Trouble with getting my microphone recognised using JAVA drivers

[judecw]

Hey there,

I'm having trouble getting my input/output configured properly. I'm using a RME Babyface Pro soundcard with outputs 1 & 2 connected to my L & R speaker respectively, and my microphone is going into channel 2.

If I select Java drivers then I am able to select channels 1 & 2 of my soundcard as the output, which works fine, but no signal is picked up from the microphone at all. I am selecting input device as channels 1 & 2 and have then tried all possibilities for the input (default input L, default input R, LINE_IN L and LINE_IN R)

If I use ASIO drivers then I can select channel 2 on my soundcard as the input for the microphone and that works fine, but now I no longer have the option to select both 1&2 as the output device. Meaning I can only play the sweep back out of one speaker.

Is there a way to get the sweep to play out of 2 channels at once in the ASIO drivers mode? Or alternatively, could there be something I'm missing to get my microphone properly configured in the JAVA drivers mode?

Here is how things look when using JAVA drivers (as you can see in the RME mixer, the microphone in channel 2 is indeed picking up signal, it's just not recognised in REW):



And here is how things look like when using the ASIO drivers (the microphone works but the test signal is only playing out of one speaker)



Thanks in advance for any help! I might be missing something obvious so apologies in advance if that's the case.

 

[John Mulcahy]

There is an option to have a secondary ASIO output on the Measure dialog. In the more recent builds the secondary output can also be selected from the soundcard preferences. In most circumstances speakers are better measured individually, however.

 

[judecw]

Hey John, thanks for the quick response. That's interesting that speakers are better measured individually, that seems counter-intuitive to me.

To clarify, I'm using REW to find the best monitor placement in my mixing/control room and to try and eliminate any peaks/nulls either by repositioning the monitors/adding treatment in the room/adding an EQ on my master buss.

Obviously I will be mixing in stereo, so in order to correctly identifiy any peaks/nulls I will have in my listening position while mixing, I would have thought that I would also need to run REW in stereo. Some of the peaks/nulls I will experience would be caused by the way the sound waves coming from each speaker meet, together with the reflections etc. Is this not the case?

Many thanks for your help!

 

[John Mulcahy]

No, it isn't. At low frequencies having both speakers active with the same signal on each may avoid exciting some width resonances if the speakers are symmetrically placed across the width, but low frequency content in music is not all mono so that isn't necessarily representative. In general having both speakers active will just make it very difficult to untangle the effects of the summation of the direct signal from the two sources (which are entirely normal and something your ears/brain use to help determine source distance and direction) from the unwanted contributions of the room's resonances and surface reflections.

If your room is rectangular the simulator may help with choosing some potential positions before starting to measure.

 

[judecw]

That is very interesting and informative, thank you!

So it looks like there is no issue after all, I'll get to testing the speakers one at a time right away