Error message: "The timing reference signal at the end of the sweep could not be detected, clock adjustment can not be applied."

[surroundsound99]

Newbie to REW and new on this tread.
I did about 25 sweeps.
Two of them had successful 2nd "chirps".
Several had "weak-sounding" 2nd chirps.
The rest did not have any 2nd chirp at all, producing this error message.
AustinJerry at AVSForum said I'm the only one he's ever seen with this error message.
Help. Thanks

 

[John Mulcahy]

What's the whole system? If the second timing chirp is intermittent it is possible something in the replay path is truncating the output, perhaps due to high latency somewhere. You can just turn off the option to adjust the clock of course, ignoring the problem.

 

[surroundsound99]

What's the whole system? If the second timing chirp is intermittent it is possible something in the replay path is truncating the output, perhaps due to high latency somewhere. You can just turn off the option to adjust the clock of course, ignoring the problem.

Thanks for responding so quickly John! My system is an Arcam AVR850 receiver, B&W 804 Diamond fronts, B&W HTM4 center, B&W 600-series surrounds, B&W ceiling speakers, and one Power Sound Audio XS30se subwoofer. I'm using a UMIK-1 with a boom and a Windows 10 laptop. It's a finished basement about 24x12x7 feet.
Yes, there could be quite a bit of latency. My speaker wires are about 50 feet long because they run through a drop ceiling.
I will just turn off the option to adjust the clock. If you're suggesting it, then I'll feel better knowing that the measured delay settings are still pretty accurate, even though the clock adjustment wasn't utilized. In other words, if you can't fix it, no one can, so I won't worry about it. Thank you!

 

[John Mulcahy]

Latency would come from software buffering rather than wiring (cable delay is about 1 ns per foot, you'd need a few miles of it to add even 1 sample of delay ). If you are feeding the receiver over an HDMI connection via an ASIO wrapper like ASIO4All you could try using the Java drivers with the WASAPI exclusive option added in 5.20.13. Just select the entry for your connection that has EXCL at the start of its name, that may work better. Otherwise just turn the clock adjustment option off.

 

[surroundsound99]

Latency would come from software buffering rather than wiring (cable delay is about 1 ns per foot, you'd need a few miles of it to add even 1 sample of delay ). If you are feeding the receiver over an HDMI connection via an ASIO wrapper like ASIO4All you could try using the Java drivers with the WASAPI exclusive option added in 5.20.13. Just select the entry for your connection that has EXCL at the start of its name, that may work better. Otherwise just turn the clock adjustment option off.

Awesome! I will try that. Thanks!

 

[surroundsound99]

I took these steps in order:
1) Uninstalled and re-installed v2.15
2) Uninstalled and re-installed v2.14
3) Changed HDMI inputs on my Arcam AVR850
4) Using JAVA as suggested above, confirmed it did say EXCL at the start of its name.

At first the 2nd chirp did work. Switching to JAVA seemed to do the trick
However then I went back two days later and the 2nd chirp was not working, even with JAVA enabled.
At this point I am just not using a timing reference but if John or anyone has other ideas I'd be glad to entertain them.

 

[thorin]

Also a newbie, and using REW 5.20.13. I created a WAV sweep file with timing references. When I play it, everything runs as it should. Sweep registers about 86dB at the mic position (UMIK-1), so it's loud enough. I can clearly see the start timing, sweep and end timing signal, but I get the same message as the original poster.

Any ideas why the sweep isn't registering with REW?

 

[John Mulcahy]

Try the latest 5.20.14 build to see if that behaves better.

 

[thorin]

Thanks John. Didn't know about the latest build, but that did the trick. Now I have to learn to interpret the results!

 

[skid00]

I had this problem about 6 months ago. It was a bad cable connection to the PC.

 

[gnodeb]

Also a newbie, and using REW 5.20.13. I created a WAV sweep file with timing references. When I play it, everything runs as it should. Sweep registers about 86dB at the mic position (UMIK-1), so it's loud enough. I can clearly see the start timing, sweep and end timing signal, but I get the same message as the original poster.

Any ideas why the sweep isn't registering with REW?

Similar situation:
- using generated WAV file (256kMeasSweep_0_to_20000_-12_dBFS_44k_Float_LR_refL),
- UMM-6 with calibration file (Checking levels with PinkNoise_Spkr_-12_dBFS_44k_Float_LR results with 76dB)
- I think I can see timing signals
- Upgraded to REW 5.20.14 and got the same result

 

[John Mulcahy]

You could try recording the mic signal to a WAV file (e.g. with Audacity) and attaching that and the sweep file.

 

[sam_adams]

I think I can see timing signals

Check the timing reference signal level. You can try bumping the signal level up a few dB.:

 

[gnodeb]

I've tried +5dB same result. I've attached both 0dB and +5dB (sweep and mic recording)

 

[John Mulcahy]

Those files work fine for me. Do you have an old build of 5.20.14 installed? It is updated frequently, the latest build is linked in the first post of the thread.

 

[gnodeb]

Those files work fine for me. Do you have an old build of 5.20.14 installed? It is updated frequently, the latest build is linked in the first post of this thread.

Thanks for looking into this

We may have misunderstood each other. When I make a new measurement by playing generated WAV, I always get that error message from the above. After I close the dialog, I do get measurement that looks exactly like one you have posted. But since I have no idea what I'm doing, I do not know if error is just UI glitch, or generated measurement is not good. Should I ignore error?

I think that is the version I've installed, but I'll try again.

 

[John Mulcahy]

The code that looks for the timing reference signals is the same for imported sweep files and live measurements, so it would be odd for it to work with a captured file but not with a measurement unless there is some large difference in levels between the two.

 

[gnodeb]

The code that looks for the timing reference signals is the same for imported sweep files and live measurements, so it would be odd for it to work with a captured file but not with a measurement unless there is some large difference in levels between the two.

Hehe, that is why they call them bugs or I'm doing something wrong. Anyway, I've tried "import sweep recordings" and there was no error.