another thread.

Rather than turn to the dark side and use that other operating system, I'd be interested in helping find root cause of these problems. John, would you be interested in working with me? I have plenty of experience coding java and debugging tough problems - just not a lot of experience with audio algorithms.

Bryan

[basementjack]

There is a dedicated MAC OS 10 acoustics product out there called FuzzMeasure pro
http://www.supermegaultragroovy.com/...asure/index.py

not free, but cheaper than turning to the dark side....

[Josuah]

I ordered an M-Audio MobilePre with hopes that it'll work well, and avoid the problems with using the built-in mic-in speaker-out on my IBM T43 laptop. I plan to try using the MobilePre with my iBook instead, and see how it works.

[JohnM]

Hi Bryan,

Yes, I'd like to get the app working properly on the Mac, though I expect I'll have to use Apple's CoreAudio classes to do it as they don't bother to support most of the standard JavaSound methods (gits). I've bought a Mac Mini to use as a dev platform, which has also thrown up a lot of UI and rendering issues which don't occur on the PC or Linux platforms so quite a few things to sort out. I'll get stuck into it after I release the next version of REW, which should be just before Xmas.

[bhunt]

John, Glad to hear you are interested in supporting the Mac, If I can be of any help, please let me know.

Bryan

[scot]

bhunt: were you using digital or analog output? I have clicking on digital output, but so far so good on analog.

It is too late to give it a shot tonight, but tomorrow I will be trying to do a few runs, but the loopback on a mbp c2d works great now.

[daryn]

I am having the clicking too, so I didn't tune through my receiver since I was afraid of damaging the speakers. I was using the optical output. I'll try the analog too!

[JohnM]

I've got rid of the Mac clicks on the latest dev build through a combination of audio handling changes and a new output mixer from Mandolane. The Mandolane mixer can't be used with the current REW release build, unfortunately, but I'll get a new build out before the end of the year.

[daryn]

Hi John,

Just curious if you still plan to release the new build that eliminates the popping? If there's anything I do to to help, test, etc, please let me know.

[JohnM]

Hi Daryn,

That build is in beta testing right now, I'll get the jar files together and PM you a link to try it. I have been using it with Mandolane's new mixer, but it may also work better with the Apple mixer. On the input side, Leopard seems to have sorted the problem with not being able to access inputs other than the built-in audio.

[jacek]

I have the latest release of REW and I get loud clicks when It generates the noise for SPL calibration and at the beginning of sinewave sweep test. Is there any way of getting rid of the problem?

[JohnM]

Download the new V4.10 OS X application bundle

[jacek]

JohnM wrote:

Download the new V4.10 OS X application bundle

it's much better now, but still doing two or three clicks just at the beginning of the sweep tone test.

[JohnM]

There are 2 other things you can try:

- Adjust the replay buffer size on the soundcard settings tab, it defaults to 32k but try 16k and 64k to see if either helps
- Try the low latency output mixer from Mandolane, http://www.mandolane.co.uk/swM3DMixer.html currently it is a free beta version but only to the end of April. However if you are using the Mandolane midi library the mixer will be free.

[jacek]

JohnM wrote:

There are 2 other things you can try:

- Adjust the replay buffer size on the soundcard settings tab, it defaults to 32k but try 16k and 64k to see if either helps
- Try the low latency output mixer from Mandolane, http://www.mandolane.co.uk/swM3DMixer.html currently it is a free beta version but only to the end of April. However if you are using the Mandolane midi library the mixer will be free.

16k works with just one glitch at the beginning and one glitch slightly before the end of the sweep. 64k produces more glitches than 32k. Any other possible solution than installing the Mandolane mixer?

[JohnM]

Nothing else I can think of. Worth trying the Mandolane mixer, it is easily uninstalled if it doesn't help.