Voice Shaper dynamics software compressor

Alex VE3NEA is the author of several programs for amateur radio (DXAtlas, CWSkimmer etc.). He wrote software for radio amateurs looking for excellent modulation Voice Shaper. It is a dynamics compressor and a real-time equalizer.

The basis is the use of digital sound processing by computers. The signal from the microphone is fed to the computer via the sound card and, after processing, is fed from the computer to the modulation input of the radio station.. Voice Shaper requires a Windows PC, P4 / 1GHz processor and better, 256MB RAM and sound card with WDM driver.
Installing the program is simple and hassle-free. It consists of downloading the installation from the VE3NA site and performing a standard installation. However, setting up a Voice Shaper requires patience.

In the left part of the window there are five basic steps - stop, audio device selection, adjust the signal level from the microphone, recording and playback of the recording.

Let's start with the team, that we select the audio device when speaking into the microphone, we set the signal level so, so that the Voice Shaper indicator is in the green field. Then we record the speech, for example, a challenge. We guarantee the team, that next setting (equalizer and compressor) we can compare better.

The modulation spectrum is displayed in a larger field of the window. When you turn on the equalizer, we have seven blue rings in the spectrum. By moving them with the mouse up and down, we add and subtract the given frequency band. For example, we can emphasize bass or treble according to our own ideas.

After enabling the Gate / Compressor / Clipper option and switching the tab to Clipper, we can set the dynamics compressor. Adjusting the yellow GATE circle horizontally determines the sensitivity threshold. With a suitable setting, we can suppress background noise in the modulation. The vertical offset determines the compression ratio. We set the compression level by moving the green CLIP ring.

More than a graphical and mathematical expression of the level of modulation, it pays to rely on your own ears when setting up. Voice Shaper also allows you to set large levels, which then significantly affect the nature of the modulation.

Voice Shaper is a useful program for "modulation fanatics" and owners of devices without a compressor. However, I missed two things in Voice Shaper - the ability to key the transceiver from a computer and record several audio files to give a challenge.

You can download Voice Shaper from www.dxatlas.com/Download.asp