Spectral Analysis - TrueRTA finally sorted.

I've alluded to some complications on the equalization of my room. Here's the tale so far.

I picked up TrueRTA to do the noise generation and spectral analysis end of the job. I also picked up the Behringer ECM8000 measurement microphone to get the audio measurements as flat as possible (TrueRTA ships with a mic calibration file for the response curve on the ECM8000).

I install TrueRTA on my main machine and try to measure audio fed in through the Presonus Firebox. Hmm... no response. Double check that the Presonus inputs are configured in control panel to be the default recording feed. Yes, they are. Use Cubase to verify that the audio is getting fed. Yes it is.

Try the TrueRTA signal generator to feed output out through the Firebox. That's getting out fine.

Hmm. Try other inputs to see if anything is getting into TrueRTA. Ahh. My cheapo USB headphone mic is feeding it fine. Maybe other inputs will work. I rummage through the closet for some adapters and repatch my mixer to feed audio into the 1/8 inch standard mic jack on the computer. No dice.

At this point I fire off a note describing my issues to the support email at True Audio and continue to try stuff. I decide to install TrueRTA on my laptop (good old 32 bit XP versus 64 bit Vista), dig a mic pre-amp out of the basement (the ECM8000 requires phantom power) and lo! The laptop works.

I'm just about resigned to using the laptop to do the equalization when a note comes in from True Audio. Make sure the drivers are WDM and that the sample depth/rate is 16 bit / 44.1 Khz. Back to control panel. Set the drivers up as instructed.

Bingo! (Thanks John)

So now all I need to do is find the 9VAC power adapter for my equalizer (which had been on the shelf for a few years) and I'm ready to level the room.