Room correction on OS X thread

[Yucca06]

There's no problem at all for me with Dirac. It's just less good to my ears than ARC 2 in my system and my living room.

In fact, I advised many times other friends to try Dirac Live on french boards, because it's very easy to use : no need for a DAW like ARC2 for anyone who can afford it, with usually good results.

I'm just amazed to see that there's about 90% Dirac topics in this subforum, but it's just me...

[Boris75]

Tried both Dirac Live and ARC2 on Mac OS, and found IK Multimedia ARC2 to be much better (for me at least), and totally integrated through AU plugin in Audirvana.

 

This product looks attractive, but I already bought a calibrated measurement microphone, and IK Multimedia does not seem to sell their software without a mike.

[Yucca06]

Yes, it's with their mic only. Doesn't properly work with another mic, but it worths the cost (for me again). Say it's like you have Audissey XT32 without buying an expensive processor. Only 2 channels though, unlike Dirac.

 

You must also own a DAW/audio player AU compatible, so it's Audirvana+ or Pure music only on Mac OS, no Amarra or others...(don't know about JRiver, it was unable to play through Audio Units 'til last year...)

 

So it depends of your needs, not for everyone...

[WINDIANRECORDS]

Yes, it's with their mic only. Doesn't properly work with another mic, but it worths the cost (for me again). Say it's like you have Audissey XT32 without buying an expensive processor. Only 2 channels though, unlike Dirac.

 

You must also own a DAW/audio player AU compatible, so it's Audirvana+ or Pure music only on Mac OS, no Amarra or others...(don't know about JRiver, it was unable to play through Audio Units 'til last year...)

 

So it depends of your needs, not for everyone...

 

Definitely true about the mic, I used a Behringer ECM8000 and it measured with much lower high-end ratings; the software must be specific to the capsule used in the IK Mic.

 

Regarding "2 Channels", if you are using a DAW, you can always route your input track to multiple "busses" and use as many ARCs as your system can handle - the attached image shows how I run two instances, one for my studio room, and another for my 2-channel living room setup (which is a Dac-It fed optical coax from my studio computer); this could "easily" be done for 5.1, you would just need to measure each speaker set separately through the software.

[Yucca06]

You're totally right, but audiophiles usually don't use DAWs other than AU/VST compatible audio players. I think nobody (?) here really works with Reaper, or ie. Logic pro.

I personaly use Audio Hijack pro to route the ARC2 plugin for my TV satellite app (eyeTV). It works perfectly. Could make as you say for multichannel also ...but not really plug'play.

[WINDIANRECORDS]

You're totally right, but audiophiles usually don't use DAWs other than AU/VST compatible audio players. I think nobody (?) here really works with Reaper, or ie. Logic pro.

I personaly use Audio Hijack pro to route the ARC2 plugin for my TV satellite app (eyeTV). It works perfectly. Could make as you say for multichannel also ...but not really plug'play.

 

You're right, I guess most of the times this is being loaded in A+ where you can only do a single AU... It 'can be done', just not without some tweaking.

[wgscott]

You can actually use AU with anything that uses CoreAudio on OS X.

 

Use AU plugins for free with any Apple audio software - Blogs - Computer Audiophile

[WINDIANRECORDS]

You can actually use AU with anything that uses CoreAudio on OS X.

 

Use AU plugins for free with any Apple audio software - Blogs - Computer Audiophile

 

Oh wow, thank you for that! Most of the time I am using my analog ins on my DAW, but for when I'm just listening to music, this makes things way easier. I remember back in Snow Leopard days running some app from XCode that did the same kind of routing, but I couldn't find it last time I looked. This is great (for me)!

[Superdad]

You can actually use AU with anything that uses CoreAudio on OS X.

 

Too bad we can't use Dirac Live filters as AU plug-ins--since their convolution/decoding engine is a copy-protected, and I assume processor-intensive app.

 

Has Flavio definitively said that an AU plug-in for Dirac playback will NEVER happen? I can't recall.

[YashN]

Except... SoundFlower has been reported as misbehaving for a while with Mavericks. On my setup, SoundFlowerbed will launch then exit immediately. This makes it unusable and the software hasn't been updated in a while.

 

Since I sometimes used this as well as AU Lab to do digital cross-over tests in 4.1 channels, I tried doing the same with JACK. Works solidly.

 

As for Room correction on Mac OS X, the more I research the subject, the more I like using REW to diagnose, then treat the room acoustics (DIY acoustic panels and bass traps) and re-iterate until I get rid of the largest spikes. Attenuate these and you let more space for the rest of the frequencies to live in. After this, work on the biggest dips and re-iterate until you get a more accurate response.

 

You do not need to flatten the response completely nor do you need to deaden the room completely.

 

It is only if after this you see some particularly bad dips or spikes you haven't been able to get rid of that you should consider using a digital correction.

 

In summary, my viewpoint: I want to make as much correction as possible in the analog domain and minimize digital correction. I use free and open-source software to do the trick. It sounds brilliant (not just to me).

[Chipless]

Can someone please walk me through utilizing Audirvana 2+ with a calibration file generated via a PC program such as Audiolense/Acourate? Based on my research it sounds like I will need an AU plug-in, but I am little lost as to how this interacts with Audirvana. Does it need to be running simultaneously with Audirvana? Does it simply convert the PC generated configuration file to an AU compatible one? Lastly, what plug-in do you all recommend for the aforementioned purpose? Only one I was able to find and seems current/relevant is LiquidSonics - Reverberate Core | Convolution Reverb for VST, RTAS and AU

 

Thanks for any guidance you can provide!

[dallasjustice]

Chipless,

I know you are stuck on audirvana but I've confirmed that Jriver is the ticket for Mac convolution. Here's a screenshot of a 4CH filter I created for my system working inside the convolver for Jriver. I just took the .cfg and .wav filter files from Audiolense on my windows machine and dropped them in the Jriver convolved. Integer works and automatic filter switching works too. Snap!

[Chipless]

Damn, that's pretty sweet! It's good to know there is definitely a viable option if I can't get Audirvana to work smoothly, but I am still determined to do so. Thank you for taking the time to confirm JRiver on OSX is a go with an Audiolense config file.

 

Chipless,

I know you are stuck on audirvana but I've confirmed that Jriver is the ticket for Mac convolution. Here's a screenshot of a 4CH filter I created for my system working inside the convolver for Jriver. I just took the .cfg and .wav filter files from Audiolense on my windows machine and dropped them in the Jriver convolved. Integer works and automatic filter switching works too. Snap!

[ATTACH=CONFIG]16238[/ATTACH]

[Bob Stern]

OS X Convolver plugin

 

For use in Audirvana, Pure Music, or any other audio player that can host plugins, try the 30-day demo of Reverberate Core, $50 from Liquid Sonics:

 

LiquidSonics - Reverberate Core | Convolution Reverb for VST, RTAS and AU

[Chipless]

Thanks for confirming the option that seemed to be the best based on my research. Gotta love that 30 day free trial as well. I will report back with findings once I have received calibrated UMIK mic and made the measurements/corrections using either Acourate or Audiolense (still undecided at the moment).

 

OS X Convolver plugin

 

For use in Audirvana, Pure Music, or any other audio player that can host plugins, try the 30-day demo of Reverberate Core, $50 from Liquid Sonics:

 

LiquidSonics - Reverberate Core | Convolution Reverb for VST, RTAS and AU

[wgscott]

Chipless,

I know you are stuck on audirvana but I've confirmed that Jriver is the ticket for Mac convolution. Here's a screenshot of a 4CH filter I created for my system working inside the convolver for Jriver. I just took the .cfg and .wav filter files from Audiolense on my windows machine and dropped them in the Jriver convolved. Integer works and automatic filter switching works too. Snap!

[ATTACH=CONFIG]16238[/ATTACH]

 

You have 9094 unread emails?

[dallasjustice]

You have 9094 unread emails?

 

I just set my MBP up again. It lay dormant for a couple of years. It took me a while to put Yosemite on it and then I put jriver 20 on it. I wanted to buy another Jriver 20 license just because I was getting annoyed with the Jplayers. In the checkout referred by box, I wrote "Jplay". :-)

[Bob Stern]

You have 9094 unread emails?

I have over 60K unread emails from listserv's in Apple Mail. I'm not kidding. (All are automatically filtered to an IMAP folder other than the In box.)

[wgscott]

You can create a smart mailbox for "unread", select them all, and mark as read. But the 60K might be better marked as deleted.