BreakAway FM Soundcards

I’ve used the following sound cards successfully:

Lynx L22 PCI
LynxTWO PCI
Marian Trace 8 PCI
EMU 0404 USB
Realtek HD audio on-board
Sound Blaster Audigy 2 ZS (PCI)
Sound Blaster Audigy 2 ZS Notebook (PCMCIA)
M Audio Delta Audiophile 192 (PCI)
Edirol FA-101 (Firewire)

Most of these need output compensation (Tilt / EQ), but once that’s done (using an external oscilloscope), they all perform perfectly.
I have not seen any problems with the Audigy 2 ZS. I also noticed Airomate said this card does not work very well with Airomate – I’m not sure why. Maybe it’s the audio I/O code in Airomate. Breakaway FM supports kernel streaming, and can thus talk to the sound card driver as directly as possible.

Any of the cards above will work perfectly.

To make Airomate work with Breakaway FM, do the following:

Set Airomate to generate FULL MPX (Pilot and RDS), but do not feed it any audio! Let it be silent. Connect Airomate output to one of the Breakaway Pipelines.

Then, select this Breakaway Pipeline as the RDS input in Breakaway FM.

Finally, feed audio to Breakaway FM the way you usually do, and use the MPX output in Breakaway FM.

Breakaway FM will synchronize to the incoming pilot and RDS, and pass them along to the output.

Using Airomate -> Breakaway FM -> MPX out, has several advantages over using Breakaway FM L/R -> Airomate -> MPX out.

• If the incoming pilot goes away (for example if Airomate crashes), Breakaway FM will instantaneously switch to internal pilot — listeners will not even know the difference, except that RDS goes away.
• Airomate is good at RDS, but not so good at audio. If you keep Breakaway’s audio out of Airomate, your station will be an order of magnitude louder and cleaner.
• Breakaway FM can compensate for sound card frequency response, to achieve tight calibrated 100% modulation with any sound card.
• You will see the RDS signal on the Breakaway FM oscilloscope, so you will know it’s there.

///Leif

I use the ESI Juli@ PCI card. It works great with both Breakaway FM and MPXtool, but it does need some tilt correction.
Maybe it’s a good idea to create a list with soundcards and their optimal settings. I think that would be very usefull for people without a oscilloscope since indeed most people don’t have one.

Diekgait

Hi Lane!

M-Audio Delta 44 is not a 192 KHz card, but it will work wonderfully with an external stereo generator.

Dj Buik, you raise a good question.

I think we will start giving out free 30-day keys for MpxTool with the purchase of Breakaway FM. That way you’ll be able to use the parallel port squarewave circuit ( http://mpxtool.com/site/input-calibrati … rator.html ) to calibrate first calibrate MpxTool’s input, and then use MpxTool as your oscilloscope for the initial calibration.

Doing it this way will not be as accurate as a real oscilloscope (as you also need an oscilloscope for 100% mpxtool calibration) but it should be 98%, so it’s a worthwhile tradeoff for those who have no other access to an oscilloscpe.

Diekgait, it’s a good idea, but sound card manufacturers often change components and specs without prior notice, between different revisions. Thus, it’s very possible that not all sound cards of the same model have the same exact performance. It may be better than nothing though, so let’s start by posting our settings in this thread — once we’ve had a few people using the same sound card posting their settings, we may be able to draw some statistically valid conclusions.

///Leif

Hi Leif,

Great job you did with Breakaway FM. It sounds great!
I’ve always used Volume Logic for testing Airomate. But Breakaway sounds even beter 😀

About connecting Airomate to Breakaway, there is another solution if you don’t want to use any input device in Airomate. You can select the "RDS only" option and enable the synchronization channel. Set the synchronization frequency to 19000Hz.
Be aware that if you enable the RDS only option that the RDS level will increase by 10 times. So it will increase from 7% to 70%. You can reduce the RDS level in Airomate but you can also reduce it in Breakaway FM.
This way of disabling the input device will make Airomate more stable because it doesn’t have to sync the in- and output anymore and it also reduce CPU power because it will only have to generate the RDS signal.

As Breakaway FM will process the best sound so will Airomate process the best RDS signal 😉

[quote author=”Leif”]
I have not seen any problems with the Audigy 2 ZS. I also noticed Airomate said this card does not work very well with Airomate – I’m not sure why. [/quote] Well that’s because the list is outdated. I’ve had many complains about Airomate not working on Audigy 2 ZS. I believe it had something to do with the first drivers for Audigy. Now days I don’t hear anyone complain about it so it is probably solved.

thank u thank u thank u!
it is the first time that one software FM proccesor works "legal at …57 KHz" and ..fine!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
It is the first time someone make a software that has excelent clipping – limiting technology.

I use hercules fortissimo soundcard without any overshoots!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
just perfect!
I hope some day that you make rds add on…

you are my money saver!!!!!!!!!