On Monday, November 21st Rational Acoustics released Smaart v8.1. This is the first major version update to the Smaart v8 measurement platform. This is an update with significant feature additions, interface modifications and bug fixes and is recommended for all Smaart v8 users. This update is FREE for all registered Smaart v8 users.

UPDATE PROCEDURE:

- Log in to your license management account at my.rationalacoustics.com
- Click on the “Downloads” tab in the top menu
- Download the v8.1 installer for your specific operating system and run it.
- DO NOT deactivate Smaart to install the v8.1 update. Simply download the installer and run it.

PRIMARY FEATURE ADDITIONS:

· Complete Re-Work of Data Handling

o Introducing the “Session Folder” for improved day-to-day/gig-to-gig data management. Pinned to the top of the data bar, the new Session Folder serves as the target location for all new captured data. Automatically named with the current date when created, the Session Folder may be re-named or swapped out at any time.
o Trace hide/show controls return to the measurement engines and Data Bar. A la v.7, hide/show control can be accessed directly by clicking on the icons in the data bar and engine controls.
o In-Plot Graph Legends for quick management of the traces in a plot. Accessed via the Z-Order drop down arrow in the upper right corner of a plot, the new graph legends allow you to quickly re-order or hide traces, move them between plots, or view, bypass and re-enable any applied dB offsets.
o Improved Global Program Data Bar for more intuitive handling of captured traces. Keep all your data organized and at your fingertips with nested folders and added options such as “New Folder from Selected”, and the quick average of many selected traces of the same type via right select>”Average”.

· Multi-Spectrum Plot View shows all running spectrum engines in their own plot, with an additional Full-Screen Plot-in-Focus hotkey accessible via the View menu, or their respective Hot Keys.

· Built-in Program updater. When connected to the internet, you may ‘Check for Updates’ from the File menu to ping the Rational server for available downloads.

· “Create Meters” Button Added to IO-Config for automatic Broadband Meter configuration based on selected inputs for an input device.

· New API Options tab with API password protection, as well as IP/Hostname info.

· Added Tab Run-State Option where measurement engines may be set to continue their run status in the background when switching between tabs.

ADDITIONAL FEATURES AND ENHANCEMENTS

· Added “Inverted” flag to API to match inversion state of remote trace
· Added “Compact” option of the Signal Generator to the View menu
· Added 1024k sample pseudorandom noise sequence length
· Added option to change increment of dB Offset when using hotkey
· Added “Scroll Bar Color” to Skin Manager
· Added ’Skin’ submenu to the View Menu. Shift+Control+X now toggles through available skins
· Configurator dialog is now resizable
· Moved API servicing to a background thread
· Spectrum measurements are now auto-created in current tab when choosing a new input device
· Improved trace averaging dialog
· Improved Windows 10 touch screen support
· Tab bar visibility is now a window setting (vs Global)
· Improved Trace Info dialog action button labels
· Capture All now appends given folder name to each captured trace’s name
· Broadband Meter Config is now cached so settings aren’t lost while changing meter grid size
· Pressing Enter key while editing BB Meter names now brings you to the next meter name cell
· Transfer Function trace averages now use Coherence Weighting by default
· Devices in I-O Config are now greyed if not used or not connected
· Configurator can now be closed with no device chosen, using ‘x’ in left corner
· File name restrictions are now enforced based on OS
· Removed hover tooltip for Trace Info from Plot Legends
· Disallowed dragging files/folders from one Data Library to another (in a different window)
· Improved deactivation screen text

A complete list of the 20+ new and improved features in Smaart v8.1 (including bug fixes), as well as a new version of the Smaart v8 User Manual, updated for v8.1, can be found in the v8 Support section of the Rational Acoustics web site. Also, a full Revision History including new features and bug fixes, detailed function descriptions, and a full listing of all accelerator (hot) keys is included in Smaart’s Help files.

This is a FREE update for all registered Smaart v8 users. To update Smaart v8, simply log in to your account at http://my.rationalacoustics.com, download the 8.1 installer and run the new installer over your existing version. DO NOT deactivate Smaart to update.

If you encounter any problems with the update, please send an email to [email protected] describing your problem in detail.