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Title: Suggestion for budget software RTA thingie?
Post by: Duane Massey on December 06, 2010, 10:30:30 PM

I'm finally going to step into the (low budget) world of software RTA-type stuff. I don't need to do full room analysis, just measure frq response at specific locations. I've got a medium cheap laptop to work with.

Any suggestions?

Title: Re: Suggestion for budget software RTA thingie?
Post by: Charlie Zureki on December 06, 2010, 11:56:40 PM

  Hello Duane,


  Too Tall has recommended Praxis...and says it's free to download from the net.

  Too Tall is very knowledgable...I'd not hesitate.

  Cheers,
  Hammer

Title: Re: Suggestion for budget software RTA thingie?
Post by: Grant Conklin on December 07, 2010, 12:14:50 AM

If all you need is an RTA, snoop around the Allen&Heath site.  They used to have a free one for download.  I don't know if it's still there.
Grant

Title: Re: Suggestion for budget software RTA thingie?
Post by: Grant Conklin on December 07, 2010, 12:18:03 AM

Found it for you:

http://www.allen-heath.com/us/ViewProductdownloads.asp?searc h=Real%20Time%20Analyser

Title: Re: Suggestion for budget software RTA thingie?
Post by: Brad Weber on December 07, 2010, 08:11:53 AM

Duane Massey wrote on Mon, 06 December 2010 22:30

I'm finally going to step into the (low budget) world of software RTA-type stuff. I don't need to do full room analysis, just measure frq response at specific locations. I've got a medium cheap laptop to work with.

I guess that depends on what you mean by "RTA-type stuff".  If you actually mean RTA and not FFT or Transfer Function type measurements, then the program Grant noted or any number of the free RTA programs out there might work for you.

If you do mean anything more advanced then most of the major analysis programs such as Smaart, SysTune and Praxis all have free demos you can download.  They also all have a pretty steep learning curve if you have never used anything like them before.

The other factor in this is the acquisition end, as in how do you plan to get the audio into the software.  You could use any microphone and the internal sound card of the laptop, however most people seem to prefer to use an external USB or FireWire audio interface and a measurement mic.  Rational Acoustics, Audix and Behringer all offer some lower cost ($55 to $300) measurement microphones.

Other than the Studio 6 Digital of Faber Acoustical iPhone apps with an external mic, I wouldn't use them for system commissioning or performance verification, but if all you care about is seeing the relative levels versus frequency and don't care about absolute levels or accuracy, there are also several iPhone and Android RTA apps that are free or a couple of dollars.

Title: Re: Suggestion for budget software RTA thingie?
Post by: Duane Massey on December 09, 2010, 03:10:52 AM

Thanks, guys, great tips. I'm not really planning on doing room analysis, just want to measure the freq response of speakers in different environments for comparison. Printing a chart or graphic of the readings would be a benefit, but not a necessity.

I don't think the phone apps are what I'm looking for, and more advanced systems (Smaart, etc) are probably way more than I currently need. I've got a mic and will pick up a USB interface of some sort, and that should get me started for now.

Title: Re: Suggestion for budget software RTA thingie?
Post by: Randy Pence on December 22, 2010, 04:17:39 PM

Stumbled upon this recently - Visual Analyzer http://www.sillanumsoft.org/prod01.htm

Looks very interesting, as it can handle phase and a few things beyond simple rta.  Interface is not as nice as easera or smaart, but it is free.

Title: Re: Suggestion for budget software RTA thingie?
Post by: George Friedman-Jimenez on December 23, 2010, 12:05:55 AM

I like TrueRTA from TrueAudio www.trueaudio.com The one octave version is free but pretty useless. The 1/3 octave version is $40 but I like higher resolution than 1/3 octave. The full 1/24 octave version is great but costs $100. Excellent and very user friendly.