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SoundStepper 5.0.0.182

The SoundStepper application is an easy-to-use telescope controller. The program uses audio hardware to real-time control step motors of a telescope mount, it requires only simple external analog current amplifier to operate. · SoundStepper can control up to 4 motors (RA, Dec, focuser and field rotator) of a equatorial or altazimuthal-mounted telescope. · SoundStepper can control any type of equatorial-mounted telescopes with step motors. Manual-pointing mounts (ex: barndoor, poncet platforms, “polar axis”, threaded-rod driven mounts), “meridian-flip” mounts (ex: GEM or cross-axis), and “no-meridian-flip” mounts (ex: Fork, yoke, horseshoe, split-ring), and beginning from 5.0 beta version, altazimuthal mounts too. · SoundStepper can “sync” and “go-to” manual-pointing mounts, making faint objects easier to find (manually center scope on a star, find the star in Cartes du Ciel, right-button, “sync”, right-button on faint object, “go-to”). · Using analog control, SoundStepper drive step motors with quietness, smoothness and linearity. With adjustable linearity, the typical wobbling is 1/20 of step. Like microstep controllers, it can put the motors in any position between step positions. · No PICs, no small SMD microsoldering, no EPROM, no switching interference. SoundStepper uses a simple (SUGGESTED) analog current controller, plugged on cheap USB-AUDIO device, to drive a stepper. · No MS-DOS dedicated computers. SoundStepper does realtime control sharing the computer with planetarium, photo/video capture and others applications, in Windows. It take advantage of the audio devices buffering and autonomous playing. · SoundStepper has built-in PEC and NPEC (periodic and non-periodic error correction systems). With NPEC, the entire threaded rod can be “trained”, enabling the use of cheap thread rods, and the “thread rod/nut/arm” system (like “Astrotrac”). · Main screen with keyboard arrows “control box” (four speeds: slew, find, center and guiding), go-to, flip, park/unpark, and focuser/rotator controls. · LX200 command interface compatibility, enabling the use of LX200 ASCOM driver, through any virtual serial-TCP redirector. The TCP/IP interface enable control the scope from a remote computer. · Configuration screen with many controls, to match SoundStepper with your motors and mount. · Autosave and autorecover last telescope and motor positions (crash recover)

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