Source Simulator

A source that can be configured to simulate data from an abitrary number of Neuropixels probes. This plugin is useful for benchmarking and stress-testing various signal chains.

Building from source

First, follow the instructions on this page to build the Open Ephys GUI.

Important: This plugin is intended for use with a preview of GUI version 1.0. The GUI should be compiled from the development-juce8 branch, rather than the main branch.

Then, clone this repository into a directory at the same level as the plugin-GUI, e.g.:

Code
├── plugin-GUI
│   ├── Build
│   ├── Source
│   └── ...
├── OEPlugins
│   └── source-sim
│       ├── Build
│       ├── Source
│       └── ...

Windows

Requirements: Visual Studio and CMake

From the Build directory, enter:

cmake -G "Visual Studio 17 2022" -A x64 ..

Next, launch Visual Studio and open the OE_PLUGIN_source-sim.sln file that was just created. Select the appropriate configuration (Debug/Release) and build the solution.

Selecting the INSTALL project and manually building it will copy the .dll and any other required files into the GUI's plugins directory. The next time you launch the GUI from Visual Studio, the new plugin should be available.

Linux

Requirements: CMake

From the Build directory, enter:

cmake -G "Unix Makefiles" ..
cd Debug
make -j
make install

This will build the plugin and copy the .so file into the GUI's plugins directory. The next time you launch the compiled version of the GUI, the new plugin should be available.

macOS

Requirements: Xcode and CMake

From the Build directory, enter:

cmake -G "Xcode" ..

Next, launch Xcode and open the source-sim.xcodeproj file that now lives in the “Build” directory.

Running the ALL_BUILD scheme will compile the plugin; running the INSTALL scheme will install the .bundle file to /Users/<username>/Library/Application Support/open-ephys/plugins-api9. The new plugins should be available the next time you launch the GUI from Xcode.

Attribution

This plugin has been collaboratively developed by Pavel Kulik, Anjal Doshi, and Josh Siegle. It is currently being maintained at the Allen Institute.