TrueRTA

I'm thinking of getting this program. Any users have comments/suggestions? Version, microphone, sound card recommendations? Feedback appreciated.

I use it, and the new v3.0 is very good. I have used a relatively cheap USB interface mady by SoundBlaster which has ruler flat response.

I'm curious as to which level of the program would be good to get. I'm looking at Level 3 & 4 in particular. As for differences, I see you get 1/12 and 1/24 Octave bands as opposed to 1/6 in Level 3. The Level 4 also has white noise. Are those really worth the extra $30? Please don't just say that as long as I'm spending that much, why not get everything? Kind of a lame reason in my eyes.

Also, how would you get an amplifier's output to show up on the oscilliscope section? I'm more interested in this program for tuning my car now than the HT as my HT is space and setup limited. Gain setting is very important in the car. I think I see how to test the RCA outs of the head unit just by using the RCA's and run that to the computer, but I'm not sure about the speaker outs of an amp. Some of these send quite a bit of power out. Don't want to wreck the computer somehow.

soundhound, what does your USB interface with?

My USB interface is limited in the maximum input level it can take before clipping. It works fine for microphone input though. If I were going to analyze power amp outputs, I'd need an interface with gain controls and probably an attenuator before the input to avoid overload.

I use the 1/24th octave resolution in TrueRTA all the time. You can still get a good idea about what your system is doing with 1/6th octave resolution, but you might miss some really sharp peaks and dips. The white noise feature is basically useless. Pink noise is the only source that needs to be used for audio (aside from discrete sine other waveforms).

However as they say "....as long as I'm spending that much, why not get everything?"

Why I oughta... Yeah, I'll probably end up getting Level 4. I am concerned with finding those peaks. My speakers are kind of bright, but that was the idea, to be heard over the road noise better.

I just downloaded v3.0 (free version) and it is quite a bit nicer. It reacts much quicker, keeping up with the music better.

Btw, I think my sub setup in there might have a shot at doing something like yours after all is said and done. JBL subs are awesome.

I bought level 4 the other day. It is very nice. The 1/12th and 1/24th octaves are very nice to have. Haven't played around with it too much, but it looks very promising. It's real interesting to see exactly just how low a lot of music does go. Not much breaks under 30 with any sort of authority.

That's not too surprising if you think of the frequency range of most instruments. The only things that dive down that low acoustically are pipe organs and, maybe, really freaking big drums. Otherwise, your're talking about something generated with electronics.

Additionally, let's think about what 30hz and below sounds, make that, feels like. Would you want that frequently in most music??

[This message has been edited by Jason J (edited May 10, 2004).]

Trust me, I've done lot's of thinking. It's different to hear one person say than to see it for yourself.

General question: are you using a calibrated microphone?

Me? I don't have one yet. I was just playing the songs from the computer. Speakers weren't required.

EDIT, oh yeah, the higer splits require a powerful computer. There was a very noticeable difference between 1/6, 1/12, and 1/24. Mine's a 3.0 Ghz P4. I'm not familiar with what resources this program uses up. Could more memory help out? I'm at 512 mb right now.

[This message has been edited by JT Clark (edited May 11, 2004).]

TrueRTA is surprisingly good with limited computer resources. I've used it on my wife's Celeron processor PC with good results using 1/24 octave resolution.

It moves decently and all. I didn't have too much trouble locating those frequencis when I was playing before. Do you use the averages? That helped some, but I was worried about missing something. Maybe I'm just expecting too much, like the bars in Winamp's little display.