Zoom U-44

teddanson · Posted: 15 Oct 2020, 09:56

That's good to know the fw applied properly. How are you powering your device? I don't know if any more updates will come out for it'

admin · Posted: 15 Oct 2020, 16:28

teddanson wrote:

That's good to know the fw applied properly. How are you powering your device? I don't know if any more updates will come out for it'

One USB cable for power (plugged on a DELL screen with extra USB ports).
One USB cable for data/application to my laptop.

Windows 10 discovered it automatically but I still updated the drivers manually.

Julien

admin · Posted: 17 Oct 2020, 14:46

I'm sure I'm not far but I don't seem to be able to acquire from the SPDIF with Reaper.

I plugged LD-S9 AC3RF Out => RFD-1 => Coax Out the the U44 COAX IN 3-4.
Set Operation Mode = SPDIF Audio Interface, SPDIF Select = COAX.
I got SYNC steady red.

But in Reaper, I can only choose ZOOM IN 2 as a source.

Is ZOOM IN 3 supposed to appear in the list?

Julien

teddanson · Posted: 17 Oct 2020, 16:08

Hmm that's odd. Sounds like it's something in the Reaper config somewhere. You have the steady sync so that should rule out the U44.

Do you have the track armed to record? You should be able to configure the I/O of the U44 on the track in Reaper.

Double check the config to make sure. You should see 3 and 4 showing. I have it working over both coax and toslink. :thumbup:

teddanson · Posted: 17 Oct 2020, 16:13

Aha! I see where you screwed up!

Switch the button on the side of the device from SPDIF to Audio Interface. :thumbup:

admin · Posted: 17 Oct 2020, 17:16

teddanson wrote:

Switch the button on the side of the device from SPDIF to Audio Interface. :thumbup:

No, it was already on Audio Interface...

Shows up as Line (2- ZOOM U-44 Audio) but when selected as input, Reaper often freezes and crashes.

Defaults to 48kHz 24bit 2ch WaveOut. No signal when recording.

If I plug phones on the PHONES jack, I can hear the standard Digital Audio received on the Coax.
If I enable the AC3RF demodulator, of course I hear digital bitstream (garbage).
If I use the ZOOM as the Windows Output Audio, I can hear music on my phones plugged on the U44.
That's working fine.

It's Windows not recording over USB whatever is received on the Coax...

Reinstalled the Drivers, now it shows as Line (ZOOM U-44 Audio).
But it still crashes Reaper. Weird.

Oh... I see it's also a "Sound, video and games controllers" under ZOOM U-44 Audio but I can't select this one. Only the "Audio inputs and outputs" which seems to be related to the Analog Input 1 & 2 -- explaining why I'm not getting any signal.

=> Confirmed, if I plug a microphone in Input 1, Reaper can see the data real-time on the PC.

I just don't know how to tell the U44 to send the SPDIF data to the PC...

Julien

teddanson · Posted: 17 Oct 2020, 18:35

Have a look at this guide and substitute the ESI config for the Zoom U44. This is what I used to mine going.

https://forum.fanres.com/thread-2742.html

admin · Posted: 17 Oct 2020, 19:12

teddanson wrote:

Have a look at this guide and substitute the ESI config for the Zoom U44. This is what I used to mine going.

Switching to ASIO Line 3 was the key, thank you!!!

But the driver seems really unstable. Any on-the-fly change is very likely to crash Reaper, windows sound system and require a reboot.

Julien

teddanson · Posted: 17 Oct 2020, 19:51

Argh not good! Have you tried any captures and decoding yet?

I am keen to see how you get on. Maybe worth contacting Cockos and Zoom to let them know about the instability so they can fix it.

I had a couple of instability issues but that was if I changed device for playback after capture. Usually it is very stable.

admin · Posted: 18 Oct 2020, 13:24

teddanson wrote:

Argh not good! Have you tried any captures and decoding yet?

No luck so far!

2ch AC3

Code: Select all

[00:00:00:000] +------- BeSplit -----                          
[00:00:00:000] |  Input : C:\Import\Apps\Snd\ZOOM U-44\BeSplitv0.9b6\01-201018_2037.wav
[00:00:00:000] |  Source Sample-Rate: 48.0KHz
[00:00:00:000] |  Channels Count: 2, Bitrate: 384kbps
[00:00:00:000] |  Output : C:\Import\Apps\Snd\ZOOM U-44\BeSplitv0.9b6\01-201018_2037_Fixed.ac3
[00:00:00:000] +---------------------                          
[00:00:00:000] |  Writing C:\Import\Apps\Snd\ZOOM U-44\BeSplitv0.9b6\01-201018_2037_Fixed.ac3
[00:00:00:000] +---------------------                          
[00:00:00:000] Operation Completed !
[00:00:02:000] <-- Process Duration

=> Empty file

5ch AC3

Code: Select all

[00:00:00:000] +------- BeSplit -----                          
[00:00:00:000] |  Input : C:\Users\Julien\Documents\REAPER Media\01-201018_2206.wav
[00:00:00:000] |  Source Sample-Rate: 48.0KHz
[00:00:00:000] |  Channels Count: 2, Bitrate: 384kbps
[00:00:00:000] |  Output : C:\Users\Julien\Documents\REAPER Media\01-201018_2206_Fixed.ac3
[00:00:00:000] +---------------------                          
[00:00:00:000] |  Writing C:\Users\Julien\Documents\REAPER Media\01-201018_2206_Fixed.ac3
[00:00:00:000] +---------------------                          
[00:00:00:000] Operation Completed !
[00:00:01:000] <-- Process Duration

=> Empty file

Julien

teddanson · Posted: 18 Oct 2020, 20:01

The source file is definitely the tone captured? I had some issues with BeSplit too, it seemed to be very hit and miss with unpacking AC3 correctly (I haven't found a better tool yet). For DTS I use DTS2WAV which works every time.

agoodman · Posted: 13 Mar 2021, 06:17

teddanson wrote:

Only downside is how to capture analog tracks over RCA. Some sort of phono to XLR cables would be needed I think.

The XLR inputs on this device are combo XLR/unbalanced 1/4” phone jacks. So you can get a set of RCA to 1/4” cables, or a couple of 1/4”-RCA adaptors to enable the use of a standard RCA cable.

I use both combinations regularly at work with my zoom H4n

admin · Posted: 16 Feb 2025, 15:33

admin wrote:

No luck so far!

I revisited the subject with dtsutil - A simple utility to extract DTS bitstreams and found my problems.

To make it work:

Latest ZOOM firmware
Latest ZOOM drivers
ASIO4All drivers
Reaper (Audacity won't work)
Set Reaper to ASIO and Input as Line 3 + Line 4 (SPDIF Left and SPDIF Right respectively - same for Optical or Coax)
Set Reaper to 44,100 Hz / 16-bit / Stereo or it won't sync with the ZOOM
Record from Reaper and "Render" as 44.1K/16b/2ch WAV

That works fine with DTS.

I want to try again AC3 extraction... but I sold all my spare AC3RF demodulators, must find a new one!

Julien

admin · Posted: 03 May 2025, 10:06

admin wrote:

I want to try again AC3 extraction... but I sold all my spare AC3RF demodulators, must find a new one!

Finally got AC3 decoded!

Latest ZOOM firmware
Latest ZOOM drivers => set it to 48,000 in C:\Program Files\ZOOM\U-44 Driver\zmu44audiocp.exe
ASIO4All drivers
Reaper (Audacity won't work)
Set Reaper to ASIO and Input as Line 3 + Line 4 (SPDIF Left and SPDIF Right respectively - same for Optical or Coax)
Set Reaper to 48,000 Hz / 16-bit / Stereo or it won't sync with the ZOOM
Record from Reaper and "Render" as 48K/16b/2ch WAV

Recorded the first 3:30 of Dolby Digital Experience (1997) [PILW-7006].

Code: Select all

>besplit -core( -input c:\test.wav -output c:\test.ac3 -type ddwav -fix )
BeSplit v0.9b6 by DSPguru.
--------------------------

[00:00:00:000] +------- BeSplit -----
[00:00:00:000] |  Input : c:\test.wav
[00:00:00:000] |  Source Sample-Rate: 48.0KHz
[00:00:00:000] |  Channels Count: 5, Bitrate: 384kbps
[00:00:00:000] |  Output : c:\test.ac3
[00:00:00:000] +---------------------
[00:03:31:968] |  Writing c:\test.ac3
[00:03:31:968] +---------------------
[00:03:31:968] Operation Completed !
[00:00:02:000] <-- Process Duration

WAV is 39.2MB, AC3 is 9.7MB.

Foobar will happily play it:

Code: Select all

Duration  3:31.968 (10 174 646 samples)
Sample    rate 48000 Hz
Channels  6: FL FR FC LFE SL SR
Birate    384 kbps
Codec     ATSC A/52A (AC-3)
Encoding  Lossy

Same for VLC:

Code: Select all

Codec: A52 Audio (aka AC3) (a52)
Type: Audio
Channels: 3F2M/LFE
Sample rate: 48000 Hz

Did both sides for fun/validation:

Side 1.ac3 - 27:53 - 76.6MB
Side 2.ac3 - 19:30 - 53.5MB

Julien

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