SimplyClear
Unlock the potential of directionality
Directional microphones open up a new realm of signal processing. We have built an expertise in utilizing the directionality of our microphones to enhance voice quality and enable a new set of features not possible with omnidirectional microphones.
Our software is available in two flavors, SimplyDSP and SimplyAI. SimplyDSPincludes, lightweight, traditional signal processing based algorithms. SimplyDSP includes beamforming algorithms, true stereo recording, automatic gain control, direction of arrival detection and more. With SimplyAI comes our more advanced machine learning based algorithms. This maximizes the potential of directional microphones with our privacy mode which can distinguish between multiple speakers and our collaboration mode which can effectively record large groups with only a small pair of microphones.
SimplyDSP
Traditional Acoustic Signal Processing
Soundskrit’s SimplyDSP software suite leverages traditional acoustic signal processing to bring lightweight, low-latency algorithms to those DSPs that are the most resource-constrained. All the processing in the SimplyDSP suite maintains low distortion and makes sure to maintain the highest level of audio quality possible.
Equalization: The audio output is equalized to provide a natural, crisp, podcast-like sound quality.
Direction of Arrival: Our microphones know exactly which direction a sound source is coming from.
Beamformer: The output of multiple microphones can be combined to increase the directionality of the microphone, and dynamically steer it to any direction.
Automatic Gain Control: A user’s voice level is constantly adjusted to keep it consistent as they move closer to or farther away from the microphone.
True Stereo: The XY configuration of microphones brings professional style stereo recording to any consumer electronics. Directional based stereo recording has an immersive, wide soundstage with accurate imaging.
SimplyAI
AI-Enhanced Directionality
Soundskrit’s SimplyAI combines the latest advancements in AI-based audio processing with the power of directional microphones to bring powerful, high-performance voice pickup to any consumer device. Designed for the ultimate voice experience, SimplyAI is trained specifically on Soundskrit’s directional microphones in order to achieve extreme amounts of background noise reduction and completely isolate a user’s voice.
Privacy Mode
The SimplyAI privacy mode is ideal for scenarios in which you wish to isolate a single person’s voice from a crowd of background noise. Maintain productive and seamless voice calls, as distracting sounds are completely ignored.
- Tunable beam width: The field of view of the directional beam can be tuned to a user-specified value. Match the FOV of your camera to create a single unified experience. Speakers from outside of the beam width are completely muted.
- Dereverberation: Ambient reverb and echo are removed making the user’s voice more crisp and present.
- Dynamic Noise reduction: Large amounts of background noise are removed including dynamic noises such as dog barking, baby crying, keyboard clicks, etc. Even nearby speakers such as coworkers and family members are completely muted.
Collaboration Mode
SimplyAI is also built for scenarios when the user is not centered in front of the device. Whether a single user is pacing around a room so the pickup direction is always moving or a large group is gathered for a conference call, Collaboration Mode ensures every user is always heard clearly and confidently for a more productive and dynamic user experience.
- Voice tracking: Determine the direction the user is speaking from with a high degree of accuracy and track users as they move around the beam.
- Zone detection: Mutes background noise coming from outside of the zone where the speaker is. Zones are enabled dynamically based on where speech is coming from.
- Automatic gain control: The volume of the user's voice is automatically adjusted to keep the level consistent as the move up to 5 meters away from the microphones.
Microphone Configurations
Single Directional Microphone
A single directional microphone has the power of two omnidirectional beamforming microphones without the trade-off between SNR and directionality. By adding acoustic meshes, the beam pattern of the microphone can be altered and paired with software for very low latency and low power audio pickup.
Dipole + Omnidirectional Microphones
By using a directional and omnidirectional microphone together, the polar pattern can be adjusted from cardioid to dipole to optimize the output for specific applications
Read more about combining directional and omnidirectional microphones here
XY + Omnidirectional Microphones
Adding an additional directional microphone enables beamsteering. Point the beam in any directional around the microphones
Read more about using XY microphone here
Broadside Array of Directional Microphones
Use spaced directional microphone, similar to traditional omnidirectional microphone arrays, to further increase the directionality of the system.
Read more about broadside arrays of directional microphones here
Recommended Chipsets
Recommended Chipsets
Our SimplyClear software is widely portable to a variety of processing architectures. Below are a few of the platforms we have ported our software to. This list is meant to provide guidance for the resource requirements and a starting point rather than a definitive list. Our software can be ported to many other platforms beyond this list.
SimplyDSP
Arm Cortex-M7, M4F, M33
RISC-V
Cadence XTensa LX7
Cadence Tensilica HiFi 3, 3z
SimplyAI
Arm Cortex-A7, A9, A53, A73, M7
Cadence Tensillica HiFi 4, 5
Analog Devices SHARC
RISC-V
Scarab Evaluation Kit
The Scarab Evaluation kit evaluates Soundskrit microphones and their potential when combined with omnidirectional microphones using beamforming. This kit demonstrates how different polar patterns and algorithms can enhance directionality and reduce background noise.
Mantis Headset Kit
Our Mantis Headset kit evaluates the performance of Soundskrit microphones and software in a headset situation. We recommend combining an omnidirectional and dipole microphone to unlock several software features. Our microphones are perfect in traditional headsets and in boomless wireless headsets.
Beetle Board Kit
The Beetle Board kit is designed to demonstrate our Direction-of-Arrival (DOA) algorithm. It includes 3 orthogonal Soundkrit dipole microphones, an omnidirectional microphone, and a Windows GUI. The microphone signals are used to detect the direction of an incoming sound and automatically steer a cardioid beam in this direction. Additionally, a manual steering and an immersive stereo mode are included.
Dragonfly Kit
The Dragonfly kit is a tool to evaluate how very narrow beam patterns can be achieved using Soundskrit microphones. The Dragonfly board is a PCB with three SKM1600 modules, each with a dipole and an omnidirectional microphone. A linear beamforming algorithm is used to create a shotgun-like directional pattern to improve audio pickup for extended ranges.