A software oscilloscope for DOS computers with an integrated remote control for a video tape recorder. The assignment of acoustic events to behavioural observations

With only a little knowledge of programming IBM compatible computers in Basic, it is possible to create a digital software oscilloscope with sampling rates up to 17 kHz (depending on the CPU- and bus-speed). The only additional hardware requirement is a common sound card compatible with the Soundblaster(R). The system presented in this paper is built to analyse the direction a flying bat is facing during sound emission. For this reason the system works with some additional hardware devices, in order to monitor video sequences at the computer screen, overlaid by an online oscillogram. Using an RS232-interface for a Panasonic video tape recorder both the oscillogram and the video tape recorder can be controlled simultaneously and moreover be analysed frame by frame. Not only acoustical events, but also APs, myograms, EEGs and other physiological data can be digitized and analysed in combination with the behavioural data of an experimental subject.