SeaPro 2.0j

Software developed by Gianni Pavan © 1998-2013

Thanks for your interest in SeaPro - Sound Emission Analyzer Pro edition

SeaPro was developed to provide real-time sound analysis capabilities on a Windows PC.
Mainly developed for bioacoustic studies, this software can be used for a wide range of applications requiring real-time display of sounds and vibrations.
It allows to record and view in real-time the spectrographic features of sounds acquired by any sound device compatible with Windows. It also allows to play and analyze standard 16 bit .wav files, either mono or stereo.

A free version, with reduced features, is also available for testing and personal, non profit, non professional use. The free version of the software, named SeaWave, can be redistributed.

SeaWave was primarily addressed at the students of the course on Bioacoustics held at CIBRA to provide them with a tool for recording and analyzing sounds.

However, SeaWave is now distributed for personal use, evaluation, testing and also for education; the user is kindly requested to provide feedback to the Author about the hardware (CPU, RAM, HD type, sound board or sound chip, display type and resolution) and software configuration (Operating System, software drivers for sound acquisition) of the PC on which the software is installed and used. Comments on the software and hints for improving it will be welcome. Any public use, e.g. presentations, lessons, publications, including web pages, which include spectrograms made with this software must include suitable references to the download website (http://www.unipv.it/cibra/seawave.html) and acknowledgements to the developer (G.Pavan, CIBRA, University of Pavia). Learn more about SeaWave

SeaPro is addressed at commercial/professional use

Commercial versions

Two commercial versions are available:

SeaPro Standard - one or two channels up to 250k sampling (replaces previous SeaPro and SeaUltra versions)
SeaPro Multichannel - one or two channels up to 250k sampling, 4 and 8 channels up to 192k sampling

Commercial Policy

Discounts and multiple licenses are available for non-profit, Research and Academic Institutions.
As CIBRA and the Author are willing to support bioacoustic research, free licenses are available for economically disadvantaged Countries and Institutions.

Research versions

SeaPro has been primarily developed to support both terrestrial and underwater bioacoustic studies at the Centro Interdisciplinare di Bioacustica e Ricerche Ambientali (CIBRA) of the University of Pavia, Italy. http://www.unipv.it/cibra
A research version is continuously being updated by the Author at CIBRA.
The research version is available within research partnership with CIBRA.

The development of dsp techniques and of low-cost high-speed computer hardware with large hard disks has made the computer analysis of bioacoustical signals an every-day invaluable tool for ethological research and for monitoring the underwater environment.

This sound analysis and display software runs in Windows versions 95/98/NT/2000/ME/XP/7 and uses any installed windows-compliant sound device, including digital I/O boards, USB and FireWire external sound devices and internal PCI sound boards. The software works well on notebooks, netbooks and tablets too and this makes it a great tool for field research. Also, it can be used as a recorder replacement, just to record sounds to hard disk.
As it is based on Windows it provides ease of use and full compatibility with the sound devices and sound analysis/editing software available on the market (e.g. Audacity - freeware - and Adobe Auditon - commercial).

Main features include: 1 or 2 channels, real-time high resolution spectrogram display, wrap-around or scrolling display, wide control on all analysis parameters, frequency-time cursor while in real-time mode, FFT size up to 16k points, frequency zoom capabilities with real-time spanning, frequency tracking, file analysis, file play with real-time display, drag & drop file play, play list management with real-time file concatenation, file recording with real-time display, scheduled recording, display up to 2560x1440 pixels (up to 5120x1440 on a two displays configuration), display save in .bmp format. More functions are in development. Sound files and spectrograms can be saved in standard formats to allow further processing with other software.

Depending on the installed sound acquisition devices, analog I/O is allowed in the audio frequency range and/or in the ultrasonic range up to 48, 96, 192, 200 and 250 kHz. Digital I/O by means of PCI boards or USB/FireWire devices is also possible to provide direct transfer from DAT recorders or other digital sources to the PC.

High resolution real-time capabilities, typically available in much more expensive instruments, are very useful in field experiments to monitor the acoustic activities of the subjects (immediate correlation among observed behaviours and emitted/received signals) and to optimise the instrumental setup (signal to noise ratio and quality of the received signals, transducer placement). These facilities allow to immediately evaluate the results of an experiment instead of waiting for later analyses on the recordings; also, they make easier to analyse long recordings. A portable version based on a notebook can be easily moved across laboratories or used in on-field applications, for example those requiring real-time visualisation and recording of acoustic events.

A typical application for which the software was developed is the monitoring, recording and classification of sounds received by towed arrays or other underwater acoustic sensors while performing marine mammals’ acoustic and visual surveys. A lightweight portable equipment allows to perform acoustic surverys on small platforms of opportunity.

SeaPro and SeaWave have been developed for bioacoustic scientific studies however they can be successfully used for any application requiring real-time display of sounds and vibrations.
Hard-disk recording (16 bit linear – uncompressed - wav format) is limited by hard-disk space only; recording of single files is allowed up to 2 GB (680MB in SeaWave).
The software allows to analyze sound files stored in uncompressed wav format up to 2GB in size.

 Installation

Run the setup program to install it in your Windows system. A SeaPro folder and program group will be created. Jump to Installation and updating to learn more.

Starting the program

The program can be started:

• clicking on the icon in the Start Menu system (the program starts in Real-time mode by default); if present, it loads a user defined default configuration
  

• clicking on an eventual shortcut placed on the desktop or elsewhere (the program starts in Real-time mode)

• dropping a file on the program icon or on a shortcut (the programs starts in File Play mode)

• using the RUN command (it is possible to provide a filename to start the program in File Play mode)

• calling it from within another program (from a PowerPoint slide, for example)

• calling it from a batch program

• clicking on an .wav audio filename if the file extension has been associated with SeaPro (it starts in File Play mode)

• right-clicking on a .wav audio filename, selecting the option "Open with..." and choosing SeaPro
  

Unless the user has set a default configuration, SeaPro starts set to analyze in real-time one channel from the Wave Mapper with 48 kHz sampling rate and standard analysis and display parameters.

To start the spectrogram display press the Start button. While the spectrogram is running, analysis parameters cannot be changed. Press Stop to stop the spectrogram to modify analysis parameters.

If the program starts in File Play mode, the spectrogram and the playback starts immediately. To load a new file it is required to Stop a previous analysis/play.

Running multiple instances (disabled in SeaWave)

Two or more instances of the software can be run on a same display or in two different displays, if available. Two instances can’t use the same sound device for the same function unless the sound device driver allows multi client operation; if the sound device supports full duplex operations, one instance can play a file while another uses the same device to acquire sounds.
If multiple SeaPro are required for recording, it is recommended to set the block size with a high value and to set each instance to record on a different disk.
It is often useful to have a SeaPro optimized for recording to disk and maybe a second instance, optimized for display, whose parameters can be changed (stopping and restarting spectrogram is required).
SeaPro can save its configuration in a default configuration file named seapro.ini or in a user defined .ini file (see Advanced Settings, [Save Default Configuration] button).
When SeaPro starts it loads the default configuration file. On the contrary, user specified configurations must be chosen and loaded by the user (see Advanced Settings).
To facilitate the use of different configurations, optimized for different tasks, it is possible to copy and rename SeaPro.exe; for example, the user can make multiple copies of the program with different names, each one with its own configuration file having the same name. SeaPro.exe  loads seapro.ini, a copy named SeaProBat.exe can be set with parameters optimized for recording bats and its default configuration will be saved as seaprobat.ini.

Display structure and user interface

At startup the program appears in a form sized at 1024x600 by default. If the available screen resolution is higher than 1024x600, the form width and height can be increased to fit the user needs or to fit the screen size. The minimum screen size allowed is 800x600.

It is recommended to resize the screen when the spectrogram is not running (stop mode). A default form size can be set in the Advanced Settings panel.

On dual display systems the software can be run in either displays or expanded to use the whole width up to 5120x1440 pixels.

The display form is organized in 4 areas:

• Menù area : located on top of the form holds the main menù and some information lines.

• Display area: the central area of the form holding the spectrogram window and, on the right side, a panel with some basic settings.

• The “Quick Settings” panel can be switched on and off by pressing CTRL Q or by a menù command while the spectrogram is in stop mode. While a spectrogram is running, the panel is inactive.

• Command area: located at the bottom of the form holds two frames with the start/stop commands and some real-time controls. The area can host additional frames.
  

Most of the controls are buttons and combo boxes with a predefined list of options or values to be chosen by the user. Though, when a combo box contains only numeric values, it is possible to input user defined values. In such a case, the user is totally responsible of the correctness and usefulness of the entered settings and of the resulting effects!

Customizing default parameters

Some analysis parameters can be stored on disk to be loaded by default at startup or to be quickly selected and loaded by the user. Also, analysis parameters can be associated to sound files or folders to be loaded automatically.

Files containing parameters for the program have the .preset and .ini extension. As they are plain text files, the user can create or modify them by using the notepad or any other text editor. To make this operation easier, the .preset extension can be associated with the notepad or another editor by using standard windows commands (folder menù: view, folder options, file types).

At startup the program looks into the start folder for a default.preset file to be loaded automatically. The start folder is the folder in which the executable is stored and executed; normally, it is the folder where the executable has been placed by the installation program.

Default Paths

Each time the program starts, it also looks into the program folder for a “DefPaths.ini” file containing the default paths where to look for files to be analyzed or where to save files. The file is a simple text file; it can be easily created and edited by the user.

The DefPaths file must contain four valid pathnames (actually the software does not check for their validity):

Path for opening audio files and loading/saving presets files

Path for recording audio files and for saving the audio buffer if active

Path for saving display images

Path for saving log files

If the file is not found, the above paths are assigned to the program folder.

Example of a DefPaths file:

c:\audio\library\
d:\recording\
c:\audio\pictures\
c:\audio\logs\

The default paths file can be edited manually. Though, it can be generated by SeaPro by clicking on the “Save default Paths” button available in both the basic and advanced settings panels. If the defpaths.ini file already exists, it is replaced. No confirmation is asked.

Default basic analysis parameters

Each time the program starts looks into the program folder for a “default.preset” file containing the Basic Settings. Normally, analysis parameters can be saved into .preset files with arbitrary names (Preset files). If the user saves the parameters in the program folder with the name “default”, those parameters will be loaded automatically each time the program starts. To make easy the creation of a default settings file, in the Settings panel a button allows to save the current settings as default parameters.

The .preset files can be edited by the user using any text editor; it is recommended to edit an existing file without inserting, removing, or moving lines; comments are not allowed. Numeric values can be replaced by an asterisk to make them ininfluent.

Although, it is preferable to manage presets by using the Basic Settings Panel and the Save and Load commands.

Example of a “.preset” (left column, comments are not allowed in the files):

16384	block size
48000	sampling rate
512	fft size
512	window size
Hanning	window type
512	scan step
10	colour scale
Wave Mapper	input device
Off	ram buffer setting
0	zoom
1 – mono	channels

 

Analysis parameters associated to .wav files

Each time the program opens a .wav file it looks into the file's folder for a file “.preset” with the same name of the .wav file. If a matching preset file is found, the parameters are automatically loaded with the .wav file. The .preset file structure is the same as above.

General configuration

It is possible to save and retrieve in a configuration file (.ini) all control settings. The ini file can be named by the user; it is also possible to save a default configuration file (Sea*.ini) which is automatically loaded each time the program starts. This allows to tailor the program settings to suit the needs of the user. The commands are placed in the Advanced Option panel.

However, analysis settings are primarily managed through presets. As default presets are loaded after loading the configuration file, the default preset file, if present, replaces the basic analysis settings loaded by the configuration file.

The default paths file, if present, is loaded after the configuration file and thus it replaces the paths loaded in the configuration.

Warning: removal of .ini and .preset files, can be performed only by opening the program folder and manually deleting the files. If those filese are deleted, the program loads its original default settings.

Configuring sampling rates

The program includes a series of normally used sampling rates, though, not all audio boards may support all them. Also, each sound board may have its own series of supported rates.

To overcome this problem, it is possible to replace the default sampling rates with a user defined list better matching the installed sound device(s) (SeaPro only).

For example, if the installed board allows only sampling rates supported by studio gear (44100, 48000, 88200, 96000), or the user wants to use and see only a given series, it is possible to force SeaPro to display user defined rates. The list of preferred rates must be placed in the program directory in a plain text file named "rates.ini".

Note: To restore original SeaPro rates it is required to delete or rename the rates.ini file.

Selecting the Audio Device for Input and Output

At startup the software checks for installed sound devices. Typically, at least two devices will be available: the Wave Mapper and a device with the name of the hardware installed in the PC. If you have more than one device installed, their names will appear after the Wave Mapper.

If more than one board is installed, the Wave Mapper will be associated to the “preferred device” set in Windows. All the available boards will be shown after the Wave Mapper. Boards with many selectable inputs or outputs (analog and digital, for example) may appear as multiple devices.

If a multichannel board is installed you may see a series of devices, each one matching a couple of L and R channels (for example "boardx 1 & 2; boardx 3 & 4; boardx 5 & 6; boardx 7 & 8).

Warning: Some multichannels boards may also appear as a multichannel device if their drive is WDM, that is the driver version just for multichannel audio. This means that all the boards channels are available in interleaved mode. SEA is not compatible with multichannel interleaved mode. When installing a multichannel board you should verify the drivers include compatibility with MME, that is the driver version for dual channel audio. In some cases you could be asked to select among a standard MME driver and a WDM driver. Normally WDM drivers include compatibility with the MME standard. If the WDM drivers does not work, install the MME driver if available. If SEA still not work, please contact the board manufacturer for obtaining a MME compatible driver and inform the SEA team at sea@nauta-rcs.it

Sometime there are problems in the automatic recognition of the connected USB devices at PC startup. In some occasions it is required to boot the PC with the USB devices disconnected and to connect the USB devices only when Windows is loaded and ready. If a USB device is disconnected while the program is running, the device name will remain in the device list until the software is closed and restarted, or until the "Refresh" command is performed. Selecting a disconnected device may produce unpredictable errors.

The "Refresh" command in the "Utility" menu' allows to refresh the device lists while the program is already running (but in stop mode); it allows to recognize a sound device connected after the program started.

Warning: With some motherboards it may happen strange devices appear in the audio devices list; for example a modem device or a game peripheral. Don’t use them.

Setting Audio Inputs

SEA relies on the mixer program provided by Windows or on similar programs provided by the sound board manufacturer. The standard mixer can be shown by clicking on the loudspeaker icon in the system tray (typically in the lower right corner of the screen).

To set inputs and levels with the standard mixer:

Right Click on the speaker icon in the system try, Click on Open Volume Controls, Click on Options, then on Properties, then click on Recording (in the Recording Properties panel you can select which inputs should appear in the Recording Mixer), then OK: the mixer levels panel will be displayed to select the desired audio input(s) and the level(s).

After having set the levels, it is recommended to minimize the panel to maintain it reachable quickly.

Some professional sound boards install their own control panel to override the standard mixer. Other may not have software controls. Refer to the sound board documentation to access the settings.

Warning: with some sound boards the mixer allows to have many inputs active at the same time. To get the sounds as clean as possible, carefully check to have selected only the input you’re interested in.

Recording audio (some features are disabled or limited in SeaWave)

While displaying a spectrogram it is possible to record sounds (see Task Menù) for later analyses and for permanent storage. With this function, SEA can replace a DAT recorder!

Audio recording can be performed in two modes: RAM recording, which is limited by the available amount of RAM memory, and Hard Disk recording.

In RAM recording mode sounds are recorded in a buffer whose size is set by the user according to the available free memory. The buffer contents can be saved to disk when the acquisition is stopped by the user or when the buffer is completely filled. A further mode allows to set the buffer as an endless circular buffer; when the user stops the acquisition the buffer holds the last n minutes of audio and the user can save it to disk.

Buffer sizing can be done in the "Quick Panel" or in the "Basic Settings" panel. The content of the buffer can be saved, completely or in part, by accessing the "Buffer" menù after having stopped the acquisition.

In HD recording mode the size limits are much higher: with a 32GB HD it is possible, for example, to save up to 46 hours of high quality sounds (stereo, 48kHz). The recording mode can be programmed to stop the acquisition after a certain amount of Mbytes. As the software can’t manage files larger than 2 GB, the maximum size for a file is fixed at 2GB. With the <Multiple file recording> option enabled, when a file reaches the <Max size> set by the user a new file is opened to continue the acquisition until the disk is filled; with the <Span Disks> enabled, when a disk is filled, the software switches to the next available disk with enough free space. It is also possible to set a files size lower than 2GB to allow, for instance, to record files no larger than the size allowed on a CDR. If storage space is an issue, RAID systems may extend the number of installed hard disk beyond the limit of four disks of standard EIDE controllers.

A further option, <Split>, opens a new file at every hour or every 30, 15 or 10 minutes. This option makes easier to organize recorded data files and keep them time aligned! This option is enabled by the <Multiple file recording> option.

Recording can be made on any disk connected to the PC, EIDE drives, remote drives on a network, USB drives, SCSI drives, FireWire (IEEE 1394) drives.

Regardless of the storage system used, before to start a recording it is important to check if the chosen drives have enough free space and if they allow the required data rate (recording a stereo file at 48kHz requires a continuous throughput of 384 kbytes / second). This is important in particular with networked drives and USB 1.0 drives. Also, it is recommended to defragment the free space on the target disk(s).

While recording, other programs can be run at the same time. Though, to make the HD recording as safe as possible, it is recommended to increase the Block Size parameter to more than  32768. Higher the block size, safer the recording!

A log of all recordings is generated automatically in the program folder. The log file, which is named RecLog.log, is a standard text file containing the start and stop time for each recorded file. The log also includes information about occurred fails and overloads for each recorded file.

See “How to get best results” for further information.

Playing files

Stored files can be played with the simultaneous display of the spectrogram (Task 3 in Task Menù).

While playing a file, audible gaps in the audio flow may happen if the CPU and the HD can’t provide the required throughput to the audio output (stereo files recorded at 48kHz require a continuous throughput of 384 kbytes / second). Though, the display will be always accurate.

To minimize the risk of not continuous playback of stereo files with high sampling rates, it is recommended to keep stored files unfragmented and to increase the Block Size parameter to 8192, 16384 or 32768.

Refer to the chapter “How to get best results” for further information.

Analyzing files

The accurate analysis of stored files is performed without audio feedback (Task 4 in Task Menù). In File Analysis Mode it is possible to move back and forth through a file and to change all analysis parameters.

The display of spectrograms while in File Analysis mode is limited to one channel even if working with stereo/multichannel files; it is possible to select the channel to be displayed ; in case of stereo files it is also possible to select their sum or their difference.

A panel provides commands to move along the file.

|< move to the beginning of the file

|> move to the end of the file

<<< >>> move to the previous or next frame

<< >> move backward or forward of half a frame

< > move backward or forward of a quarter of a frame

+ - zoom in and out. The spectrogram is refreshed instantly.

The GoTo button allows to move to a given position expressed in time. The Skip button allows to move forward or backward of a specified amount of time, depending on the sign before the time. Time must be expressed as follows: in seconds (ss) or in minutes (mm:ss) or in hours (hh:mm:ss).

In file analysis mode it is possible to change the analysis parameters in the QuickSettings panel and/or in the BasicSettings panel. The Refresh button allows to recalculate the spectrogram after any modification to the analysis parameters.

(In development: it will be possible to play the file section shown on screen)

Saving spectrograms

While the software is in stop mode, spectrograms can be saved to the Clipboard or to a .bmp file by using the commands in the <Utilities> menu. Also, it is possible to save the whole computer display. The Clipboard can hold only one image; any saving to the Clipboard clears the previous content. Using the Clipboard is useful for transferring spectrograms to another application like Word, PowerPoint or a graphic program. Saving to a .bmp file allows permanent storage.

To allow quickly saving screen snapshots while a spectrogram runs or while a file is being analyzed, a <Snapshot> key is available on the main screen. A snapshot taken while analyzing a file in Task 3 & 4 generates a graphic file with the name of the loaded audio file plus the position in the file at which the snapshot is taken, plus the actual timestamp . The file is then saved in the folder of the audio file.

Snapshots taken while in Task 1 & 2 generate a filename with a timestamp; file is then saved in the default path for display savings as set in "Advanced Settings" panel.

Warning: Taking a snapshot while recording on hard-disk, depending on your hardware, may affect the continuity of the recording. If you plan to take snapshot while recording it is reccomended to increase the block size and make some tests;

Cursor measurements and automatic data logging

Frequency-Time cursor

A frequency time cursor is available in both real-time and file analysis modes. By moving the cursor on the spectrogram area, time, frequency and dB values are continuously displayed; dB measure is relative, not absolute. Values read by the cursor are not affected by the Darkness control.

Warning: dB reading is not supported in 64K colours display modes.

In real-time mode shown time values refer to the coordinates of the displayed spectrogram.

In file analysis mode time and frequency values relative to the beginning of the files are also displayed.

When the cursor is moved on the waveform area, the displayed frequency and dB values are set to 0.

To make measures relative to a point on the spectrogram (or waveform), simply move the cursor on the reference point and then move the cursor to the other point while holding down the left mouse button.

Saving cursor data to a file

To save the cursor values press the right button on the mouse. Cursor data will be saved in a text file named and placed according to the settings in the Log files frame.

Automatic measurement of signal parameters

Two tools are available to make automatic measurements of signal parameters in real time: ones track the dominant frequency (frquency and level) of the incoming signal, the other detects just the onset of acoustic events.

Measured values are saved in text files named and placed according to the settings in the Log files frame.

Warning: Frequency tracking and Triggering are two tools that work in Real-Time (Tasks 1 & 2) or in Play File (Task 3) modes on 1 channel only. In future version they will be improved to work in file analysis mode as well. While in Play File mode stereo files can be analyzed with these tool by setting one channel only for processing and display.

Tracking a frequency

Tracking can be activated with the option box available in the real-time commands panel. Tracked frequency is marked in red and its values are shown in real-time.

Tracking parameters can be set in the Advanced Settings panel, in the Track frame. The tracking range can be set by typing in the first and last pixel line to be analyzed. The allowed range is 1 to 256 (this range matches exactly the frequency lines generated by a 512 points fft). Only frequencies shown within the tracking range and above a given dB threshold are tracked. When in zoom mode, only frequencies shown on the sonogram are tracked.

Frequency and time resolution depends on the parameters set in the Basic/Quick Settings.

If the Log to file option in the Advanced Settings panel is set, tracked values are saved to a text file with the suffix .track.txt

Triggering on events (under development)

Triggering can be activated and set in the Advanced Settings panel, in the Trigger frame. The triggering procedure marks an event each time the envelope amplitude changes from below to above the Threshold. The Treshold is expressed in linear values corresponding to the 16 bit range (-32768 to +32767).

The time resolution depends on the Scan Step chosen in the Basic/Quick Settings.

Note: low frequency noises can interfere with the triggering. Use a high-pass filter on the analog inputs or switch on the Derivate option in tha Advanced Settings panel.

Note: in future releases, Triggering will be able to work on the waveform or on the sonogram. Triggering on the waveform will allow better time resolution. Triggering on the sonogram will allow to define a frequency range and a dB treshold.

If the Log to file option in the Advanced Settings panel is set, the timing of each triggered event is saved to a text file with the suffix .trig.txt

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Menu system

The user interface consists of a standard drop-down menù placed on top of the program window. Commands and options should be selected while the spectrogram is not running.

Though, the most important commands for user interaction are placed in the REAL-TIME COMMANDS panel and in the QUICK SETTINGS panel.

MAIN MENU

It lists the following commands:

File  Task  Buffer  Display  Settings  Presets  Utilities  Help  [additional options]

File
Open .wav opens a standard 16 bit uncompressed .wav file, either stereo or mono
Open .mxx opens a .mxx file (proprietary format)
Open .dap opens a .dap file (proprietary format)
Open .kay opens a .kay file (from Kay Sonagraph. Still buggy)
Open .bin opens a raw binary file with no header information. (sample rate to be set in Advanced Settings)
Open .ext (32bit) opens 32bit raw binary files with no header information (sample rate and scale factor to be set in the Advanced Settings panel)
Play List allows to select multiple files (of the same type) for continuous playback. To avoid gaps, file lenghts must be exactly multiples of 4096 samples (8192 bytes).
Close all closes all files and sets the task to Real-Time Analysis
CD player allows to analyze sounds coming from an audio CD placed in the CDROM player. (analog connection, not digital extraction)          displays a panel with commands for the CD player
Exit ends all operations and closes the program

N.B.    audio files can be opened by dragging & dropping them in the spectrogram window. Dragging & dropping multiple files creates a Play List (only files of the same type are allowed; the sampling rate of the first file is used for the whole Play List)
N.B.    SEA can be opened by dragging & dropping an audio file on the program icon, provided it is not already running. Files dropped on the program icon will be shown with the filename shortened to the DOS structure.
N.B.    after opening a file, it is possible to change the playback sampling rateto slow down or to accelarate a recording. This is useful for demonstration purposes or for making clearly audible particular sound features.
N.B.    until the full stereo version will be released, all stereo files will be converted to mono for analysis. The stereo to mono conversion scheme can be set in the Basic Settings panel.

Task
Real-Time Analysis real-time analysis
Real-Time Analysis + Recording real-time analysis + hard disk recording
File Analysis + Play play file with analysis
File Analysis file analysis

Buffer (disabled in SeaWave)
Save Buffer  saves the RAM buffer in buffer<date>.wav file 
Save Buffer As
 saves the RAM buffer in .wav file named by the user
Save Buffer Partial saves the last x seconds in .wav file named by the user

Display
Max Width sets the form width to fit the display width (if greater than 800 pixels)
Min Width sets the form 800 pixels wide (default)
Normal Height sets the form height to normal size
Min Height reduces the form height by hiding the lower command panels.A new Start/stop button appears on the left side of the envelope panel; this is useful when increasing the spectrogram height to fit the screen.

Settings
Basic Settings basic analysis and recording settings
Advanced Settings advanced settings and configuration management (disabled in SeaWave)
Undo Latest Changes undo the very latest changes in the latest Settings Panels used. This command can't affect settings already saved to configuration files. Also it can't undo changes in the Quick Settings Panel.
Show/Hide Quick Settings shows/hides a quick panel for basic settings
Show/Hide Field Notes shows/hides a small panel where the user can write short notes to be saved (SAVE key) in a .log file while the real-time analysis is running. The "NEW" key clears the text box and inserts the actual time.
This feature might be useful in field applications and it will be further improved
Set Printer selects the active printer

Presets
Load Basic settings allows to select a settings file
Save Basic settings allows to save actual settings to a file
Reset to default reset settings to default values
Mono 0-16 kHz  
Mono 0-24 kHz  
Stereo 0-16 kHz  
Stereo 0-24 kHz

Utilities
Insert heading text  allows to insert a text line on top of the spectrogram
Save Spectrogram to .bmp saves the form image to a .bmp file
SaveSpectrogram to ClipBoard saves the form image to the clipboard 
Print Spectrogram prints the form
Save Screen to .bmp saves the whole screen image to a .bmp file
Print Screen prints the whole screen
Clear ClipBoard clears the clipboard
Split stereo .wav splits a stereo .wav file into two mono files
Show Playlist Shows the filenames loaded in the PlayList
Extract Cut extracts a cut from a file. the user must specify file, start location and size
Check Sampling Rates displays the sampling rates supported by the selected recording device 
Check wav header displays the structure of a .wav header
Fix wav header fixes wav headers (i.e. files corrupted by aborted recordings)
Check Disks displays the installed disks with the available storage space
Check Input Devices lists all the installed input/output devices
 

Refresh Input Devices refreshes the list of available input/output devices
Match UA5 if a Roland UA5 is connected, this option sets the software according to the UA5 settings
Notepad calls the standard Windows’ notepad

Help
Manual shows the html help file by using the standard internet browser.
Register provides information about registering the software (disabled in SeaWave)
Reset Registration reset current registration, for example to upgrade from Trial to Registered (disabled in SeaWave)
About shows info on the software

                            

COMMAND PANEL

Start / Stop                 starts and stops the analysis

Pause                          pauses the spectrogram or the file playback

Rec Mode Quickly switches tasks 1 & 2

Reset Timer               resets the time counter

GoTo                           (shown only in File Play or File Analysis tasks)

Tracker                       enables/disables the tracking of the dominant frequency

Zoom                           when an FFT size greater than 512 is selected, it is possible to enable a zoom on the frequency axis.
                                    The zoom ratio is calculated as FFTsize/512. While the zoom is selected, it is possible to move the zoomed range
                                    along the frequency axis
                                    In stereo, Zoom can be applied to one channel only, L or R, or to ALL channels

 

REAL TIME COMMANDS

Colour shift                   changes the appearance of the display by shifting the colour scale

Digital Gain                   to amplify digitally the acquired signal (digital amplification does not affect recording)

Remove Offset             to compute and remove a cc offset in the signal

 
Setting Analysis Parameters

All the program settings are grouped in two panels named "Basic Settings" and "Advanced Settings" which can be opened by accessing the "Settings" item in the main menu' or by pressing CTRL-B or CTRL-A respectively.

To make frequently used settings easily accessible, basic analysis parameters can be also set in the Quick Panel available at the right side of the spectrogram. More advanced settings can be done by accessing the Basic Settings panel (includes those available in the Quick Settings) and the Advanced Settings panels.

All the settings can be saved to a default configuration file on disk. This allow to configure the software according to the user needs and to load the configuration each time the program starts. It is also possible to save/load additional configuration files with different names (see configuration commands in Advanced Settings) to have easy to load configurations for specifc tasks.

To make the settings management even more flexible, two subgropus of settings can be saved separately in further configuration files:

Quick settings (see next chapter) can be saved in .preset files.

Default Paths can be saved in .path files.

 

Quick settings

The Quick Settings panel allows to select the audio input and to set the most frequently used analysis and display parameters. The panel does not allow to change parameters while the real-time tasks are running.

All parameters can be set by selecting on a drop-down menù among a list of predefined options. Though, for all numeric parameters it is also possible to directly input a value. In such a case the user is completely responsible for the correctness of the parameters.

To widen the area available for the spectrogram, the panel can be switched on and off  with the Show/Hide Quick Settings item in the Main Menu or by pressing ALT-Q.
This operation can't be performed while in real-time or in Play File modes.

While in File Analysis, it is required to press the Refresh button to recalculate the spectrogram according to the new settings.

Input device

Allows to select an input device among those installed in Windows.

Block Size
sets the transfer block size (4096, 8192, 16384, 32768... up to 262144 samples)

This command mainly affects the smoothness of the display and the probability of buffer underruns and data acquisition gaps. Short blocks allow smooth display while large blocks increase the efficiency of computations. Use larger block sizes when using high sampling rates or when recording to disk. The Block size must be equal or greater than the chosen FFT size. When increasing the FFT size, the Block size is increased as well. Eventual "F" characters appearing in the info panel mean that the CPU is unable to process all incoming data in real-time and gaps occurr: to lower the amount of processing demanded to the CPU try first to increase the block size, then, if the problem remains unsolved, try to increase the step size (which actually reduces the overlap and the amount of computation), then try to reduce the sampling rate. Gaps may occurr while recording to the HD if the disk is fragmented. Defragment the HD before any recording or playback session.

With sampling rates higher than 96000 it is reccomended to increase the Block Size to 32768 samples or more.

Sampling Rate        sampling frequency (up to 200kHz in XP, up to 250kHz in Windows 7)

Not all audio devices may support the listed sampling rates.       Check on the documentation of your audio devices first. While in playback mode it is possible to change the play speed, e.g. to speed up a recording of low frequency sounds or to lower into audible range ultrasounds (also known as "time expansion" in bat detectors).

Warning: in some sound devices the sampling rate can't be set by software. It can be set by an hardware switch or by using a specific external software. In such a case, the software setting in SeaPro must be matched with the board setting by the user.

Other than selecting a rate from the list, it is possible to type a value in the box.

FFT n         
sets the FFT size (512, 1024, 2048, ... up to 16384 samples )

For values greater than 512 it is possible to switch in zoom mode (zoom factor = FFT size / 512). While in real-time mode it is possible to switch to zoom mode and to pan across the whole frequency range

Window Size      
sets the Window Size (32 <= n <= FFT size)

If the window size is shorter than the FFT size zeroes are appended to fit the FFT size (Zero-Padding). If the Window Size is set to a value larger than the FFT Size, the FFT Size is automatically increased.

Window Type      
selects the Window Type, i.e. the weighting functions

to be applied to the signal before being analyzed by FFT

0 linear                       not recommended
1 Hanning                  usual windowing
2 Hamming                
3 K-Bessel
4 Gaussian 

The Hanning function is the typical window used in most signal analysis procedures; its shape is a cosinusoid. Try to use the K-bessel and Gaussian ones to increase time selectivity and to avoid the sidelobes typical of the Hanning window. Linear and Hamming windows are not reccomended.

Scan Step                sets the scanning step

The scan step is the step among consecutive windows taken on the signal. A scanning step equal to the window size determines a 0% overlap between consecutive windows. Setting the scanning step half the window size determines a 50% overlap, while setting the scanning step twice the window size means skipping 50% of signal samples. To get a really complete view of the signal the scan step should be set to half of the chosen window size (50% overlap) or less.

The Scan Step determines the amount of time shown on the spectrogram, i.e. determines the max time extension shown on the spectrogram.

Try scanning steps of 441 and 240 (or their integer multiplies) to get more useful time scale extensions when using 44100 and 48000/96000 sampling rates.

Display Height          sets height of the display in pixels.

if the screen vertical size is greater than 1024 it is possible to show spectrograms with 256 or 512 pixels height. Use the advanced settings panel to set the spectrogram size.
A screen vertical size of 1440 is required to show spectrograms with 1024 pixels height.

The FFT size must be 2 times the spectrogram height.

max 256 pixels. If the FFT size is 512, then each pixel exactly shows a frequency line and the top of the spectrogram corresponds to the Nyquist frequency. If the FFT size is greater, each pixel corresponds to a group of FFT/512 frequency lines. In zoom mode the ratio among pixels and frequency lines is still 1:1; 256 frequency lines are shown on 256 pixels starting with the frequency line specified by the user.

Colours           sets the spectrogram's colour scale

there are colour scales and black&white scales. Black&white scales are available ranging from black to white or from white to black. Also, b&w scales are available with different contrast (normal, sharp and sharp+) to enhance sharpness. This is useful for preparing spectrograms for publications.

RAM Buffer    sets the amount of memory assigned to RAM buffering.

RAM buffering is a technique which allows to retain in memory the last n seconds of signal. RAM buffering can be set in two different modes in the Basic Settings panel. When active, a RAM buffer allows to stop the spectrogram and to save to disk the signal retained in memory by accessing the Buffer menù.



Basic Settings panel

The Settings panel groups a number of settings related with analysis parameters and with the recording and playback of audio files. Settings are grouped in four panels: Basic Settings, Disk Recording, Playback, RAM Buffer.

After changes in the settings press the [OK] button to confirm the new settings and to return to the main analysis panel. The [Undo Changes] button restores the settings at the values available when the panel was opened. Changes already saved to disk in configuration files can't be undone unless the file are overwritten by saving new settings. The undo ability is also available in the main menu' (Settings), though it can undo only changes made in the latest settings panel used.

An additional Settings Info panel shows all the analysis parameters depending on the user settings. The panel is updated each time a relevant setting is changed.

FFT size and duration in msec (duration depends on Sampling Rate and FFT Size)
Window size and duration in msec (duration depends on Sampling Rate and Window Size)
Window type
Frequency resolution in Hz  (duration depends on Sampling Rate and FFT Size)
Bandwidth in Hz (depends on Sampling Rate, FFT Size, Window Size and Window Type)
Scan Step size and duration in msec (duration depends on Sampling Rate and Scan Step)
Overlap % (if Scan Step is less or equal Window Size – depends on Window Size and Scan Step)
FFTs/sec : number of FFTs computed each second x channel (depend on Sampling Rate and Scan Step)

Basic Settings

The panel includes a Basic Settings panel which replicates settings available in Quick Settings. Refer to Quick Settings for information about those settings.

Additional controls allow saving and retrieving user settings:

[ ] Prog Path by checking this control, Load and Save dialog boxes open on the program path, otherwise they open on the Play Path
Load allows to load settings previously stored in a .preset file. While in play mode loading a settings file does not affect the sample rate and the number of channels.
Save allows to save actual settings to a .preset file
Save Def saves current settings to the Default.preset file located in the program path; these settings will be automatically loaded at the program start.
Default reset settings to default values loaded at startup. 
Link to wav links settings to a .wav file
The command allows to select a .wav file and then saves a .preset file with the same name of the chosen file
When opening a .wav file with a matching .preset file, settings are automatically loaded.

Disk Recording

The recording panel includes many options useful for both field and laboratory work. A log of recordings (RecLog.log) is kept into the application path; it holds the start and stop time of each recorded file along with the basic settings and a log of all gaps and overloads occurred while recording. Special options, available in versions other than WAVE, allow to record continuously until the available disks are completely filled. Continuous recording is allowed by splitting the recording file each time a predefined file size is reached or at each hour change. When a disk is full the program can switch to the next disk.

The panel shows the amount of free space available on the drive selected for recording (Rec Path). A "Info Disks" button allows to see the amount of free space available on all writable drives available in the system.

Rec Path                           set the path where to store files
Set Path button                 allows to select the desired path for storage
Filename                           allows to set a radix name
N                                       if checked adds a progressive number to files recorde in "multple mode". The counter resets to zero each time the REC Start button is pressed.
Timestamp                        if checked adds a date and time to the filename
HData                                if checked adds tech info to the filename: sample rate, number of channels, number of bits
GPS                                   if checked, GPS position data, received by means of UDP messages  from another software, is included in the file name.
+                                        allows to add a user text in the filename

To get GPS data it is required to receive the NMEA string $GPRMC on a UDP port. When GPS data is available, it is continuously shown in realtime in the GPS frame and on top of the spectrogram. 
Max N files max number of files to be recorded by “multiple file recording”

Max Size maximum file size in Mbytes. The maximum allowed is 2047 MB. The amount of free space available in Rec Path is shown. It is possible to start recording with Size set to a value larger than the available space: in mode 1 and 2 the recording stops when the disk is full; in mode 3 the software switches to the next available disk.

Rec Mode three recording modes are available:
1 – circular buffer        
the file is continuously filled; when the max file size is reached the recording continues at the beginning of the file and the oldest samples are rewritten

2 – single file recording
the recording and display stop when the file size reaches the maximum

3 – multiple file recording         
when the file size reaches the limit value, the file is closed and another one is created for continuing data storage. File names should include date and time
 
Span disks                           if checked along with Rec Mode 3, it allows to switch to the next available disk when the recording disk is full.
                                            When switching to the next disk the path is set to root.
                                            Spanning stops when a non-writable or already full disk is reached.

Split align                    This option works in Rec Mode 3 only. At the given interval the recording file is closed and a new one is created until the disk is full.
                                    This option overrides the file Size setting if the file Size corresponds to a file longer than the given split interval;

                                    It requires to set the MaxSize a bit larger than the split interval
                                    The split mode is compatible with the Span Disks options
       

RAM Buffer              
Buffering Mode            if RAM buffering is enabled (from Quick Settings or Basic Settings), it is possible to select two buffering methods:

1 - circular buffer (the buffer is continuously filled)
2 - stop when full (the recording and display stop when the buffer is full)

 

PLAYBACK

Output Device Allows to select the audio output device
Play Path path where to look for files
Set Path allows to select the desired path
Analysis on Open enable the immediate analysis of opened files
Play on Open enable the immediate playback of opened files
Autoload Settings enable automatic loading of file settings, if available, when a .wav file is opened
Play Speed allows to play a file at a speed (sampling ratio) different from that used for recording
DDE send allows to send to an external software the file name and pointer position while in Play and Analysis modes (not fully implemented yet)

Stereo Files

When a stereo file is selected for playback, it is possible to choose among stereo or mono playback and display:

Stereo both channels are played back and displayed
Mono (Left) only the left channel is shown/played
Mono (Right)  only the right channel is shown/played
Mono (Left + Right) the sum of the two channels is shown/played
Mono (Left – Right) the difference of the two channels is shown/played

Warning: As the display of stereo files is not yet supported in File Analysis mode, all stereo files are converted to mono on the fly according to the above settings.

Broadcast Status

Remote Control

GPS

Stereo RT

 

Save Default Paths             this button saves the default paths for recording (rec path) and playing back (play path) audio files, as well as paths where to save log files and spectrograms (see Advanced Settings panel).

 

Advanced settings panel (disabled in SeaWave)

After changes in the settings press the [OK] button to confirm the new settings and to return to the main analysis panel. The [Undo Changes] button restores the settings at the values available when the panel was opened. Changes already saved to disk in configuration files can't be undone. The undo ability is also available in the main menu' (Settings), though it can undo only changes made in the latest settings panel used.

Some of the following settings are still in development.

LOG FILES

Save Path set the folder where to save log files
Set Path allows to select the desired path
Field separator character to be used as field separator (space is default)
Notes  
Cursor filename for saving cursor data
Track filename for saving track data
Trigger filename for saving trigger data

TRACK

Treshold threshold to be expressed in dB
Log to file if checked all track info are saved in a text file
From Line / To Line sets the limits of the tracking range in display lines (1-256)

AVERAGING

0 – averaging off
1 – averaging on    
2 – subtracts average
3 – hold max
4 – hold max and decay
Coeff     coefficient of averaging 0.5-0.999

GRID AND AXES

xtics set the xtic spacing in pixels (75 is the default values for sampling rates 48000xN)
ytics set the ytic spacing in pixels
xgrid (to be implemented)
ygrid (to be implemented)
ymarks three markers are allowed - it is possible to set the dB level of them
dB scale displays a dB scale below the colour scale in the QuickSettins panel
Vin scale Displays a Vpp scale on the left of the envelope display
Vin max input here the max Vpp level accepted by the sound board input (in mV)

DISPLAY

Scroll enables the scrolling of the display
Bit Blitter sets the scrolling step
RT cursor if checked enables the cursor on real-time displays
Redraw if checked enable the automatic redraw of the spectrogram
Snapshot set the snapshot mode to save the complete program form or only the spectrogram area
Save Path sets the folder where to save spectrograms and screen dumps
Set Path allows to select the desired path
Amplitude sets the spectrogram amplitude scale to dB or Linear
Show Date & Time shows system date and time while performing real-time tasks (date and time start and stop with the analysis; they don’t run while in stop or pause mode)
Cepstrum enables cepstrum vs time display (only with FFT=512)
Default height sets the spectrogram height to 256, 512 or 1024 pixels. 256 is the default value; 512 and 1024 require a screen with a vertical resolution of 1024 and 1600 pixels respectively. The 512 size can be obtained on a screen with 1024 vertical resolution by using the "min height" option in the Display Menu.
Default width sets the defaul width of the program form

TRIGGER

Trigger if checked activates triggering
Threshold threshold to be expressed wit a positive integer ranging from 0 to 32767 
Log to file if checked saves all triggers to a text file
 

SPECIALS

Tape Speed Tape Speed Ratio. By default equal to 1.
Set it to the appropriate value to analyze recordings played and analyzed at a speed different than that used when the recording was done. For example, it is useful when analyzing ultrasonic recordings played at 1/2, 1/4, 1/8 or 1/10 of the original tape speed. This parameter affects the frequency-time values on both axes to show real values. 
Frequency Division By default equal to 1.
Set it to the appropriate value to analyze recordings made with frequency division devices, such as bat detectors. This parameter affects the frequency scale to show real frequency values. 

DSP

Derivate calculates and shows the derivate of the signal

OPEN RAW FILE

Scale 32 to 16 by set the scale factor to convert 32 bit files to 16 bit (the conversion is in real-time and does not affect the file)
Sample rate set the sample rate for .bin and .ext files
 

CONFIGURATION COMMANDS

Save Controls saves all the current control settings in a user defined configuration file
Load Controls load a user defined configuration file if present
Reset Controls reset all controls to the default settings stored in the configuration file if present
Save Default Controls saves all the current control settings in the default configuration .ini file which is loaded each time the program starts
Save default Paths saves the default paths for recording (rec path) and playing back (play path) audio files, as well as paths where to save log files and spectrograms.
 

CD Player panel

The CD Player panel allows to send commands to the internal audio CD Player. If the CD Player analog output is directed to the sound device by setting the Windows’ mixer panel, it is possible to display the played sounds.

Some internal CD readers have a digital output too. The digital output can be connected to a digital sound input, if available, to allow a better analysis of CD sounds.

 

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How to get best results

While using SEA, in particular if you're recording, it is recommended to shut off any program running in background, including screen savers, virus checkers, email checkers, etc. Also, it is recommended to avoid any disk access from networked PCs.
To get best performaces and the highest reliability, the system should be "as clean as possible".

Before to start "working" with the software, check carefully if the whole system configuration (PC+Windows+SeaPro/SeaUltra+SoundBoard+Drivers) works well by acquiring and analyzing known signals and test signals. A training and testing sound library will be provided soon.
To prevent problems while acquiring and recording sounds it is important to shut off all programs working in the background thar may require too much CPU time or disk access. Though, on a well configured and stable PC, it is possible to safely run many concurrent programs, for example a simple GPS logger or a more demanding navigation software. In such a case it is important to carefully test if incompatibilities or excessive CPU and disk loads may occurr. In particular, try to avoid starting and closing programs while recording!

Technical info

In Windows, some background tasks are activated automatically at startup by either the “Startup” folder or by registry commands. Just after installing Windows for the first time there are few essential active tasks. On an averagely configured PC more than 30 tasks may be active concurrently, consuming CPU resources and interfering with real-time tasks.

Programs loaded by the StartUp folder can be easily controlled by the user: it is possible to avoid them from being loaded by deleting the shortcuts placed in the StartUp folder (“Esecuzione Automatica” for italian users or whatever else for other languages) or by moving them elsewhere.

Programs loaded and executed by registry settings are more difficult to manage.

The Task Manager (to be invoked by pressing CTRL-ALT-DEL) can be used to shut off unwanted tasks while they are running. While using the task manager to shut off any program interfering with SEA, it is required to be careful not to kill the “explorer” and “systray” tasks because they are vital to Windows!

It is highly recommended to use specific software (StartUp Manager 2.0, for example; it is freeware and it works well) to safely control and switch on and off unwanted programs to be loaded at startup.
Another program we like, useful to take control on running tasks is something like PRCview (http://www.teamcti.com); it allows to view all running tasks, their priorities and their dependencies; also, it includes a DOS program to be used in batch routines to kill unwanted tasks.

If the Microsoft Office suite has been installed on the PC it is very likely a background task named FastFind runs in background continuously. This task must be shut off either by killing it with the Task Manager or by definitively disabling it by deleting its shortcut in the StartUp folder in the Windows’ Start Menu (StartUp Manager can be used as well).

A component requiring attention is the IRDA device; when it is on, it continuously searches for infrared devices in the surroundings. In some computers, each time the device searches for another device to communicate with, it may generate short interrupts in the data flow. In w98 it can be easily switched on and off by accessing the Control Panel or the tray icon, if shown. In w2000 switching it on and off is a bit more complicated: in the Control Panel you should click on “Wireless/Infrared Connection”, “Hardware”, “Properties”, select the IRDA device, then select the option “Don’t use this peripheral (Disable)” from the pull-down menu (to enable it again it simply required to press the key “Enable”).

If you plan to record to the hard disk, as well as to play files already on the HD, it is highly recommended to unfragment the disk. Some advanced defragmenting programs may allow to select among three options: full defragmentation, file defragmentation (enough for smoothly playing back files) and free space defragmentation (enough for recording).

On fast PCs with fast disks it is possible to run other programs while a spectrogram is running. It is for example possible to run Excel or Word. In such a case, it is recommended to increase the block size in SEA to reduce the risk of gaps in the data flow when transient high CPU load or disk accesses are required. It is recommended to start these programs while the spectrogram is not running.

Another chance is to use the Task Manager to modify the tasks priorities. We often lower the priority of GIS mapping and navigation programs while using SEA for recording. Modifying task priorities is at your own risk. Do it carefully.


Companion programs

The software has been developed primarily for analysis and display. No audio editing capabilites are present. These capabilities can be easily found in a number of other programs, including low cost shareware and freeware software. Other programs may help in a number of other tasks related with  file archiving and retrieval, image editing, hardware testing, etc.

Installation, Registration and updating

Registration

Compatibility Issues

Crash-course in sound analysis