What's new in UltraVox XT

Below you find the main changes in UltraVox XT 4 relative to UltraVox XT 3.2.

General

nThe program code has been entirely rewritten in C++. This has resulted in a significant improvement in performance.

nThe UltraVox XT software license is no longer stored on a hardware key (also known as a dongle). You can activate a license by importing a file that you receive from Noldus after you have purchased the license. See License activation

Interface and usability

nThe interface is instantly-responsive.

nYou can zoom in and out the spectrogram on both axes (time and frequency), using the mouse wheel. ‘

nThe spectrogram can visualize up to 10 minutes intervals (previously that was 15 seconds).

nNo need to re open the last experiment used: UltraVox does that for you (if you chose to do so).

nSpectrogram settings have been simplified and made more user-friendly. They are also available at File > Settings.

nDynamic visualization settings: UltraVox XT 4 automatically optimizes spectrogram visualization settings based on the zoom level, ensuring great level of detail displayed efficiently. If you zoom in, the spectrogram becomes more detailed.

Recording sound

nThe microphones of type Pettersson M500-384 shipped from March 2025 are automatically recognized as sound devices with a unique ID. If you wish to re-program your microphones with and ID, let us know. See Technical support

nThe maximum recording duration is:

For Pettersson microphones (sample rate 384 kHz): 1 hour 33 minutes 5 seconds.

For Dodotronic microphones (sample rate 250 kHz): 2 hours 23 minutes 11 seconds.

For audible sound microphones (sample rate 44.1kHz): 13 hours 31 minutes 35 seconds.

nThe difference in recording duration between microphones is due to the maximum number of bytes allowed in sound files (4294967295). This value has to be divided by the sample rate of the microphone to obtin the maximum recording time.

nWhen you select to stop recording automatically, the maximum recording time is 90 minutes for all microphones.

Import of audio files

nYou can now import audio files that come from other experiments, which include the calls already detected. This means that you can merge data from different experiments (e.g. large number of PhenoTypers or other home cage systems).

nThe import functions accepts audio files of format UVD and WAV.

Sound analysis

nCall detection is now about 10 times faster.

nWith parallel processing, calls across multiple recordings can be detected in parallel, drastically improving processing time and efficiency.

nYou can follow the spectrogram while listening to the sound. In the Call Detection and Call Labeling screen, select Adjust speed to stretch the audio and listen to the sound at reduced frequency.

File management

nYou can now save the data at crucial moments, for example before processing new recordings.

nAn UltraVox XT 4 experiment contains the following file types: Experiment (.uvx), Recording (.uvd), Calls (.uvc).

The following file types were removed as they contained redundant or unnecessary information: .peak, .peakk, .uv1, .uv2.

nYou can export data to CSV, for easy import in R, Python, Matlab, etc.

What has been removed or simplified

nIn the Spectrogram settings, Zero pad has been removed. Analysis is done the same as with Zero pad = 1 in UV 3.2.

nIn the Experiment Settings, the ID column for microphones has been removed. For Noldus microphones, the ID is shown in the Microphone column (e.g. Pettersson-M500-384-1).

nThe Spectrogram settings in the preview / acquisition screen have been removed.

nIn the Preferences dialog, the Acquisition settings tab (File > Preferences > Acquisition Settings) has been removed.

nThe Report (a PDF document with call data) has been removed.

nThe following file types were removed as they contained redundant or unnecessary information: .peak, .peakk, .uv1, .uv2.