EMU 1212M Sound Card

[Synthsayer]

I have a small home studio. My sound card is an EMU 1212M connected through fiber to a Tascam TM-D1000 digital mixer.
I would like to run REW to EQ my studio and HT but am not sure how to configure the EMU1212 properly.
Does any body have experience with REW and the EMU1212M?

[brucek]

Is the soundcard part of the studio source equipment?

What mi/preamp do you plan to use for testing?

brucek

[Synthsayer]

The sound card mounts in a PCI slot.
My Tascam digital mixer has mic. inputs w 48v phantom power. The mixer connects to the computer via fiber connections. There are 8 physical inputs and outputs on the mixer, but the EMU sound card control panel allows the addition of computer sound source inputs.
On the computer, the sound card has a control panel where physical ADAT and ASIO or WAVE computer inputs/outputs are configured.
This is a blurry photo of the Tascam mixer:

I think I have figured out how to add a new WAVE source input to the EMU control panel and route it through the mixer. The problem is getting REW to send and receive audio from the correct input/outputs of the EMU's control panel.
I have a Soundcraft mixer that I may be able to use for this. The EMU sound card has some available analog inputs that I could connect the Soundcraft mixer to. This may simplify things.
I may get the Behringer test mic. I found mixed reviews on an online retailer's web site, but they were critical because the users were using the test mic as an instrument or vocal mic!?!?! Sorry, that still makes me laugh.
Thanks for the help Brucek

[brucek]

The basic principle of using REW to EQ a system is to calibrate to perfectly flat the test equipment that isn't used in the system you're EQ'ing, so that it doesn't offer its own response anomalies.

It sounds to me that you're attempting to use the same equipment in your studio as the test equipment to operate REW. You have to be careful with that.

In normal operation, I presume you feed the mixer with mic(s), and this mixed info is sent to the input of your PC soundcard and recorded?
I suppose you would then play back your recorded tracks through the mixer and monitor the sound through some amplifier while recording the mix?

So, in what part of this chain are you attempting to apply EQ that you want REW as the test tool?

brucek

[Synthsayer]

You are correct that I am using the mixer and recording setup as my calibration equipment. I get the imppression this may not be the best way to do this.
Here is a link to the EMU 1212M PCI soundcard product info You can see the digital and analog inputs on it very well on the EMU site. The product tour page sort of shows the EMU control panel which functions as an internal mixing board. This is also where inputs and outputs are monitored.
My hope was to route the output test signal of REW through the EMU interface as a WAVE source. That in turn would go out to one or two of the outboard Tascam mixer channels. I have this configured correctly and working properly now. That signal goes into a stereo power amp and monitors to be measured with the test mic.and EQ'd as necessary.
I want to run the REW signal from my mixer output into my home theater Harman Kardon AVR 154 CD inputs and out to the speakers and subwoofer to EQ that setup, too. I would have a test mic. in the listening position fed back into the Tascam mixer. The Tascam mixer would send the mic. input signal through the EMU sound card back to REW.
There are a couple of other options; I can just run REW on my laptop, calibrate the laptop mic. and run measurements that way. But, I wondered if using a test mic. going into my either of my mixers, which have acceptable quality mic. pre-amps with phantom power, would give more accurate test results.
The other option is to use my Soundcraft mixer which has very good mic. pre-amps with the test mic connected to one of its input channels, then feed directly into the balanced analog inputs on the EMU 1212M soundcard. That signal hopefully would go back into REW for analysis.
I could run the EMU's analog outputs into available inputs on the Soundcraft which would then go into a 2-channel monitor system or through long RCA cables to my home theater room.
I may need to try a completely diferent approach. This seems like its getting more complicated by the minute.
I'll look around on the forum to see how others are testing their systems.
Thanks again for the help.
I hope this gives you an idea of how I have been trying to configure my measurment setup.
Have a nice day.

[brucek]

I want to run the REW signal from my mixer output into my home theater Harman Kardon AVR 154 CD inputs and out to the speakers and subwoofer to EQ that setup, too. I would have a test mic. in the listening position fed back into the Tascam mixer. The Tascam mixer would send the mic. input signal through the EMU sound card back to REW.

OK, this particular job is fairly simple and straightforward, because you're using the PC and mixer as the test equipment (which can be rendered flat with cal files), fed to an external system under test. Once the external system is EQ'd or speakers positioned, or whatever, then the test equipment is removed and not part of the system.

Simply choose the channel in REW (right or left) that corresponds with that channels line-in and line-out of the mixer (you'll only be using this one channel). Then create a soundcard calibration file by using a loopback cable from line-out to line-in of the mixer. Once created, then use the line-out as your feed to the HT system and plug the mic into the mic input of the mixer (which feeds the EMU). Be sure to load the mic calibration file into REW.

Yes, you're right, the line-out to line-in response isn't the same as line-out to mic-in response, but experience shows that the small mic preamp adds very little influence compared to the line stages of any device. The calibration file created will counteract any response anomalies in the entire chain quite nicely. And that's what you want - a piece of test equipment that doesn't influence the results of the system you're testing.

brucek