testing

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ed
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#1 testing

Post by ed »

last christmas I bought a secondhand laptop to do some recording away from the studio, the bella tapes.
It occurred to me that I might resurrect the amp testing stuff using this laptop. I was intending to do the testing on the mofo, which I have decided to finish, despite the setbacks. So I used the F4 as a guinea pig.

I couldn't get the Behringer usb interface(The netbook running debian/wine has now been retired) to play nicely with win 10 so I had to find the steinberg UR22 unit.
The steinberg showed a 0.0087 figure for THD+n for loopback so I thought that was a good start.
I was quite surprised to find these figures for the F4:
f4 test.jpg
f4 test.jpg (147.04 KiB) Viewed 5082 times
f4 fr.png
f4 fr.png (79.62 KiB) Viewed 5082 times
f4 spa.png
f4 spa.png (116.35 KiB) Viewed 5082 times
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#2 Re: testing

Post by jack »

Arta is good, but I'm wary of trusting the measurement of such low numbers using a PC interface - it's always "Interesting". I'd love to see a comparative test against an Audio Precision top-end analyser.

Having said that, I used an HP 8903B which has not been calibrated for years!
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Nick
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#3 Re: testing

Post by Nick »

I finally retired the millet front end for the PC testing I used to use, and the m-audio 24/96 bit sound card I used it with. not sure the m-audio will work in any current PC as its based on a old bus interface. (Though just seen they are on ebay for £50. Maybe glad it didn't go in the skip).

But the main reason I stopped using it was it was still an order of magnitude worst than the old R&S UPL. There is a cost difference of course when it involves a dedicated PC, but its just so much simpler having it all in a box on the shelf not needing a mouse or keyboard for 99.9% of the tests.
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#4 Re: testing

Post by Dave the bass »

I did a forum search for 'Millet' and this thread came up, hope it's OK with our-Ed if I hijack it for a bit.

Testing, I'm clearing a stack of projects and 'stuff' I've been meaning to do for years that have piled up on my bench. I've found my old Pete Millet Soundcard interface box and M-Audio Transit USB interface under the 'scope (great place to store it Dave, duh).
Image

It looks like I was part way through installing mu metal screening (I beleive) before I got side tracked by something years ago.

I gather from Nick's post that drivers aren't available for the Tansit anymore possibly? It doesn't even appear in legacy products on M-Audio's website let alone support for it.

Is the Millet box still useable thesedays with another USB interface at the basic hobby level I operate at or am I better off just scrapping the whole lot?
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#5 Re: testing

Post by Nick »

The millet box is still very useful. I still have mine, though not using it anymore as I have the R&S, but before that it was very useful. M-Audio seem to have drivers for it up to Windows 7. But another USB interface would be fine with it as well.

https://m-audio.com/support/drivers-search

Make sure you add the R back into Transit when you search for driver :-)

The card I was talking about was the internal sound card. There are still drivers for it, the problem is finding a motherboard with the interface for it. Though it is PCI, so maybe.
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#6 Re: testing

Post by simon »

Good for you Dave, I have all the bits in a box waiting for me. I know it's there but try to forget, but it knows I haven't got around to it. And I occasionally hear it taunting me from the cupboard because I haven't built it yet.

I picked up the M-Audio card cheap on ebay at the time too.

I'm going to watch and take inspiration.
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#7 Re: testing

Post by Dave the bass »

Nick wrote: Mon Jan 15, 2024 4:20 pm Make sure you add the R back into Transit when you search for driver :-)

The card I was talking about was the internal sound card. There are still drivers for it, the problem is finding a motherboard with the interface for it. Though it is PCI, so maybe.
Ah! 'R'....well spotted. Ta.

I run W10 Pro 64bit on this laptop, as an experiment I downloaded the latest (W7) drivers and the Transit outputs audio, not too sure about inputs at present though, I'll experiment some more tomorrow.

I don't remember if anyone else went down the case-screening route, do you recall at all Nick? Did you bother on your MIllet box? The idea must have come from this forum, I wouldn't have thought of it on my own! IIRC AndrewL went further with some mods but it looks like I've left mine as-was. I noticed I've connected the Range pot shaft to 0v too, that mustve been a known mod at the time too.
simon wrote: Mon Jan 15, 2024 5:44 pm Good for you Dave, I have all the bits in a box waiting for me. I know it's there but try to forget, but it knows I haven't got around to it. And I occasionally hear it taunting me from the cupboard because I haven't built it yet.

I picked up the M-Audio card cheap on ebay at the time too.

I'm going to watch and take inspiration.
Ta our-Simon, I don't recall it being a trixy build as such.

I picked up an M-Audio 'USB 'Audiophile' model USB interface too at some point, purchased not working for a £1 or so but the chap that owned it previously admittedly he used the wrong PSU on it so thats another one on the list for repair if the TRansit isn't compatible with W10. Theres no guarantee the 'Audiophile' is either thinking about it, doh...

Failing that I might purchase a more up to date USB interface perhaps in an effort to be able to start to measure stuff now. I'm slowly readjusting to a new lifestyle and getting the urge for audio-y things again when its too cold to play in the shed with rusty motorcycles.

I've even been playing bass and guitar a lot too, cor!
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#8 Re: testing

Post by Nick »

Yep I added copper screening tape and a lower noise input protector that Andrew had from Keysight. I remember he was worried it was Keysight ip but I found it in TAOE later.
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#9 Re: testing

Post by jack »

Dave the bass wrote: Mon Jan 15, 2024 3:00 pm I did a forum search for 'Millet' and this thread came up, hope it's OK with our-Ed if I hijack it for a bit.

Testing, I'm clearing a stack of projects and 'stuff' I've been meaning to do for years that have piled up on my bench. I've found my old Pete Millet Soundcard interface box and M-Audio Transit USB interface under the 'scope (great place to store it Dave, duh).
Image

It looks like I was part way through installing mu metal screening (I beleive) before I got side tracked by something years ago.

I gather from Nick's post that drivers aren't available for the Tansit anymore possibly? It doesn't even appear in legacy products on M-Audio's website let alone support for it.

Is the Millet box still useable thesedays with another USB interface at the basic hobby level I operate at or am I better off just scrapping the whole lot?
https://www.audio-talk.co.uk/phpBB3/vie ... php?t=5174

That would have been me. Nearly 10 years ago!
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#10 Re: testing

Post by simon »

Glad you're getting your mojo back Dave :thumbright:

I'll be watching with interest what you do regarding an alternative USB interface as that might be the solid way to go.

Thinking about it I have a Behringer UMC202HD - I'll never achieve the competence of Andrew or the Nicks, might it be good enough?

https://www.behringer.com/product.html?modelCode=P0BJZ
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#11 Re: testing

Post by Nick »

Should be more than good enough Simon. The limit of the Millet interface only became a problem when I started doing solid state stuff, and even then only at the outer edge of performance. Worked fine for me for a good number of years.
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#12 Re: testing

Post by simon »

Well that's good news :-)
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#13 Re: testing

Post by steve s »

Slightly off the subject.. but I met Pete millet in November, really nice guy, and quite a whisky connoisseur.
He's a good friend of Morgan Jones.
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#14 Re: testing

Post by jack »

steve s wrote: Tue Jan 16, 2024 8:52 am Slightly off the subject.. but I met Pete millet in November, really nice guy, and quite a whisky connoisseur.
He's a good friend of Morgan Jones.
Not met him but have had a number of email discussions with him and he's always been very helpful.
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#15 Re: testing

Post by Dave the bass »

Nick wrote: Mon Jan 15, 2024 9:21 pm Yep I added copper screening tape and a lower noise input protector that Andrew had from Keysight. I remember he was worried it was Keysight ip but I found it in TAOE later.
Ta, did you leave the screening tape floating or connect it to cct gnd?
jack wrote: Mon Jan 15, 2024 9:31 pm That would have been me. Nearly 10 years ago!
Awethumne, ta NickJack, thats the thread I remembered but couldn't find.
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