Magic Beans tune software

[NBPK402]

I just picked up the Magic Beans Pro software to see if it can do a better job at making filters and curves than I have been getting with REW. Per Magic Beans...you can export the results to REW, and then to the crossover. Has anyone tried this?

I also have a little dilemma...since I have 2 horns stacked (the top horn with 2 15" woofers and a compression driver, and the bottom horn only has 2 woofers), with a bass horn next to the stacked horn. Magic Beans uses a moving mic for tuning (which I have wanted to try for quite a while).

The dilemma is how to do the moving mic...do I tune the top horn by itself, and then tune again for the bottom horn, and then the bass horns, or should I tune the stacked horn and bass horn as one? I currently have them tuned as a 3 way horn.

In the pictures you can see the stacked horns without any drivers, and then in the one with the grill on...you can see the bass horn next to it.

 

[JStewart]

That’s a great question.
@Joentell might be the best person to answer.

I’d like to learn more about this product. Following now.

 

[NBPK402]

That’s a great question.
@Joentell might be the best person to answer.

I’d like to learn more about this product. Following now.

I am waiting to hear back from him, so... I decided to take the tune I had and use the magic bean software for a try. According to the video I watched for the near field you just start about half a meter away from the speaker and then slowly move farther away until you are about 1 meter away (on big speakers you can move farther back, but for the first couple if tunes I did not). On the first attempt I forgot to zero out all the peqs... I then ran the software and could not figure out how to input into REW. I now think the settings might be for making a room curve as they only show the frequencies and the db cut. I input the settings directly into my Xilica on the input for each channel (normally I will also input per driver on the outputs, but I already had somewhat of a good tune already. The 2nd attempt, I zeroed out all the PEQs, and only left the 300hz crossover for the mid to hf in. I then ran Magic Beans again... when I got the results I input them jnto the inputs again as a new tune in the Xilica.

All I can say is my mids are super clear right now, and has a similar warmth to the vocals with no loss in clarity...if anything I have more clarity.

It was expensive even with the sale (much more than I planned on spending), but I think it has real potential.

I think the next tune will be with REW for the near field, from REW in the inputs. Then I will do the Magic Beans tune (near field and mlp), and input it as a curve. Then run REW from the mlp and see how it is.

One thing that was awkward (maybe it is just me doing it wrong), is that I had to use the generator in REW for pink noise and then start Magic Beans.

Another strange thing is... in the past I lowered the gain...sometimes as much as 15db for a driver. This time I did not lower any gains...just ran Magic Beans, and the buts were significantly less!

 

[NBPK402]

Here is what Magic Beans shows for tune 1 (made with old tune), and tune 2 made from scratch with only a 300hz crossover. I need to figure out how to make a custom tune that area between 100hz and 1khz (make a nice smooth area with no dip.

 

[NBPK402]

I found out that I need to use the generic dsp. I also found out that apparently Xilica uses Oct instead of Q. Luckily I found a online calculator and was able to convert all the Qs to Octs. Setup sounds a good bit different now. Mids are very clear and bass is powerful with out getting sloppy. I think Friday I will try a REW tune, and then follow it up with a near and MLP tune again to see if I can get the tune even better.. Next week I am going to see if I can get my Yamaha pro 2x6 crossover up and running as it uses Qs. In addition I think it has a wider range in Q than the Xilica does (Xilica shows what the Q is...just it is greyed out, so you cannot just input the Q and have it change the Oct). Using Magic Beans is definitely much easier to learn and tune...meaning it is easier for a beginner to use and get a good tune. I am still not sure if it is as good as a person who knows how to tune can get it, though.

I could be wrong, but I think the advantage it has is with a near and mlp (with a moving Mic in circles at the MLP and for near field moving the mic away from the speaker), appears to help it know what is noise and what is not. The way it is usually used from what I have seen is for transferring results to Audyssey and Dirac.