I spent some time trying to figure out how to make this work, gathering information from different sources, and now that it is working, I share below if someone is interested. I am far from an expert, but this is a starting point for noobs like me.
The basic idea is to make measurements with REW, create an EQ filter, export the filter as convolution wave files, and use them with JRiver Media Center. It is possible to do a lot more advanced operations (multichannel, speaker crossover, crosstalk, etc), but I am showing what I did for simple stereo playback only.
The convolution wave file has its tricks:
- Can use 1 mono wave file per channel, or 1 stereo wave file for 2 channels.
- The wave files are specific for a sampling rate (44.1, 48, 88.2, 96 kHz etc).
In REW, assuming one has done the measurements and created the EQ filters (see a tutorial here), then go to File - Export - Export filters impulse response as WAV.
I used Stereo file and selected each measurement (left/right speaker) to the corresponding left/right channel of the wave file. Then tick the boxes for which sample rates REW will create the EQ filter wave files. When saving, select a filename, and REW is going to create the wave file and append a suffix to the name with the sampling rate. Example: write "filter" and it will create "filter-44k.wav".
JRiver Media Center has a very manual way of configuring it to use the convolution wave files (see here). One can go to Audio - DSP - Convolution and choose one the options below:
For option 3, I set up 2 config files for the sampling rates of 176.4/192 kHz, and had the Audio - Output Format do resampling of the different sampling rates in order to use one of the configs below. In my case, I chose to use 1 stereo filter wave file for the 44.1/88.2/176.4 kHz "family", and 1 stereo filter wave file for the 48/96/192 kHz "family".
The config files are below (filename and the content I wrote on Notepad).
So finally it is done. During playback, the Audio - DSP - Convolution screen shows if all is working correctly. Depending on the song, MC should be auto-switching between the config files and filter wave files now.
The basic idea is to make measurements with REW, create an EQ filter, export the filter as convolution wave files, and use them with JRiver Media Center. It is possible to do a lot more advanced operations (multichannel, speaker crossover, crosstalk, etc), but I am showing what I did for simple stereo playback only.
The convolution wave file has its tricks:
- Can use 1 mono wave file per channel, or 1 stereo wave file for 2 channels.
- The wave files are specific for a sampling rate (44.1, 48, 88.2, 96 kHz etc).
In REW, assuming one has done the measurements and created the EQ filters (see a tutorial here), then go to File - Export - Export filters impulse response as WAV.
I used Stereo file and selected each measurement (left/right speaker) to the corresponding left/right channel of the wave file. Then tick the boxes for which sample rates REW will create the EQ filter wave files. When saving, select a filename, and REW is going to create the wave file and append a suffix to the name with the sampling rate. Example: write "filter" and it will create "filter-44k.wav".
JRiver Media Center has a very manual way of configuring it to use the convolution wave files (see here). One can go to Audio - DSP - Convolution and choose one the options below:
- To use a single wave file directly. All music sampling rates will be resampled to use the sampling rate of the convolution wave file. Example: convolution filter wave file is 44.1 kHz, all the music being played, be it 48 kHz, 96 kHz or DSD64, will be resampled to 44.1 kHz during playback before using that filter wave file.
- To use 1 configuration file, which I had to create using their tutorial, in which for 1 sampling rate you specify which wave files to use. Same as above, it will resample all other sampling rates to that frequency specified in the config file. But with the config file one can use 2 mono wave files and map so that each channel of the music uses the appropriate wave file.
- And finally, what I ended up using, is to set up multiple configuration files, one for each sampling rate pointing to its stereo wave file. The config files need to use a specific file name format. This way, for each sampling rate JRiver MC is going to play, it chooses the correct config file and the correct convolution wave file.
For option 3, I set up 2 config files for the sampling rates of 176.4/192 kHz, and had the Audio - Output Format do resampling of the different sampling rates in order to use one of the configs below. In my case, I chose to use 1 stereo filter wave file for the 44.1/88.2/176.4 kHz "family", and 1 stereo filter wave file for the 48/96/192 kHz "family".
The config files are below (filename and the content I wrote on Notepad).
config2.0_176.cfg
176400 2 2 0
0 0
0 0
C:\path\filter-176k.wav
0
0.0
0.0
C:\path\filter-176k.wav
1
1.0
1.0
config2.0_192.cfg
19200 2 2 0
0 0
0 0
C:\path\filter-192k.wav
0
0.0
0.0
C:\path\filter-192k.wav
1
1.0
1.0
So finally it is done. During playback, the Audio - DSP - Convolution screen shows if all is working correctly. Depending on the song, MC should be auto-switching between the config files and filter wave files now.
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