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Motu A16 + PC DSP Project


SME

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I think the next capability I'll work on is the ability to stream metrics out.  I realized that the Motu UI doesn't provide any precise level measurement.  To do the bass management in my DSP with confidence, I have to make sure that the signals for each channel are level-matched, not just with respect to SPL at the MLP but also with respect to the signal level within the unit itself.  Any inter-channel variation in output level in my AVR could throw things off.  Having precise signal level meters would be helpful for this as well as other things.  That work would hopefully lead to streaming actual audio data both in and out of the real-time processor and ultimately over a computer network.  But using non real-time buffered streaming rather than a real-time AVB network.  

 

this was one of the first things I noticed (or rather, didn't notice) in their web ui, it's a slightly bizarre omission really. The only way I've found to track signal levels is by selecting those channels on the mix screen but that is really pretty crude (as the meter doesn't tell you actual levels & there's no way to control how long the peak is held for). I've been somewhat underwhelmed by the motu ui so far tbh. I really really like the fact it's a web ui hence accessible from anywhere on the network but the UI itself is a bit lame in comparison to something like (RME) totalmix, for basic monitoring anyway.

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this was one of the first things I noticed (or rather, didn't notice) in their web ui, it's a slightly bizarre omission really. The only way I've found to track signal levels is by selecting those channels on the mix screen but that is really pretty crude (as the meter doesn't tell you actual levels & there's no way to control how long the peak is held for). I've been somewhat underwhelmed by the motu ui so far tbh. I really really like the fact it's a web ui hence accessible from anywhere on the network but the UI itself is a bit lame in comparison to something like (RME) totalmix, for basic monitoring anyway.

 

Good points here.  My positive impression of the Motu web interface is relative to the MiniDSP units and to what I've experienced on other consumer grade audio equipment.  There's no doubt that it's a bit limited as far as features are concerned, but I've found the level and routing adjustments to be very intuitive and useful.  The MiniDSP units do provide a level meter precise to 0.1 dB, but it is implemented very crudely.  I think it gave entirely bogus results in earlier versions of the firmware.  It also used some weird method to calculate an RMS, and this made it hard to use it to determine the onset of clipping.  I ended up using live listening with sine waves and downstream attenuation to find the precise point that clipping started.  With a good peak meter, it should be much easier to tell.  (That reminds me, I probably should research true peak measurement and measure/report true peak values, which can exceed the level of the individual samples.)

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