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elwoodblue
Advanced Member
Username: elwoodblue

Post Number: 303
Registered: 6-2002
Posted on Tuesday, April 08, 2008 - 12:13 pm:   Edit Post

I figured I'd address this in a separate thread.
Does anyone (Mica?) have good advice for software that is easy to use that is realtime with high resolution/sampling rate...I'm new to this world and
hoped a little guidance would save some time and fustration.

tanks
mike1762
Junior
Username: mike1762

Post Number: 38
Registered: 1-2008
Posted on Tuesday, April 08, 2008 - 12:25 pm:   Edit Post

Waves makes a high quality plug-in.
mica
Moderator
Username: mica

Post Number: 5253
Registered: 6-2000
Posted on Tuesday, April 08, 2008 - 1:29 pm:   Edit Post

Mine's got the software built-in:
FFT
kenbass4
Advanced Member
Username: kenbass4

Post Number: 289
Registered: 10-2003
Posted on Tuesday, April 08, 2008 - 1:45 pm:   Edit Post

So, I guess that's the instruction manual on top?
:-)
byoung
Senior Member
Username: byoung

Post Number: 1012
Registered: 12-2004
Posted on Tuesday, April 08, 2008 - 2:03 pm:   Edit Post

But Mica, that has an unterminated BNC connector on the thinnet. I'm assuming that's not 10 base 2, though.

What was the story with the software your dad was running on the OLPC?

Drat! I wish I'd gone to the get together, that way I could have cornered him and pestered him about it.
elwoodblue
Advanced Member
Username: elwoodblue

Post Number: 304
Registered: 6-2002
Posted on Tuesday, April 08, 2008 - 2:12 pm:   Edit Post

I'll checkout the waves plugin...thanks-

-for fun I'd thought I'd repost this pic (takes 4 AA's):


Was your dad using some commercially available software?
thanks for the inputs all!!
elwoodblue
Advanced Member
Username: elwoodblue

Post Number: 305
Registered: 6-2002
Posted on Tuesday, April 08, 2008 - 2:24 pm:   Edit Post

The waves products looks great...I'll start convincing myself it's worth selling an instrument to have one of those $1300 bundles...watch the for sale section soon for more postings :-)
byoung
Senior Member
Username: byoung

Post Number: 1013
Registered: 12-2004
Posted on Tuesday, April 08, 2008 - 3:07 pm:   Edit Post

If you need some BNC terminators, I probably have some hanging around.

Bradley
mike1762
Junior
Username: mike1762

Post Number: 39
Registered: 1-2008
Posted on Tuesday, April 08, 2008 - 8:13 pm:   Edit Post

Elwood
The Waves plugins are probably the best, but they are expensive. Send me am Email and I will give you some more information. How did Mica get that thing into her computer?
bsee
Senior Member
Username: bsee

Post Number: 1941
Registered: 3-2004
Posted on Wednesday, April 09, 2008 - 10:09 am:   Edit Post

Ken, I doubt that's the manual. It looks more like the quick start guide...
mica
Moderator
Username: mica

Post Number: 5263
Registered: 6-2000
Posted on Wednesday, April 09, 2008 - 5:36 pm:   Edit Post

It was one of the built-in science tools on the XO (One Laptop Per Child (OLPC)) called measure. There's an oscilloscope hooked up to microphone by default so the kids can look at the waveforms. It also measures AC or DC when you plug in a probe into the jack on the side of the laptop. The oscilloscope can adjust the timebase from 1.25msec to .104167msec.

It also has an FFT scheme built in. You can change the horizontal axis to 1125Hz down to 41.67Hz

If you'd like to learn more about OLPC, you might want to read about how some students in Peru are using them.

We heard they might repeat the same program that we got ours on at the end of the year. You buy two XO and they send one to you and one a student in their programs. Erik uses it already.

If you want to give a laptop to a child, visit the website here.

The FFT in our showroom doesn't have ethernet, it's just the signal input. The book on top has some observation notes. It does have a serial output, and you can control everything by a remote computer. That's phase II.
3rd_ray
Junior
Username: 3rd_ray

Post Number: 12
Registered: 2-2008
Posted on Wednesday, April 09, 2008 - 7:31 pm:   Edit Post

That's a cool spectrum analyzer. If you've never seen the insides, scroll down here...

http://www.amplifier.cd/Test_Equipment/other/660b.htm

That's a lot of wire-wrap! And it was probably done by hand (by someone with a lot of patience). I work with analog to digital converters, so I see FFT's all the time, but mine are RF, not audio. What used to be on that big circuit board now can all go on one little chip. Since you're still using this, they must have done a great job of putting it together.
elwoodblue
Advanced Member
Username: elwoodblue

Post Number: 308
Registered: 6-2002
Posted on Thursday, April 10, 2008 - 12:15 am:   Edit Post

thanks Mica!
That is some easy to digest info..

3rd ray...that's alot of signal paths!!!
Those insides are amazing...it makes a Lowry organ or the like seem like kids play.

We people have woven quite a web,
...shows what the persistence of a vision can do.
keith_h
Senior Member
Username: keith_h

Post Number: 996
Registered: 2-2005
Posted on Thursday, April 10, 2008 - 5:12 am:   Edit Post

Mike,
Actually those large planar boards were mostly wired by machine. The same technology was used in mainframe computers and peripherals at that time.

Keith
3rd_ray
Junior
Username: 3rd_ray

Post Number: 13
Registered: 2-2008
Posted on Thursday, April 10, 2008 - 5:48 am:   Edit Post

Yeah, I thought it looked too neat to have been done by hand, but the last sentence on that webpage threw me.
jas
New
Username: jas

Post Number: 9
Registered: 4-2008
Posted on Saturday, April 26, 2008 - 1:54 pm:   Edit Post

The Nicolet is awesome. It weighs a lot and it's great to use, but I guess they are pretty rare now. Here are some exciting facts.
* For real time analysis I use a Hewlett Packard 3580B now - it has resolution to 1Hz and covers all audio. It doesn't do correlation and some of the other Nicolet tricks. A few hundred dollars.
* For non-real time I use a 96kHz 24bit AD converter that has a USB plug on one end. This is CHEAP. Goes straight in to laptop.
* Audacity software is something you should look at too. I think it's freeware. It does FFTs at 1024 pt resolution.
Jas
byoung
Senior Member
Username: byoung

Post Number: 1020
Registered: 12-2004
Posted on Tuesday, April 29, 2008 - 1:04 pm:   Edit Post

Also, check out baudline:

http://www.baudline.com/index.html

Bradley

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