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View Full Version : Multi-Instrument 3.0 ---download for 21-day fully functional FREE trial !!!


TestGuru
12-24-2007, 03:50 PM
Product Website: http://www.virtins.com
Download PC version: http://www.virtins.com/MIsetup.exe
Download Pocket PC version: http://www.virtins.com/PocketINSSetup.exe

http://www.virtins.com/img/SCMIAnim.gif
http://www.virtins.com/img/PocketINSProbeAnim.gif


Multi-Instrument is a powerful sound card based multi-function virtual instrument software. It features a specially designed data acquisition approach, which is able to monitor the input signal continuously without missing any trigger event before a frame of data is collected. It has a very fast screen refresh rate (typically greater than 50 frames per second). It supports sophisticated triggering method including pre-trigger and post-trigger,level trigger and differential trigger. It Supports 8, 16, 24 bits and multilingual user interface, including English, French, German, Italian, Spanish, Portuguese, Russian, Simplified Chinese, Traditional Chinese, Japanese, and Korean.


A comprehensive range of functions are provided, including:

(1) Oscilloscope
Dual-trace waveform, Waveform addition and subtraction, Lissajous Pattern, transient/long-time signal recording, voltmeter. Various digital filters are supported.


(2) Spectrum Analyzer
RMS amplitude spectrum, relative amplitude spectrum, octave analysis (1/1,1/3,1/6,1/12,1/24), frequency compensation, frequency weighting (A,B,C,ITU-R 468), peak hold, averaging, measurement of THD, THD+N, SNR, SINAD, Noise Level, IMD, Bandwidth and Crosstalk, phase spectrum, auto correlation function, cross correlation function, coherence function, transfer function (Bode plot), impulse response. Support 55 window functions and window overlap.


(3) Signal Generator
Function generation, multitone generation, arbitrary waveform generation, burst tone generation, MLS generation, DTMF generation, musical scale generation, white noise and pink noise generation, and frequency/amplitude sweep. Synchronized operation between the signal generator and the oscilloscope is supported.


(4) Multimeter
voltmeter, sound pressure level meter(dB, dBA, dBB, dBC), frequency counter, RPM meter, counter, duty cycle meter, F/V converter. The counter trigger level and hysteresis can be adjusted.


(5) Spectrum 3D Plot
It is used to trace the spectrum variation with time. Two types of plots are provided: waterfall and spectrogram, with adjustable tilt angle of T axis, adjustable height of Y axis, and selectable color palettes.


(6) Data Logger
It provides long time data logging function for 93 derived variables, including RMS value, Peak Frequency, Sound Pressure Level, RPM, THD, etc. Up to eight data logger windows can be opened and each window can trace up to 8 variables. The logged data files can be reloaded into the data logger for review.


(7) LCR meter
It is used to measure the value of an inductor, a capacitor or a resistor, or the impedance of a network of them.


(8) Device Test Plan
Device Test Plan provides a mechanism for you to configure and conduct your own device test steps. It takes the advantage of the sound card’s capability of simultaneous input & output, to generate a stimulus to the Device Under Test (DUT) and acquire the response from that device at the same time. Different stimuli can be generated and the response can be analyzed in different ways. It supports 13 instructions with corresponding parameters.


System Requirement

PC or Laptop with 8, 16 or 24 bit Windows compatible sound card, Microsoft Windows95 or greater, Microsoft NT or greater. Screen resolution is recommended to be greater than 800 × 600 pixels.

Old Tele man
12-25-2007, 01:27 AM
...ah, but the REAL (tongue-in-cheek) QUESTION is...does it really work?


...wonder what kind of FFT 'windows' it has/uses? Trying to do shock or vibration without the proper data windowing is futile at best.

TestGuru
12-28-2007, 03:33 AM
It has 55 window functions: including Hanning, Hamming, Blackman, Kaiser......

Steve Conner
12-28-2007, 01:19 PM
One thing the advertising keeps real quiet about is that the frequency response is limited to half of whatever the sampling rate of your soundcard is. The sigma-delta converters in soundcards also add nasty Gibbs effect ringing to square and pulse waves, which limits the usefulness of the scope mode.

You can also get software that does some (but not all) of this for free, such as Spectrum Lab, which is what I use for this kind of thing.

I once wrote some vibration analysis software for a guy who insisted that FFT window functions were evil and wouldn't let me use any windowing! :eek: I thought he was crazy, but the customer is always right...

Old Tele man
12-28-2007, 09:48 PM
...just "proves" the customer is ALWAYS the 'customer'

...but they aren't always RIGHT! (sounds like government!?!) (ha,ha)

TestGuru
12-29-2007, 04:43 PM
The software is good in tests and measurements within audio frequency range only due to the fact it only supports sound cards at this moment......

Old Tele man
12-29-2007, 05:18 PM
The software is good in tests and measurements within audio frequency range only due to the fact it only supports sound cards at this moment.........are you actually "using" it right now and doing tests with it? Did it come with a Logic Probe or did you have to make something up?

...with most cards only doing either 48K or 96K sampling, that's a measurement range of only 24-48KHz, not all that great.

TestGuru
01-01-2008, 06:43 AM
Yes, it is being using by many users including myself. It is more for analog signal in audio frequency range (not necessary to be audio signal, it can be signals like vibration signal...) rather than digital signal, so there is not logic probe provided.

There are quite a few sound card based test & measurement software in the market, and some of them are used for serious measurements. The price ranges from 0 to a few thousand USDs, like spectraplus,DSFF,WINMLS...and some companies are providing industrial standard ADC cards which can be driven like a sound card, e.g. http://www.roga-instruments.com/.

TestGuru
04-09-2008, 09:28 AM
see video here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S9HAENzC7qw