Audio output is surprisingly resource hungry. If you are running 16 imec probes and recording all channels to disk, you may find that turning the audio on tips the system into instability. You'll hear excessive skips and crackle in the audio stream, and you'll see performance drop off in the Metrics window.
Audio is fine as long as the system is not at maximum stress.
As of version 20170501 SpikeGLX no longer uses NI-DAQ based analog out. Rather, selected channels are fed to the Windows sound drivers and, just like music, are accessed through the PC speakers and headphone jack. You can also use USB-based headphones.
If you want, you can make a cable to go from the audio jack to a BNC and feed the signal into an A-M Systems 3300 Audio Monitor box. I've tested that.
I advise using the 'Stop' button to stop audio output before un/plugging headphones. Sometimes changing the hardware when sound is running will cause a crash.
Some later versions of Windows will show a dialog asking you to confirm that the device is headphones or other. This dialog may be hidden behind SpikeGLX windows. You'll have to find and answer the dialog before sound output can resume.
Because they run at different sample rates you can listen to channels from only one stream at a time.
You can select any channel you can see in the Graphs window, even the digital channels.
You can set the Left and Right channels the same, or, use your two ears to monitor two channels at the same time.
You can right-click on the Graphs window to select channels. When you do that, the stream will change to the one you clicked on, and audio out will start immediately if not already running.
The two popup menus work together to define a pass band. The left popup controls the left edge (the highpass part):
Remember that DC offset in the signal can be removed by applying at least a 0.1 Hz filter. DC may cause clipping, which manifests as distortion and artifacts.
Be careful not to boost volume too much. As amplitude grows, transitions in frequency are faster and may be harder for you to hear. For example, a ramp becomes more like a pulse edge and will contain less audible detail.
Of course, clipping is a risk at large volumes.
Latency can be measured using an oscilloscope and a signal generator setup. I find the Imec stream latency to be roughly 135 to 200 ms. NI latency is roughly 110 to 130 ms. Disturbances in total computer activity can cause the latency to slowly drift or even take a jump to a new value. However, resetting the audio, that is, stopping and starting it again, will bring latency back to its normal range.
The following actions perform a stop/start reset (if audio is already running):
Resets cause a momentary crackle.
Audio crackle (brief glitches) may occur occasionally. The actual sound drivers only work at a limited set of sample rates, and those do not match the sample rates of our data streams, so the data are resampled within the Windows sound drivers. This creates a small amount of distortion (as does filtering), and every so often the driver finds itself missing a sample. The missing sample causes a discontinuity in the waveform, which sounds like a crackle.
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