SYRINX-PC
A
Windows program for spectral analysis, editing, and playback of
acoustic
signals
developed by John Burt
John
Burt’s home page
Example Syrinx
display:
This figure is an example of the Syrinx display window. Click on the thumbnail image to view a larger picture.
Syrinx was designed for :
Field
recording:
With Syrinx,
sounds can be recorded efficiently enough that bird song can be stored
directly
to disk, in the field, on a sound-card-equipped computer with a
microphone. Syrinx shows a real-time
spectrographic scrolling display
during recording so that sounds being recorded are visible. A single
key press
stores an audio buffer containing the most recent sound to a wave file.
This
aspect of Syrinx is particularly useful
for quickly
obtaining birdsong repertoires from the field for playback and
analysis.
Lab
recording:
Syrinx can be run on an inexpensive,
low-powered, PC as an
automatic sound detector for laboratory experiments involving
continuous
monitoring of vocalizing animals over long periods of time. Sound
events are
stored as a numbered series of wave files (there is also a time/date
stamp
option to create unique filenames). My colleagues and I have used Syrinx in this capacity to store what would
amount to
hundreds of hours of raw tape recording as sound files containing only
birdsong, all of which fit onto only one or two CDs (650 MB each). The
same
automated event detector feature can be used to scan audio tapes.
Sound
Analysis:
Syrinx allows analysis and editting
of sounds as spectrograms. Displays of multiple sounds can be created,
an
entire display can be saved for later recall, and spectrograms can be
printed
on a black and white printer with a quality approaching that of a
grayscale
printer. Spectrograms can also be copied as images from display windows
and
pasted into drawing programs to make illustrations. With Syrinx's
time and frequency cursors, measurements can be taken directly off the
spectrogram display and stored in text log files. Syrinx also
has features that allow it to be used to browse long recordings and
multi-channel sound files recorded from microphone arrays.
Field
Playback:
Syrinx integrates all of the above features for
use in playback
experiments. In the field, all that is required is a
sound-card-equipped
notebook computer running Syrinx,
microphone, and
playback speaker. Onscreen, spectrograms of the playback songs can be
displayed, as well as the recorded songs of your subject, and a
real-time
spectrographic display of what the subject is singing at the moment.
This
allows instantaneous comparison of incoming song, playback song, and
recorded
song; also, quick selection and delivery of the next playback song. Syrinx also has a simple behavioral data entry
feature that
allows programming of the keyboard to store specified behavioral
events. Later,
a log file of the trial can be retrieved which contains the trial
beginning and
ending times, what and when the bird sang, and what song was played
back.
The current version
number is 2.6h
NOTE: There is currently no
Beta version.
Syrinx is available for free, although I do
require that
you fill out an information form first:
NEW!! A basic tutorial on how to use Syrinx: Syrinx quick tips.
Please send any questions or
suggestions.
Contact John Burt via email
Dr.
John Burt
Psychology Department
University
of
Washington
Seattle,
WA 98195