Only 2 Channels working with multi channel devices
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#283 Only 2 Channels working with multi channel devices
Hi,
eqAPO works fine with most of the soundcards I use. But with my TASCAM us20x20 (up to 20 Output Channels) and my minDSP MCHstreamer (8 Channels) it is linited tu 2 Channels. I tried everything that is suggested for trouble shooting. Nothing works. Both devices can handle ASIO and have no problems with other ASIO-compatible Clients. Since I have no other APO Client I can't check this.
Any suggestions, ideas?
Regards
There are a few limits.
As you're talking about ASIO, Equalizer APO can't be install on ASIO. This is a limit of Windows. An Audio Processing Objects (APO which is a sound enhancement/effect) can't be used as Microsoft hasn't implement this on ASIO perhaps to prevent audio lag.
Also, Equalizer APO can only deal with 9 channels, common ones like left, right, left rear, subwoofer, etc. Of course an audio driver can have more channels but that isn't an APO thing. Probably for the Tascam US20x20 the number of output channels is set in Windows as stereo (2 channels). I guess internally that's cranked up to 10 times stereo. The same accounts for the MiniDSP MCHstreamer.
Have said the above. I'm not an expert on this. It could be there's some workaround. Btw. Are only the first 2 channels possible in Equalizer APO or does this change to the other pair after selecting it in the Tascam and/or MiniDSP software?
Edit: Or perhaps you can set the Tascam/MiniDSP device to 7.1 in Windows. Then you have at least Equalizer APO on 8 channels
Last edit: Peter Verbeek 2024-06-26
I'm not sure about 20 channels, which is an extreme case that EAPO may never have been tested with.
8 channels should definitely work, though. Many people, including myself, use EAPO in a 5.1/7.1 setup.
Is the device configured with the desired number of channels in the Windows audio settings?
Also, what are you testing this with? Keep in mind ASIO drivers (with very few exceptions) bypass the entire Windows Audio Engine including APOs. It is normal and expected that EAPO will not process audio being streamed through an ASIO driver.
Hello, with ASIO i'll send you in the wrong direction. So let's start again, and I will explan it with different HW.
For my Loudspeakers I mostly use eqAPO for developing the Crossovers und DSP Settings.
Currently im devoloping a 4-way speaker. I want to use a adat-device for as 8-way DAC. So I need an USB-To-Adat converter: miniDSP MCHstreamer which is able to convert to different protocols (SPDIF, ASIO,...). The capabilities where set via with the specific firmware.
After installing the NCHstreamer (USB-Driver and adat-firmware) I wrote eqAPO file. But this works only on the 2 main-channels. I tried every troubshooting hint (re-install, sfx .., sound-config in windows) nothing works.
So I remembered I had the same problem with my TASCAM audio interface, which wasn't a deal for me because I use it only with ASIO. Since this were two devices which work with ASIO, I thougth this was a hint for you. But I forgot, I have another 8-Channel USB-Soundcard (ASUS) which speaks ASIO, but works with eqAPO with every channel.
Since I found now other to change drivers, I used REW (Room Equalization Wizard) to generate a signal which I can rout in any channel, to seen what works without eqAPO.
In REW you can choose between different driver-types. When I choose "EXCL" (which is WASAPI) for the MCHstreamer every channel works. If I choose another type (which is not specified) I can only see 2 Channels.
And now it becomes strange. It is not possible to see the 8 channels of the ASUS or the TASCAM !
So I know for sure: MCHstreamer works with WASAPI. Meanwhile I know eqAPO doesn't.
With audacity I see the there are drivers for every soundarchitecture for the MCHstreamer, but fro lacking audacity skills I am not able to check the nummer of supported channels per driver type.
So: Any ideas how to find out or workarounds for WASAPI?
This really sounds like your Windows audio device shared mode channel count is misconfigured. Please double-check your Windows audio control panel settings for the device.
Last edit: Etienne Dechamps 2024-06-27
If you pick the non-EXCL option, REW uses Java Sound which is limited to stereo. In other words this is a REW limitation and is not evidence of something going wrong with your setup. I just checked right now and REW only gives me 2 channels on my 5.1 Xonar U7 if I pick the non-EXCL device.
Hi,
i will check again, but since this is suggested in any trouble shooting guide I've done this more than one ...
I checked everthing mentioned in "Windows audio control panel settings". I found no cnfig error.
If I try test sounds, they came out of the specified channel. If I activate eqAPO it still works, if i do anything with the channels. If I activate a channel copy from the mais to every other, that still works.
Now to the strange part ...
If I close the speaker test window an activate some music player: stereo on the mains. If I run windows test parallel, an deactivate exclusive (and ignore the warning) Both sounds could be heard on every channel! This works only as the sound test runs (5sec or so). ???
I'm not sure I understand but it sounds like you are trying to use EAPO with WASAPI Exclusive mode? That's not going to work. WASAPI Exclusive bypasses APOs. APOs will only work with WASAPI Shared (and legacy equivalents MME and DirectSound).
Meanwhile I know. And there's no direct sound driver for the MCHstreamer.
Thanks, I will sell this piece.