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[nwboater]

I am going to change our L & R (Klipschorns) and Center (LaScala clone) to Active EQ. I have heard that it may now be possible to do in MC and would like to confirm this.

Here's what we will have:
1. L, C, & R may be changed to 2 way, but I need to allow for 3 way. That would be nine DAC channels.
2. Two sides will keep Passive Crossovers. Two more DAC channels.
3. Danley DTS-10 subwoofer, one more DAC channel.
4. Total of 12 DAC channels.
5. Each DAC channel will go to a separate power amp.

To do this we will replace our Essence ST soundcard with something like an external Echo Audiofire 12 which is a 12 channel Firewire DAC. Our system is actually 5.1 so MC will have to direct the various speaker channels to the appropriate DAC channels after the crossovers are done in MC.

So my two big questions:
1. Is the new Parametric Equalizer in MC16 capable of doing all this?
2. Is this an appropriate application for MC?

Thanks very much.

Rod

[Matt]

Parametric Equalizer should support what you're doing.  I'm using it to bi-amp a subwoofer, and there's no reason it won't scale to 12 (or more) channels.

It's possible that you would need an option like "5.1 using 12 channels" in DSP Studio > Output Format so that you can use JRSS.  Or maybe an option "Open the soundcard with X additional channels".  I would think we could add this.

Put the Parametric Equalizer last in the DSP chain so that you can still use Room Correction, etc. and they'll understand the channels.

[nwboater]

Hi Matt,

Thanks for the confirmation that this should work, and also a lot of thanks for considering the additional options.

I had been planning to use a MiniDSP system for this and was close to buying it. Mojave alerted me to your new features in the Parametric EQ and I am getting pumped that I may be able to do this in MC. The problem with using something like the MiniDSP or other hardware systems for Active EQ is that you then have double DACs in the system. The first is in your sound card and the second is in hardware DSP. It just makes sense to me to have one set of DACs and do everything in the PC. It's a lot simpler hardware chain and hopefully a lot less SQ degredation.

The difficulty in doing it in MC is that we can't use another software player and still have MC do the crossovers. Meaning that MC has to become the one player for all media. I (and lots of others) have long wanted to do this. With all the recent advances in Video (RO) it only leaves TV as the area holding me back from MC doing everything. If Glynors attempts in this area are fruitful (he has similar TV hardware and needs to me) I will try to again use TV in MC. I sure do hope that we can soon use MC as our TV player/recorder so that we can have MC do it all!

In the meantime I'm going to have to hold off doing anything for Active EQ. And I have a new center channel speaker I'm finishing up the build on that needs it!

From reading other forums there are a lot of audiophools like me that are going to Active EQ for their speakers. MC could become a very attractive alternative for them. So thanks for your efforts in this regard.

Rod

[Matt]

I want a way to expose the JRiver audio engine as a virtual soundcard in Windows.

This way, things like Netflix Watch Now, Hulu, and games would work nicely with my setup.

We talked about this some time ago and Glynor suggested it would be a good standalone program.  I have no idea if it'll ever happen.

[nwboater]

Sounds like a good approach, Matt. It seems that there would need to be two simultaneously functioning soundcards for this to work: The Virtual MC one AND the soundcard that sends the audio to either the receiver, or as in our case to the power amps. Or am I misunderstanding how you would do this?

Rod

[mojave]

I want a way to expose the JRiver audio engine as a virtual soundcard in Windows.

An alternate, but less ideal solution is to make the parametric EQ into a VST plugin. I can currently use Virtual Audio Cable and route all audio to VSTHost. VSTHost supports plugins with a 64 bit data path and I can use other EQ (such as Gliss EQ) with any program or source. I've only just played with it a little and I can't always get it to work. I'm also not sure if the channels are mapping correctly. This does show that something similar can be done.

If MC could accept a line in, then Virtual Audio Cable would be all that is needed because it presents itself as a line in to software.

[nwboater]

If MC could accept a line in, then Virtual Audio Cable would be all that is needed because it presents itself as a line in to software.

This would also allow us to use REW - right?

Rod

[TheLion]

I want a way to expose the JRiver audio engine as a virtual soundcard in Windows.

This way, things like Netflix Watch Now, Hulu, and games would work nicely with my setup.

We talked about this some time ago and Glynor suggested it would be a good standalone program.  I have no idea if it'll ever happen.

This would be the best feature I can think of!! Using a pro audio interface ASIO is my only option to get access to all my 7.1 output channels (directsound driver is just 4 stereo pairs). Getting this JRiver virtual sound card would enable me to use my audio interface for any application and apply full room correction as well (via VST plugin).

Dream.

[mojave]

This would also allow us to use REW - right?

Yes! I actually tested this a while ago using REW, VAC, a VST host (Reaper), and the Gliss EQ VST plugin. I was able to route the REW output through the VST plugin to see the affect of various EQ changes.

[nwboater]

Yes! I actually tested this a while ago using REW, VAC, a VST host (Reaper), and the Gliss EQ VST plugin. I was able to route the REW output through the VST plugin to see the affect of various EQ changes.

This was not using MC was it? I imagine just an external test.

Would it be easier for JRiver to do the Line In first, or the virtual soundcard? Ultimately both would be very useful for different reasons I believe. But having either one would help a lot of us.

Rod

[mojave]

This was not using MC was it? I imagine just an external test.

I was using Gliss EQ within MC, but had no way of testing any EQ changes. Since Gliss EQ is a VST plugin, I was able to measure any changes outside of MC, knowing that they would be the same when I used the plugin within MC.

[justsomeguy]

I would love to be able to use jriver dsp and other vst plugins globally in windows. I've attempted to do this with other methods using vsthost and vac and it sort of works. I'd even pay extra for this in MC.