Sound Cards Work in Some Data-Acquisition Applications
Brad Thompson -- Test & Measurement World, 3/1/2000
"ePanorama PC Soundcard page"--a comprehensive collection of information, plus pointers to additional Web pages and vendor resources
www.hut.fi/Misc/Electronics/pc/sound.html
Sound-card performance benchmarks
www.rockpark.com/soundcards/
optimize.bhcom1.com/english/reviews/soundcards/
PC-specific newsgroups for sound-card information
comp.sys.ibm.pc.soundcard.misc
comp.sys.ibm.pc.soundcard.tech
Mac the Scope software ($399). With this software, users of the PowerPC Macintosh can use the system’s sound-processing capabilities to emulate an oscilloscope and spectrum analyzer
www.channld.com/mts.html
Cool Edit 2000 software (a $69 digital audio editor for Windows 95 and Windows NT) records, plays, edits and mixes a wide variety of audio file formats. Additional features include discrete and DTMF tone and noise generation, FFT filtering and display, tone generation, file-format conversion and waveform display
www.syntrillium.com
Sound Technology offers a range of signal-processing and display software and laboratory-grade sound cards. The company focuses on industrial and professional sound-measurement applications
www.SoundTechnology.com
AutoSignal software from SPSS Science provides a $1495 suite of four integrated functional signal-processing and data-reduction groups:
- data importation, generation, and modification;
- time-domain analysis procedures;
- frequency and time/frequency spectral analysis procedures; and
- advanced processes, including Fourier, wavelet, and Eigen decomposition.
Features include unattended processing, well-integrated data-reduction routines, and an extensive assortment of prepared processes. You can export to and import from Excel files and a host of additional data formats. AutoSignal's strengths include its Fourier, wavelet, and Eigen decomposition signal-processing procedures. The software includes extensive user's notes, but first-time FFT users should consult a basic textbook on the subject
www.spss.com
Shareware or Freeware
Awave Audio software reads and writes almost all audio file formats and also serves as an audio editor, player, and generic wavetable synthesizer instrument editor and format converter.
www.fmjsoft.com
DAQARTA shareware, which operates under real-mode DOS, uses a PC's sound card to provide real-time waveform display, FFT spectrum analysis, and a multicolor spectrogram analyzer system. Features include signal averaging, complex signal generation and more. Registration costs $29 for individuals and $99 for a five-user site license
www.daqarta.com
Wave Repair, an editor for WAV files, performs precision edits of sound levels and waveforms. You can use it to identify and repair clicks, pops, and transients that mar recordings of vinyl records. Capabilities include manual waveform redrawing and smoothing, interpolation, and fades. ($30 registration fee.)
homepages.nildram.co.uk/~abcomp/wavrep.htm
Oscilloscope 2.51 is a freeware sound-card dual-trace oscilloscope and spectrum analyzer for Windows 95. Features include Lissajous-pattern mode, cross-correlation coefficient measurements, and point-and-click measurements
polly.phys.msu.su/~zeld/oscill.html
For sound-card shareware applications not listed above, ZDNet offers a comprehensive software library
www.zdnet.com.
