Free Sound Card DAC Tester

[JohnYayas]

I created a simple utility for testing sound card DACs. It lets you select your sound card, configure the channels, and then display a red, green, or blue circle. It uses the same driver as in Spaghetti so this is a good way to test your sound card DAC to see if it works before spending money on software.

It does not and will not have an installer so read the ReadMe.txt file for prerequisite info.

I have not fully tested this so it could use beta testing, preferably from someone who already has a sound card DAC working with Spaghetti. I tested it as far as watching the LED on my sound card flash.

Feedback is appreciated.

Download it here: http://www.hingednewt.com/documents/SCDACTune.zip

[dchammonds]

I like the idea of a simple sound card test utility, but I'm a little confused about some of the program prerequisites.

The latest .net rev is just a Windows Update thing, but I'm wondering wondering why all the other stuff (Slim DX and C++ runtime?) is required?

Dean

[kiyoukan]

Hey im glad you took my advice, some good software with a good utility with it.
But i do agree most users should get a riya dac or anything other than sound cards.
I own multiple sound card dacs and between every machine i have to make adjustments.
And even still i get annoyed sometimes got to restart the machines before they work right.
Maybe one day these pains will be a thing in the past and release the headache of the software developers.
maybe the arduino dacs will be a better option. there are arduino nano for sale for only 17$ plus extra pcb and components could be a much better dac for only 65$

[JohnYayas]

I like the idea of a simple sound card test utility, but I'm a little confused about some of the program prerequisites.

The latest .net rev is just a Windows Update thing, but I'm wondering wondering why all the other stuff (Slim DX and C++ runtime?) is required?

Dean

They are required because they include libraries that are used. Simple as that.

[JohnYayas]

Hey im glad you took my advice, some good software with a good utility with it.
But i do agree most users should get a riya dac or anything other than sound cards.
I own multiple sound card dacs and between every machine i have to make adjustments.

They are great for streaming ADAT shows or doing digisynth type stuff. For the rest I don't thing they are worth the hassle. I am not sure the Arduino DAC will be what many people want but I am crossing my fingers that Chris will be able to squeeze out a few more color bits.

[mixedgas]

They are great for streaming ADAT shows or doing digisynth type stuff. For the rest I don't thing they are worth the hassle. I am not sure the Arduino DAC will be what many people want but I am crossing my fingers that Chris will be able to squeeze out a few more color bits.

What needs to happen is people need to realize that hardware produced on a small production scale is expensive, and its performance is tied to its cost. Many people are spoiled by the attitude induced by cheap mass produced computing accessories.

Gary, part of your problem stems back to James' attitude of either "YOU WILL MASTER MY SOFTWARE OR FAIL", coming from when SCD first came out. James attitude of "Windows Must Die, No Mouse, Cryptic Commands are Good, C and Linux Forever" had a serious effect on how code for low end systems was written.

Congrats on seeing the light and writing a long overdue utility.

Thanks,

Steve

[JohnYayas]

After testing with scanner I found that the version I added to the first post did not work at all! I spent a little time getting it to work and edited the first post to contain a link to the download.

It works great on my on P4 32-bit machine. I can't find CM106 drivers that work on my brand new 64bit PC. If anyone knows of any good Windows 7 64-bit CM106 drivers please let me know.

[dchammonds]

After testing with scanner I found that the version I added to the first post did not work at all! I spent a little time getting it to work and edited the first post to contain a link to the download.

It works great on my on P4 32-bit machine. I can't find CM106 drivers that work on my brand new 64bit PC. If anyone knows of any good Windows 7 64-bit CM106 drivers please let me know.

Win 7 includes a driver that works fine, but if you already installed a faulty cmedia driver, Windows will use that instead (even if you run the driver uninstall). If this
is the case, you will have to select the original Win 7 driver manually and reboot. More info:

http://laserboy.org/forum/index.php?...sg5820#msg5820

[Lazrlite]

I installed the test program, and once I followed directions and installed the Cmedia driver, I was able to get some output. I hooked it up to my scope and went looking for a test signal, but all I seemed to find was sine waves. I could hear the signal in my headphones, but not see it, until I hooked the oscilloscope up in XY mode and saw a circle, or something that was trying to be one (the DAC hasn't been modified yet).

Thanks for the program, I have an off-brand sound card I got cheap and now I know it works. You might want to mention in the readme that it's a circle.

Hopefully by the time I have cash for the program, everything will be ready. It'll be nice to have my projector doing something again.

[JohnYayas]

I installed the test program, and once I followed directions and installed the Cmedia driver, I was able to get some output. I hooked it up to my scope and went looking for a test signal, but all I seemed to find was sine waves. I could hear the signal in my headphones, but not see it, until I hooked the oscilloscope up in XY mode and saw a circle, or something that was trying to be one (the DAC hasn't been modified yet).

Thanks for the program, I have an off-brand sound card I got cheap and now I know it works. You might want to mention in the readme that it's a circle.

Hopefully by the time I have cash for the program, everything will be ready. It'll be nice to have my projector doing something again.

Thanks for the input. Mentioning that the output should be a circle is a good tip.

[JohnYayas]

I enhanced the driver for the Sound Card DAC in SC DAC Tune. It might work better for some people who were having problems. The download link is in the first post in this thread. If you use it please send me a PM letting me know your results.