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Soundcard Calibration Case History:

Lynx Systems L22, 24/192 soundcard

updated 8/18/02

This 24bit/192kHz card give extremely good performance and works well, even to 24/192 in Praxis, even with our slower 366MHz computer. Very solid hardware design. The Windows mixer operation for the card is rather strange, though (hopefully this will be fixed with a later driver version).

In Windows2000 and XP:

Drivers: previously done with 1.30 Build 049 Beta 5. Date: 5/31/2002
illustrations shown below are from using Beta 6 drivers, Dated: 7/17/2002

WAVE_EXT setting? No.

This is a very high quality card, and although operation of its mixers are rather bizarre (and can be confusing), the extremely good performance is worth it.

Issues:

1). The sound device uses 4 XLR plugs, one for each of its analog record and play channels. But the AudPod connects via 2 stereo mini-phone jacks.

Fix: a custom cable adaptor must be configured. Use a stereo mini-phone plug cable to connect to each of the AudPod's "To Sound Line In" and "From Sound Line Out" connectors. Split the two channels from each of those two cables to connect to two XLR inline female jacks: attach the shield ground connection to the pin 3 connection of both XLR jacks, and the "hot" connection from each channel to a pin 2 connection of the corresponding XLR jack.

2). The device includes a custom mixer device (along with a Windows mixer) which allows a multitude of routings for various signals, and many ways to make it unusable with Praxis!.

Fix: Suggested settings for the Lynx's custom mixer are shown further down in this page. Set these as shown before beginning calibration. You may need to manually restore these positions for PRAXIS use if you should change them afterwards. IN PARTICULAR, NOTE THE -10dBV settings!

Also: DON'T HAVE THIS "LYNX MIXER" OPEN DURING PRAXIS CALIBRATION OR OTHER PRAXIS DATA ACQUISITIONS-- the LYNX MIXER slows everything down quite a lot, for some reason and can cause Praxis timeouts! (With the "Lynx Mixer" closed),

Also: do not have the "LYNX MIXER" open at the same time as the Windows (sndvol32.exe) mixer, as these two seem to inter-act with each other in complex ways, in some cases requiring a reboot of the computer to clear! Open one of the mixers, adjust its settings as shown, close it, then open the other and adjust its settings as shown, before beginning the Praxis soundcard calibration. (You should be able to go through the calibration without changing any of the mixer settings further).

3). The soundcard shows up in Praxis as 8 different devices! Use "Lynx L22 Play 1->Lynx L22 Record 1".

3). The Windows mixer has a some quirks.

If you have two instances of the L22's windows mixer open, some of the controls on the mixer will cease to have any effect on the hardware. If you have the "Lynx Mixer" open at the same time as the Windows mixer, the controls will interract and become confused, some of them becoming unusable! Fix: When you are done with any of the Windows mixers for the L22, or the "Lynx Mixer" custom mixer applet, close it -- don't have more than one active in your Windows task bar (close any duplicates you should see). Make sure only one of these is visible at a time If operation becomes "irrational" or the unit stops working from changing multiple mixers, try a system reboot and then use the setting shown below (in one mixer at a time).

The Record mixers won't open in XP. That's ok, you don't really need to do anything with them, if the custom Mixer is configured as shown.

The Record mixer's slider doesn't have any effect. That's because there is no input level control on the Lynx (for best possible signal integrity). That's also ok, the default gain is OK and the AudPod supplies the input gain control needed for measurements. You can ignore the Windows Mixer Record Mixer for this device.

The name of the control shown on the Record 1 mixer seems to change at times, between uses!. This is strange, but still ok, since the control isn't needed or used.

Some of the mixer settings can seem to take a little time to open or to take effect. Fix: keep the Lynx Mixer closed during AudPod calibration acquisitions and Praxis use.

The following screen shots are using the Beta6 Lynx drivers. The best procedure is to go through the "Lynx Mixer" settings first, and set them as shown. Then close the Lynx Mixer, open the Windows Mixer for the L22, and set its "Play" mixer ("Analog Out 1) as shown,

Lynx (custom) Mixer settings (before starting calibration). Keep this mixer closed during Praxis use.:

controls to the right of this can be muted.

Windows Mixer settings: controls not shown should be muted and/or set to minimum settings for playback, or be unselected and at minimum for record. The mixer settings look similar for XP and 2K. The Lynx L22 has a huge quantity of mixers available in its "Other" option (see below). Only the "Playback (Analog 1)" and "Other...Analog Out 2" (which is the playback mixer for the right channel!) mixers should need your attention, though.

Record Mixer(s) -- shown here, but you should not need to use it.
(note: the "Volume" slider for this mixer doesn't seem to do anything. There's a mixer for "Other...Record 2", too -- it also has a slider that doesn't do anything. Just leave the sliders alone for the Windows "Record" mixers.)

Playback Mixer (called "Analog Out 1" in its title) :
(note: set the Analog Out 1 slider as shown, and set the other controls as shown. (none of the Advanced controls need to be used). NOTE THAT THERE IS ALSO AN "ANALOG OUT 2" mixer, below, that needs to be adjusted!

"Analog Out 2" mixer. This is also a playback mixer that needs to have its control set as shown, too. But you access it via the "Options, Properties, Adjust Volume for Other" menu. Set all controls as shown here (none of the Advanced controls need to be used).