[elliotrosen]

Can someone have a look at this and tell me what the deal is with my sound card response/config? (This is the original sweep - uncalibrated!)

I hooked up a loopback from line out to line in on the right channel (using the splitters). I've followed all directions excatly as stated in REW instructions on how to run a sound card measurement (and run this MULTIPLE times!)

This was originally performed using the C-Media onboard sound chip on my mobo. Thinking it was junk, I disabled it and installed a dedicated (albeit cheapo) PCI sound card; (also a C-Media chip). Same results. Are these just junk sound cards? I've checked Windows audio settings in control panel but nothing stands out to me (despite my looking for a "record monitor disable") and I've my been trolling this forum for a couple hours to no avail. I assume this is NOT a normal reading. Perhaps something simple, but I'm stumped at this point.

Thanks in advance for the help!

Elliot

PS - My first post on the Shack! :T

 

[brucek]

Not too unusual. The card is oscillating at the higher frequencies.

Play with the sweep level on the output and the input level when running the soundcard cal routine. You should be able to get a good file.

Also go to the windows record and playback mixers and be sure only the require functions are enabled and be sure the rest are muted with volumes off.

brucek

 

[elliotrosen]

tried that - same results. What else?

 

[brucek]

Sorry, I have no more ideas. It should be possible to stop the oscillation by adjusting the levels.

brucek

 

[elliotrosen]

Thanks Bruce...I tried it on my laptop (SoundMAX HD audio chip) and had to select "microphone" as the input device, but it *does* appear to be working correctly...(please see settings & graph for that below). I'm clueless what the deal is with my desktop PC sound hardware. I played with different settings for hours and gave up. :huh:

Oh well - at least I have a properly functioning platform. Onward!

 

[brucek]

had to select "microphone" as the input device, but it *does* appear to be working correctl

No, I'm afraid the "microphone" input on a laptop is no good. You need a line-in because of the line-levels involved. Mic inputs are not suitable. See how a mic input starts dropping off at 500Hz. They are also quite noisy and operate with very low level inputs. This is why everyone gets external USB soundcards for their laptops.

You either need an external soundcard for the laptop, or get your PC soundcard working..

brucek

 

[elliotrosen]

Welllll......ok. A little disappointed but very glad you told me this!!

Last question then (you knew it was coming, right?): I lost track of the recommendations for sound cards on this forum. So would be so kind as to recommend something decent (hopefully not too pricey) that is well suited for this?

Thanks for ALL your help!!

Elliot

(PS - I currently run XP but might go to Windows 7 eventually)

 

[brucek]

I lost track of the recommendations for sound cards on this forum.

We really don't have a recommendation list.

Basically, we find that most all cards work fine, from cheap to expensive, as long as it has line-in and line-out and uses WDM drivers (as most do except for the very expensive cards that use ASIO drivers).

brucek