Maya EX5 integration

mercury7 · Post by **mercury7** » Sat Nov 19, 2005 8:33 pm

I'm trying to use an external usb surround sound device with G-Force.

The manufacturer's website is here:
http://www.audiotrak.net/mayaex5.htm

When I play music, run the standalone program, and cycle through all the inputs (Shift-A), none of them appear to have any signal.

Shift-A yields the following, and all of their channels
QVE for Maya (the default)
REALTEK AC'97
USB Audio

But, like I said, not one of them has any signal.

chkman · Post by **chkman** » Sat Nov 19, 2005 8:42 pm

It looks fancy! What is your music source? Something external to the PC? If the PC is creating the sound then that device would just be outputting. If you're running a CD or DVD player or something into it, it should in theory be supplying data to G-Force.

Don't have one so I can't say for sure.

mercury7 · Post by **mercury7** » Sat Nov 19, 2005 10:06 pm

I'm using the front end, Centrafuse (http://centrafuse.com), to play the music in my car.

I've got a laptop in the trunk, and it outputs sound to the Maya, which is run to the amp. So, basically I've got 5.1 surround sound in the car.

I want to embed G-Force into Centrafuse, so that I can take the cool visuals on the road with me.

The problem is, on the laptop, when the music is playing, the standalone doesn't pick up the signal. I have a feeling it has something to do with the software that the Maya came with. Could that software somehow bypass Windows so that G-Force can't retrieve the information?

chkman · Post by **chkman** » Sat Nov 19, 2005 10:35 pm

So Centrafuse is a program running on the laptop? Then your music is technically an output from the computer. G-Force standalone needs an input. A microphone should work as an input but of course it will pick up sounds other than the music. I definately would NOT connect the headphone out to the mic jack as that would most likely blow it out.

I see Centrafuse allows for plugins but I don't think G-Force supports it. At least not yet.

I assume that USB Audio is refering to the Maya? What is REALTEK AC'97 ?
Maybe there is an input with it that you could wire into? Does the laptop itself have a line-in jack? It might be okay to wire the headphone out into it.

Otherwise you'd need another laptop to run G-Force on.

mercury7 · Post by **mercury7** » Sun Nov 20, 2005 1:40 am

Yeah, Centrafuse acts as a media player, just like WMP or Winamp. But, since it's not supported by G-Force, I have to use the standalone to make a visualization.

In Centrafuse, you can load external applications inside the program. So, they run independently, but are 'housed' inside Centrafuse.

But, that's all not the problem. I just wanted to let you guys know how I would be using the program.

"USB Audio" seems to be a parallel representation of the Maya. "REALTEK AC'97" is the onboard sound card.

JUST FOUND THIS OUT >> When running the standalone, the microphone input works fine from the Maya. I speak into the microphone, and G-Force anylizes the signal. When I switch to "Stereo Mix" mode, it appears that the signal is so small I can barely see it. If I use the "+" key to increase the scale, I can see the visualization, but there is still little difference in the highs and the lows.

I have all volume controls (Wave Out, Master Volume, Maya Volume, and Windows Media Player Volume) set to high. Is there another way to get G-Force to 'hear' what I hear through the headphones?

chkman · Post by **chkman** » Sun Nov 20, 2005 1:04 pm

Is your amp driven from the line out or the heaphone jack? Does the soundcard have a line in? You could wire the line out into the line in with a patch cord having a male prong on each end BUT don't ever select that input with your program. The device webpage says:

Coaxial digital input and output for S/PDIF digital connections.

. I don't know much about digital outputs, I am still using two channel analog. You would need to ask the manufacturer if such a connection would be harmful to the unit.

All I can say is that you need to find a way to run the sound back into one of the computer inputs. And don't select that input except with G-Force standalone or you'll have a feedback loop that might not be bad but certainly can't be good for it.

Ask SoundSpectrum if they would add support for the Centrafuse program. They support about a dozen players already, what's one more?

mercury7 · Post by **mercury7** » Sun Nov 20, 2005 5:24 pm

On my home computer, the "wave out mix" on the standalone "hears" the sound going to the speakers.

This is the same on the laptop for my car except, for some reason the wave appears to be so small is not dectable. On my home computer, G-Force dances all over the place, but on the laptop, the wave is a straight line with VERY faint movements.

The problem has nothing to do with Centrafuse, because I am testing this with the standalone and Windows Media Player.

It would be nice for SoundSpectrum to write a plugin for Centrafuse, but it's not really that necessary since I can embed the standalone.

I could jimmy rig it by using the line out to line in, but I'd prefer to just get the "Wave Out" setting working.

Any comments from Andy?

chkman · Post by **chkman** » Sun Nov 20, 2005 6:03 pm

If it was a plugin to Centrafuse it would have access to the sound that Centrafuse is generating.

I don't know why wave out mix would work on one computer and not the other.

mercury7 · Post by **mercury7** » Sun Nov 20, 2005 10:12 pm

Good point, chkman!

How do I go about requesting the plugin?

chkman · Post by **chkman** » Mon Nov 21, 2005 9:33 am

You'd have to ask Support (at sign) SoundSpectrum.com for help. It's something that Andy or the new guy would have to do. Having G-Force plug into Centrafuse is something that they'd want to do but I know that they're pretty busy so I don't know how long you'd have to wait.

mercury7 · Post by **mercury7** » Wed Nov 23, 2005 5:47 pm

Okay, I'll send an email.

Wonder why they don't check the boards everyday, though.

chkman · Post by **chkman** » Wed Nov 23, 2005 7:57 pm

Actually I mentioned it with one of my beta reports. Andy sounded interested, ask me for a link to it. Said it shouldn't take too much to do.

Wolf · Post by **Wolf** » Thu Nov 24, 2005 6:11 pm

I saw Maya and thought it was the 3d program lol

mercury7 · Post by **mercury7** » Thu Nov 24, 2005 8:42 pm

Now that'd be cool, import your G-Force into Alias Maya software!

mercury7 · Post by **mercury7** » Thu Nov 24, 2005 9:38 pm

chkman wrote:Actually I mentioned it with one of my beta reports. Andy sounded interested, ask me for a link to it. Said it shouldn't take too much to do.

There's no PMing or email addresses on this board, lol.

That sounds good though! Centrafuse has an SDK, so I would imagine it wouldn't be too hard for someone as talented as Andy.