.TH CMPSIG 1carl CARL
.SH NAME
cmpsig \- multiple file/channel comparator with CRT graphics
.SH SYNOPSIS
.B cmpsig 
[ 
.B flags 
] [ 
.B files 
] > text mode graph
.sp
or
.sp
.B cmpsig 
[ 
.B flags 
] [ 
] < floatsams > text mode graph
.sp
Input must be a file or pipe.
flags:
.TP
.B -t
set text mode of output instead of CRT plot
.TP
.B -cN
set number of channels to N (if reading stdin or using -E)
.TP
.B -lN
set lower bound of display to N (-1)
.TP
.B -uN
set upper bound of display to N (+1)
.TP
.B -mN
set upper and lower bounds to + and - N ([-1,+1])
.TP
.B -RN
show time instead of sample number using sampling rate N
.TP
.B -aN
display average of N seconds of samples.
.TP
.B -eN
display mean squared energy of N seconds of samples
.TP
.B -sN
skip output by N seconds worth of samples of input
.TP
.B -Cc
show sample value as character c ('A')
.TP
.B -Hc
histogram mode using character c ('-')
.TP
.B -EN
each file has N channels (set -c to sum of channels)
.sp
All durations are in seconds.  Use postop 'S' for sample times.
Arguments may be expressions.
.PP
.SH DESCRIPTION
.B cmpsig 
is similar to 
.I show(1carl)
save that it will plot more than one channel simultaneously.
Each separate channel is plotted with a different character,
where the first channel is represented by the character
.I A,
the next by
.I B,
etc.
.PP
If no files are named, 
.B cmpsig
reads its standard input.  In this case, you must explicitly tell
.B cmpsig
.I via 
its
.B -c
flag how many channels the input floatsam stream contains if it is not mono.
(
.B cmpsig
will ignore its stdin if any files are named.)
.PP
If files are named on the command line, these are assumed to contain
monophonic floatsam data, and one sample from each is taken in order
of their mention on the command line.  In this case, channel labeling
is done automatically, since the number of channels equals the number
of files.
.PP
Where it is desired to compare multi-channel files, the -E flag comes
in handy.  For instance, if file 
.I aa 
and 
.I bb 
contain stereo floatsams, they can be compared by saying:
.RS .5i
% cmpsig -c4 -E2 aa bb
.RE
where -c4 specifies the sum total of channels, and -E2 says that each
file contains two channels.
.PP
Where two channels fall into the same character position on the graph,
the collision is represented by a '*' character.
The base character from which the sequence is chosen can be changed
with the 
.B -C
flag.
.PP
If the CRT graphics start to make you dizzy, -t prints them out 
in numeric format instead.
.SH AUTHOR
Gareth Loy
