Daqarta
Data AcQuisition And Real-Time Analysis
Scope - Spectrum - Spectrogram - Signal Generator
Software for Windows
Science with your Sound Card!
The following is from the Daqarta Help system:

Features:

Oscilloscope

Spectrum Analyzer

8-Channel
Signal Generator

(Absolutely FREE!)

Spectrogram

Pitch Tracker

Pitch-to-MIDI

DaqMusiq Generator
(Free Music... Forever!)

Engine Simulator

LCR Meter

Remote Operation

DC Measurements

True RMS Voltmeter

Sound Level Meter

Frequency Counter
    Period
    Event
    Spectral Event

    Temperature
    Pressure
    MHz Frequencies

Data Logger

Waveform Averager

Histogram

Post-Stimulus Time
Histogram (PSTH)

THD Meter

IMD Meter

Precision Phase Meter

Pulse Meter

Macro System

Multi-Trace Arrays

Trigger Controls

Auto-Calibration

Spectral Peak Track

Spectrum Limit Testing

Direct-to-Disk Recording

Accessibility

Applications:

Frequency response

Distortion measurement

Speech and music

Microphone calibration

Loudspeaker test

Auditory phenomena

Musical instrument tuning

Animal sound

Evoked potentials

Rotating machinery

Automotive

Product test

Contact us about
your application!

Display Channels


Macros: Ch.Disp, LI.Disp, RI.Disp, LO.Disp, RO.Disp, Chan0, Disp?m

Display Channel Toggle Buttons:

This is a group of 4 buttons below the left end of the trace area. The top two are labeled 'L.In' and 'R.In' and below them are 'L.Out' and 'R.Out'. They are all disabled by default, until you toggle Generator and/or Input on. Then the buttons for all active channels will be enabled, and if any enabled button is also selected its respective channel trace will be displayed. A selected button is shown depressed, in the same color as its trace, with a background color the same as the trace screen.

When you toggle Generator or Input off (or just toggle one channel off in the Generator or Input dialog), the relevant display button or buttons become disabled but retain their current up or down states until the channels are toggled back on. This allows you, for example, to toggle the Generator off momentarily to make an adjustment or just to check the effect on the Input signal, and retain your display selections when you toggle it back on.

Opening a file for viewing also enables and activates the display buttons for each channel that was active in the original trace. However, .WAV and .DAT files don't have provisions to store information about which channels are inputs or outputs; if there are one or two channels, Daqarta assumes they are inputs. If there are 4 channels, Daqarta assumes the first two are inputs and the second two are outputs. Daqarta's own .DQA format keeps track of channel information, so they will always be shown exactly as recorded.

The display channel buttons are not just status indicators. Sometimes, when the traces are very "busy", it may be useful to toggle a display channel off to reduce the visual screen clutter. These buttons only affect the display, not the actual input or output data streams. When you toggle a button off, it pops out and changes to ordinary gray color.

You can toggle these buttons from the keyboard via

ALT+SHIFT+L    Left Out
ALT+L          Left In
ALT+SHIFT+R    Right Out
ALT+R          Right In

The Y axis of the trace area is shown with the units and scaling of only one of the active display channels. Input channels have the highest priority, and Left has priority over Right. The priority order from highest to lowest is thus L.In, R.In, L.Out, R.Out. If the highest-priority display button is toggled off, the Y axis will change to reflect the next-highest priority.

The channel display buttons do not affect the cursors or their readouts, as long as at least one channel is shown. This allows you to monitor a readout from one channel while viewing the waveform or spectrum of another, without visual interference from the first.

You can toggle any and all active channel buttons at any time. If you toggle all of them off, there will of course be nothing to display and the trace area will go blank. The curors and grid will vanish as well, and Daqarta will prompt you with 'SELECT DISPLAY CHANNEL' across the trace.

Note that even when an active channel is not being displayed, any cursor readout set to that channel continues to function normally.


8-Channel Up/Down Scroll:

This is an up/down scroll button pair that appears to the right of the above-mentioned Display Toggle buttons when an 8-channel data file is open. The Display Toggle button labels then change to Ch0-Ch3, instead of L.In to R.Out.

Note: Currently only 8-channel .DAT files may be opened, such as those created by the DC_Chart_Recorder mini-app. 8-channel .WAV and .DQA files are not yet supported.

Daqarta only has built-in display and cursor readout support for a maximum of 4 channels (although more can be supported via macros using Buf0-7 Array Display Operations). This up/down control allows you to scroll those 4 channels from the default of Ch0-Ch3, to Ch1-Ch4, Ch2-Ch5, Ch3-Ch6, or Ch4-Ch7.

The Up button increases the initial channel number, and the Down button decreases it. SHIFT+Up sets Ch4-Ch7 directly, while SHIFT+Dn returns to Ch0-Ch3.

Note that you may want to use the Screen Zero Individual controls in the Zero control dialog to position the 4 traces.


Macro Notes:

LI.Disp=1 selects Left Input display, LI.Disp=0 unselects it, and LI.Disp=x toggles between selected and unselected.

Similarly, RI.Disp controls the Right Input, LO.Disp controls the Left Output, and RO.Disp controls the Right Output.

Alternatively, Ch.Disp controls the channel previously specified via the Ch Channel Select command.

You can't toggle a display channel that is disabled. To test if a channel is enabled before attempting to toggle it, you can use a control enable IF test like the following (from the _Multi_Mtr_Ctrls Macro Listing):

    E.IF.LI.Disp=          ;Left Input display enabled?
        LI.Disp=Btn6           ;Set to new Btn6 state if so
    ENDIF.

If you read a channel state (by using it in an IF statement, or on the right side of a macro expression) the value will be 1 only if the channel is selected and enabled.

Alternatively, Disp?m returns the display states of all 4 channels as a bitmap:

    b0001    Left In
    b0010    Right In
    b0100    Left Out
    b1000    Right Out

Note that you can also use the Channel Select Macro to query for the lowest-numbered displayed channel.

If an 8-channel file is open, the buttons will be labeled Ch0-Ch3 (or Ch1-Ch4, Ch2-Ch5, Ch3-Ch6, or Ch4-Ch7) but LI.Disp=x will still toggle the button at that location, regardless of the current label.

Chan0=UA will set the former Ch0 to the value of UA, which is limited to 0-4. If UA has a value of 2, the channels displayed will be Ch2-Ch5.

UA=Chan0 will set variable UA to the current initial channel number, 0-4.

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