This FREEWARE package allows the user to view the time-wave and frequency spectrum LIVE from any Macintosh® sound input device. Real-time display is possible on faster Macintoshes; display rates of >110 frames per second are possible on a Power Mac 8100/100; >35 fps on a Quadra 950. A "Waterfall", or raster plot of previous spectral history, is presented in a separate window. Recording and playback of monophonic 8-bit sound is supported; a spectrogram can be made of the captured data; whether recorded by SoundView, or imported from a sound file. A readout provides the frequency value of a point specified by the mouse cursor.
This package contains:
• This file: "SoundView ReadMe".
• The file "SoundView Version History"
• The application itself. No special installation is required.
System Requirements:
Any Macintosh computer with:
• A 68020 or better processor. (FPU is NOT required. )
• A sound input device.
• Sound Manager 3.0 (built into system 7.5, an extension for earlier systems).
• Sound Manager 3.1 is recommended for Power Macs
How to run:
• Open the application "SoundView".
• Use the INPUT DEVICE selection in the OPTIONS menu to choose from among available devices.
• Use balloon help for assistance regarding the menu choices.
How to run fast:
For maximum speed (in decreasing order of benefit):
• Set your main monitor to 256 colors.
• Set the Block Size to 256.
• Set the Sample Rate in the OPTIONS menu to the highest value allowed.
• If you have more than one monitor, don't let any window overlap a boundary between them.
• Close other backgrounding programs (Especially Launcher or any control panels)
• Close the Time, Waterfall, or Spectrograph windows, whichever you do not need.
• Reduce ΔX , ΔY, #Lines in the WATERFALL menu.
• Disable extensions. The claimed speeds are conservative, I have found. If I disable all extensions, the speed on a 8100/80 has been as high as 138 FPS!!!! Timbuktu / Remote and MacsBug are some of the largest time thieves.
• Turn off 'Lines Mode' in the OPTIONS menu.
• Turn off 'Sync' in the OPTIONS menu.
• Turn off TimeWave or Frequency display in OPTIONS menu.
• Close the Spectragram and Capture windows.
• Play a Stevie Ray Vaughan CD. (;->)
Other things not described in the balloons:
• In the WATERFALL menu, set ΔX to zero and the mouse frequency readout becomes active in the waterfall window.
• In the WATERFALL menu, set both ΔX and ΔY to zero and you have a peak-hold display.
• Click in the Waterfall window (when it's frontmost) to clear the old data.
• In the Captured window, the radio buttons are used to zoom in on the captured data. When zoom factor is > 1, use the scroll bar to move the view.
• The time taken to make a spectrogram does NOT depend on the length of the captured data. Exactly 512 FFTs are performed, whether the data is 2 seconds or 200 seconds long. This results in 512 columns in the window. The block size setting, and CPU speed, are the primary factors affecting spectrogram speed.
• You can re-make the spectrogram with a different block size without re-recording. This allows you to change range and resolution.
• The Frames per Second number in the SPEED menu is affected by perusing the menus, the About box, or switching from background. Allow about 3 seconds after any of these before the reading is accurate. ( This number is averaged. )
• The µSec numbers in the SPEED menu are valid only for the most recent operation. If the operation was interrupted (by mouse, disk, network, or who-knows-what), these numbers are adversely affected. Do not base anything on a single reading.
• The GRAYSCALE / RAINBOW option in the CAPTURE window now applies to the live Spectrograph window, as well as to the spectrogram you make from captured data.
• A preferences file ('SoundView Prefs') is created in your SYSTEM : PREFERENCES folder. The position and ordering of windows, and the state of selected options is saved in this file when SoundView quits. When SoundView is launched, these options are in effect, and the windows are restored to their previous position and order. You may disregard this preferences file by holding down the SHIFT key when launching SoundView.
For those suitably demented:
The source code (now CODEWARRIOR ! ) is available via World Wide Web.
Includes:
• World's fastest* Fourier transform for PPC & 68K.
• World's fastest* integer SquareRoot for PPC & 68K.
• Fast line drawing (thanks, Mr. Bresenham!)
• Offscreen drawing and screen blasting.
• Building FAT projects.
• Balloon help for menu items.
* well, I didn't actually consult Mr. Guinness - if anyone can find a faster algorithm, please let me know.
