IMPORTANT NOTICE Ramsete 2.7 requires that the Regional Settings, in Your Windows Control Panel, are set to English mode (either USA or UK). Never use locale settings which employ a decimal separator different from the dot (for example, Italian, which employs the comma). We strongly recommend that You explicitly define Your locale setting to English-UK or English-USA, because this way also the date and time functions are properly formatted. This is the price to pay for transparent connection with other programs (such as Excel) through simple ASCII data files, which can be edited and modified without particular care - remember that ALL the Ramsete files (.RAY, .SPK, .MAT, .__A, .@_A, .DAT, .GRD) are plain-text ASCII files, they can be opened and modified with Notepad or any other text editor. ADVICE FOR USERS WHO DO NOT HAVE SURFER INSTALLED Ramsete 2.7 is designed for working together with Surfer (TM), from Golden Software, a powerful contour mapping software. Most acousticians already have Surfer and use it for mapping the results of experimental measurements, so Ramsete defaults to "use Surfer" enabled in its Mapping Options window. But if Surfer (version 7 or higher) is not installed on the computer, an error message saying "Active-X component not found" appears when attempting to compute the Dithered or Contour maps. If this is your case, please install Surfer, or simply disable the "Use Surfer" option. ********************************************************* README.TXT for Ramsete 2.70 2.70 (Ramsete II - full version) 1.70 (Ramsete Classic, please notice that this version has been renumbered, as the previous one was 1.90) 0.70 (Ramsete Lite) This is the latest complete package release after Ramsete 2.50 and the never-completed Ramsete 2.60 The most evident differences are: - Source Manager: the program now can import CLF files and convert them to standard SPK files for Ramsete. A free software tool for managing CLF files can be found here: http://www.clfgroup.org/ The CLF file format is the new standard format for defining loudspeaker directivity and power - all serious loudspeaker manufacturers release directivity data for their products in the standard CLF format. - Ramsete View: a lot of bug fixes, the program now directly exports impulse responses in WAV format (Audio Converter is not employed anymore) - Ramsete CAD: fixed DXF import/export, a summary of the materials emploed is saved at the end of the RAY file, so if the file is given to another user, without passying him also the Ramsete.mat file, he can still update his own Material.mat with the material properties embedded in the RAY file. Manual editing of the Ramsete.mat file is needed for accomplishing this task... - Ramsete Tracer: fixed the algorithm for multiple diffractions around free edges of panels, now all the possible paths are correctly found - Material Manager: the scattering coefficient is now properly labelled, according to the ISO 17497 standard - Convolver: this module has been suppressed, as nowadays almost any wave editor includes a convolution tool. Alternatively the Aurora plugins provide a very power convolution tool (www.aurora-plugins.com). Free convolution programs can be found here: http://www.catt.se/download_area.htm#Gratis - Audio Converter: also this module has been suppressed, as the conversion to WAV files is now performed directly inside Ramsete View, and noone is currently using the old MLSSA format anymore... README.TXT for Ramsete 2.50 2.50 (Ramsete II - full version) 1.50 (Ramsete Classic, please notice that this version has been renumbered, as the previous one was 1.90) 0.50 (Ramsete Lite) This is the first complete package release after Ramsete 2.10 and the never-completed Ramsete 2.20 The most evident differences are: - Source Manager now can import also CLF loudspeaker files - the setup package is now freely downloadable from everyone (no password protection) - all modules now work also without a dongle (hardware protection key) in "demo mode", with reduced accuracy and limited range of "advanced" functions, corresponding to the "Ramsete Lite" version. - the "protection" of the executables has been significantly reduced: the presence of the dongle is checked only at the start of each program, and the program continues to work if the dongle is subsequently removed - this allows, for example, to run parallel sessions of Ramsete on several machines employing a single dongle.... - drivers for Eutron dongles (either parallel or USB) are now available from within the Ramsete setup package - remember to install these drivers before attempting to employ your dongle. - for outdoors calculations, now Ramsete can deal with diffractions of infinite order, and can process a complex ground geometry (only for people who purchased the "external features" option) - New, simplified help files are provided in MHT format - you need to have your internet browser configured for displaying correctly MHT files for being able to show the contents of these help files. - Ramsete CAD is now equipped with an easier interface for 3D navigation in "solid rendering" mode - dozens of bugs solved and new features added, juts explore the modules for discovering them... README.TXT for Ramsete 2.20 beta (1.90 with old Hardlock dongle) This is a "beta" release never arrived to completion and final release. It mostly contains bug fixes of all the modules. The major features added are the following: - support for Surfer v. 8.xx (the support for Surfer 6.xx has been dropped) - Audio Converter has now also binaural rendering option, employing the MIT Kemar HRTF database - DXF input and output compatible with Autocad 2004 - visual rendering option in Ramsete CAD README.TXT for Ramsete 2.10 (1.80 with old Hardlock dongle) These features were added: - Import of CATT directivity files (SD0 and SD1), if in ASCII (.TXT)format - Import of newer EASE directivity files, if in ASCII format. - Tested compatibility with Windows XP and Windows Vista (remember to install also the new drivers for Your dongle) - Support for the new USB Smartkeys from Eutron (for computers not equipped with the parallel port) - Bug fixes in Ramsete CAD, Ramsete View and Source Manager - The Sources data-base now contains also the directivity balloons of several musical instruments (measured by Ingolf Bork at the PTB, Germany) - The Rooms data-base now contains the input data files for the latest PTB Round Robin (Phase I, II and III) README.TXT for Ramsete 2.1 RC 2/3/4 (1.8 with old Hardlock dongle) These Release Candidates contain minor bug fixes. These fixes regard three modules: - Ramsete View: all the DXFIN and DXFOUT capabilities are now working as in the previous versions. This should solve any backward compatibility issues, and the Ramsete CAD DXFIN and DXFOUT modules are now the unpreferred solution for interfacing with AutoCAD. Fixed the problem which locked the program when attempting to sum the results of separate source computations. - Tracing DLL: fixed a bug which affected complex geometries of closed rooms containing screens (obstructing surfaces). - Dongler: now the registration of the new Smartkey dongle (for newly purchased Ramsete copy) can be done quickly and easily, and in case of error the dongle does not refuse anymore other programming attempt. README.TXT for Ramsete 2.0 (1.7 with old Hardlock dongle) Many substantial improvements are: - New Visual Basic 6 / Visual C 6 recompile of everything - The Ramsete Graph module disappeared - The impulse response and Schroeder plot can now be displayed within Ramsete View - The path of each reflection can now be graphically displayed and linked to the impulse response value (not available in 1.7) - The CAD now includes advanced DXF in and out and powerful functions for selective selection of objects (not available in 1.7) - The Source manager is capable of graphical input of polar plots, and interpolation of measured ones (not available in 1.7) - A geometry can be attached within each SPK (source) file. The materials are usually declared monopermeable in this case, so that the rays come out through the source geometry. - The summation of separate source results can now be done within Ramsete View, with optional equalisation and delay - Surfer 7 is fully supported - AutoCAD 2000 is supported in both ways - A new real-time convolver is included for auralization. At 44.1 kHz it is even capable of real-time convolution with simultaneouss playback. - The program is now fully indipendent of the installation directory. Long names with spaces are supported. - A completely new tracing launcher is supplied, with simplified interface. - The full help files are not available yet, but the programs support dynamic link to HTML pages which will substitute the help files. Many other improvements were made. The user is redirected to the Ramsete web site for up-to-date info (www.ramsete.com). Plase note, this release can be considered a "release candidate", it will be followed by the final release of Ramsete 2 in a few weeks. The users are suggested to report to the author any malfunctioning or bug (Mailto:farina@unipr.it). README.TXT for Ramsete 1.65 The program which was subject to larger modification was Source Manager. Some minor bugs were fixed, which prevented the program to run on some computers. Furthermore, new functionality was added for managing incorporated geometry within source files. Now it is possible to append a RAY geometry within an SPK file, with the new menu item File - Attach Geometry. Furthermore, it is possible to display the attached geometry with the new item View - Geometry. The RAY geometry can be attached also during the definition of a new source with the ISO3744 module. Now, selecting an User number of microphones, it is possible to load a geometrical description of the source surrounded by microphones also from a RAY file (although the previous MEA files are still supported). Please note that this is the only case in which it makes sense to include microphones in the RAY file to be attached. Note also that the ISO3744 module does not displays the actual geometry, but only the surrounding enveloping surface: nevertheless, the actual geometry of the source can be displayed after the ISO3744 module is finished. In the imported RAY file, the source number 1 is assumed to define the acoustic center of the geometry. If no source was included in the RAY file, the acoustic center is assumed to be in the origin. The source main axis is always aligned with the geometry's X axis, so the RAY file must be prepared accordingly. There is no way to manipulate the geometry from within the Source Manager. Please, be careful in assigning the Obstructing and Monopermeable flags for the surfaces drawn inside the RAY file. Usually, a sound source is surrounded by surfaces which are Monopermeable (so the rays can escape outside) but are not Obstructing. If they are declared obstructing, the Sound Reduction Index R of the materials affect the energy transmission through the enclosure. The effective computation done by the Pyramid Tracer with incorporated geometries surrounding the source has not been carefully tested yet. So the users are requested to report promptly malfunctions or counter-intuitive behaviour of these new functionalities. Ramsete CAD was checked, and it displays correctly the incorporated geometry: the tracing DLL is instead still to be checked in all possible cases, but it was verified that the monopermeable surfaces DO NOT WORK outdoors: the pyramid pass through only when, in its subsequent path, it finds another surface outside the enclosure surrounding the source. This bug will be fixed soon. README.TXT for Ramsete 1.64 The only relevant modification made after the previous version is in the tracing DLL (RTDLL32.DLL), as there was a bug which caused the pyramids to escape out from closed geometries made up of obstructing faces. Now the pyramids escape only if the material is assigned to be "monopermeable", which means that they describe the outer shape of a sound source. Please note that this makes sense only when the encapsulated source is inside another completely enclosed box, not outdoors. Please notice this very important fact: A sound source encapsulated inside a box of obstructing, monopermeable materials radiates pyramids whose energy is reduced by the values of R (sound insulation index) assigned to the obstructing surfaces. This means that it is NOT CORRECT to employ for these surfaces the "true" value of the sound reduction index R, but instead You need to assign R values corresponding to the insertion loss (IL) values of the enclosure. These can be significantly lower than the "true" R values, as the IL is reduced due to the increase of SPL inside the enclosure caused by internal reverberation. Please note also that the absorption coefficients of the enclosure have to be those of the external surface of it, the internal surface (usually highly absorbing) is not taken into account at all (the pyramids do not make multiple reflections INSIDE the monopermeable box, they come out at the first hit) **** README.TXT for Ramsete 1.63 The following modules were updated since v. 1.62: - Ramsete CAD: fixed a bug in the assignment of materials to surfaces which occurred when there were empty lines in the Ramsete.Mat file, causing assignement of the wrong material. - Ramsete View: fixed the mouse behaviour during drawing of Blanking Lines for Surfer (TM); fixed the problem in reading the values of Alfa and Beta from Ramsete.ini, which occurred if no space was inserted between the equal sign (=) and the values - this caused improper tail correction, and thus wrong values of SPL and reverberation time. - MultiLauncher: fixed a bug which prevented the value of Time to be saved in the Ramsete.ini file. - All VB executables (Source Manager, Ramsete View, Multi Launcher, Material Manager and Audio Converter) now check for the decimal dot being correctly assigned to "." - If this is not true, a message box warns the user to set the regionals settings to US English or UK English. README.TXT for Ramsete 1.62 Ramsete 1.62 contains two important updates, regarding the Ramsete CAD and the pyramid tracing modules. In Ramsete CAD, an annoying bug was fixed, which caused the improper association of material number to surfaces. Some other minor improvement was done, as the new feature for checking the existence of double faces (faces which were drawn twice). In the Pyramid Tracing module, the detection of edges was ameliorated: now this error is much less frequent, and when it happens, if the "save escaped rays" option is enabled, in the ESCAPED.RAY file not only a line is drawn for each escaped ray, but also a little circle with an incoming short ray is drawn for each egde error occurred. This makes it easy to locate the geometrical singularities which are causing the edge errors (typically overlapped surfaces), and to resolve them by modifying the geometry. Edge errors are slowing down the program, and in some cases they can substantially alterate the spatial and temporal distribution of reflected rays. README.TXT for Ramsete 1.61 The only difference from Ramsete 1.6 is in the Audio Converter module, now updated to v. 3.1. In fact, there was a bug in the conversion from Ramsete to WAV or TIM files, which caused the conversion program to read the content of the ramsete.ini file from the directory C:\ramsete, instead of the directory where Ramsete 1.6 was installed. This was fixed now. README.TXT for Ramsete 1.6 - Ramsete 1.6 fixed many bugs which were discovered in Ramsete 1.5. The biggest one was about the implementation of the Kurze formula for screen attenuation. - Ramsete 1.6 was checked and runs perfectly also under NT-4, WIN-98SE and Win2000. Remember to load the proper Hardlock drivers for having the dongle recognized... (look in HTTP://www.ramsete.com/ramsete for latest Hardlock drivers, or directly on HTTP://www.hardlock.com). - Now Ramsete can be installed in any directory of the hard disks. Most programs accept long names, even with spaces, with the exclusion of Ramsete Graph (this is the only module which is still 16-bits). - On some systems, Ramsete Graph refuses to run (square root of negative number) - this is not a fault of Ramsete Graph, it depends on some conflicting software which resides in memory - in many cases it was reported a conflict with the oldest version of the MS Wheel Mouse driver. For locating the offending software, press Control-Alt-Canc and look at the list of running tasks. Then start ending one of the tasks, and try again Ramsete Graph. Do this until You find the conflicting software. Then You need to uninstall it, for avoiding future conflicts. Remember that for better performance it is not a good idea to leave many tasks active in the background: they take up memory, slow the response and can cause conflicts (as above). In a properly configured Win98 system, only these two tasks should be always running: Explorer and Systray - All other are superfluous. - Ramsete now requires a registered user's name and reg.key number for working. The users who do not have their registration up-to-date, need to ask to the author a new reg.key, by sending an E-Mail request to farina@pcfarina.eng.unipr.it. These infos have to be inserted in the first two rows in the ramsete.ini file. - The AlfaBeta module is now a window under Ramsete View (under the File menu), it is no more a separate self-standing application. - The SourceManager program now can import the latest EASE loudspeaker files (in their ASCII version), and can interpolate directivity balloons directly from MLSSA polar plot measurements. Some input files are included as samples. - The ISO3744 module of SourceManager now can read directly multispectra measured with the B&K 2260 analyzer, and exported through the B&K Evidence or Investigator softwares. - Many new features in Ramsete CAD for selective selection of materials, sources and receivers. Ramsete CAD is substantially totally new, so it was provided a sort of HTML documentation as user's Manual (in Italian). README.TXT for Ramsete 1.5 - Ramsete 1.5 is now almost completely native Win32-bit, and thus runs only under Windows95, Windows98 or NT. - Warning for NT users: the hardlock protection requires proper installing of the NT Hardlock Drivers. Look inside DRIVERS.ZIP for instructions - Improved speed and reliability of all modules. - The new Ramsete CAD has new drawing capabilities for circular gradons and sloping faces. - Ramsete View now makes use directly of the mapping capabilities of Surfer 6. It is obviously required that Surfer 6 is properly installed BEFORE using Ramsete 1.5 README.TXT for Ramsete 1.4 Ramsete 1.4 presents some new features, and the fixing of many known bugs. Let we start from the latters: - fixed the automatic sum of the results with many sources (Save All not checked) - fixed problems with the DOS extender of the tracer, which is now a native 32-bits Windows DLL, and thus runs in a graphical window. - fixed the problems with rectangular rooms, thanks to the new diffusion parameter (randomize after). It express the number of specular ref- lections, after which the pyramid begin to be reflected in random directions instead of the specular one. It is recommended that this parameter is set to a value between 3 and 10. These are the new features: - New program AlfaBeta.exe for optimizing the choice of the tail correction parameters Alfa and Beta in not-Sabinian spaces. It is required that two different computations are made with exactly the same geoemtry (just copy the .RAY file and start twice the computation), with the only difference of launching a very different number of pyramids (say 1024 and 32768). Just one source and a few receivers are needed, so that the computation is fast even with so many pyramids. AlfaBeta is used to compare the impulse responses or the Schroeder plots obtained from the two simulations. Alfa and Beta can be changed interactively, and their effect on the tail correction can be observed directly. They have to be set so that the graphs of the two computations are as similar as possible in the useful range of the decay. - Improved speed of the tracer (almost 400% on a Pentium Pro or Pentium II). - It is now possible to save an ascii file, with extension .@_A, containing informations about the trajectory of the rays. This will be very useful in the next future, for displaying the ray paths within Ramsete View. - A Ramsete.log ASCII file is produced during the working of the tracer, it contains info about any error ebcountered by the program. - It is possible to save the rays which escape out from the geometry. An Escaped.ray file is generated, which can be merged inside Ramsete CAD for displaying the rays which are coming out from missing faces or from holes in the drawing. This, obviously, makes no sense for outdoor cases. README.TXT for Ramsete 1.3 Ramsete 1.3 presents some new features, and the fixing of many known bugs. Let we start from the latters: - fixed the problem with Sound Reduction Index of windows and doors, which was not substituted to the R value of the wall, but added. - fixed the problem of incorrect tail correction of summed files in Ramsete Graph, which caused different values of SPL to be display- ed in comparison with Ramsete View - fixed the incorrect computation of LE and LF values in A-weighted and LIN bands. Fixed also the missing computation of LE values in Ramsete View. - The file format of the compressed result files (.-*) is now more simple and efficient, and makes it easier to import the results in spreadsheets. - The computation of T60 has been removed, because many users tended to look at this value for the "reverberation time" to be compared with experimental results, while in practice it is impossible to measure the reverberation time over a 60-dB decay range. - The air absorption algorithm has been revised, and now causes less air absorption at high frequency. Some known bugs are still present: - if the last material in the material data base contains R values, the tracer hangs. - many acoustical parameters are wrong if the time resolution ("precision") is set to values greater than 0.01 s. - the tail correction algorithm can produce artifacts in the case of very simple geometries (i.e., an ampty rectangular room), due to flutter echo phoenomena which are theoretically correct in the hypothesis of specular reflections, but which are usually not present in the reality due some degree of diffusion or scattering of the high-order reflections. A fix of this bug is scheduled for february 1997, with the introduction of a diffusion algorithm. - The tail correction parameters Alfa and Beta, which are located in the RAMSETE.INI file, need to be adjusted properly in the case of non-Sabininan sound fields; no self-calibration utility is actually provided, and most users simply do not have a knowledge of theoretical acoustics deep enough for making them able to properly adjusting these parameters. An "Instruction Page" about this point will be posted on the Ramsete WWW site (HTTP://pcfarina.eng.unipr.it/ramsete) at the beginning of 1997. Here it is the list of the new improvements: - New multiple diffraction algorithm; Ramsete now can take into account also second-order diffractions, which are important for studying thick sound barriers, or finite-sized obstacles such as buildings. This makes Ramsete the only ray-tracing program which can be used in indoor-to-outdoor studies and vice-versa. Furthermore, the outdoor capabilities are largely improved with this new option, which was originally developed for the study of the road and railway noise in urban areas. - The maximum number of receivers is now 4096. - The tracer can generate also auxiliary files, containing the "lost rays" and the single arrivals of energy on the receivers. - The complete lists of command-line parameters is shown launching the tracer from the DOS prompt without any parameter (RTWAT.EXE). - The computation speed has been improved on Pentium machines, thank to the new optimisation available in the Watcom C++ compiler. *** Warning *** The modifications made to the program are actually not reflected into the manual, which still refers to Ramsete 1.0. This is particularly problematic for the new users, which find an user's interface different from the one depicted in the manual. Furthermore, the computation results can be different in many cases, and particularly for the DEMO example described in the manual. README.TXT for Ramsete 1.2 Ramsete 1.2 comes with a sophisticated self-setup program, that automatically decompress all the files and places them in proper subdirectories. If an old \RAMSETE directory exists, it is renamed as \RAMSETE.OLD and no old file is lost. The user have then to manually move the working files on the new RAMSETE directory, eventually destroying the old one with its old executables to clean up disk space. However, RAMSETE make use of some .PIF files, that are copied in Your WINDOWS directory. In some circumstances these files need to be manually adjusted, using PIFEDIT.EXE The .PIF files used by Ramsete are the following: GRIDBAT.PIF - used during Surfer Dithering in Ramsete View GRIDW.PIF - used when launching GRID from Ramsete View - Surfer menu M_LAUNCH.PIF - used when launching multiple copies of the tracer PLOTW.PIF - used when launching PLOT from Ramsete View - Surfer menu RTWAT.PIF - this is the most important, enabling the tracer to run! SETPLOT.PIF - used when configuring the PLOT device from Ramsete View (Never Required, and very dangerous!) SURF.PIF - used when launching SURF from Ramsete View - Surfer menu TOPOPLOT.PIF - used during Surfer Contour Mapping in Ramsete View TOPOW.PIF - used whem launching TOPO from Ramsete View - Surfer menu You need to adjust the start-up directory in the .PIF files if You installed Ramsete on a drive different from the one which contains WINDOWS; in fact, in the .PIF files usually the start-up directory is named \RAMSETE (without leading drive letter), and this works when both Windows and Ramsete are on the same drive (for example C:). When Windows is on a drive (ex. C:) and Ramsete on a different one (ex. D:), You must manually edit the .PIF files to ensure that the startup directory contains the drive letter specification (for example D:\RAMSETE). As a quick alternative (but not safe as the previous one), You can simply move the previously listed .PIF files into the Ramsete directory The same problem occurs if You try to work on data files located on a drive different from the one which contains Ramsete: You cannot develop Your project on a directory on drive D:, if Ramsete is installed on drive C:. You can overcome partially this problem by making the proper modifications to the .PIF files, but it is always recommended that Your project files are located in a subdirectory of the \RAMSETE directory. Last note: remember that all Ramsete files (.RAY, .__A, .-_A) are full ASCII, self documented files. When You have to do some strange task (for example, changing every occurence of material #87 with material #164 in a .RAY file) it is usally far more efficient to do it by a text editor (as Windows Write) than using the Ramsete graphical interface. The result files (impulse responses, acoustical parameters) can be easily imported in a Spreadsheet (Excel) by reading directly the .__A and .-_A files, in a much more efficient way than using the clipboard inside Ramsete Graph or Ramsete View. Finally, also the Materials data base (RAMSETE.MAT) and each sound source file (i.e. OMNI.SPK) can be easily edited with Write, or imported into a Spreadsheet. You must anyway be careful with these files, as an improper formatting of their fields can cause the Tracer to halt.