REW 5.3 Beta 4 persistent Generator, Level Meter and Soundcard warning bugs

[Chuck Zwicky]

Here are three bugs that would be nice not to have 'bugging' me:

The first one I had reported previously, but here is a video to clarify the mechanism.

The generator is started, but the inputs show no signal until the level meters widow is opened:

In this one, the soundcard has reported an error that it has received no input signal.
This error is cleared and the generator is started, and again the inputs show no signal until the level meters widow is opened.

However...

The meters indicate signal even after stopping the generator.

Here we see both input and output signals on both sets of meters, but the dread soundcard error appears anyway:

These tests were generated using the latest Antelope Audio Orion 32+ Gen4 interface, but I have seen the exact same behavior under 4 other interfaces, on 3 different Apple computers and in 4 different versions of MacOS.


I hope these are useful..!

 

[John Mulcahy]

The first one I had reported previously, but here is a video to clarify the mechanism.

The generator is started, but the inputs show no signal until the level meters widow is opened:

That is intended behaviour. REW will only access interface inputs or outputs when it needs to send data to or get data from them. You turning on the generator only requires access to the interface output. When you ask REW to show the level meters it starts accessing the interface inputs and enables any displays of input level.

In this one, the soundcard has reported an error that it has received no input signal.

What led to the error message?

This error is cleared and the generator is started, and again the inputs show no signal until the level meters widow is opened.

As above, starting the generator does not make REW access inputs or display input data, the generator is an output.

The meters indicate signal even after stopping the generator.

REW is showing whatever data the OS is providing for the inputs. If the OS has stopped providing data there will eventually be a message to that effect. On macOS the timeout is 30 seconds to allow time for a user to acknowledge a mic access request prompt if one is shown.

Here we see both input and output signals on both sets of meters, but the dread soundcard error appears anyway:

Again, it would be helpful to know what happened before that.

These tests were generated using the latest Antelope Audio Orion 32+ Gen4 interface, but I have seen the exact same behavior under 4 other interfaces, on 3 different Apple computers and in 4 different versions of MacOS.

Not something I have seen on any of my various Macs over the years. Perhaps some interfaces don't react well to the OS asking them to provide input-only or accept output-only data. I did have a report once that RME interfaces on macOS behave oddly if the generator is started before capture is started.

 

[Chuck Zwicky]

The error message "The soundcard did not receive any input data [etc etc]" appears after about 20 seconds after running the generator.

It's really annoying in that it shuts off the generator - usually when I am in the middle of an adjustment to the DUT..

I wish the "suppress soundcard errors" preference would include this one..!

If you look at the third video in my original post you can see this error happen without any user intervention.


Sometimes this error happens despite a measurement clearly happening in the background - uninterrupted :

And while we're on the subject the RTA is no longer working here. As you can see, plenty of signal , but no display. I use this feature quite a lot, but no longer works..

 

[John Mulcahy]

And while we're on the subject the RTA is no longer working here. As you can see, plenty of signal , but no display. I use this feature quite a lot, but no longer works..

As the text in the RTA record button shows, it is 16% through the capture. Since you have chosen a 4M FFT length for some reason it will take at least 4M/48k = 87 seconds to acquire enough data to generate a result.

 

[John Mulcahy]

The error message "The soundcard did not receive any input data [etc etc]" appears after about 20 seconds after running the generator.

It's really annoying in that it shuts off the generator - usually when I am in the middle of an adjustment to the DUT..

I wish the "suppress soundcard errors" preference would include this one..!

The message will only appear if REW has asked the OS for data from the input and none was provided. It can't just be ignored, it indicates that something has broken. Difficult to say why that might be, perhaps a sample rate change being made on the device or in Audio Midi Setup while REW is running.

 

[Chuck Zwicky]

The message will only appear if REW has asked the OS for data from the input and none was provided. It can't just be ignored, it indicates that something has broken. Difficult to say why that might be, perhaps a sample rate change being made on the device or in Audio Midi Setup while REW is running.

I really hope we can get to the bottom of this one. It happens after ~ 20 seconds and shuts off the generator. Nothing has been changed on my end, and the computer isn't changing anything either.

Please advise regarding any specific things I can test here to determine where the error is coming from.

As the text in the RTA record button shows, it is 16% through the capture. Since you have chosen a 4M FFT length for some reason it will take at least 4M/48k = 87 seconds to acquire enough data to generate a result.

My apologies, this answer also occurred to me in the middle of the night, I had set the FFT to an extreme length to deal with a noise issue.

 

[John Mulcahy]

It happens after ~ 20 seconds

20 seconds after what? What has happened/been used on REW during the minute before the message appears?

 

[Chuck Zwicky]

20 seconds after what? What has happened/been used on REW during the minute before the message appears?

20 seconds after the Generator has started.

Step by step:

1: Launch REW
2: Confirm I/O assignments
3: Start generator
4: Open "Levels" window
5: Confirm round trip signal on meters
6: ~20 seconds later - error message

 

[John Mulcahy]

Try opening the level meters before starting the generator.

 

[Chuck Zwicky]

Try opening the level meters before starting the generator.

Genius..!!

That was precisely the issue here.

Not only did it not give that error message after many many minutes, when I quit REW, restarted and followed my sequence above, the error appered within 30 seconds.

Thank you for your guidance here, John,