No input -- 5.2 on MacOS 10.14.1

[Brian Lloyd]

I am trying to set up REW V5.19 or V5.20 beta on a couple of different Macs running 10.14.1. The sound card is a Presonus Firepod. I have no problem with output from REW. It is only input that does not seem to be working. I have confirmed input from the Firepod using several different applications but, while REW detects the channels, there is no actual input.

I have confirmed matching sample rates and sample depth. I have tried using both the Firepod and the Mac as the source for the sample clock. No change.

BTW, it doesn't work with the built-in mic on my MacBook pro either.

Has anyone else experienced anything like this? What am I doing wrong?

Thanks in advance for any assistance.

 

[John Mulcahy]

Need to use 5.20 beta 1 on 10.14 to allow time for the mic access permission prompt to appear and be accepted, REW won't be able to access audio input data until the prompt has been accepted. That needs to happen every time REW starts up, despite it appearing in the list of apps that are permitted access. Oracle are looking into why that is.

 

[Brian Lloyd]

I do not see a pop-up requesting access to the microphone. I did check the list of apps requesting or granted access to the mic in [System Preferences > Security & Privacy] and REW does not appear. I do see the initial splash screen flicker and it appears that another pane may have appeared behind it (for about 1 video frame) but then goes on and finishes the initialization.

Small thing - the splash screen and the icon still say REW V5.1. I have confirmed that, once it starts, the version is 5.2b1.

Thank you for your help. I really appreciate it.

 

[John Mulcahy]

The access request prompt doesn't appear until REW attempts to read data from the inputs, e.g. opening the VU meters or starting the SPL meter.

The splash screen and icons have been updated for the next beta.

 

[Brian Lloyd]

Bingo. I have been going directly to the Preferences page in REW after boot and trying to set up the input device. I needed to open the levels page to force the request for the microphone. I just never thought to do that. Perhaps forcing a request to use the mic when the Preferences page is opened to set the input device would be useful.

OK, time to go test my room. I am looking forward to using REW. It is precisely what I was looking for.

Hmm, here is an off-the-wall long-shot. Is there any way to route the output from REW through Roon? That would let me test all my systems without having to physically connect to them.

 

[John Mulcahy]

You can save the measurement sweep to a file from the signal generator. When doing that select the option to include the timing reference. To make a measurement select the "Wait for timing reference" option on the Measure dialog, start the measurement (which should capture the background noise then pause saying "Waiting for timing reference") then play back the file via Roon. To get a valid result the settings used when you save the measurement sweep should be exactly the same as those you use when making the measurement in REW, including the sample rate.

 

[Brian Lloyd]

Do you put a pulse in at the beginning of the sweep as a timing mark? That solves the sync problem. Thanks!

I love the program. I made a donation to say Thank You.

 

[Enrico Castagnetti]

I got REW finally working on my MacBook Pro running Mojave after installing 5.20 Beta 1 but I do have an issue with the UMIK-1 mic as REW is giving me very different SPL readings when compared with 5.19 for Mac or with 5.19 for Windows. I just discovered that for some weird reason 5.20 Beta 1 is not reading the sensitivity of the mic and I need to calibrate the mic using the REW SPL Meter and my Radio Shack SPL meter. I already checked the UMIK-1 calibration file and it does have the Sensitivity factor in the first line of the file.

 

[John Mulcahy]

Is the UMIK selected as both the input device and the input? If either is left as default REW won't be able to access the volume control setting and so won't be able to use the sensitivity figure.

 

[Enrico Castagnetti]

Is the UMIK selected as both the input device and the input? If either is left as default REW won't be able to access the volume control setting and so won't be able to use the sensitivity figure.

John, thank you so much. That did the trick