A powerful data‐acquisition and processing system, which retains the low per‐station cost of a microcomputer‐based system while providing the resources for easy data reduction, is presented. The system uses microcomputer‐based real‐time data‐collection stations and a larger central computer for data‐reduction tasks. An application to the control of a continuous‐wave ultrasonic spectrometer is shown. In particular, the precision measurement of acoustic velocity as a function of temperature is presented for single‐crystal vanadium with a low concentration of interstitial hydrogen.