Virtins Vt rta-168a/b User manual

VT RTA-168A/B Manual Rev. 1.5

Virtins Technology

VT RTA-168A/B Manual

A Real Time Acoustic Analyzer, Sound Level Meter, Distortion Analyzer,

Polarity Tester, …

Note: VIRTINS TECHNOLOGY reserves the right to make modifications to this manual at any time without

notice. This manual may contain typographical errors.

VT RTA-168A/B Manual Rev. 1.5

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TABLE OF CONTENTS

1 INSTALLATION AND QUICK START GUIDE..........................................................................................3

1.1 PACKAGE CONTENTS....................................................................................................................................3

1.2 HARDWARE CONNECTION DIAGRAM............................................................................................................4

1.3 HARDWARE DRIVER INSTALLATION.............................................................................................................5

1.4 MULTI-INSTRUMENT SOFTWARE INSTALLATION AND CONFIGURATION.......................................................6

1.4.1 Install Multi-Instrument.......................................................................................................................6

1.4.2 Start Multi-Instrument..........................................................................................................................6

1.4.3 Configure Multi-Instrument.................................................................................................................8

1.5 INPUT OF SOUND LEVEL CALIBRATION DATA AND ADJUSTMENT OF INPUT GAIN......................................10

1.5.1 Under Windows XP or a Windows Version Before XP.....................................................................11

1.5.2 Under Windows Vista........................................................................................................................11

1.5.3 Under Windows 7 ..............................................................................................................................12

1.5.4 Under Windows 8/8.1/10 ...................................................................................................................14

1.5.5 Adjustment of Input Gain via Hardware Gain Switch .......................................................................15

1.5.6 0dB Reference Vr ..............................................................................................................................16

1.6 MICROPHONE FREQUENCY COMPENSATION ...............................................................................................16

1.7TWENTY MOST FREQUENTLY USED MEASUREMENT SETTINGS .................................................................18

1.8 MORE ACOUSTIC ANALYSIS FUNCTIONS AVAILABLE IN MULTI-INSTRUMENT PRO OR ABOVE..................21

1.9 LIST OF AUDIO TEST WAV FILES (AUDIOTESTCD.ZIP) .............................................................................21

1.10 OPERATION NOTES ...................................................................................................................................23

2 SPECIFICATIONS.........................................................................................................................................24

2.1 VT RTA-168A/B HARDWARE CONFIGURATION ........................................................................................24

2.2 OVERALL VT RTA-168A/B SPECIFICATIONS.............................................................................................24

2.3 MEASUREMENT MICROPHONE ECM999 SPECIFICATIONS (FOR VT RTA-168A)........................................24

2.4 MEASUREMENT MICROPHONE EMM-6 SPECIFICATIONS (FOR VT RTA-168B)..........................................26

2.5 VT XLR-TO-USB PRE SPECIFICATIONS .....................................................................................................27

2.6 MULTI-INSTRUMENT SOFTWARE SPECIFICATIONS......................................................................................28

3 MULTI-INSTRUMENT SOFTWARE LICENSE INFORMATION ........................................................37

3.1 LICENSE TYPES...........................................................................................................................................37

3.2 LICENSE UPGRADE FROM ONE LEVEL TO ANOTHER...................................................................................37

3.3 SOFTWARE UPGRADE IN THE SAME LICENSE LEVEL...................................................................................37

4 WARRANTY...................................................................................................................................................37

5 DISCLAIMER.................................................................................................................................................38

VT RTA-168A/B Manual Rev. 1.5

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1 Installation and Quick Start Guide

1.1 Package Contents

A standard VT RTA-168A/B Package contains the following items:

1) Measurement microphone and its accessories (a windshield, a microphone clip and stand)

2) XLR-to-USB sound card

3) USB cable (1.5 m)

4) CD (containing the copy-protected Multi-Instrument Software)

The latest software can always be downloaded from www.virtins.com/MIsetup.exe.

5) USB hardkey (containing a Multi-Instrument Standard License)

6) Audio Test WAV files (containing a list of audio test tones and noises)

Measurement Microphone

Windshield

Microphone Clip and Stand

VT RTA-168A/B Manual Rev. 1.5

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They can be downloaded at: www.virtins.com/AudioTestCD.zip and then burnt into a CD

or saved into a USB memory stick. They can also be generated directly from the Signal

Generator of Multi-Instrument.

7) 1/8” TRS cable (1.8m)

8) Black Soft Pouch Case

9) Unique Sound Level Calibration Data (in CD)

10) Unique Microphone Calibration Data (only provided in RTA-168B, in CD)

1.2 Hardware Connection Diagram

There are two connection methods, with or without the XLR cable between the measurement

microphone and the XLR-to-USB sound card.

Connection Method 1 (without XLR cable):

Unscrew the XLR shield on the XLR-to-USB sound card and connect the sound card directly

to the measurement microphone. Then connect the corresponding ends of the USB cable to

the XLR-to-USB sound card and the PC’s USB port. When this is complete, the red LED

light will light up indicating that it is receiving power.

without XLR cable

Connection Method 2 (with XLR cable):

VT RTA-168A/B Manual Rev. 1.5

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The XLR cable is not provided in the product package. So you need to find an XLR cable

with a female connector at one end and a male connector at the other end.

Plug the female end of the XLR cable into the measurement microphone and the male end

into the XLR-to-USB sound card. Then connect the corresponding ends of the USB cable to

the XLR-to-USB sound card and the PC’s USB port. When this is complete, the red LED

light will light up indicating that it is receiving power.

with XLR cable

Software Activation

The USB hardkey needs to be plugged into any USB port of the PC in order to activate the

Multi-Instrument software. Otherwise the software will run under the 21-day fully functional

free trial mode before the trial period expires.

Test Signal Generation

You can generate the test signals from the Signal Generator of Multi-Instrument. The XLR-

to-USB sound card does not have any audio output channels, so you need to use your

computer’s built-in sound card or any other sound card for audio test signal output. The

quality of the test signals would depend on the sound card used. Generally, the built-in sound

card of a laptop is good enough for generating quality test signals for magnitude frequency

response measurement of an audio system.

The 1/8” TRS cable provided in the product package can be used to connect the sound card’s

audio output (e.g. Line Out, Headphone, Speaker) to the AUX input of the audio system

under test.

Alternatively, you can play the test signals from an audio CD or a memory stick.

1.3 Hardware Driver Installation

No hardware driver installation is required. It is supported by Windows natively.

VT RTA-168A/B Manual Rev. 1.5

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1.4 Multi-Instrument Software Installation and Configuration

Multi-Instrument is a powerful multi-function virtual instrument software. It supports a

variety of hardware ranging from sound cards which are available in almost all computers to

proprietary ADC and DAC hardware such as NI DAQmx cards, VT DSOs and so on. It

consists of multiple test instruments such Oscilloscope, Spectrum Analyzer, and Multimeter,

etc.

1.4.1 Install Multi-Instrument

Insert the Multi-Instrument installation CD into your computer’s CD-ROM drive and follow

the instruction on the screen to install the Multi-Instrument software. The installation file

can also be downloaded from www.virtins.com/MIsetup.exe.

1.4.2 Start Multi-Instrument

To start Multi-Instrument, on the Windows desktop, select [Start]>[All Programs]>[Multi-

Instrument]>[VIRTINS Multi-Instrument], or simply double click the MI icon.

If the software is started for the very first time after installation, it will prompt the user to

select a default device (see figure below). Select VT RTA-168A or VT RTA-168B according

to the hardware device to be used.

VT RTA-168A/B Manual Rev. 1.5

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The default device can also be changed later via [Setting]>[ADC Device], [Setting]>[DAC

Device], and [Setting]>[Configure Hot Panel Setting Toolbar], or simply [Setting]>[Restore

to Factory Default]. However, if [Restore to Factory Default] command is executed, all

calibration data entered manually via [Setting]>[Calibration] after software installation

will be reset to the default values of the selected product. To avoid the loss of the

manually entered calibration data, you can save them as a calibration file first.

Otherwise, you will have to enter the unique calibration data that come with the

product package again.

After the default device is selected, the software will prompt the user to select a default color

scheme (Skin). The default skin can also be changed later via [Setting]>[Display].

VT RTA-168A/B Manual Rev. 1.5

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The main window of the software will open after the above skin selection. The following

figure shows a typical screen layout (obtained by clicking the “OCT3” button in the Hot

Panel Setting Toolbar after the launch of the software). Please refer to the software manual

for detailed functions of the software. The software manual can be accessed via [Start]>[All

Programs]>[Multi-Instrument]>[VIRTINS Multi-Instrument Manual] (in PDF format) or

[VIRTINS Multi-Instrument Help] (in HTML format) on Windows Start menu, or

[Help]>[Software Manual] or F1 inside the software.

1.4.3 Configure Multi-Instrument

In Multi-Instrument, the menu items are enabled/disabled based on context. Many menu

items are disabled when the Oscilloscope or the Signal Generator is running. To do the

configuration, stop the oscilloscope first by pressing the green button at the upper left corner

of the screen (see figure below). The button will turn red once the Oscilloscope is stopped.

1.4.3.1 Configure Sound Recording Devices for Multi-Instrument

Go to [Setting]>[ADC Device], and choose “USB Audio CODEC” , “Microphone (USB

Audio CODEC)”, “Line (USB Audio CODEC)” and the like in the “Device No.” field (see

figure below). This is to configure the XLR-to-USB sound card as the sound recording

VT RTA-168A/B Manual Rev. 1.5

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device for the software. Note that the displayed name of the XLR-to-USB sound card may

vary a bit under different Windows versions. The “Device Model”field must be set to

“Sound Card MME”.

Under Windows XP or a Windows Version Before XP

Under a Windows Version after XP

Now, if you start the oscilloscope by pressing the red button at the upper left corner of the

screen, and then talk before the measurement microphone, you should be able to see your

“voices” in the Oscilloscope and Spectrum Analyzer.

1.4.3.2 Configure Sound Playback Devices for Multi-Instrument

The XLR-to-USB sound card does not have any audio output channels, but you can use your

computer’s built-in sound card or any other sound card for audio test signal output, if you

want to use the Signal Generator in Multi-Instrument to generate the test signals. To

configure the sound card for the Signal Generator, go to [Setting]>[DAC Device] and choose

VT RTA-168A/B Manual Rev. 1.5

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the corresponding sound card’s name in the “Device No.” field. By default, Multi-

Instrument will use the computer’s built-in sound card for signal output. Again, the “Device

Model”field must be set to “Sound Card MME”.

Now, if you press the Signal Generator button (see figure above), the Signal Generator panel

will be opened (see figure below). Press the red triangle button at the upper right corner of

the Signal Generator panel, you should hear a 1kHz test tone from the speaker or earphone

connected to the selected playback sound card. Press it again to stop the sound.

1.5 Input of Sound Level Calibration Data and Adjustment of Input Gain

Sound Level Calibration is not required for those relative measurements such as frequency

response, THD, THD+N, IMD, etc.. It is required only if you want to measure the absolute

sound level.

The measurement microphone and the XLR-to-USB sound card have been calibrated in pair

in the factory. The sound level calibration data are provided in a separate sheet inside the

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