One of the most compelling reasons to buy a dedicated bioacoustics recorder is to be able to schedule recordings tailored to your research needs. But if configuring it makes your life harder, the purpose of owning one is defeated. Enter the configurator, our free tool to make scheduling your Song Meter quick and easy.
Here are the top five reasons to use our free configurators for your Song Meter device:
With the ultrasonic Song Meter SM3BAT and SMZC as well as the acoustic SM3 recorders, you now have the option of selecting a basic program such as sunset to sunrise via the Quick Start menu. But if you would rather see your schedule displayed visually, or if you are working with an SM2BAT or SM2, the configurator can greatly simplify the task of setting your recording program.
If you would like to custom-create a schedule, you may prefer selecting the schedule through the configurator rather than using the controls on your Song Meter. Plus, the visual nature of the configurator allows you to double check that you are selecting the right parameters.
The configurator is the obvious choice for setting recording schedules for multiple devices. Simply set the recording schedule in the configurator, put the schedule on an SD card, and download the schedule by loading the contents of the SD card in each device.
One great feature of the configurator is that it will give you an estimate of deployment length given your schedule, memory card recording capacity, and battery deployment life. This will allow you to plan when you will go back out into the field, and anticipate when you might need to change batteries.*
If you are recording with multiple microphones, with different settings for each, scheduling can get complicated quickly. For example, you may want to record birds during the day, and bats at night. The configurator allows you adjust settings for each microphone step-by-step, so you can see and check that your microphones are on the correct schedule.
If you'd like to learn more about the configurator, check out a training video we made a while back for the SM2BAT+:
You can also download the configurator for your SM3/SM3BAT here or your SM2+/SM2BAT+ here.
*Battery life will vary depending on a number of factors, including temperature and humidity.
Wildlife Acoustics, Inc.
3 Mill and Main Place, Suite 110
Maynard, MA 01754-2657 USA
+1 (978) 369-5225
+1 (888) 733-0200