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Overview:
PassMark SoundCheck is a Windows based application that allows users to test their PC sound card, speakers and microphone. Verify that your sound card can record and playback sounds at various audio sample rates. Check the capability of your speakers to reproduce the highest and lowest frequencies (and your capability to hear these frequencies). Create perfectly formed test tones and loop them back into your sound card to look for distortion using PassMark audio loopback cables. SoundCheck also provides an audio FX test and a surround sound test to analyse those advanced sound card features.
Compatibility:
While all Windows plug and play sound cards (Crystal, Yamaha, Creative sound blaster, ESS, etc..) are compatible, not all sound cards will support the full range of sample rates. Also, not all PC's will have the speed to support a real time display when high sample rates are used. In this case the display Frame rate may need to be lowered.
Important note: Please make sure your mixer settings are correct before trying to record with SoundCheck. See the included help file for details on how to do this. If they are not correct you will get a silent recording.
Screen shots:
Click on either image for full sized screen shots.
Feature description:
Stereo or mono sound can be recorded and played back at a variety of sample rates and resolutions. SoundCheck includes a built in tone generator that allows test tones to be generated at a selected frequency and sampling rate. This can be done using waveforms such as sine waves, saw tooth waves, white noise, and square waves. The waveform can be plotted and frequency spectrum graphed in real time using fast Fourier transform algorithms.
- Test the range of your speakers and hearing
- Simultaneous sound recording a playback (with full duplex sound cards)
- A comprehensive help file.
- Real time waveform display (like an oscilloscope)
- Real time sprectum display using fast Fourier transforms
- Adjustable frame rate for slower PCs
- Selectable sample rates from 5000Hz to 128,000Hz
- Stereo and mono recording a playback
- 8 and 16bit recording and playback
- Input and output data rate measurement
- Source device selection when multiple sound devices are installed
- Test tone generation at any frequency and amplitude
- Tone generation using sine waves, square waves, saw tooth waves, spikes and white noise.
- SoundCheck generates perfectly formed synthetic waves using the tone generation (rather than playing back recorded wave files)
What's new in V2.0
- Added ability to display both the incoming and outgoing waveforms at the same time.
- Added ability to display both the incoming and outgoing spectrum analysis at the same time.
- New 3D positional sound test
- New 3D effects test
- Information window about DirectSound capabilities
- Information window about Windows sound capabilities
- Ability to zoom in and out on a wave form
- Ability to scroll back though a waveform
- New grid display with millsecond timings
- Display of CPU load
Loopback example:
Output wave form. 400Hz Saw tooth wave at 44kHz sample rate
The same 400Hz wave form after passing through speakers and the microphone
Platforms: Windows 98, 2000, ME, XP
Requirements: 32MB Ram, 1MB Disk space
See also
PassMark Audio loopback cables
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