Back ]

Sillanum Soft & the author

    My name is Alfredo Accattatis; I love electronics and software, and I have been working for years in commercial companies as software/firmware engineer and software designer. I've been writing programs for embedded systems (with DSP and MICROCONTROLLERS), for PC, for Avionic Computers and even for Mainframes, using C, C++, Pascal, Ada and assembly. I write VA during my free time just for fun and using (also) my DSP experience. The program is completely FREE; a professional version should be available at a modest price in the near future. Sillanum Software is not yet a true company; is only the name I'd like to give to my own company....

Why VA?

    Many people do not have the money to buy an expensive Oscilloscope or a Spectrum Analyzer. Or simply they do not want to invest money for something they will use rarely. Nevertheless many people love to build and test audio amplifiers or other kinds of simple circuits (oscillators, filters, etc); or simply they need monitoring some particular signal (an output of a sensor), and are only interested in the range of audio frequencies . A lot of musicians, for example, need a spectrum analyzer with an octave band analysis tool embedded.

    So, a good soundcard could be all the hardware they need. Together with their PC, that is, a lot of hardware already available at no cost. A recent soundcard with a sampling frequency of 96 or even 192 Khz will allows to manage signals with frequencies up to 96Khz ( well beyond the audio frequencies) transforming VA in a powerful set of instruments for general electronics and other applications. VA is useful anywhere you need a true oscilloscope, spectrum analyzer, frequency meter, voltmeter, function generator and even a distorsiometer (only THD for now). For example when tuning a class B power amplifier: you need a spectrum analyzer (or a THD meter) to minimize the crossover distortion...

    The idea of using the soundcard of a PC is not a new one (there are many of programs like VA) but I tried to write a program specifically made for the analysis of audio circuits for the electronics hobbyist. I think VA is probably less "extravagant" than other (i.e. less windows and frills) but full of substance and even a lot of original ideas.

    VA is a software "under construction", and in continuous evolution. Thanks to the feedback of a lot of people all over the world, and ... why not...my pure passion!
 

The future

      I must work for a living, and I'm thinking about a commercial version of VA. Nevertheless, the present bug free - release, will always be FREE. The commercial version should be released within a few months, if I am able to find time to spend for it. It should include Waterfall (3D) spectrum, Custom function pro (you can easily define a custom waveform), THD + noise, IMD; and a complete English/Italian help with application notes..