There are several ways to play a .wav file:
a) Select the desired file from the command Play/File...
b) Locate the desired file on a Windows folder and drag it into the
RECORDER USGH window.
c) Prepare a list of files from the command Play/Playlist... and play
the selected files according to the settings made there.
Once a .wav file has been selected (according to the above option a
or b), this file can be played several times either by executing the
command Play/Start (Shift+Space bar), by clicking at the Play button
or by pressing the physical trigger button on the device.
The latter option requires that the “joystick b2|b6” option has been
selected as the “ext start trigger” from the command
Play/Settings...
Getting started
User's Guide
After installing the Avisoft-RECORDER USGH Software and
connecting the UltraSoundGate Player to the computer, the
RECORDER USGH software can be launched from the Windows
Start menu
All
Programs / Avisoft Bioacoustics / RECORDER
USGH
.
The playback functionality of the RECORDER software is located on
the Play menu.
First go to the command
Play
/
Device
... and select the Avisoft
UltraSoundGate Player 116 from the
Device
listbox at the top of the
dialog box and select the playback rate. The default
playback rate
setting “use file header rate” will use the file header sample rate of the
.wav file, which will ensure that the file is being played at the correct
speed. Note that the USG Player only supports a limited number of
sample rates (500, 384, 375, 300, 250 kHz, ...). If the original .wav file
to be played has a different sample rate, it is necessary to either
resample it to one of these sample rates in advance (Avisoft-SASLab
Pro command “Edit”/”Format”/”Sampling Frequency Conversion...”) or
to select the option
real-time oversampling
, which will perform the
required sample rate conversion in real-time. The list box titled
number of taps (accuracy)
will determine the accuracy of the
conversion. Higher values will increase the accuracy but will also
increase the CPU usage. Slower PC's may be unable to process the
data in real-time (which can be recognized by a distorted playback
and the inability of the RECORDER software to respond to user inputs
during the playback). Under these circumstances, it is therefore
recommended to resample the sound files in advance in Avisoft-
SASLab Pro/Lite.
In the bus-powered operation mode, the option “
switch power off
when not in use
” will reduce the current drawn from the USB while
no file is being played (the power amplifier will be switched off
between playbacks). However, switching on and off the amplifier at
the begin and end of each file can create an undesired noise. If this
noise is unacceptable, the option should be disabled.
The option
enable 200V bias voltage
should be activated when
electrostatic speakers are being used.
The option
reject LED blinking
will switch off the amber-colored Play
LED during standby mode when no file is being played (otherwise the
LED is blinking to indicate the USB connection).
When simultaneously playing via the USG Player and recording via
an UltraSoundGate xx16 at the same time, it is necessary to launch a
separate instance of the RECORDER USGH software for the
playback task. Otherwise, the recording and playback procedures
might disturb each other (gaps might occur in the data streams)
Another issue related to the simultaneous playing and recording with
an UltraSoundGate 116 or 416 is the limited USB 1.1 full-speed bus
bandwidth when both devices are connected to the same roots HUB
of the computer and the sample rates exceed 250 kHz (at 16 bit
resolution). This constraint can be resolved by connecting one of the
devices through an USB 2.0 HUB to the computer. This will convert
the full-speed mode of the device to the high-speed mode and both
devices can be operated at the same time from a single USB 2.0
port.
For best results, the bit depth of the .wav files to be played should be
16 bits and the sample rate as high as possible (500 kHz). A high
sample rate will avoid aliasing effects by shifting potential aliasing
products towards higher frequencies. Use the SASLab Pro command
“Edit”/”Format”/”Sampling Frequency Conversion...” to increase the
sample rate.
Additionally, it might be necessary to activate the USG Player game
controller from the Windows Control Panel (Hardware and Sound >
Game Controllers) in order to get it work with the RECORDER USGH
software:
USG Player 116
