ACOUSTIC
SOFTWARE FOR PCS (IBM compatible)
There is a
wide range of software available for acoustic analysis.
Some examples are listed here, as well as
links to other sites that provide more lists of software. Some programs
are
free and can be downloaded from the web sites shown.
Others vary in price depending on capability, and usually it is
possible to download a demonstration version that allows you to try out
the
software at no cost. Only very brief descriptions are given here: full
descriptions are available at the individual web sites shown. Note that this list contains only the few
programs that I am familiar with and there is no reason to suppose that
these
are any better than other programs available – you are advised to check
out all
the links to other software.
These
programs analyse files made with PC sound cards (.wav extension), and
the
signal as it comes into the sound card in real time, unless otherwise
stated.
The files
available for downloading are usually compressed, either as .exe files
or .zip
files. Ones with extension .exe just
have to be run to produce the files you need for the software. Ones with extension .zip need to be
unarchived with pkunzip.exe, or Winzip.
SPECTRUM
ANALYSER (Freq51) and SPECTROGRAM (Specgrm2)
(free)
These are two
analysis programs from the Biomedical Ultrasonics Laboratory at the
University
of Michigan and are available for DOS or Linux. The Spectrum Analyser
(Freq51)
gives power spectrum levels as a function of frequency and can be set
it up to
read absolute values (e.g. dB re 1 volt) if you calibrate your sound
card. Spectrogram (Specgrm2) gives a real
time
full screen spectrogram (sonagram) with a choice of various colour
combinations. These programs analyse
the incoming signal in real time but do not analyse stored files. They
have a
wide range of settings for sampling rate, FFT points, averaging time
etc, so
are very versatile. The DOS version can be run under Windows 95. You need to read the text file and set the
switches for the sound card etc.
The web site
is:
http://bul.eecs.umich.edu/signal/
UNIVERSITÀ
DEGLI STUDI DI PAVIA SOUND ANALYSIS SOFTWARE by Gianni Pavan (free)
This is DOS
based software intended for analysis of bioacoustic signals,
particularly spectrograms and wave forms.
They report
that a Windows version will be available soon, though will not be free.
http://www.unipv.it/webcib/softw.html
SPECTROGRAM/GRAM
(v5.1.7) by R.S. Horne (free)
This is a
Windows program which produces spectrograms in real time or from files,
and
does some spectral analysis. There have been regular improvements by
the author
in response to feedback, resulting in a very useful spectrogram
display. The web
site is:
http://www.visualizationsoftware.com/gram.html
AVISOFT
SASLab by R. Sprecht
(Light
version is free, Pro version costs about 2700 Deutsche Marks)
Avisoft-SASLab
Light is freeware for basic editing of wave form and production of
spectrograms. Avisoft-SASLab Pro provides a wide rang of functions,
particularly spectrograms and wave form analysis. The
Pro version can produce a continuous spectrogram displayed as
a series of strips across the screen displaced vertically (each strip
spectrogram follows on from the one above) so that a long time record
can be
viewed at once. It also provides cross
correlation of sonagrams. The web site
is:
http://home.t-online.de/home/raimund.specht/avisoft_.htm
COOLEDIT by
David Johnston
(Cool Edit
2000 for US$69 and Cool Edit Pro for US$399).
These provide
a wide range of recording and editing manipulations of sound files. The
Pro
version has a much wider range of functions, though some of these can
be added
to Cool Edit 2000 as optional extras.
Apparently intended for music applications, many of the features
are
useful in acoustic analysis. For example, you can edit out noise clicks
by
using the mouse and the delete key with a wave form on the screen. You can filter the data by specifying a
filter response as a function of frequency, and applying that to a
signal. It also produces spectrograms.
GOLDWAVE
(Canadian$55.00).
Goldwave
provides a range of audio recording and editing tools of sound files. http://www.goldwave.com/release.html
ACOUSTIC
SOFTWARE FOR MACINTOSH COMPUTERS
CANARY 1.2.4,
THE CORNELL BIOACOUSTICS WORKSTATION (about US$250)
Produced by
the Bioacoustics Research Program, Cornell Lab of Ornithology. I have
no
experience with this but it is widely used for bioacoustics analysis.
http://www.birds.cornell.edu/BRP/CanaryInfo.html
LINKS TO
OTHER LISTS OF ACOUSTIC ANALYSIS
SOFTWARE
Dolphin Study
Group, National University Of
Singapore
http://dsg.sbs.nus.edu.sg/datasoft.html
R.S. Horne: http://www.monumental.com/rshorne/links.html
Steven Hopp: http://eebweb.arizona.edu/faculty/hopp/sound.html