Test and Measurement News

dScope III Audio Analyzer Software version 1.11 released

Demonstrating Prism Sound's commitment to its customers, the new version embodies many new capabilities and features that are the result of feedback and dialogue since the release of Version 1.0.  Some of the new features include:

Regulation:  An important new capability is "regulation". This enables dScope to home in on a target reading by adjusting a controlled parameter. An example would be finding the drive or output level for given distortion reading such as used in checking headroom. dScope's regulation is fast - a result of sophisticated algorithms for handling devices with monotonic transfer functions (most have this type). More complex transfer functions can also be handled. Also included is the ability to automatically locate maxima and minima in the transfer function.

Sweeping up:  dScope's sweep capability is now extended to provide so-called "nested" sweeps. This means that complex curve families can automatically be captured such as, for example, a set of curves showing a family of distortion vs frequency plots for an amplifier taken over a range of amplitudes. The second sweep parameter can also include such things as switcher channels, allowing multiple devices to be compared on the same window. Still on sweeps, it is now possible to plot measured parameters on both axes of the trace, allowing, for example, the plotting of THD+N against output power of a power amplifier.

More scope for fast multi-tone measurements:  dScope can now perform cross-domain multi-tone testing using rectangular FFT windows by using frequency correction at the input to synthesize a synchronous system.

Start-up Wizard for first timers:  To make the dScope even easier to use, there is now a start-up wizard which runs the first time the dScope is operated in order to guide the user through the various options. Also in the user interface, the signal generator amplitude and frequency can now be controlled by sliders, and it is possible to directly control dS-NET peripherals such as the I/O Switcher and the brand new VSIO Adapter which handles a wide range of board level serial interfaces, such as I2S.

Using dScope's VBscript capability, it is also now possible to manipulate the trace window in even more ways and to control the PC serial ports directly. Other new features include user definable high and low pass filter cut-off frequencies and an AES17 standard 20kHz low pass filter in the Continuous-Time Analyzer (CTA), brick wall HP and LP filters in FFT Detectors and more. Version 1.11 of dScope software is now available for download from the downloads page.