AudioTool cal files

662 views
Skip to first unread message

R. G.

unread,
Mar 8, 2021, 12:48:02 PM3/8/21
to AudioTool Discussion Group
Hi, I am struggeling a little with the format of the .cal files in AudioTool (v8.4.2).
May be someone can help here.
The direct import of the UMIK-1 files (renamed to .cal) in AudioTool does not work (error cannot read or no data found).
I testet some format options, saved a file from the app itself, compared, and get the files loaded.
When I load a saved and modified calibration file (with large peaks), I can verify the function: this works fine.
As far as I can see we have to enter a tabstop seperated text file with the 1/3 oct. frequencies and the corresponding dB values.
The values for the frequency are whole decimal, but what about the dB values? Are they comma seperated? How many decimals?
Also it seems there has to be this first comment line. At least it wont load the files on my device (Poco F3 Android 10) with this line missing.
And how can I control or check the function of the importeted .cal files? I do not see the values anywhere in the app. It shows me the right file name under the graphics window, but it also does this even if I do a manual calibration and reset all values to zero.
Further more the value for the offset shown at the same position (right behind) is not comma, but dot seperated. Entering values with decimal dots in the .cal file and trying to load always gives an error. So I guess the comma is the right way.
Is there a general rule for the .cal files to take out the guesswork?
Is it possible to check, if the .cal file is properly loaded and working?
Can I see the applied values from the calibration file in the app?
How can I check if an accidently performed manual calibration (for example with a reset to zero) did or did not modify these values? The old loaded filename will be shown all the time.
Sorry for the long explanation and thank You for Your help :-)

Julian Bunn

unread,
Mar 8, 2021, 1:23:21 PM3/8/21
to audiotool-dis...@googlegroups.com
Can you send me the UMIK-1 cal file that you found couldn't be loaded? AudioTool does support the UMIK-1 files.

Regarding the calibration: you can see what values are being used (at least to the nearest 1dB) by going into the manual calibration via the Menu ... the sliders/oval discs that appear on screen will show the prevailing value for the calibration in the bands.

Some cal files for microphones have much greater frequency precision than AudioTool uses (which is 1/3 Octave values). When loading such files AudioTool averages the data into 1/3 Octave bins it needs.

I'm not sure about your commas/dots question. 

The name of the cal file shown is always the last one loaded. If you in the meantime change the calibration manually, then that file name doesn't change. 

I hope the above helps? Let me know if not!

Julian

--
You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "AudioTool Discussion Group" group.
To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to audiotool-discussio...@googlegroups.com.
To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/audiotool-discussion-group/2cf4662c-48ee-48e9-b48f-a9dd62760e8cn%40googlegroups.com.

Reinhard Gritzuhn

unread,
Mar 8, 2021, 2:46:29 PM3/8/21
to audiotool-dis...@googlegroups.com
Dear Julian, thank You for this very fast response.
I attached three files:
- the original UMIK-1 file as cal and with a * in the first line, as I read in the group conversations earlier. I tried it also without that modification, which might be useful in older versions of AudioTool
- the first converted file with the 1/3 octave dataset
- the latest working file I have. This one is loaded without error and seams to work. It has reduced frequency range (20 /20000 Hz) and a first comment line similar to the one generated from AudioTool when saving a calibration file.
As far as I could see there was no averaging of the original file to 1/3 octave (which of course would be useful). But this was probably due to the errors loading the original file at all.
Does this first line before the data need to have a special form?
And is it o.k. to list dB values with three decimal digits after the comma?

Thank You very much Julian
Greetings
Reinhard


original.cal.zip
converted.cal.zip
latest_working.cal.zip

Reinhard Gritzuhn

unread,
Mar 8, 2021, 2:58:27 PM3/8/21
to audiotool-dis...@googlegroups.com
Hi, one more question please:
There is this excel spreadsheet (AudioTool Calibrate 2.0.0) described in the manual to help convert and make cal files. I only got this partly working with a very old version of MS Office / Excel. I could not get a working result out of this. Loading the MiK Files is the problem. Does that sound familiar to You? Is there any trick? Maybe a path requirement?

Thank You


You received this message because you are subscribed to a topic in the Google Groups "AudioTool Discussion Group" group.
To unsubscribe from this topic, visit https://groups.google.com/d/topic/audiotool-discussion-group/wMgK2o5ZTCg/unsubscribe.
To unsubscribe from this group and all its topics, send an email to audiotool-discussio...@googlegroups.com.
To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/audiotool-discussion-group/CAAxkZQu-EmCAd8rjOT946Ap_HjOzuXp8%2BXQ0xrNOGYj94qh%3DZA%40mail.gmail.com.

Julian Bunn

unread,
Mar 9, 2021, 12:58:13 PM3/9/21
to audiotool-dis...@googlegroups.com
Hi Reinhard,

The excel spreadsheet was kindly supplied by AudioTool user Rex Beckett, who may no longer be watching this group, I don't know. I'm not familiar enough with how it works to offer support for it :-(

Julian

Julian Bunn

unread,
Mar 9, 2021, 1:16:25 PM3/9/21
to audiotool-dis...@googlegroups.com
Hi Reinhard,

There are basically two formats for the Cal files that AudioTool understands:

1) The "native" AudioTool format. This has a header line (a comment) which is followed by 31 rows. Each row has a pair of numbers: an integer Hz value and a floating point dB value. Those numbers may be separated by spaces, tabs, or a comma. 

2) The "Dayton Audio" format. These files have a header line that starts with "*" or "Sens". The header is followed by rows of two or three floating point numbers corresponding to Hz, dB, phase - the phase number if present is ignored/not used. In this format the dB values are averaged into the 31 1/3 octave frequency bins that AudioTool needs. This is Dayton's format, not mine :-)

When AudioTool is asked to load a Cal file, it determines which format the file is in by the presence or absence of "*" or "Sens" at the start of the first row.

Hope this helps!

Julian

--
You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "AudioTool Discussion Group" group.
To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to audiotool-discussio...@googlegroups.com.

--
You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "AudioTool Discussion Group" group.
To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to audiotool-discussio...@googlegroups.com.

--
You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "AudioTool Discussion Group" group.
To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to audiotool-discussio...@googlegroups.com.
To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/audiotool-discussion-group/65EB374C-16B8-47E3-B21D-9857BF707991%40gmail.com.


There was an error sending via Google Groups, so I send this via email too :-)


Am 08.03.2021 um 19:23 schrieb Julian Bunn <jjb...@gmail.com>:

You received this message because you are subscribed to a topic in the Google Groups "AudioTool Discussion Group" group.
To unsubscribe from this topic, visit https://groups.google.com/d/topic/audiotool-discussion-group/wMgK2o5ZTCg/unsubscribe.
To unsubscribe from this group and all its topics, send an email to audiotool-discussio...@googlegroups.com.
To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/audiotool-discussion-group/CAAxkZQu-EmCAd8rjOT946Ap_HjOzuXp8%2BXQ0xrNOGYj94qh%3DZA%40mail.gmail.com.

--
You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "AudioTool Discussion Group" group.
To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to audiotool-discussio...@googlegroups.com.
Reply all
Reply to author
Forward
0 new messages