Howto: USB Soundcard DAC (EZAudDAC) with Windows 7

[bennett326]

well im 2 steps backwards i dusted off a old xp machine and am not getting any output on any channels ;(

i cant believe im saying this but im pretty close to binning this and buying a different DAC that works. im gonna try a bit more but this is crazy :undecided:

 

[Bionic-Badger]

Have you guys tried rebooting with the USB card plugged in? That Laserboy site says that can be important.

 

[ElektroFreak]

^I would believe that.. didn't you have a different sound card that you used at some point Badger? If so how has your driver experience with that card been?

Man I wish I had more time. I've been planning on making a step-by-step guide to setting up the c-media sound card using as many screenshots as I can, but I have no time lately.

Mike, it sounds like you just need to make an adjustment in the c-media system tray utility to switch on 7.1ch capability.

Bennett I have no idea why yours is giving you such a hard time, but some hi-res pics of your DAC would really by helpful to see if there are any wires crossed anywhere or potential bad connections etc. Without being able to see what you're working with I can only take wild guesses as to what could be the problem.

 

[Elektrotechniker]

Using LFI player on my laptop I projected some patters. Do you guys know why the image looked like it was zooming in and out?

 

[Guyfromhe]

Using LFI player on my laptop I projected some patters. Do you guys know why the image looked like it was zooming in and out?

Maybe the ILDA pattern zooms in and out?

 

[ElektroFreak]

Using LFI player on my laptop I projected some patters. Do you guys know why the image looked like it was zooming in and out?

I've seen image instability like what you describe, in Windows Vista and Windows 7 when the volume of all channels is set to absolute maximum. Not sure about the cause though.

IMO the best thing for the sound card DAC would be a new, better sound card, one with better support for new Windows versions.

 

[Guyfromhe]

I've seen image instability like what you describe, in Windows Vista and Windows 7 when the volume of all channels is set to absolute maximum. Not sure about the cause though.

IMO the best thing for the sound card DAC would be a new, better sound card, one with better support for new Windows versions.

I used the setup Silver has on my Win 7 x64 machine and it worked OK with LFI.. Other than LFI outputs intensity where green ought to be it worked fine on my machine eventually.

Anyway the best thing for sound card DACs is a FB3

 

[ElektroFreak]

True that.. but I've gotta tell you, having built a couple and put together this tutorial, the sound card DAC is extremely capable and it does work quite well. In fact, my sound card DAC gives me hotter beams than my QS units do, mostly due to signal duty cycle. Having depended on it for real shows in front of thousands of people I can tell you that I still value it even now that I've added several FB3s.

Just to prove that, here's the lowly sound card DAC in action:

In this short set of video clips the sound card DAC is controlling the green laser that is under the drum set.


The same laser is shown in this pic:

In these pics the sound card DAC is again running the green laser at center stage:

See, it really does work... and well enough for a company like mine to reliably use for shows where things matter a tad bit more than they do in your living room. Well enough that I still use it even though we now have more "professional" options at our disposal.

Since my biggest show season is done now I *might* be able to find time to map a more mainstream sound card for use with this project. Anyone who has access to an oscilloscope can find the channels on the card and their output capacitors. The c-media card is just what was first used due to it's simplicity. Any sound card will work.

 

[bennett326]

hey i agree when my souncard DAC was working it was really really awesome...btw im uploading pics to photobucket now

 

[bennett326]

sorry for the phone pics its all i have..........

i tested the raw soundcard and got the same results so i highly highly doubt its the correction amps fault...

 

[ElektroFreak]

You're probably right actually Bennett.. I assume the sound card is underneath the audiolase board?


One thing you can try in XP is to remove whatever drivers you are using right now and use the drivers that are on the c-media installation CD that came with your sound card. They include a system tray utility that provides better adjustment options than the generic XP sound options. Once you have the tray utility, then you can upgrade the sound card drivers to the latest version.

 

[bennett326]

You're probably right actually Bennett.. I assume the sound card is underneath the audiolase board?


One thing you can try in XP is to remove whatever drivers you are using right now and use the drivers that are on the c-media installation CD that came with your sound card. They include a system tray utility that provides better adjustment options than the generic XP sound options. Once you have the tray utility, then you can upgrade the sound card drivers to the latest version.

i dont have those as i bought my DAC used

the weird thing is i was told it was working fine for the previous user :undecided:

ill try to un install the driver and install what bb posted later today :undecided:

 

[Guyfromhe]

True that.. but I've gotta tell you, having built a couple and put together this tutorial, the sound card DAC is extremely capable and it does work quite well. In fact, my sound card DAC gives me hotter beams than my QS units do, mostly due to signal duty cycle. Having depended on it for real shows in front of thousands of people I can tell you that I still value it even now that I've added several FB3s.

Just to prove that, here's the lowly sound card DAC in action:

In this short set of video clips the sound card DAC is controlling the green laser that is under the drum set.

In these pics the sound card DAC is again running the green laser at center stage:

See, it really does work... and well enough for a company like mine to reliably use for shows where things matter a tad bit more than they do in your living room. Well enough that I still use it even though we now have more "professional" options at our disposal.

Since my biggest show season is done now I *might* be able to find time to map a more mainstream sound card for use with this project. Anyone who has access to an oscilloscope can find the channels on the card and their output capacitors. The c-media card is just what was first used due to it's simplicity. Any sound card will work.

I never said it didn't work... Once you get the DAC and Windows communicating properly the things work flawlessly.. I have no issues with the performance of the SC DAC or it's output (It's actually got higher rez than the FB3) If you have a dedicated laser machine than you will be fine... If you start installing updates and other software that may mess with your settings you may find it broken one day and have to spend another week fucking with it to get it work again though...

The only reason I sold mine was because Gary was being a jackass and I decided I didn't want the hassle of LSX for the cost.

For "plug and work" though the FB3 wins hands down.

 

[ElektroFreak]

If you have a dedicated laser machine than you will be fine... If you start installing updates and other software that may mess with your settings you may find it broken one day and have to spend another week fucking with it to get it work again though...

You're right that the FB3 is much more user friendly. I'm not sure why anyone would think that I feel differently given the fact that I tout them all the time, and I reference my direct experience in the field when recommending them. The FB3 and sound card DAC cater to two distinctly different hobbyist demographics though, so in that regard it's like comparing apples to oranges.

From a dependability standpoint you NEED to use dedicated laser machines which run nothing but laser software. That's simply a must for reliability. Updates can screw with your FB3 too. I've had it happen a couple times.. of course the support from Pangolin is always top notch and they get things sorted very fast.

 

[bennett326]

i was told to use a dedicated machine and thats why now i have one a old desktop running xp ...

 

[Guyfromhe]

You're right that the FB3 is much more user friendly. I'm not sure why anyone would think that I feel differently given the fact that I tout them all the time, and I reference my direct experience in the field when recommending them. The FB3 and sound card DAC cater to two distinctly different hobbyist demographics though, so in that regard it's like comparing apples to oranges.

From a dependability standpoint you NEED to use dedicated laser machines which run nothing but laser software. That's simply a must for reliability. Updates can screw with your FB3 too. I've had it happen a couple times.. of course the support from Pangolin is always top notch and they get things sorted very fast.

I realize that they are somewhat different demographics with the price points however they are both a means to a single end and thus my reason for comparison. Yes it's possible for any piece of hard or software to stop working after an update but like you said Pangolin will be there and help you get up and running quickly where as the SC DAC you will be praying someone in the community has an answer for you while you try random things trying to make it work... I have absolutely nothing against the SC DACs. If I thought it was a piece of crap I would have thrown it away instead of selling it.

i was told to use a dedicated machine and thats why now i have one a old desktop running xp ...

That's a very good idea.. like I said something like a Windows Update or a random program that decides to play with your sound settings while your installing it, or loading audio drivers could throw your whole system out of wack and you will have to start from square -1 with the thing. Once you get it running on a dedicated box it should keep working forever.