Sound Card DAC + LFI problem

djpsych · Jan 23, 2011

I finished building my Sound Card DAC today, tuned the offset to 0V on all six channels with no sound playing and then played the max.wav with the volume all the way up and tuned the gain to +5V on all six channels. Started up the "LFI_Player_V1_1_6_EzAudDAC.exe", opened up the ILDA test patten and hit the play button and I got no voltage change on any of the six channel when I measured with my Fluke 117. Did I miss something in the LFI Player settings? (Attached pictures and important LFI Player config and log files)

Also my galvos (PT-30K) have three inputs onto the galvo board, X+ or Y+ (red), X- or Y- (white), and GND (black). However, the Sound Card DAC only has one channel and ground. Which wires should I connect to my Sound Card DAC?

EzAudDac.txt:

Code:

 EzSound Dac Driver V1.05 by Andrew Kibler
 Loading file: C:\Documents and Settings\Chad\My Documents\Downloads\LFI_Player_V1.1.6\EzAudDac.ini
 Searching for sounds cards.. 
 Sound Card 1 : USB Multi-Channel Audio Device
 Sound Card 2 : Realtek HD Audio output
 Found 2 Sound Cards. 
 SoundCard 1 Initializing... 
 SoundCard 1 Initialized. 
    Speakers:8 
    Latency:3 ms
    Minbuf:43ms
 SoundstreamCreated. (2952790017)
 SoundOutputStarted
 Sound init done.
Exiting

EzAudDac.ini:

Code:

[Sound Card Selection]
UseCardNumber=1

LowLatencyBuffering=no
;not all programs work smoothly with minimal buffering, try yes if you have a hyperthreading
; or dual core computer and like to try to speed up timing.
; yes works with zoof games, LDS, HE-Laserscan
; no works best with LazyMame, LFI player

SampleRate=48000    
;choose a standard samplerate that your card can handle 44100, 48000, 96000 etc.


RepeatFrameWhenOut=no
;'yes' or 'no'
;Repeats the last frame displayed if the program doesn't feed another frame in time
;  if 'no', then the DAC output goes to 0 until a new frame is fed.



[Channel Invert]
;enter 'yes' to invert the channel output, 'no' otherwise.
X=no
Y=no
R=yes
G=yes
B=yes
I=yes

[Channel Selection]
;Enter the desired output chanel number (1-8 only) of the signals:
X=1
Y=2
R=3
G=4
B=5
I=6
AL=7
AR=8

LFI_Player_log.txt:

Code:

OnInitialUpdate(): Initial values restored.
OnInitialUpdate(): COM Setup() failed.
OnInitialUpdate(): COM SetupHandshaking() failed.
Device_EZAUDDAC::EzAudDacInit() - Found 1 audio devices.
Starting program LFI_Player from directory
C:\Documents and Settings\Chad\My Documents\Downloads\LFI_Player_V1.1.6
Entering OnFileClosetracklist()
Writing the following values to LFI_Player.ini:
          BasePort: 0x0
      DisplayLaser: 0
     DisplayScreen: 1
       FlickerFree: 1
    InvertBlanking: 0
      ScriptRepeat: 1
   Blank/Clip View: 0
       GlobalDelay: 0
        LaserScale: 100
     VerticalScale: 100
     BlankingShift: 4
      DisplayTimer: 60
         ColorMode: 0
         MasterRed: 100
       MasterGreen: 100
        MasterBlue: 100
   TTLThresholdRed: 50
 TTLThresholdGreen: 50
  TTLThresholdBlue: 50
      InvertBitmap: 0
      Frames2Write: 350
     RecordPalette: 0
        RecordView: 1
      FadeInFrames: 1
     FadeOutFrames: 1
 GlobalFrameRepeat: 1
     MoveIncrement: 1000
   RotateIncrement: 5
     ZoomIncrement: 1000
        Drag Speed: 1
      Drag Inertia: 200
 Points Per Second: 18000
    Beam X1 Origin: 0.15
    Beam Y1 Origin: 0.4
    Beam X2 Origin: 0.85
    Beam Y2 Origin: 0.4
     Beam 1 Height: 0.35
     Beam 2 Height: 0.35
         Beam 1 On: 1
         Beam 2 On: 1
   Beam 1 Invert X: 0
   Beam 2 Invert X: 1
     Beam YAG View: 0
         Beam Mode: 0
 Content Directory: C:\Laser\
  Main Window Left: -32000
   Main Window Top: -32000
 Main Window Right: -31840
Main Window Bottom: -31969
 Left Preview Edge: 267
    COM Port Index: -1
   Baud Rate Index: 2
   Data Bits Index: 3
      Parity Index: 0
   Stop Bits Index: 0
  Hand Shake Index: 2
   Use Serial Port: 0
Terminating program LFI_Player...

ElektroFreak · Jan 24, 2011

As far as the galvo wiring, the ground connection from the DAC goes to - on the galvo board input and the signal connection goes to +. The ground pins on the galvo board signal inputs can remain unconnected. The grounds on the galvo board power inputs must be connected, however.

The voltage issues you're having though.. I'm not 100% sure what's going on there. If you were able to tune the DAC using max.wav, then the problem isn't with your hardware, it's with the software settings somewhere, but those files you've got in your post look ok to me at first glance..

TTerbo · Jan 24, 2011

LFI is a PITA,

OnInitialUpdate(): COM Setup() failed.
OnInitialUpdate(): COM SetupHandshaking() failed.

I think you have to set it to the right com channel so make sire the dac is say com4 and LFI is com 4, (this happened to mine)
and then go to preferences > options and see if handshaking is on.

djpsych · Jan 25, 2011

ElektroFreak said:
As far as the galvo wiring, the ground connection from the DAC goes to - on the galvo board input and the signal connection goes to +. The ground pins on the galvo board signal inputs can remain unconnected. The grounds on the galvo board power inputs must be connected, however.

Thanks for straightening that up for me.

TTerbo said:
I think you have to set it to the right com channel so make sire the dac is say com4 and LFI is com 4, (this happened to mine)
and then go to preferences > options and see if handshaking is on.

I tried COM1, COM2, COM3, and COM4 and still nothing. Also every time I hit apply I got this error in the log file:

Code:

OnButtonComApply(): COM Setup() failed.

Handshaking is set on Hardware (RTS/CTS), so it is on.

Here is my current settings in the LFI_Player.ini:

Code:

LFI_Player Configuration Data File, Version 1.1.6
PORT_BASE_ADDRESS=0
DISPLAY_LASER=0
DISPLAY_SCREEN=1
FLICKER_FREE=1
INVERT_BLANKING=0
SCRIPT_REPEAT=1
BLANK/CLIP_VIEW=0
GLOBAL_DELAY=0
LASER_SCALE=100
VERTICAL_SCALE=100
BLANKING_SHIFT=4
FRAME_DISPLAY_TIMER_VALUE=60
COLOR_MODE=0
MASTER_RED_INTENSITY=100
MASTER_GREEN_INTENSITY=100
MASTER_BLUE_INTENSITY=100
TTL_THRESHOLD_RED=50
TTL_THRESHOLD_GREEN=50
TTL_THRESHOLD_BLUE=50
DISPLAY_INVERT=0
RECORD_FRAMES_TO_WRITE=350
RECORD_PALETTE_TYPE=0
RECORD_VIEW_TYPE=1
NUMBER_FADE_IN_FRAMES=1
NUMBER_FADE_OUT_FRAMES=1
GLOBAL_FRAME_REPEAT=1
MOVE_INCREMENT=1000
ROTATE_INCREMENT=5
ZOOM_INCREMENT=1000
DRAG_SPEED=1
DRAG_INERTIA=200
OUTPUT_PPS=18000
BEAM_ORIGIN_X1=0.150000
BEAM_ORIGIN_Y1=0.400000
BEAM_ORIGIN_X2=0.850000
BEAM_ORIGIN_Y2=0.400000
BEAM_HEIGHT_1=0.350000
BEAM_HEIGHT_2=0.350000
BEAM_ON_1=1
BEAM_ON_2=1
BEAM_INVERT_X1=0
BEAM_INVERT_X2=1
BEAM_YAG_VIEW=0
BEAM_MODE=0
CONTENT_DIRECTORY_NAME=C:\Laser\
MAIN_WINDOW_LEFT=-34
MAIN_WINDOW_TOP=4
MAIN_WINDOW_RIGHT=1002
MAIN_WINDOW_BOTTOM=616
LEFT_PREVIEW_EDGE=267
COM_PORT_INDEX=2
BAUD_RATE_INDEX=2
DATA_BITS_INDEX=3
PARITY_INDEX=0
STOP_BITS_INDEX=0
HAND_SHAKE_INDEX=2
USE_SERIAL_PORT=0

I know LFI Player is not that great. I am planning on getting either Spaghetti or Pangolin FB3 later, but when building I wanted to use LFI Player for the testing. Any other ideas?

ElektroFreak · Jan 25, 2011

Once you get your settings right LFI is extremely good actually, and I'm a Pangolin user as well so I can see it's value firsthand.. once you get it going it'll stay going. Being free software, it's pure value.

I think the problem is that the DISPLAY_LASER setting in the code above is set to 0. Try setting it to 1. Also from within the LFI player GUI you can set the same setting in the preferences under "Display Control", there's a checkbox called "laser on". Verify that it is checked.

djpsych · Jan 30, 2011

COM is still messing up, even with DISPLAY_LASER set to 1. I will see if anyone on PL knows how to fix this problem.

Sound Card DAC + LFI problem

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