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The New Features In DC LIVE/Forensics Audio Laboratory
We realize that we have several levels of users for DC LIVE/Forensics. When we spec out a new version, we do our best to introduce features that run the gambit of our users. This new version of DC LIVE/Forensics is no exception. Any level user will find new tools that benefit the work they do each and every day. These are in no particular order of importance, as each user requires something different.
EZ Forensics - This is a cool new approach to Forensics audio that presents Forensic audio cleanup in a Wizard-like environment. An operator simply answers questions like, "Are there single or multiple talkers?", "Is there background noise? Muffled speech?", etc. Next the program offers several solutions for the problem and the operator simply selects from the list of possibilities and starts to preview. Normally the program offers 4 "answers" to the forensic problem and the operator can preview the results with each of them in seconds. But just because EZ Forensics is quick and easy, does not mean it's a simplistic tool. Under the hood is some of the most advanced automatically adapting filter technology in DC Live/Forensics.
Much improved Adaptive Filter- Speaking of Adaptive filters - DC Live/Forensics boasts a brand new approach to our Classic Time Domain Adaptive Filter. The filter is now dramatically more effective in separating speech from background noises - even, in some cases, from music. The filter is not only much more capable, but it's also now easier to use with a new logarithmic Filter Length slider. This makes it much easier to find the "sweet spot" when previewing. Also included is a new display item that shows a time offset in milliseconds when using a second channel as a reference channel.
Scrolling Display- Many of you asked for this - so here you are. DC Live/Forensics now offers the ability to scroll the waveform horizontally during play. Basically, your zoomed display will redraw with a new screen of waveform data whenever the play cursor reaches the right side of the window. This is a nicely flexible but still easy way to use a scrolling display - if you are only zoomed in a bit, you'll have time to see and study the waveforms as they scroll, but if you are zoomed in a lot, the waveforms will animate similar to an oscilloscope display. We've known for a long time that analysis is done with both our ears and our eyes. The new horizontally scrolling display in DC Live/Forensics makes this much easier.
Changeable Headers in DC Tune Library- When we first introduced the Tune Library in DC7, several of our forensic users noticed that it was a powerful and very fast database for large amounts of audio data. The problem was it assumed that audio data would be music and thus the database was organized with fields such as Artist, Song Title, Genre, etc. This is perfect for music but was not a good fit for forensic data. But now DC Live/Forensics offers the ability to change the headers in the tune library to anything you want. Thus you can have "Case Number", "Clip Name", etc. to help you catalog and find your audio clips. There are also many other enhancements to the Tune Library designed to make it easier to use and more flexible.
New CD Burner Capability with Disc at Once, Data Disc Mode and CD-Text- Our new built in burning capability makes it easy to create all the types of discs that you might need. You can make both audio and data CDs in track at once or disc at once modes. You can specify the time between audio tracks in an audio CD. You can even make DVDs with DC LIVE/Forensics and burn Wave Files or MP3s or any type of file to the discs. Remember, data discs do not trigger any type of "error correction" like audio discs, so you'll always know your data is bit-by-bit correct. CD-Text is also supported in this release.
Much Improved Spectrum Analyzer- When we do an audio forensic analysis, one of our most important tools is the Spectrum Analyzer. DC LIVE/Forensics now includes a new high precision Spectrum Analyzer.
The new features associated with this tool are numerous, so let's get started:
You can now specify a frequency range to study in the Spectrum Analyzer. You can, for example, use the entire display space to show only the frequencies between 58Hz and 62Hz. Or you can focus in on 300Hz to 3000Hz. Full scrolling is implemented too!
A much larger range of FFT sizes is now offered - all the way up to 131072! In standard mode, this allows a resolution of .01Hz. Note: This will take a while to resolve on slower computers and would offer a good excuse to get one of our screaming AudioCenter PCs.
Did we mention Standard Mode? This implies another mode is offered and it's called High Precision mode. This is one of the new revolutionary features in DC Live/Forensics in that available frequency bins are focused ONLY on the area of interest that you have defined as the frequency range. For example - say you have the range set for 300Hz to 3000Hz and you have the FFT set for 32,000; in standard mode, you will have 16,000 frequency bins from approximately 10Hz to 22,000Hz (with a 44.1khz file). In the new High Precision mode, you'll still have 16,000 frequency bins, but now they will all be distributed between your target frequencies of 300Hz to 3000Hz. This is the great benefit of High Precision mode.
Now the Spectrum Analyzer allows you to save the Trace in a file and then open it back up. When you open a saved Trace, it'll be shown in white on top of the "live" trace so you can compare them.
And finally (we told you there were a lot of new features in the SA), you can now analyze your audio data in both a 10 band octave format and a 30 band 1/3 octave format. This is the way environmental noise analysis is done via Pure Tones and is now offered in DC Live/Forensics.
High Resolution Capability for Make Waves Signal Generator- If we can study signals to a fraction of a Hz, shouldn't we be able to create them? The new Make Waves function allows you to create fractional frequency waveforms. To create them, just type in the frequency you want, such as 60.01 Hz.
New High Definition Spectrogram Helps Find Edits- DC LIVE/Forensics now contains a new High Definition Spectrogram display. This new display offers FFT sizes up to 131,072 allowing for 65,536 frequency bins. The tool also includes a new easy-to-use slider that provides either increased time resolution through a Zero Pad process or increased frequency resolution through a decimation process. New Windowing methods are included as well to round out the feature set. This new Spectrogram is not only capable of performing traditional voice print analysis work, but also can help find edits, dual power signatures and other spectral anomalies in an audio file.
New Spectral Inverse, Copy, and Difference filters (in the spectral filter)- One of the most exciting new features in DC LIVE/Forensics is, in fact, a whole set of new features. The Spectral Filter now is not only a super EQ with up to 32,000 bands, it now sports several new modes that will make it very useful with forensic recordings.
The new Spectral Inverse mode measures the amount of energy throughout the frequency spectrum in the recording and automatically creates a filter which tends to equalize the energy in all frequencies to a reference contoured shape - such as one that corresponds to human speech. This will be the "go to" filter for muffled voice or where speech clarification is needed.
Also included in a new Spectral Copy mode. In this mode, you just sample the spectral characteristics of a reference file and then be imposed upon a different file. For example, you can sample the spectral characteristics of a button "click" on a recording from a cockpit and then impose this on a file in order to make the button clicks easier to hear in a target file. Thus the signal in the first file is use to augment the signal in another file.
The last new mode, Spectral Difference allows you to take two recordings that have different spectral characteristics (such as one on tape and one digital) and make them sound the same.
But there are even more features in the new Spectral Filter - it now is adaptive! Just click the Auto-Sample checkbox and the program will frequently resample as it moves along through a file, thus adapting as the file changes. The new Spectral filter modes will often be used in conjunction with either a time domain or frequency domain adaptive filter and this will likely become your main method to use when using DC LIVE/Forensics.
Scrubbing- DC LIVE/Forensics now provides several modes to playback your audio - including our new scrolling playback - you can manually control the speed and direction of playback in real time with your mouse. Scrub play makes it easy to focus on an audio segment and hear it at various speeds.
That's the list of many features in DC LIVE/Forensics, but keep in mind that whenever we do a major upgrade such as this one, we also revisit the entire program performing bug fixes, improvements, etc.
Pricing is as follows:
I Want To Upgrade To DC LIVE/Forensic 7.5 and I already have purchased the $199 Upgrade To Version 7.X ($499.00)
I Want To Upgrade To DC Live/Forensic 7.5 and am a first time buyer of Version 7.X (not upgraded to Version 7.X) ($699.00)
I Want To Upgrade To DC LIVE/Forensics 7.5 And I Own A Copy Of DC LIVE/Forensics 4X-6X ($699.00)
I Want A New Copy Of DC LIVE/Forensics 7.5 ($1499.00) - - - Introductory Sale price is $1399.00 for the next month.
The Demo Version of the software can be downloaded at the following link:
http://www.diamondcut.com/Downloads/...eSetup75DC.msi
Contact us for ordering information at:
973-316-9111
We realize that we have several levels of users for DC LIVE/Forensics. When we spec out a new version, we do our best to introduce features that run the gambit of our users. This new version of DC LIVE/Forensics is no exception. Any level user will find new tools that benefit the work they do each and every day. These are in no particular order of importance, as each user requires something different.
EZ Forensics - This is a cool new approach to Forensics audio that presents Forensic audio cleanup in a Wizard-like environment. An operator simply answers questions like, "Are there single or multiple talkers?", "Is there background noise? Muffled speech?", etc. Next the program offers several solutions for the problem and the operator simply selects from the list of possibilities and starts to preview. Normally the program offers 4 "answers" to the forensic problem and the operator can preview the results with each of them in seconds. But just because EZ Forensics is quick and easy, does not mean it's a simplistic tool. Under the hood is some of the most advanced automatically adapting filter technology in DC Live/Forensics.
Much improved Adaptive Filter- Speaking of Adaptive filters - DC Live/Forensics boasts a brand new approach to our Classic Time Domain Adaptive Filter. The filter is now dramatically more effective in separating speech from background noises - even, in some cases, from music. The filter is not only much more capable, but it's also now easier to use with a new logarithmic Filter Length slider. This makes it much easier to find the "sweet spot" when previewing. Also included is a new display item that shows a time offset in milliseconds when using a second channel as a reference channel.
Scrolling Display- Many of you asked for this - so here you are. DC Live/Forensics now offers the ability to scroll the waveform horizontally during play. Basically, your zoomed display will redraw with a new screen of waveform data whenever the play cursor reaches the right side of the window. This is a nicely flexible but still easy way to use a scrolling display - if you are only zoomed in a bit, you'll have time to see and study the waveforms as they scroll, but if you are zoomed in a lot, the waveforms will animate similar to an oscilloscope display. We've known for a long time that analysis is done with both our ears and our eyes. The new horizontally scrolling display in DC Live/Forensics makes this much easier.
Changeable Headers in DC Tune Library- When we first introduced the Tune Library in DC7, several of our forensic users noticed that it was a powerful and very fast database for large amounts of audio data. The problem was it assumed that audio data would be music and thus the database was organized with fields such as Artist, Song Title, Genre, etc. This is perfect for music but was not a good fit for forensic data. But now DC Live/Forensics offers the ability to change the headers in the tune library to anything you want. Thus you can have "Case Number", "Clip Name", etc. to help you catalog and find your audio clips. There are also many other enhancements to the Tune Library designed to make it easier to use and more flexible.
New CD Burner Capability with Disc at Once, Data Disc Mode and CD-Text- Our new built in burning capability makes it easy to create all the types of discs that you might need. You can make both audio and data CDs in track at once or disc at once modes. You can specify the time between audio tracks in an audio CD. You can even make DVDs with DC LIVE/Forensics and burn Wave Files or MP3s or any type of file to the discs. Remember, data discs do not trigger any type of "error correction" like audio discs, so you'll always know your data is bit-by-bit correct. CD-Text is also supported in this release.
Much Improved Spectrum Analyzer- When we do an audio forensic analysis, one of our most important tools is the Spectrum Analyzer. DC LIVE/Forensics now includes a new high precision Spectrum Analyzer.
The new features associated with this tool are numerous, so let's get started:
You can now specify a frequency range to study in the Spectrum Analyzer. You can, for example, use the entire display space to show only the frequencies between 58Hz and 62Hz. Or you can focus in on 300Hz to 3000Hz. Full scrolling is implemented too!
A much larger range of FFT sizes is now offered - all the way up to 131072! In standard mode, this allows a resolution of .01Hz. Note: This will take a while to resolve on slower computers and would offer a good excuse to get one of our screaming AudioCenter PCs.
Did we mention Standard Mode? This implies another mode is offered and it's called High Precision mode. This is one of the new revolutionary features in DC Live/Forensics in that available frequency bins are focused ONLY on the area of interest that you have defined as the frequency range. For example - say you have the range set for 300Hz to 3000Hz and you have the FFT set for 32,000; in standard mode, you will have 16,000 frequency bins from approximately 10Hz to 22,000Hz (with a 44.1khz file). In the new High Precision mode, you'll still have 16,000 frequency bins, but now they will all be distributed between your target frequencies of 300Hz to 3000Hz. This is the great benefit of High Precision mode.
Now the Spectrum Analyzer allows you to save the Trace in a file and then open it back up. When you open a saved Trace, it'll be shown in white on top of the "live" trace so you can compare them.
And finally (we told you there were a lot of new features in the SA), you can now analyze your audio data in both a 10 band octave format and a 30 band 1/3 octave format. This is the way environmental noise analysis is done via Pure Tones and is now offered in DC Live/Forensics.
High Resolution Capability for Make Waves Signal Generator- If we can study signals to a fraction of a Hz, shouldn't we be able to create them? The new Make Waves function allows you to create fractional frequency waveforms. To create them, just type in the frequency you want, such as 60.01 Hz.
New High Definition Spectrogram Helps Find Edits- DC LIVE/Forensics now contains a new High Definition Spectrogram display. This new display offers FFT sizes up to 131,072 allowing for 65,536 frequency bins. The tool also includes a new easy-to-use slider that provides either increased time resolution through a Zero Pad process or increased frequency resolution through a decimation process. New Windowing methods are included as well to round out the feature set. This new Spectrogram is not only capable of performing traditional voice print analysis work, but also can help find edits, dual power signatures and other spectral anomalies in an audio file.
New Spectral Inverse, Copy, and Difference filters (in the spectral filter)- One of the most exciting new features in DC LIVE/Forensics is, in fact, a whole set of new features. The Spectral Filter now is not only a super EQ with up to 32,000 bands, it now sports several new modes that will make it very useful with forensic recordings.
The new Spectral Inverse mode measures the amount of energy throughout the frequency spectrum in the recording and automatically creates a filter which tends to equalize the energy in all frequencies to a reference contoured shape - such as one that corresponds to human speech. This will be the "go to" filter for muffled voice or where speech clarification is needed.
Also included in a new Spectral Copy mode. In this mode, you just sample the spectral characteristics of a reference file and then be imposed upon a different file. For example, you can sample the spectral characteristics of a button "click" on a recording from a cockpit and then impose this on a file in order to make the button clicks easier to hear in a target file. Thus the signal in the first file is use to augment the signal in another file.
The last new mode, Spectral Difference allows you to take two recordings that have different spectral characteristics (such as one on tape and one digital) and make them sound the same.
But there are even more features in the new Spectral Filter - it now is adaptive! Just click the Auto-Sample checkbox and the program will frequently resample as it moves along through a file, thus adapting as the file changes. The new Spectral filter modes will often be used in conjunction with either a time domain or frequency domain adaptive filter and this will likely become your main method to use when using DC LIVE/Forensics.
Scrubbing- DC LIVE/Forensics now provides several modes to playback your audio - including our new scrolling playback - you can manually control the speed and direction of playback in real time with your mouse. Scrub play makes it easy to focus on an audio segment and hear it at various speeds.
That's the list of many features in DC LIVE/Forensics, but keep in mind that whenever we do a major upgrade such as this one, we also revisit the entire program performing bug fixes, improvements, etc.
Pricing is as follows:
I Want To Upgrade To DC LIVE/Forensic 7.5 and I already have purchased the $199 Upgrade To Version 7.X ($499.00)
I Want To Upgrade To DC Live/Forensic 7.5 and am a first time buyer of Version 7.X (not upgraded to Version 7.X) ($699.00)
I Want To Upgrade To DC LIVE/Forensics 7.5 And I Own A Copy Of DC LIVE/Forensics 4X-6X ($699.00)
I Want A New Copy Of DC LIVE/Forensics 7.5 ($1499.00) - - - Introductory Sale price is $1399.00 for the next month.
The Demo Version of the software can be downloaded at the following link:
http://www.diamondcut.com/Downloads/...eSetup75DC.msi
Contact us for ordering information at:
973-316-9111