Somatic Vision

I purchased the Alive-Software for the usage with my emWave2-Sensor.
Unfortunately there seem to be problems reading out the heart rate:
• every session or (mini-)game is interrupted again and again by the error message: "Connection error. Error reading heart rate. Please connect or adjust the emWave ear clip …"
• great parts of the heart rate curve are displayed in red color (instead of orange color); I guess this indicates areas of unproper reading.

A list of further details:
• all connectors are tight and in place
• the reading errors are not caused by moving the head or so;
• no such reading errors occur using the emWave2 software of heartmath (and never occured during almost 2 years of usage).
• the blue LED of the emWave2 device indicating the pulse is in perfect match to the true pulse; no detection problems are seen on this level.
• errors occur with both sensors: the ear clip sensor and the built in finger sensor of the emWave2

Does anyone have an idea?
Thanks in advance!

Hi Jan,

Alive 2.0 and higher has improved emWave 2 error detection. The standard error detection that emWave 2 uses (both in itself as well as in the emWave software) didn't seem reliable (didn't show errors during movement, didn't show removal of the sensor as an error, after a long period of error wouldn't refind heart rate), so Alive 1.8.4 had our own error detection algorithms. Alive 2.0 has improved algorithms, and also uses more of the emWave 2's error detection, so I think this will solve your issues.

To install Alive 2.0:

1) Please open your current version of Alive and make sure it says Alive 1.8.4 in the Alive loading screen. Close Alive.
2) Download and install the Alive 2.0 upgrade from:
http://www.somaticvision.com/updates/WD ... te_2.0.exe

Best,

Ryan Deluz
Somatic Vision Inc.

Hi Ryan,
thanks for the quick answer!!

I forgot to say that I work with MacOS (Version 10.8.5) …
So, the update file (Alive_Update_2.0.exe) doesn’t open to install.
Is there a similar 2.0 version of Alive availabe for Mac?

I dont’t actually know exactly which version of Alive I work with right now, as there is no startup-screen during lounching (only a black screen for a few seconds). But I downloaded the programm just a few days ago, so it has to be the newest 1.x version.
Maybe there is another method to get the version information?

With best regards,
Jan.

Hi Jan,

The 2.x version of Alive for OSX is available for download from:
somaplay.com/AliveMac/Alive_2.2.2.dmg

This is a full installer so no prior version is needed.

Best,

Ryan

Hi Ryan,
thanks for the update link!
It turned out (CMD-I on the application icon) that the installed version of Alive was 2.2.1.
With the update to Alive 2.2.2 the heartrate detection problems remain unchanged.
No way to have fun with my emWave2 device.

In the meanwhile I had the opportunity to test Alive with the emWave Pro USB-stick (together with the earclip sensor of the emwave2) and it worked perfectly!!
Strange …

Best,
Jan.

The emWave Pro is a much better hardware, it sends more information and has less errors than the emWave 2. All I can suggest is trying to alter sensor placement for the emWave 2, or switching to the emWavePro (although that said over here we have things working ok with the emWave 2, its just more finicky)