How to Set SPL Alarms

How to Set SPL Alarms

Setting an SPL Alarm in Smaart is fairly straightforward, and can be done from within the SPL Config dialog. The SPL Config dialog can be accessed by either clicking the gear icon to the bottom-right of either SPL mode graph, or by using the [Ctrl/Cmd] + [Shift] + [E] hotkey.

Note that at least one input channel that is selected for use in I-O Config must be calibrated for sound level measurement before sound level alarms can be configured.

In the bottom-left corner of this dialog, you'll see a plus (+) button to create a new alarm, 

a minus (-) button to delete the currently highlighted alarm, 

and a "Clear All" button to delete all alarms.

To set up a new alarm, click the plus (+) button below the alarms table to add a new row to the table. From there, you can set 5 customizable attributes:

Once you've created an alarm, there are 5 customizable attributes:

1. Use: Each alarm can be toggled as active or inactive via this checkbox.

2. Input: Which input an alarm is applied to. This defaults to "All Calibrated Inputs".

3. Type: The alarm's metric. More information on SPL metrics can be found here.

4. Level: The threshold the alarm must hit in order to trigger, in dB (specific metric determined by the "Type" column).

5. Duration: The number of seconds that the alarm will continue flashing after the sound level drops back below its threshold.

One you've created and activated your alarm(s), it's time to start logging. When triggered during logging, the alarm will cause the backgrounds of applicable meters to flash in a solid, contrasting color.

When logging is turned on, alarms are also recorded as events in the log file and flagged with a yellow lollipop marker on sound level history charts. Hovering over these lollipops will show the specific details of that specific trigger event.