Author: Debanka

Select/ Deselect All Traces

At the top of the Traces view, there is a checkbox that enables you to either select or deselect all traces. When you select the checkbox at the top, all traces within the trace window will be automatically selected. Similarly, when the top checkbox is deselected, it will unselect all the traces in the trace window.

When the top checkbox in the upper trace window is selected in linking mode, it automatically selects all the traces from both the upper and lower trace windows. Similarly, when the top checkbox in the upper trace window is unselected, it will unselect all the traces from both the upper and lower trace windows.

Lock / Unlock Traces

When the trace is locked, the recapture on that trace is disabled. Once unlocked the trace can be recaptured. This button toggles between locked and unlocked states.

Recapture Traces

The trace can be recaptured from the signal for the same channel using this option.

Select / Unselect Trace

The trace can be made visible and hidden on the graph using this option.

Show Measurement

The measurements can be shown on the graph for the trace using this option.

The Advanced settings window comprises of the following settings.

RTA Settings window is now non modal, you can save the settings and validate without closing It.

Related Topics

• Plugin Host Settings
• Advanced Analyzer Settings
• Advance Generator Settings
• Graph Display Settings
• Mimo Convolver Settings
• Recorder Settings
• Routing Settings

 

Saving RTA Settings

Once you complete all the RTA settings, click on the “Save” option. A file save dialog box will appear, enter the file name, and click Save.

Upon clicking “Save” within the dialog box, all of the following settings will be exported to a file with the. rta extension in a human-readable JSON format.

• Generator
• Analyzer
• Audio Driver
• Display

Loading RTA File

Upon clicking the “Load” button, a file open dialog box will be displayed. Locate the desired .rta file and click “Open” to restore the RTA settings stored in that file. The loaded settings will take effect immediately.

If the sound card settings are invalid when you load the settings, a settings window will be launched. You will need to fix the sound card settings issue before being able to proceed further.

Upon clicking the “Apply” button, the sound card settings will be applied. Subsequently, you can modify other settings according to your preferences.

After importing the settings, it is necessary to reconnect the device.

Audio signal routing refers to the process of directing audio signals from a source to one or multiple destinations within an audio system. In audio systems, signal routing can be achieved through different methods, depending on the complexity and requirements of the setup.

On the Routing tab, the connections to the sound-out devices, plugin host, mimo convolved, and file recorder can be set.

The Sound Out channels 1 to 16 correspond to the channel pairs found in the “Streams” section of the “Sound Card” settings. Click on a control in the “Sound Out” column brings up a context menu from which you can choose a source.

Currently, the player is not supported as a source.

The Analyzer channels (excluding Average channels) can be set as a source for the recorder to any Routing sinks. The recorded data should be the same as the analyzer data if the Analyzer is set as the source for the recorder.

Upon clicking “Routing Preview,” a use case overview will appear to enhance the understanding of Routing.

Convolution is the process of multiplying the frequency spectra of our two audio sources: the input signal and the impulse response. By doing this, frequencies that are shared between the two sources will be accentuated, while frequencies that are not shared will be attenuated.

This phenomenon occurs when the input signal adopts the sonic characteristics of the impulse response, resulting in enhanced frequencies that are commonly present in both the impulse response and the input signal.

Steps to configure MIMO Convolver:

1. Navigate to the IVP RTA tab and select Advanced from the ribbon bar. This opens the RTA Settings dialogue box.
2. On the RTA Settings dialogue box, select the Plugins tab.
3. Click on the folder icon to browse the xAF library path.
4. Set the port number under the Port box.
5. Enable the Bypass option (optional), if you prefer the input to be passed directly to the next plugin or output without undergoing any processing.
6. Click on Apply. The number of inputs, number of outputs, and plugin type will be automatically updated based on the provided signal flow.
7. Switch to the MIMO Convolver tab.
8. Set the number of Inputs, Outputs, and Filter Taps.
   

You can configure coefficients in 2 ways.

• Configure coefficients in Panel.
• Configure coefficients through virtual prediction.

Configure coefficients in the Panel

1. On the MIMO Convolver tab, click on Configure Coefficients. The Configure Coefficients panel launches with 2*2 filters.
   
2. Adjust the coefficients by either setting them to a flat value or importing them using CSV/XML files.
3. Click on Tune, after assigning coefficients.

A toast message “Tuning applied” appears.

Amplitude/Phase: When the coefficients are given andthe  “Amplitude/Phase” option is selected, the graph displays the value.

Coefficients:  When the coefficients are given and the “Coefficients” option is selected, the graph displays the values as per the below figure. You can change the graph style using the “Chart Style” option.

Line chart style: when “Chart Style” is selected as Line, the Coefficients graph.
Dot chart style: when “Chart Style” is selected as Dot, the Coefficients graph.

Group Delay: When the coefficients are given and the “Group Delay” option is selected, the graph displays the values.

Curves Legend: This option allows you to show the details of which graph tab (Amplitude/Phase, Coefficients, Group Delay) is selected.

On the selection of the Amplitude/Phase graph tab Curves Legend will show the below information.
On the selection of the Coefficients graph tab and Chart Styles ‘Dots’, Curves Legend will show the below information.
On the selection of the Coefficients graph tab and Chart Styles ‘Line’, Curves Legend will show information.
On the selection of the Group Delay graph tab, Curves Legend will show information.

Additional Functionalities

• Flat: This is used to make the graph flat by making coefficients to 0.
• Import: This function is used to import the coefficients for a single active filter. Click on the “Import” button, then enter the file path and click Ok.
  All coefficients for the selected filter will be imported, as shown in the graph. If the number of coefficients does not match the number of taps, a warning pop-up will appear. Click ‘Yes’ to import available coefficients or click ‘No’ to cancel the import.
• Export: This option is used to export coefficients for selected active filters into a CSV file.
• Export All: This option is used to export all active filters in one go. Click on the “Export All” button, enter the path and file name, then click Ok. An XML file will be created which has coefficients for each active filter.
• Import All: This option is used to import all coefficients in one go. Click on the “Import All” button, enter the XML file path, and then click Ok. All the given coefficients will be imported and can be seen in the graph.
• Read:  This is used to read from the target to display in the panel.
• Tune:  This is used to apply a tune for the given value.

Configure Coefficients through Virtual prediction

1. On the MIMO Convolver tab, click on Measurement Coefficients. The Virtual Tuning window appears.
   
2. Click Apply after selecting Measurement session from the drop-down list.
   
3. Go to the Routing [in] tab.
4. Set the inputs for “Plugin Host” (such as Generator1 and Generator2). These inputs will determine the channels from the Plugin Host that will be used.
5. Set the inputs for “Mimo Convolver” in order to route the PluginHost output channels to the sound card outputs.
   Example 1: PluginHost1 and PluginHost2, if the output of Plugin Host is fed to MIMO Convolver.
   Example 2: Generator1 and Generator2, if generator is fed to MIMO Convolver.
   
6. Go to the Analyzer tab and select Plugin Host (MIMO convolver) output as the channel source.
7. Set the Channel source (such as Generator1, PluginHost1, and MimoConvolver1) to display in the chart.
8. Once the settings have been updated, click Done.
9. Connect to the device through Plugin Host. For more details, refer to Plugin Host Setting.
10. Open Channels, and assign channels to Graph A and Graph B.

A chart with Genertor1, PluginHost1, and MimoConvolver1 outputs appears.

The Graph display setting enables you to customize the appearance and behaviour of a graph or chart. These settings allow you to control the visual aspects of the graph, Min/Max of various parameters, as well as the overall layout style.

Following are settings you can configure in the “Graph” display.

• Set the Minimum and Maximum value for the Time/ Frequency/ Amplitude/ Spectrum/ Magnitude/ Phase/ THD parameter.
• Interval sets the delta of horizontal/vertical labels.
• Set Frequency axis as Logarithmic or Linear.
• Set Phase display as Wrapped or Unwrapped.
• Set the curve line thickness for Measured Data Line, Traces Line, and Target Traces Line.

After updating the graph settings, click on Done to save the changes. Ensure that values persist when importing or exporting a project.

Interval will be disabled for Log Scale.

In the advance generator setting window you can configure different generator modes and set the various parameter of the signal. For more details about generator settings, refer to the Generator Settings.

The ribbon bar provides a quick view of real-time measurements for RMS, THD, True Peak, Peak-Frequency, and THD+N. By default, the tool selects two channels for this display and you can view the live data of two channels simultaneously. If you want to monitor a different channel, you can easily select it from the options available on the ribbon bar.

When using a multiplexer, it will load average channels by default; otherwise, it will peak the first channels that are listed on the analyzer.

RMS Values will provide the selected weighting indication (A B C D).

The Weighting is displayed on the ribbon bar when configured in Advanced Settings. Go to Advanced Settings > Analyzer > Freq Weight RMS to activate weighting.

There are four live data columns available for selection:

• RMS
• THD
• True Peak
• Peak-Frequency
• THD+N

For example, for the 1 kHz sine wave, the live ribbon and graph will look as follows:

CPU Load

In the RTA graph view, the CPU load provided by Audio Engine is displayed in percentage (up to 2 decimals). This will be shown in different colors based on the level as below.

• Normal: 0-70 (Green color)
• Medium: 71-95 (Yellow color)
• High: Greater than 96 (Red color)

Using the following options you can configure the graph areas to perform various types of measures.

• Cursor Measurement
• Add Marker
• Add Delta Marker
• Refresh Spectrum
• Capture Graph Image
• Changing Graph Theme
• Zoom To Gates

Cursor Measurement

When hovering the mouse over any of the curves or plots on the graph, the horizontal and vertical values of the X and Y positions pointed to will be displayed. It is important to note that while the X value will follow the mouse pointer, the Y value will show the value of the closest trace.

Add Marker

You can mark the curves for value inspection. Press CTRL + click, to create a marker. This marker will display the values of the traces as tooltips on top of the charts. It will show the values of all the traces.

A maximum of 5 markers can be placed on the chart.

To remove a marker, select the marker by clicking on top of it. The line of the marker will become wider, indicating it has been selected.

Add Delta Marker

The Delta marker feature helps in createing differential values for selected curves.

To add delta markers, press ALT + click on the chart, and enable measurements from traces where delta values are desired.

The selected traces will display the following information:

• The value at the first marker.
• The value at the second marker.
• The delta (difference) between the markers.

The values are indicated by the trace color and highlighted with the marker color. Delta markers can be dragged to the desired X position.

To disable Delta markers, press ALT + Click again.

Refresh Spectrum

In the spectrum and multiplexer modes, the spectrum refresh button will update all curves displayed, excluding the traces. This functionality allows for the resetting of averaging time periods, which is particularly significant for “forever” averaging.

Capture Graph Image

The Export Image feature allows you to export the graphs and certain other details based on the export setting configuration. The exported image file will be available in .png or .jpeg format.
Once you click on the “Export to Image” option, the export setting window for the image will open.

This export setting window includes the following options:

• Title – Enter the image name.
• Image Width – Change the image width.
• Image Height – Change the image height.
• Include Data – Select the option to add various types of data such as Measurement data, Title, Timestamp, Legend, Channel data, and Generator data in the image.
• Comments – Enter the specific comment, that you want to be added to the image.
• Logo – Add the desired logo to the image.
• Image type – Select the image type JPEG or PNG.

Once you configured export settings, click the Export button. The context menu will show you two options, export the image or copy to the clipboard.

• Save image as – option will be opened to save the image to a file.
• Copy the image to the clipboard – will allow you to paste the graph image somewhere else.

Not possible to copy the image to the clipboard for graph B in case of link mode.

The exported image will have the following sections based on the export setting window configuration.

The graph is always present in the exported image. Based on the export setting configuration additional sections like – Measurement information, Title, Time, User details, Logo provided, Live channel data, and Generator instance details are also present in the exported image.

If you select the “Channel data” checkbox, then in the “Legend” live channel entries will not appear, only traces will appear. Otherwise, all items will appear in Legend.

Graph Theme

There is a Toggle button (dark/light theme) in the charts in the RTA graph. Once the Toggle button is clicked, the corresponding custom theme can be selected, and the background of the graph gets changed and vice versa.

Dark Theam

Light Theam

Zoom To Gates

The Zoom To Gates feature allows you to zoom to a specific area in the chart using four gates (two horizontal and two vertical) which you can position by selecting and dragging them to the desired position or if you prefer by placing the value of the position in the chart in the text boxes.

By default, when there are no Curves in chart the values from gates are the limit of visible range of current chart. Only for old projects with that has a loaded curve, the gates will set on the limit of visible range included data.

The Gates are supported for Time, Spectrum, Multiplexer, Phase, Delay and IR modes.

When you move each gate, the current position will be reflected in each value referred to the bottom of the chart identified with a color.

To zoom in on the area between the four lines: Click on the button at the end of the text boxes with the current position values ​​of the gates “Done” and the chart area will automatically position the gates within the limits of the chart and the zoom to the area will have been performed.

To return to the default value you only have to double click on any area of ​​the chart.

All gate values ​​will be persistent across projects, meaning you can save their last configuration to be exported or used later with specific values.

Traces allows you to display multiple captures of measurement curves on a single plot, allowing for quick and convenient comparisons of the measurements. The controls for traces are located on the right side of the spectrum graph.

A trace in RTA is a captured measurement curve.

There are eight different kinds of traces:

• Spectrum: Complete data set from measurement without phase.
• Phase: Complete data set from measurement with phase data.
• Txt: Data imported from a text file (tab separated frequency – spectrum value pairs per line)
• Ovl: Data imported from an Overlay file format.
• HATS: Data imported from HATS software exported text file.
• Central Viewer: Data imported from Central Viewer exported Magnitude data text file.
• Eq: Target curve, a spectrum curve described by biquad filter parameters.
• Peak Hold: Peak hold trace with three-time constants.

Traces view is available only in Frequency Domain analyzer modes like Spectrum, Phase i.e. it is not available in Time Domain.

The trace menu is comprised of a trace toolbar and a trace list.

Each entry in the trace list includes a button for re-capturing, a checkbox for selection, and a trace label. The selection checkbox is used to designate the trace for mathematical operations.

Double-click on the trace label opens the trace property dialogue.

In this dialog, you can set the name, offset, and color for each trace. You can view all SPL (ABC) values simultaneously, which will aid in final documentation purposes. Additionally, “Next” and “Back” buttons are provided, allowing you to navigate through multiple traces and make edits to them simultaneously.

If you select SPL Weighting in the trace settings, you can choose to display it on the trace list without affecting the graph or live value measurements.

Related Topics

• Trace Toolbar
• Trace Configuration
• Trace Functionalities
• RTA Shortcuts