This thread will be used primarily to announce new releases. It will be a bit redundant, the WinPCD section at my web site will always have full details.
The topic will be updated, new updates will be in additional posts. This will provide something of a history. Go to the last posts to see the most recent information.
Dave
WinPCD Release Thread
Re: Version release notifications
A bug was reported for saving session files. While fixing that bug, I found another issue related to session files. That's now been fixed. The current version it v1.106 and should be downloaded with an uninstall/reinstall. I'm disappointed that these issues got by me, but they are fixed and have been tested. If you have any issues at all, please contact me or post in the feedback thread.
Dave
Dave
Version 1.2 available
I've just posted v1.200 for download. The major change is to the schematic window. You can now make changes to the schematic element values directly from the window. The main window will be updated as will all calculations and any related graphs.
All change details are available at the WinPCD web site.
Dave
All change details are available at the WinPCD web site.
Dave
Version 1.3 available
This is a small update with a couple of changes made from requests and a couple of bug fixes. When two midranges or woofers are used, they can now be connected in parallel (default) or series. Each has its own set of measurement files already. Before this, series connected drivers would have to be connected and measured together which also meant that the spatial aspect (off-axis response) was not accurate. It now will be.
The other change is to the schematic overlay screen. The inductor and capacitor values now display to three decimal places. The tabbed sections on the main window are unchanged. The data was always maintained if entered to more than two decimal places, but it was rounded to two for display.
The bug fixes are described at the WinPCD site.
Dave
The other change is to the schematic overlay screen. The inductor and capacitor values now display to three decimal places. The tabbed sections on the main window are unchanged. The data was always maintained if entered to more than two decimal places, but it was rounded to two for display.
The bug fixes are described at the WinPCD site.
Dave
Version 1.301 available
One more set of changes is in this, primarily having to do with targets. The midrange targets are no longer fixed to be symmetric. Each leg is independent. Other changes are described at the WinPCD web site. Requests finally prompted me to do this. I put it off long enough.
dlr
dlr
Re: Version release notifications - v1.4 available
The changes are primarily in the user interface and the off-axis (polar) response section. See the thread for v1.4 below for details.
v1.402 - Bug fix release
A user found a problem with the midrange lowpass. A third or fourth order electrical lowpass with non-zero in the fourth element (second capacitor) had an error from an editing typo. This appears to have been long-standing, so I highly recommend that you get the latest release if you may want a midrange bandpass of higher than second order electrical. To emphasize, this has to do with the electrical order (number of lowpass elements), not the acoustic order. The acoustic order is separate from the electrical order.
Dave
Dave
v1.403 - Auto Calcs added
The automatic calculations for the crossover sections (textbook values), the Before/After circuits and the circuits in parallel with the driver have all been added. Each of these requires the user to enter two or three values.
The crossover calcs are based on the type of crossover target selected (L-R, Butterworth or Bessel) and the electrical order. The electrical order selected must be valid for the crossover type. That is, Butterworth has 1-4, Bessel has 2-3 and L-R can only be 2 or 4. Keep in mind that these calculations are only for the electrical crossover, the user will then have to tweak it to attain the desired acoustic response.
The Before/After calcs are only for the LCR combination. This provides a resonant notch centered on the frequency selected by the user.
The calcs for the circuits in parallel with the driver are for the LCR or the Zobel (RC). The LCR is the same dialog as for the Before/After while the RC is an approximation based on the driver Re and Les.
Dave
The crossover calcs are based on the type of crossover target selected (L-R, Butterworth or Bessel) and the electrical order. The electrical order selected must be valid for the crossover type. That is, Butterworth has 1-4, Bessel has 2-3 and L-R can only be 2 or 4. Keep in mind that these calculations are only for the electrical crossover, the user will then have to tweak it to attain the desired acoustic response.
The Before/After calcs are only for the LCR combination. This provides a resonant notch centered on the frequency selected by the user.
The calcs for the circuits in parallel with the driver are for the LCR or the Zobel (RC). The LCR is the same dialog as for the Before/After while the RC is an approximation based on the driver Re and Les.
Dave
Version release notification v1.410 Relative Acoustic Offset
There is a new tab section in WinPCD to make it easier and, I hope, more intuitive for finding relative acoustic offset. This could already be done using the main design section, but that was not as intuitive and a bit clunky since it requires re-use of design section input. The new section is free-standing in that you can use it just for finding the offsets, then use those files and the offsets in other software with the caveat that you have to know how the z-axis is handled, whether positive values for offset place the center in front of or behind the baffle. WinPCD is, I believe, in sync with Jeff's PCD on this. Negative values place the position behind the baffle, more correctly, behind the origin (0,0,0).
Dave
Dave
Version v1.500 - Listening Window Average for front hemisphe
A new window has been added to calculate and display "listening window" averages. A more detailed description is available at the Versions page. I highly recommend that you read that before trying it. What you see will make more sense afterwards.
Dave
Dave
Version 1.501 - New driver filter UI and user requested UI changes
Version 1.501 - New driver filter UI and user requested UI changes
The driver filter UI has been changed to use two controls instead of one. This separates selection of crossover type and slope.
Other changes to the UI cover several requests made in the forum here and elsewhere. The window size can now be increased for the problem found in Windows 10 that caused scroll bars to appear and require constant change during use. A window close dialog opens on exit so that it can't be accidentally closed. The System window has an option to keep it on top of other windows. Other changes are listed at my web site.
Dave
The driver filter UI has been changed to use two controls instead of one. This separates selection of crossover type and slope.
Other changes to the UI cover several requests made in the forum here and elsewhere. The window size can now be increased for the problem found in Windows 10 that caused scroll bars to appear and require constant change during use. A window close dialog opens on exit so that it can't be accidentally closed. The System window has an option to keep it on top of other windows. Other changes are listed at my web site.
Dave
Re: Version release v1.510 - Polar response improvements, UI changes and small bug fixes
v1.510 changes:
Has a bug fix for 3-ways with a midrange having higher order highpass that truncated the summed response if the midrange low end went down to 0db.
The polar response section is improved to more accurately reflect the off-axis response. Please read the Help provided carefully. It's important to follow the instructions if you direct measurement files that are post-processed to be minimum-phase. The polar section will need to be filled in appropriately to get the correct on-axis response from measurements.
If you use direct measurements not post-processed (includes excess-phase), then the polar response section should be left alone. If you enable the polar section, both the off-axis will not be accurate, but more importantly, the on-axis will not be correct, either. Excess-phase files are good for one point in space only, the measurement point.
If you use SPL traced files (minimum-phase) , the Reference Angles should be left at 0, since traced files usually are derived from individual driver on-axis response curves, but all other polar setup values should be entered and used.
Details are in the Help of the program and at the WinPCD web site, but to point it out here, the driver diameters are never required, but help to provide more a better indication of the off-axis. If they are left at zero, the off-axis only shows the crossover effects.
Has a bug fix for 3-ways with a midrange having higher order highpass that truncated the summed response if the midrange low end went down to 0db.
The polar response section is improved to more accurately reflect the off-axis response. Please read the Help provided carefully. It's important to follow the instructions if you direct measurement files that are post-processed to be minimum-phase. The polar section will need to be filled in appropriately to get the correct on-axis response from measurements.
If you use direct measurements not post-processed (includes excess-phase), then the polar response section should be left alone. If you enable the polar section, both the off-axis will not be accurate, but more importantly, the on-axis will not be correct, either. Excess-phase files are good for one point in space only, the measurement point.
If you use SPL traced files (minimum-phase) , the Reference Angles should be left at 0, since traced files usually are derived from individual driver on-axis response curves, but all other polar setup values should be entered and used.
Details are in the Help of the program and at the WinPCD web site, but to point it out here, the driver diameters are never required, but help to provide more a better indication of the off-axis. If they are left at zero, the off-axis only shows the crossover effects.
Version release v1.513 (UI responsiveness), 5 Jan 2018
Prior to this release the user interface locked up when the polar calculations were being made. No windows could be opened or moved, even the polar window would accept no user input. There was a single thread.
With this release the user can now open, move or close windows to include the polar plot window. Controls that affect the calculations cannot be changed, however, because this would interfere with the polar plot calculations. The polar plot window can be closed prematurely and the settings will all reset to what they were before calling the polar plot.
While coding these changes I noticed that there was some error in the off-axis response. The farther off-axis the mic angle, the more error occurred in the calculations. That has been corrected and I think that the off-axis calculations are now accurate. Keep in mind, however, that the off-axis has two components, the change in delay from each driver due to different distance and the change in each driver due to the off-axis response change. The latter is a calculated change based on the basic assumption of a flat radiator. It's not accurate (and possibly worse than reality), but it provides a basic idea of the change with angle.
Dave
With this release the user can now open, move or close windows to include the polar plot window. Controls that affect the calculations cannot be changed, however, because this would interfere with the polar plot calculations. The polar plot window can be closed prematurely and the settings will all reset to what they were before calling the polar plot.
While coding these changes I noticed that there was some error in the off-axis response. The farther off-axis the mic angle, the more error occurred in the calculations. That has been corrected and I think that the off-axis calculations are now accurate. Keep in mind, however, that the off-axis has two components, the change in delay from each driver due to different distance and the change in each driver due to the off-axis response change. The latter is a calculated change based on the basic assumption of a flat radiator. It's not accurate (and possibly worse than reality), but it provides a basic idea of the change with angle.
Dave
WinPCD v1.514 - Export to file from graph right-click context & WinGraph v1.002 change
Two programs have minor changes.
WinPCD: All graphs have a right-click context menu for various operations, most built into the graph software used. I added export commands for SPL and impedance complex data. However, I recently found that I exported the wrong element for filters, SPL and impedance magnitude were good. These are used a bit differently in the program, so the export was not correct. It now is.
WinGraph: Complex data files with negative magnitudes are now accepted. The graph also auto-scales on file read.
Dave
WinPCD: All graphs have a right-click context menu for various operations, most built into the graph software used. I added export commands for SPL and impedance complex data. However, I recently found that I exported the wrong element for filters, SPL and impedance magnitude were good. These are used a bit differently in the program, so the export was not correct. It now is.
WinGraph: Complex data files with negative magnitudes are now accepted. The graph also auto-scales on file read.
Dave
WinPCD v1.516 - Session file save/restore bug fix
Version 1.514 had a serious bug that was fixed in 1.515. Right after that was released I received a report that the filter settings weren't saved correctly. A fix has been made and is available to download (v1.516). This goes back to when I created WinFilters. Session files for PCD & WinPCD are compatible, both ways. The only consideration is that PCD session files (of course) don't have the additional data that goes into WinPCD session files. You can open a PCD session with WinPCD and makes changes for the extra data such as a few additional circuit elements, descriptions, etc. The one difference is that the target may not be correct in WinPCD because I added additional ones and needed to change the numbering scheme that is saved for them.
The change was needed to separate the target type (L-R, Butterworth, Bessel) from the order number. In PCD that is a combined text string and I wanted them separated. The Visual Studio solution has shared projects, one the base. It looks like when I made this change I neglected to fully update WinPCD for the session files.
In fixing this, I found that a line of code that prevented the complete loading of a session file in some cases having to do with the default directory. That has been fixed and will, I hope, allow all old PCD session files to finish loading in that case.
Dave
The change was needed to separate the target type (L-R, Butterworth, Bessel) from the order number. In PCD that is a combined text string and I wanted them separated. The Visual Studio solution has shared projects, one the base. It looks like when I made this change I neglected to fully update WinPCD for the session files.
In fixing this, I found that a line of code that prevented the complete loading of a session file in some cases having to do with the default directory. That has been fixed and will, I hope, allow all old PCD session files to finish loading in that case.
Dave