A Beginner's Start in DSP/DRC

[Skip Pack]

Everything seems to be coming together in my preferred environment, so it seems like a good time to start actually doing something here beyond browsing and reading. I have read Mitch Barret's book (once) and listened to his presentation here several times. As a long-time moOde user, I have followed the Camilla DSP integration and feel that the move to the RPi 64 bit  os as the primary version in moOde 8.1.x probably marks a good starting point for me.

 

My first goal is to successfully capture impulse respose files and create .wav files for use in CDSP. REW seems to be a good starting point with good tutorials. I will need a microphone next. I have a Steinberg UR22 mkII, originally purchased for digitizing LPs, that would seem to be suitable, and would make a non-usb mic with phantom power seem like the thing to buy. Cross-Spectrum sells the Dayton EMM-6 with directly generated calibration files, Parts Express sells them as well, though the specificity of the calibration files is somewhat less clear. Is this audio interface/microphone pairing an obvious good choice for me, or does a usb output mic offer attractive alternative features?

 

With your indulgence, I plan to document my progress in this thread. Camilla seems to offer a lot to those who are willing to learn, yet is not exactly obvious in its interface. Any user who documents their climb up the learning curve should encourage and help those who come along. If there is a better forum for this thread, I'm open to suggestions.

 

Thank you,

 

Skip

 

 

[cjf]

5 hours ago, Skip Pack said:

Everything seems to be coming together in my preferred environment, so it seems like a good time to start actually doing something here beyond browsing and reading. I have read Mitch Barret's book (once) and listened to his presentation here several times. As a long-time moOde user, I have followed the Camilla DSP integration and feel that the move to the RPi 64 bit  os as the primary version in moOde 8.1.x probably marks a good starting point for me.

 

My first goal is to successfully capture impulse respose files and create .wav files for use in CDSP. REW seems to be a good starting point with good tutorials. I will need a microphone next. I have a Steinberg UR22 mkII, originally purchased for digitizing LPs, that would seem to be suitable, and would make a non-usb mic with phantom power seem like the thing to buy. Cross-Spectrum sells the Dayton EMM-6 with directly generated calibration files, Parts Express sells them as well, though the specificity of the calibration files is somewhat less clear. Is this audio interface/microphone pairing an obvious good choice for me, or does a usb output mic offer attractive alternative features?

 

With your indulgence, I plan to document my progress in this thread. Camilla seems to offer a lot to those who are willing to learn, yet is not exactly obvious in its interface. Any user who documents their climb up the learning curve should encourage and help those who come along. If there is a better forum for this thread, I'm open to suggestions.

 

Thank you,

 

Skip

 

 

I'm not a fan of USB Mics personally. I would take advantage of the balanced XLR or TRS Input options at your disposal on the UR22.

 

The Dayton MIC you list would likely be a decent starter MIC and appears to fall in line with the price point already established by the existing UR22.

 

Its unclear to me based on your post if you are intending to set this all up for a basic 2-Channel system or if your plans will include multiple channels with Subs..etc now or later?

 

I only ask this because it appears that the UR22 is a 2Ch device with AD/DA already baked into the same chassis. If you intend to add dedicated additional channels for Subs later using the UR22 by itself may be a limitation you will have to deal with later.

 

If you do intend to add Subs later the other thing to consider is the Freq Resp/SPL limitations of the lower cost Mic's. The Dayton, for example, is listed to only measure down to 18hz and up to 20Khz. Again IMO, I would prefer to have a Mic that is capable of measuring a broader Freq Range. This of course would be more expensive though and would result in a Mic that cost several times more than the AD/DA its connected to (UR22). So...this option may not make sense unless you intend to upgrade the Mic/Pre later to something in the same price point as the better Mic.

 

One example of a Mic that I am referring to which measures a broader Freq Range is below. I use a Earthworks M30 that does a good job of accurately covering the entire range my equipment is capable of producing.

 

https://earthworksaudio.com/measurement-microphones/m23/

 

[Skip Pack]

Thank you for your reply. Some elaboration of my path, as I see it now, makes a lot of sense. My first goal is to get an operational feel for two channel DRC and become comfortable doing competent measurements and initially developing house curves and understanding the best compromises to ameliorate LF room issues and system EQ. After that, I think the next step would be more sophistedcated DRC as shown in Mitch's video. I see this as getting a firm footing.

 

After that, I have always wanted to explore 3 channel music reproduction. Trifield is a proprietary implementation of Gerzon's efforts to synthesize a center channel effectively. @bitlab has developed a configuration in Camilla DSP that I want to head to. That, will require a multichannel usb dac to work with moOde, so I see that purchase coming.

 

After that I can see applying DRC to the three speakers. After that, who knows? Atmos is fascinating, but I don't see me building speakers and other equipment for too many more years. I'm 75, so I'm not building large speakers any longer. 

 

So that's my current outlook. I'll probably go fairly cheap until I think I'm capable of getting the benefit of the better tools.

 

Thanks again!