PRAXIS News, last revised February 26, 2008
PRAXIS software is available for free download, and can be used in its free mode for:
Woofer Thiele/Small measurements
Pink Noise/RTA measurements up to 1/48th octave for in-room frequency response
Inspection, formatting and printing of measured data files from PRAXIS and other measurement systems.
Postprocessing of measured data
Development of programmed scripts
Exploration of PRAXIS' features
When completed with the AudPod, PRAXIS operates with full capability for a vast array of accurate, calibrated measurements and complex functions.
See the Praxis FAQ.
USB Soundcards and Praxis (updated 12/05)
USB soundcards which have been used successfully with Praxis include
EGOSYS (ESI) WAVETERMINAL U2A
ESI WAVETERMINAL U24: excellent performance, USB bus powered, a bit difficult to connect (custom adaptor cables must be made or configured)
Audiotrak Maya EX (or "5.1 USB"): inexpensive, bus powered, easy to use
Griffin iMic: very inexpensive ($35). Some reports of difficulties on some computers, but worked in all tests with our machines. Low frequency performance is mediocre, however. But much better than anything built into a notebook computer!
M-Audio Sonica Theater: inexpensive, good performance, small, bus powered. Must use its custom driver. Supports 24bit (but not to any apparent advantage -- noise floor and distortion levels remain the same).
M-Audio Transit: a really nice and inexpensive little device. Even smaller than the AudPod, and bus-powered! When used with short patch cables to the AudPod, it has an extremely clean noise floor and very low distortion (under 0.01% THD). Unfortunately, the drivers do not support full-duplex operation at more than 48kHz sample rate. Supports 24bit (but not to any apparent advantage -- noise floor and distortion levels remain the same -- but these are extremely good). Currently our favorite USB card. Note: BE VERY SURE THAT YOUR COMPUTER HAS BEEN UPDATED TO THE MOST RECENT VERSION 9 OF DIRECTX BEFORE INSTALLING THE TRANSIT!
Creative Labs Audigy2 NX: This is a USB2.0 soundcard that can operate at 96kHz sample rate in full-duplex (though not at 24/96). It is kind of a pain to use, though -- it needs to be plugged into the wall, has mechanical volume knobs (a potential calibration problem), and the default as-installed settings need to be overcome to avoid monitoring being enabled and to change from unusable choices of input and output sources. You also need to turn the "CMSS" off, and to find the checkbox in the device's control applet to enable 96kHz use. But it is nice and small (if you don't count the wall-wart supply you need, and its power cord).
Praxis has been tested in WindowsXP with the ESI
Waveterminal 192X soundcard and the ESI
Juli@. The calibration process ran very
easily and performance is excellent! (For 192kHz operation, however,
make sure your XP has been updated to SP1 or later).
Liberty Instruments can now supply the Juli@ soundcards -- please see ESI/AUDIOTRAK
Soundcards.
Praxis has been tested with the Lynx L22 soundcard, supporting 24bit operation at up to 192kHz sample rates, and works quite well with it all the way up to 24/192. This is an extremely high performance (although quite expensive) pro audio card. Setup with the Lynx mixer and fabrication of custom cable adaptors can a bit tricky, so installation information for this card can be found in our new Soundcard Calibration Pages