2.1 INITIAL SCREEN
SEE THE WEB TUTORIAL:
The bitDrive software has been designed to be compatible with all AF products with integrated DSP and future products in the Audison catalogue. Thanks to a handshaking mechanism, the software detects the device connected to the PC and configures automatically its interface according the tools available for that device.
bitDrive can also be used in Offline mode, if there is no available device to connect to the PC. Offline
mode allows the software to exercise most of the bit Drive functions with virtual devices. The user can access almost all of the same tools which are available when an actual bit device is connected, including opening, modifying, and saving setup files for later use.
The Initial screen displays important information:
- bitdrive software release number
- Blog feed with all latest news in Audison website
The panel to select the device shows the different connection modes:
- USB: detects the device connected to the PC via USB port;
- SERIAL: detects the device connected to the PC via Serial port;
- Wi-Fi: detects the device connected to the PC via Wi-Fi (future function, not yet supported);
- OFFLINE: use mode with "virtual" bit device.
The Refresh button above the panel updates the list of connected devices. Use the Refresh button in case you connect a bit device after opening the bit Drive software.
After clicking the desired bit device, the software will start loading all the tools required for that device. The progress bar at the bottom of the window shows the percentage of progress of the loading process.
At the end of the loading procedure the main window will show up with all the tools, as shown below.
Note: For reasons of safety, when bit devices are first powered on, no sound will be audible from the speakers. This only applies if the device has not been previously configured. This is because the Mixer that manages the input-output routing is not yet configured.
2.2 INITIAL SETTINGS
At the top right of the screen the user can find the icons of the initial settings.
Audio settings
Opens the Audio settings panel for the Acoustic RTA tool (see sect.5.8)
1. Input device: allows the user to select the audio input device to be used by the internal acoustic RTA. Only devices currently connected to the PC are displayed.
Note: Use a good-quality USB measurement microphone, or a good-quality XLR measurement microphone connected to a good-quality USB microphone preamp. Do not try to use the microphone internal to your PC. Microphones designed for musical recording rather than measurement will yield unpredictable results.
Note: When first opening the bit Drive software, you probably have not yet connected your measurement microphone - which would prevent you from making this selection at this time. However, this selection must be made before the Acoustic RTA function can be used.
2. Bands: to choose the number of audio spectrum frequency bands between octave (10 frequency bands), 3rd octave (30 frequency bands), 6th octave (60 frequency bands), 12th octave (120 frequency bands).
3. Average: to choose the time window length in which the average is calculated (short; normal; long). This setting modifies the responsiveness of the bar graph. The most popular setting here is “Normal”.
4. Microphone calibration file: load the microphone calibration file (in .txt format) if available
Settings
Opens the general settings panel
A. Sampling frequency: shows the sampling frequency of the DSP used. This is not currently able to be changed.
B. Language: allows to set the software interface language.
C. Units of measurement: allows to set the units of measurement to insert the speaker distances; options available are centimeters (cm) or inches (in).
Note: It is recommended to select the desired Unit of measurement before proceeding.
D. Automatic snapshot: enables/disables the auto save function of the setup in the software memory, with refresh rate fixed at a 2 minutes.
E. Automatic snapshot:enables/disables the auto save function of the setup in the software memory, with refresh rate fixed at a 2 minutes.
F. Device reset: function that resets the AF bit, restoring the factory settings. In this case all the data saved into the device memory will be erased.
Help
Opens the quick guide.
Informations
Shows the software informations.
2.3 SAVE AND LOAD A CONFIGURATION
bit Drive allows the user to save the setup configuration to the PC, load a saved configuration file, and write the currently-loaded configuration file to the non-volatile memory of the bit device. These functions are available in the command bar at the top left, as shown below.
1. Open: load the configuration from a file saved on the PC.
2. Models: load a configuration among the preloaded models.
3. Save As: save a copy of the current setup as file on the PC.
4. Finalize: writes the currently-loaded configuration file to the bit device’s non-volatile memory. This setup file will be retained even after powering off the device and powering it on again. When this operation is executed, the bit Drive software will warn the user that the current data written to the device memory will be overwritten:
￭ click on YES to save the data.
￭ click on NO to cancel the operation.
2.4 VOLATILE DATA SETTINGS
For safety reasons, if the amplifier’s battery power is disconnected, some settings of the device revert to predefined values. These conditions can in the software by clicking on Features -> Default volatile data (more informations at section 6.6.2 FEATURES).
The settings to be defined are:
- Device volume (default is 0dB, unattenuated)
- Source predefined (default is Master source)
- Memory predefined (default is Memory 1)
- Subwoofer volume (default is 0dB, unattenuated)
- Volume Zone 1 (default is 0dB, unattenuated)
- Volume Zone 2 (default is 0dB, unattenuated)
- Final Tuning EQ enabled/disabled (default is enabled)
Once they are saved, these settings will be always applied every time the device power is disconnected.
WARNING: Make sure to properly configure these settings before finalizing the bit device, to ensure proper operation after a temporary loss of power. Otherwise audio output may be lost, and some safety functions may not be audible. These functions may include handsfree calling audio, telematics emergency call audio, and reverse sensor audible warnings. In addition, the vehicle user may not have sufficient volume, or sufficient subwoofer level, or may have poor sound (due to the incorrect memory preset being selected, or to the final tuning equalizer being disabled).