ACOUSTIC MAGIC 201 Voice Tracker II Array Microphone
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MANUFACTURER: ACOUSTIC MAGIC
PRODUCT CODE: VOICE_TRACKER_201
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Since the Voice Tracker array microphone can pick up talker throughout the entire room, it has often been used for conferencing applications. It became clear from customer feedback that incorporation of a high-quality acoustic echo cancellation (AEC) algorithm would broaden the Voice Tracker's application by enabling full duplex VoIP based conferencing at a fraction of the cost of conventional conferencing systems. The addition of a high-quality AEC algorithm to our internal DSP is the main differentiating feature of the Voice Tracker II Array Microphone, but it has several other attributes as well.
A crucial audio requirement for conferencing is the elimination of acoustic echo (sound from the far end talker picked up by the open mic and sent back). The Voice Tracker II ™ Array Microphone’s internal AEC algorithm provides performance that rivals or exceeds that of AEC boxes costing several thousand dollars. Connect the Voice Tracker II ™ Array Microphone to your PC based VoIP software and eliminate the need to use headphones; all the near end talkers will be heard, even if they talk softly or are far away from the mic, and the far end talker will hear no echo. The Voice Tracker II turns inexpensive VoIP based telephony systems like Skype and Adobe Connect into Conferencing tools.
The Voice Tracker II™ is significantly smaller than the Voice Tracker I. The Voice Tracker II’s primary audio output is USB and it is powered by its USB connection, eliminating the need to be connected to wall power. Not only does this remove the need to carry the wall power converter, it eliminates the need to have different wall power converters for different countries.
Since the Voice Tracker automatically and electronically steers a listening beam to the active talker, it knows the location of the talker. In the Voice Tracker II ™ this information is made available outside the DSP as a RS 232 serial word through a DB-9 Jack. A sophisticated customer can use this information to point a camera, or turn the head of a robot toward the talker. Note that Acoustic Magic does not provide any algorithms for the use of the location information.
FEATURES:
Automatic electronic steering of "listening beam" to talker location
Two stage noise reduction (spatial filtering and noise reduction processing)
Built in High Quality Acoustic Echo Cancellation.
6 element, 10 inch long mic array for long range
Mute Mode
5 element "in range" light to indicate location of chosen talker and sufficiency of signal
Talker location signal thru DB 9 jack (cable optional)
Compatible with a variety of operating systems including: Apple/Macintosh : Mac OS, Mac OS X; Microsoft : Windows 3.x, Windows 95,Windows 98,Windows NT, Windows 2000,Windows ME, Windows XP, Windows Vista, Windows 7
SPECIFICATIONS:
Range
20+ feet for meeting recording (depends on acoustic characteristics of the room).
AEC Performance
G.167 Compliant
70 db of echo cancellation in single talk
40 db of echo cancellation in double talk
Convergence time of less than 100ms
Sample rate: 48KHz
Primary audio output
USB
Secondary audio output
Mic level or Line level (switch controlled) 3.5mm ministereo jack
6ft male/male audio cable (optional) Same signal on tip & ring 500 ohm output impedance
Talker location signal accuracy
5 degrees
Frequency Response
100Hz to 11,250 Hz
Physical Dimensions
Length: 11.5"
Height: 1.5"
Weight: 0.75lbs
Power Equipment
Powered by USB (wall-powered converter optional)
5V DC
400 ma
Note from Acoustic Magic on the VoiceTracker II:
Some early users of the Voice Tracker™ II requested that we increase the USB audio output level. The level wasn't as strong as the analog audio level, which made the Voice Tracker™ II less effective at long-range in the USB mode.
The USB output level is easily controlled by a setting in the USB chip. However, if we made the level too high, the output would be too strong for close in applications like automatic speech recognition with Dragon NaturallySpeaking.
Our solution was to make two USB output levels, controlled by the switch that was already on the unit to enable two analog output levels (mic level and line level).
So now, if you find the audio output level in USB is a little low when the switch is in the "mic level" position, changing the switch position to "line level" will increase the signal by 16 DB.
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