SoundStepper

SoundStepper is a lightweight software application whose purpose is to help you control up to 4 motors (RA, Dec, focuser and field derotator) of an altazimuth-mounted or equatorial telescope. It uses audio hardware to control step motors in real time and requires only an external analog current amplifier.

The portable running mode ensures your Windows registry does not get bloated with extra entries. You may run it by simply opening the executable file.

Copying it on a USB flash drive or other portable devices is also possible. You can get rid of the utility by simply deleting the files that you have grabbed from the Internet.

A configuration panel pops up when you open the program for the first time. It does not look very intuitive so you need to invest some extra time into tweaking the dedicated parameters.

You are given the option to set up the audio devices and motors, perform comprehensive tests in order to verify and adjust R.A. motor, consolidate multiple PEC files, as well as select the location and language.

When it comes to mounting options, you can opt for manual equatorial mount, GoTo equatorial mount with or without meridian flip, or alt-azimuth GoTo mounts, limit the maximum meridian crossover, alter the park position, and tweak a set of advanced settings (e.g. guiding speed, audio buffers). You can save the current configuration to a file and revert to the last saved configuration data.

SoundStepper gives you the possibility to gain control over any type of equatorial-mounted telescopes with step motors. The tool lets you make use of ‘GoTo’ manual pointing mounts in order to identify faint objects easier. What’s more, you can begin or stop tracking, work with joystick controlling parameters in order to reverse the direction, log debug information, as well as enable TCP traffic log.

SoundStepper comes with an advanced suite of features for helping you gain control over telescopes, and is suitable especially for professional users.