Helix DSP mic calibration
Is there a way to know, an indicator in the software perhaps, if a mic calibration file has been loaded successfully?
I have copied in my umik-1 calibration data (the number pairs), replacing the sample numbers in the cal.txt file but I’m unsure if they are being read in correctly. Like with REW you can see in the software that the calibration file you want to use is selected and applied to the microphone you specify.
If there isn’t a feature like this, can one be added? (if anyone with that power is reading this...)
What do you all do to reassure yourselves that it has been loaded correctly?
Thanks!
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Re: Helix DSP mic calibration
All you can do is put the correct data in the cal.txt file. Not aware of any way to "see" that it's been updated in the Helix software.
I guess you could run a measurement before and after the cal file has been updated and make sure the results are different, but that may be hard to see (measurements are never *exactly* the same even if run right after another).
If the Helix software doesn't complain in some way about the cal.txt file, then I just assume it's working....
I also wish you could load in curve files in the Helix RTA software. It's a real pain trying to set those sliders correctly (if you are experimenting with different curves) - especially because that window is always so small and doesn't resize.
Re: Helix DSP mic calibration
Gotcha. Thanks for the reply. With regard to loading in curves, are you referring to target/house curves? (you can load in a house curve so I’m curious what you mean). Thanks again!
At any rate, hope someone is reading this at Helix and is maybe considering adding this functionality :)
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Re: Helix DSP mic calibration
Quote:
Originally Posted by
mauian
With regard to loading in curves, are you referring to target/house curves? (you can load in a house curve so I’m curious what you mean). Thanks again!
At any rate, hope someone is reading this at Helix and is maybe considering adding this functionality :)
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What I mean is that I can't simply load a "standard" format house curve text file into the Helix RTA setup (so that I don't have to manually adjust those sliders). For very basic curves, adjusting the sliders isn't that big of a deal to create the Helix-specific curve file, but I create custom house curves that aren't as "simple". :-) My method just allows me to tune towards my specific house curve, which ends up being just how I want things - without having to adjust for "tonal" preferences afterwards - my process just combines those two steps (tuning to a curve and then adjusting for tonal preferences) into a single step using a custom house curve.
I knew you could load a house curve into the Helix RTA setup window if you had already manually setup the sliders and then saved it from within the Helix RTA setup (which saves it to a ".atref" file), but what I didn't realize is that the .atref files that it creates are just standard text files with a ".atref" extension. I had assumed that those files were in some sort of binary format, but I just checked and they are just regular text files, so yes, that does make things easier.
However, you still can't just load a standard house curve text file created with REW or even Jazzi's speadsheet, for example. This is because the Helix software wants a VERY specific format for the house curve file - it seems to have 30 values, one value per line without any reference to frequency (just a single value for the dB level of each slider). So unfortunately, it won't figure out the values it needs from a standard house curve text file - there is still some work to be able to load a standard house curve text file, created with REW or even with Jazzi's spreadsheet, for example, since they all create text files with both a frequency *and* a dB value on each line.
This is still good news though - at least I know the .ateef curve files are just standard text files. Now I know that I can manually edit those files directly instead of messing with those sliders.
Thanks for replying about that or I probably would have never even checked the format of the .atref files! :-)
Re: Helix DSP mic calibration
Quote:
Originally Posted by
jtrosky
What I mean is that I can't simply load a "standard" format house curve text file into the Helix RTA setup (so that I don't have to manually adjust those sliders). For very basic curves, adjusting the sliders isn't that big of a deal to create the Helix-specific curve file, but I create custom house curves that aren't as "simple". :-) My method just allows me to tune towards my specific house curve, which ends up being just how I want things - without having to adjust for "tonal" preferences afterwards - my process just combines those two steps (tuning to a curve and then adjusting for tonal preferences) into a single step using a custom house curve.
I knew you could load a house curve into the Helix RTA setup window if you had already manually setup the sliders and then saved it from within the Helix RTA setup (which saves it to a ".atref" file), but what I didn't realize is that the .atref files that it creates are just standard text files with a ".atref" extension. I had assumed that those files were in some sort of binary format, but I just checked and they are just regular text files, so yes, that does make things easier.
However, you still can't just load a standard house curve text file created with REW or even Jazzi's speadsheet, for example. This is because the Helix software wants a VERY specific format for the house curve file - it seems to have 30 values, one value per line without any reference to frequency (just a single value for the dB level of each slider). So unfortunately, it won't figure out the values it needs from a standard house curve text file - there is still some work to be able to load a standard house curve text file, created with REW or even with Jazzi's spreadsheet, for example, since they all create text files with both a frequency *and* a dB value on each line.
This is still good news though - at least I know the .ateef curve files are just standard text files. Now I know that I can manually edit those files directly instead of messing with those sliders.
Thanks for replying about that or I probably would have never even checked the format of the .atref files! :-)
No problem! Not sure if this is helpful but my process is to take the overall target curve output of Jazzi’s tool and then subtract an offset value from each of the dB values such that the flat part of the curve is at zero dB (that seems to be what the helix expects).
For example, if the Jazzi tool output says the flat part of my curve is at 5.3 dB, I subtract 5.3 dB at each frequency in the output.
I then subtract this same offset from all of the dB values for each individual driver target curve from Jazzi’s tool and round them to whole numbers (as the helix expects whole numbers). I use the frequency values from 25 Hz to 20 kHz (which are the 30 one third octave frequency bands that the helix expects).
I do all of this in an excel spreadsheet (which does the rounding for me). I then copy those values into a text file and save it with an atref extension and it works great.
The drawback is the target curve has to be specified with 1/3 octave frequency bands from 25Hz to 20kHz so if you have any custom values from PEQ )as it sounds like you might) you won’t be able to use this directly in specifying your target curve.
At any rate while it’s an extra step in Excel it’s pretty easy and repeatable and only takes 5, maybe 10 minutes.
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