Analyze/Compare Data Sets

To learn more about each of the front panel controls and what they do, see Appendix 1: Front Panel Controls

    1. Use one of the 3 ways to open data:

      • Collect data (see instructions for running a full test)

      • “Search” or “Browse” for data files

      • Import a list of data files you previously collected and saved, using the “Lists” command

    2. Click to select/unselect data files to view on the plot.

      • You can click on the data set name to view/edit notes pertaining to it. This is a good place to view test and instrument notes, or write any takeaways/analyses from the data plot.

      • You can change the color of data sets on the plot by clicking on the color box to the right of the data set name.

    3. Share/Export your data - You can export the selected data files as a folder when you click the “Share” button.

*TIP: Email/Cloud integration to the software will be coming up in the following versions. A useful idea for now might be to set up your cloud drive as an automatically syncing folder on your device, so that you can easily Share the data folders you’ve created.

4. Autoscale plot region - Click on the Y or the X button to autoscale the axes to fit the data selected on the list

*TIP: You can't click Undo to undo autoscaling -- you need to click Ctrl+Z on the keyboard, if you want to undo your autoscaling. You can also always change the number back to where it was, and then click the X or Y buttons to rescale the plot back.

5. Smoothing - The default setting is that the data appears as it is collected. However, to reduce noise and/or errors, you might find it useful to “smooth” your data by selecting an option from the dropdown menu. The different options “round” your data to the nearest ¼, ½, 1st, or 2nd semitone.

6. “As measured” - Allows you to normalize data sets or take averages

      • Normalize - Makes the area underneath all of them equal, between the start and end frequencies specified

      • Cplx average - Takes the complex average of the data

      • Real Average - Takes the real average of the data

7. View data as “bands” - This tool makes it easier to compare different data sets by taking a dB average of every data set between specified frequencies of interest

      • Click on the dropdown menu to see available bands (software comes with Octaves and Curtin bands)

      • You can determine your own bands by clicking the “Edit” button next to the dropdown menu. You should see the popup on the left when you click the Edit button.

          • Click on the plus/minus sign to add/remove band-determining frequencies

          • You can double click on the frequency number to edit it.

          • You can save the bands you have built by clicking “Save As”

  • Once you have selected bands, you can export the dB band average of each data set to an Excel file by clicking the “Excel” button.

    • *TIP: You can format numbers using the dropdown menu at the bottom of the screen. Choose either “General” or “Scientific” for scientific notation, and specify the number of significant digits in the “Precision” text box. For this experiment, scientific notation with a precision of 6 digits is recommended.

  • When you click "Save" and choose a folder and name for the file, the data will be saved as a .tsv file. You can right click on the file and click: Open With > Microsoft Excel to open it in Excel and save it in Excel workbook format.