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Avisoft-RECORDER
Avisoft-RECORDER is a versatile multichannel
triggering harddisk recording system. It was designed for the
special needs of bioacoustics, but it can also be used for any other
audio signals. Possible applications are:
- Long-term monitoring and recording of acoustic events both in
the laboratory and in the field.
- High-speed harddisk-recording with sampling rates up to 1 MHz*
with various data acquisition boards (Avisoft-UltraSoundGate, National Instruments,
Data
Translation, Measurement Computing,
ines) and
soundcards (up to 192 kHz).
- Pre-trigger recording of sporadic animal vocalizations in the
field (either manually or automated using one of the various
triggering options : threshold / manual / digital input / timer / time program
... ).
- Individual triggering and saving of single channels from
multichannel soundcards or data acquisition boards.
- Multichannel real-time spectrographic display.
- High-pass filtering for attenuating low-frequency noise.
- Real-time acoustic monitoring of ultrasound signals by using
heterodyning, aliasing or envelope tracking techniques.
- Real-time frequency measurements, that can also be issued by
voice messages.
- Playback through both standard audio interfaces and National Instruments DAQ devices, optionally with playlist functionality.
- USV monitoring option for counting and measuring rat or mice ultrasonic vocalizations.
- Batch mode for processing large numbers of animals in USV drug testing procedures.
- Acquiring GPS location data from NMEA 0183 compatible GPS receivers and logging the geographic locations of the recorded .wav files into .gpx or .kml files.
* The maximum sampling
rate for real-time display and streaming to disk depends on the type
of acquisition board and computer performance (USB, PCMCIA or PCI
board, processor speed, graphics adapter, disk transfer rate,
...) |
Data flow scheme |
Avisoft-RECORDER
screen shot |
configuration diolog
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Up to 8 channels, each
sampling at up to 1 MHz can be monitored simultaneously. Optionally,
Avisoft-RECORDER can record from up to 32 audio channels. Each
channel can be triggered separately by different trigger events. An
trigger event can be the exceeding of a certain energy threshold
within a pre-defined frequency interval. This mechanism prevents
triggering caused by undesired disturbance signals outside the
frequency range of the animal vocalizations. Additionally, an
entropy parameter can be used to discriminate between noise and
pure-tone signals. For more sophisticated signal filtering, the
Avisoft-SASLab classification facility may be used.
Alternatively, trigger events can be keystrokes, joystick
button hits or timer intervals. Once a trigger event has occurred,
the assigned channel(s) will be written into numbered WAV-files onto
the hard drive as long as the trigger event is active. In order to
capture sounds preceding the trigger event, a pre-trigger duration
can be specified. Additionally, a hold-time can be defined to
prevent cutting up of related sound elements.
The
created event files are time-stamped (at sample clock resolution)
enabling subsequent re-assembling into larger continuous files for
precise temporal analysis. Sound-activated recording can be
restricted to user-defined periods of (day-) time.
The
adapted Avisoft-SASLab Pro sound analysis software and the LOG-file
output support quick navigation through the captured sound files.
For single-channel applications a special low-cost version is
available.
Both standard audio interfaces and National Instruments
DAQ devices can be used for playing back .wav files. Playing a .wav file can be initiated simply by dragging the desired file into the RECORDER application window.
There is also a versatile playlist feature enabling automated
playback of long file sequences. |
playlist screen shot
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The USV monitoring option provides instant results on the acquired ultrasonic vocalizations. Various descriptive statistics items such as the total number, total duration, mean duration or standard deviation of the detected USVs can be reported.
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USV monitoring screen shots
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GPS data logging screen shots
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System Requirements
- Operating system: Microsoft Windows 98, ME, 2000, XP, Vista or 7, including Intel-based Apple Macintosh running Parallels or Boot Camp
- Analog input: Soundcard or audio interface with common MME/WDM driver, UltraSoundGate, National Instruments E or M-series DAQ device (conventional NI-DAQ or NI-DAQmx driver)*, Data Translation* or Measurement Computing* data acquision devices
- For GPS data logging, a GPS receiver complying with the NMEA-0183 data protocol is required (either a Bluetooth GPS receiver, a USB GPS mouse or a handheld GPS unit)
* Please note that the operation of these data acquisition
boards is not always straightforward. Decent knowledge and
experience is required to connect the analog inputs
(and outputs) properly. In contrast, common soundcards and the
Avisoft-UltraSoundGate devices are much easier to handle. For
more details on the RECORDER software consult the DEMO version with its online help system, the
tutorial and the User's Guide.
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avisoft.com