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Author Topic: Multiple Sound Cards and Channels  (Read 5906 times)

elffriend

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Multiple Sound Cards and Channels
« on: February 01, 2012, 11:42:39 am »

Hey guys! I've combed the forums and can't seem to find quite the right answers for my setup.

I've got a computer with three sound cards in it, piping out to *six* separate rooms/speakers sets, and each playing their own separate playlist. I'm running the plug-in RS Balance Pro VST v1.0 . I have it configured with the plugin just the way it needs to be for each room - I can control each channel to go to a specific room by setting the pan for that channel to be L or R (respectively) and turning the volume all the way up for the speaker it's going to, and all the way down to silence the other channel. In this way, I can split up an output from one soundcard to go to two different locations, and three of these sound cards are doing the same thing.

The problem: JRiver Media Center crashes from time to time running this plugin. I don't know if I'm overburdening it, or if something is crashing in the code from normal use. I can't seem to lock down when specifically it's crashing or what kind of actions cause it to crash. The player just has constant playlists for all six rooms, and I'm not touching the program at all, so I know it's not user input causing it.

I've tried using the pan settings built-in to Media Center, but I can't seem to find the right settings or get them to work in the same way the plug-in lets me. Does anyone know how to accomplish this using Media Center's normal functions? Much appreciated!

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mojave

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Re: Multiple Sound Cards and Channels
« Reply #1 on: February 01, 2012, 01:39:41 pm »

I just tested the following, but I think will you need to upgrade to Version 17.

You can add multiple zones in JRiver by right clicking playing now and selecting Add Zone. Add six zones. To keep track during setup, you can name them Soundcard1 Left, Soundcard1 Right, Soundcard2 Left, etc.

Set the volume for each zone to Internal Volume and turn the master volume control up all the way. This will allow you to control the volume of each zone independently.

Set the audio output for each zone by going to Tools > Options > Audio Output and set the output mode to Direct Sound. In the Output Mode Settings set the soundcard for that zone.

For each zone set the Output Format to 2 Channels using Player > DSP Studio > Output Mode

Now you need to make the left and right channels be able to play different stuff. To do this go to Player > DSP Studio > Parametric EQ. For Soundcard1 Left you would add Mix Channels and add the right speaker to the left speaker. Then add Mute and mute the right speaker. For Soundcard1 Right you add the left speaker to the right speaker and then mute the left speaker. This will combine the stereo signal into a mono signal and make each zone only play to one output.

You can go back and rename your zones to something more helpful like Living Room, Kitchen, etc.

Now you can play to each zone separately and control the volume for each zone. You can use your computer, laptop, Android phone, iPhone, or other device to control each zone. If you want to play the same thing in multiple zones you can link the zones. You can right click a linked zone and select Adjust Link Timing in order to make sure the zones are playing exactly synchronized.
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elffriend

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Re: Multiple Sound Cards and Channels
« Reply #2 on: February 02, 2012, 10:26:01 pm »

Thank you! I'll give that a shot and do the upgrade to 17. Fingers crossed!
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