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[Bob Leonard]

There can be little doubt that Smaart is the defacto standard measurement software for this industry, but a search over the past few days for an audio signal generator led me to the product at the link below.
 
I have plenty of PC's and laptops at home, at work, in my racks, os I don't see how I can lose based on cost alone.
 
Is anyone using or has anyone used or had experience with this product?? I downloaded the FREE version and it looks promising. Any thoughts?
https://www.trueaudio.com/rta_selection_guide.htm
 

[Mike Christy]

There can be little doubt that Smaart is the defacto standard measurement software for this industry, but a search over the past few days for an audio signal generator led me to the product at the link below.
 
I have plenty of PC's and laptops at home, at work, in my racks, os I don't see how I can lose based on cost alone.
 
Is anyone using or has anyone used or had experience with this product?? I downloaded the FREE version and it looks promising. Any thoughts?
https://www.trueaudio.com/rta_selection_guide.htm

Bob. I bought it a few years ago.  I was going to use it as a basic feedback analyzer/ID for wedges, maybe some basic level measurements, gain staging, and like you, a stimulus source.

After getting SMAART I haven't even booted up the app. But with that said, I found the SW does a great job at "1 dimensional' measurements, if you are only interested in amplitude, and not the time domain.

Here's an example: this 16Khz bar kept showing up on the RTA display, I thought that either the laptop or maybe the sound card had some weird feedback going on. That 16Khz signal was always present - in my living room. Come to find out it was my TV, apparently it was either some resonate frequency in the TV power supply. It showed up in SMAART too. New TV, 16kHz gone.

I could never hear it.

Mike

[Jordan Wolf]

[aside]

I thought that either the laptop or maybe the sound card had some weird feedback going on. That 16Khz signal was always present - in my living room. Come to find out it was my TV, apparently it was either some resonate frequency in the TV power supply. It showed up in SMAART too. New TV, 16kHz gone.

Did you have a CRT TV or an LCD/LED TV?  Coming from a broadcasting background, I can tell you that CRTs are incredibly noisy and (to me) annoying.  However, they're color accuracy once calibrated is, in my opinion, second to none.  I'll still take an LED/LCD monitor over a CRT most times, though, because it's usually just for cueing video feeds.

Also, I've noticed that many wall wart power supplies have noticeable spurious noise output  The one for my electric razor puts out a high-pitched tone when plugged in (terminated with the charging station or not) and, on unplugging it, the frequency oscillates up past 20kHz.  It helps clear the sinuses, I guess.
[end aside]

[Doug Fowler]

There can be little doubt that Smaart is the defacto standard measurement software for this industry
 

Bob, that is an entirely U.S.-centric view.  It is not the case everywhere.

[Bob Leonard]

Bob, that is an entirely U.S.-centric view.  It is not the case everywhere.

Doug,
I thought about that after I posted and should have changed my statement. I agree. Have you ever heard of or worked with the low cost product I mention above. It seems to me it would make one hell of a signal generator and cheap enough to put on 3-4 systems.
 
Also,
What do you recommend other than Smaart. I have a very old version and don't know if it's worth it to me to upgrade or move to another package.

[Doug Fowler]

Doug,
I thought about that after I posted and should have changed my statement. I agree. Have you ever heard of or worked with the low cost product I mention above. It seems to me it would make one hell of a signal generator and cheap enough to put on 3-4 systems.
 
Also,
What do you recommend other than Smaart. I have a very old version and don't know if it's worth it to me to upgrade or move to another package.

I don't know anything about TrueRTA. 

Of course I'm a big SysTune fan, but Wave Capture has some nice software as well, including some "light" offerings which are very competitively priced.

SysTune has a free version, fully featured except for only one average allowed and a fixed smallish FFT size.  But it's a great way to get started.

[Bob Leonard]

Send me the link please. I'll still buy the TrueRTA for quicky work and amplifier repair, but if you think Systune is that good then that's good enough for me.

[Doug Fowler]

Send me the link please. I'll still buy the TrueRTA for quicky work and amplifier repair, but if you think Systune is that good then that's good enough for me.

http://systune.afmg.eu/index.php/st-downloads-en.html

The one average limitation is a deal-breaker for serious work, though.   That's why it's free (IMO :-)

[Elliot Thompson]

Send me the link please. I'll still buy the TrueRTA for quicky work and amplifier repair, but if you think Systune is that good then that's good enough for me.

Bear in mind TrueRTA is limited to 10 Hz - 50 kHz. If you are measuring the amplifier's frequency bandwidth, that may not be enough pending on the make/model.

I use this for amplifier measuring

http://www.sillanumsoft.org/prod01.htm

Best Regards,

[Mark Long]

SysTune has a free version, fully featured except for only one average allowed and a fixed smallish FFT size.  But it's a great way to get started.

Doug, do you have any pointers for the best approach to getting started with Systune or SMAART? I've played around with the demo's from both and received some help from forums, but as a weekend warrior with bands and HOWs, I'm struggling to understand it well enough to make it useful. I'm strongly looking at the training from RH or SynAudCon, but the expense of the software plus training is a bit of a stretch for someone that doesn't make their living from it.  I appreciate your thoughts.

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