V+ Designs

feature author: Paul Halliday

Now that we’ve identified sound sources, recorded and edited sound files, created a host computer interface, and configured the SimPhonics computer, “How do we make it all work?” you may ask. V+ is the answer. V+ is a visual application development system that replaces text-based programming. This is what is used to tie the host computer’s stimuli to the sounds to be played and the voice communications to be mixed.

A V+ design is captured in what is called a worksheet design file. It is very much like a logic circuit diagram, with inputs, logic, and outputs. With V+, you can create as many worksheets as you feel are needed to accurately represent your sound system design. On the Beech 1900D, there are 19 worksheet design files that are used to simulate the sounds of the aircraft. We will go into detail on each on of these in the following sections. These design files contain models implemented with V+ that represent real-world sounds. While these models are specific to the Beech 1900D, they could easily lend themselves to models for another aircraft type, or for that matter, another vehicle type, such as a tank. Sound files and V+ logic would have to be changed, but the basic design could remain intact.

In the following sections, a lot of attention is paid to Linear Float Interpolators (LFIs). These are in-line look-up tables that greatly affect how a sound is played (usually through volume and/or frequency changes). Each table is presented as a V+ figure displaying a curve, which represents the interpolation data. It is not the intent of this article go into the mathematical substance of these data, but rather to give the reader an idea of what the curve looks like.

Learn more about V+.