Just thought I would share my experience with having more than 8 active channels using Jriver in Windows 11 - hopefully others with similar plans will find this useful
So far I have always used less than 8 channels or 8 channels and it is relatively straightforward to set up Jriver for such a channel configuration
However recently I have bumped into the following challenge: moving my front speakers to a fully active 3-way design plus having two DIY subs (this and this) already plus the rear passive speakers
That is 6 + 2 + 2 = 10 channels
So how to configure Jriver to handle the front 6 channels, along with the subs and the rears? And add Dirac Live into the picture that I wanted to 'see' my system as 4.0 (Quadraphonic), meaning that the two subs are pre-integrated into the fronts and of course the fronts are already integrated into a single Front Left and Front Right speaker. The rears are passive coaxial speakers (for now....)
I have a Focusrite Scarlett 18i20 4th Gen (10 analog outs + an additional 16 channels via ADAT = 26 channels in total)
The setup process:
First I had to enable Jriver to allow more than 8 channels, for that I used 7.1.4 (=12) channel config
Then I set up the channel downmixing for movies (Sub and Rear channels to be downmixed; the Center is already downmixed in the previous screen). Also I change the order of the channels to correspond to 4.0 (= Front Left, Front Right, Surround Left, Surround Right - and with that I had to ensure that the rear speakers are connected to Output 3-4 on my Focusrite Scarlett 18i20 4th Gen). This last step is needed for Dirac Live to work properly with 4.0.
The order of filters in Jriver is also very important:
First the channel downmix as mentioned above, then Dirac, then I use a CraveEQ instance for my room curve to taste, then the channel config and finally the crossover using Metaplugin
(I know this looks like a weird order but because of Dirac, this is necessary)
This is how the channel config looks like (Parametric EQ)
This ensures all the channels are created (fronts copied to the subs and the all the 6 channels in the front) and their volume and delay are all synced
And finally the crossovers using Metaplugin:
The first row contains the minimum phase part of the crossovers and the second row contains the linear phase part of the crossovers (= mixed phase)
All Linkwitz-Riley 24dB/octave
That's it in a nutshell, I had to spend quite a few hours setting this up so I hope it helps others here reduce that time
PS: in summer I will be moving to my new house as described here; I will share that setup's Jriver config too
So far I have always used less than 8 channels or 8 channels and it is relatively straightforward to set up Jriver for such a channel configuration
However recently I have bumped into the following challenge: moving my front speakers to a fully active 3-way design plus having two DIY subs (this and this) already plus the rear passive speakers
That is 6 + 2 + 2 = 10 channels
So how to configure Jriver to handle the front 6 channels, along with the subs and the rears? And add Dirac Live into the picture that I wanted to 'see' my system as 4.0 (Quadraphonic), meaning that the two subs are pre-integrated into the fronts and of course the fronts are already integrated into a single Front Left and Front Right speaker. The rears are passive coaxial speakers (for now....)
I have a Focusrite Scarlett 18i20 4th Gen (10 analog outs + an additional 16 channels via ADAT = 26 channels in total)
The setup process:
First I had to enable Jriver to allow more than 8 channels, for that I used 7.1.4 (=12) channel config
Then I set up the channel downmixing for movies (Sub and Rear channels to be downmixed; the Center is already downmixed in the previous screen). Also I change the order of the channels to correspond to 4.0 (= Front Left, Front Right, Surround Left, Surround Right - and with that I had to ensure that the rear speakers are connected to Output 3-4 on my Focusrite Scarlett 18i20 4th Gen). This last step is needed for Dirac Live to work properly with 4.0.
The order of filters in Jriver is also very important:
First the channel downmix as mentioned above, then Dirac, then I use a CraveEQ instance for my room curve to taste, then the channel config and finally the crossover using Metaplugin
(I know this looks like a weird order but because of Dirac, this is necessary)
This is how the channel config looks like (Parametric EQ)
This ensures all the channels are created (fronts copied to the subs and the all the 6 channels in the front) and their volume and delay are all synced
And finally the crossovers using Metaplugin:
The first row contains the minimum phase part of the crossovers and the second row contains the linear phase part of the crossovers (= mixed phase)
All Linkwitz-Riley 24dB/octave
That's it in a nutshell, I had to spend quite a few hours setting this up so I hope it helps others here reduce that time
PS: in summer I will be moving to my new house as described here; I will share that setup's Jriver config too
