[brj]

Hello everyone.

I finally acquired a calibrated mic (Nady CM-100 clone of the Behringer ECM8000) and USB pre-amp (Edirol UA-25) a couple of months ago and have been measuring my system on an occasional basis since then as I play with system and room setup.  Having already spent more than I preferred on the mic and pre-amp, I've been using the free Room EQ Wizard measurement software written by John Mulcahy, formerly of TAG McLaren.  (REQW also has the advantage of running on Windows, Mac OS and Linux - a fact that I very much appreciate.)

I know that there are several other popular, generally commercial, measurement packages out there, including Acoustisoft's ETF and Cliowin's CLIO.  Has anyone compared any of these various measurement packages - or others that I may have missed - and found reasons to prefer one over the other?

Thanks!

[srlaudio]

We use Metric Halo Spectrafoo, with the Mobile I/O and an Earthworks mic.  This is mac only software and has very usefull tools for analyzing equipment and rooms......

[brj]

srlaudio, have you actually compared the functionality of the Halo software to any of the other programs mentioned?

Thanks!

[BradJudy]

ETF is a bit more powerful than REQW, but harder to learn and not free.

CLIO, while I haven't used it, is designed for measuring speakers rather than room response and it's extra freatures are slanted that way.  I also think it's quite expensive, IIRC.

TrueRTA is very popular for room reponse measurement.  It's pretty easy to use and has multiple cost levels with different features and resolutions. 

What are you trying to accomplish?  For most home use, REQW will probably work well.  Depending on your goals, different commercial software may or may not be better.

[brj]

Thanks for the comments, BradJudy!

TrueRTA is very popular for room reponse measurement.  It's pretty easy to use and has multiple cost levels with different features and resolutions.

I had forgotten about that one.... thanks for the reminder!

What are you trying to accomplish?

At the moment, I'm just looking to measure my system in-room to identify acoustic problems that I can address via treatments or speaker placement.  Eventually, I'll pursue active room correction and a fully active digital crossover.  Plus, I'm just generally curious about how things work and thus enjoy tinkering with tools that help expand my knowledge.

In general, REQW seems quite useful, although I haven't had a chance to look at measuring impulse response with it yet.  I'm just wondering what superior capabilities or ease-of-use features the other tools might offer.

[Ethan Winer]

Brad,

> TrueRTA is very popular for room reponse measurement.  It's pretty easy to use and has multiple cost levels with different features and resolutions. <

Yes, but the one key feature TrueRTA doesn't have (as best I know) is waterfall plots to see decay times and ringing. That's every bit as important as the raw response.

--Ethan

[BrunoB]

Hello everyone.

I finally acquired a calibrated mic (Nady CM-100 clone of the Behringer ECM8000) and USB pre-amp (Edirol UA-25) a couple of months ago and have been measuring my system on an occasional basis since then as I play with system and room setup.  Having already spent more than I preferred on the mic and pre-amp, I've been using the free Room EQ Wizard measurement software written by John Mulcahy, formerly of TAG McLaren.  (REQW also has the advantage of running on Windows, Mac OS and Linux - a fact that I very much appreciate.)

I know that there are several other popular, generally commercial, measurement packages out there, including Acoustisoft's ETF and Cliowin's CLIO.  Has anyone compared any of these various measurement packages - or others that I may have missed - and found reasons to prefer one over the other?

Thanks!

I was going to order ETF and discovered Room EQ Wizard in this thread. I like it very much. It is free. http://www.hometheatershack.com/roomeq/.
Other software I am using: SoundEasy. My hardware: Soundcard: M-Audio duo, mic: Behringer ECM8000.

Bruno

[ctviggen]

Hmmm...Why is it free?  It looks powerful, though.

As for Ethan's comment, he's right.  My previous measurements had 60Hz leaking into them, and I couldn't have found this out without a waterfall plot.  (I'm still unsure why they have 60Hz leaking into them, as I was using a laptop disconnected from AC, and a USB sound card!) 

[richidoo]

I tried ETF5 demo first (free). Worked good, but not easy to use it with my amateur recording soundcard, presonus firepod. I tried RoomEQWizard after that, and got better at setting the firepod manually. REQW was very easy to use, the GUI is simple and logical. I found the tools effective, but limited. I have decent bass response now, so not as concerned with that as the incredible combing and midrange reverb (1000Hz AHHHH!  ) in the large hard surface room. REQW cannot make a waterfall display of time domain above 700Hz! So it really is geared towards tuning a hometheater or some other dead sounding room where midband ringing is not an issue.

So I bought R+D and got it working, manually adjusting the Firepod to function with R+D. This was no small feat, but doable once I started using my brain, and probably easy for an audio engineer. The power of the tool is incredible. It is beyond my ability to use it effectively without more training and practice. It is defitely not point and click idiot software. I have had trouble finding books and info to teach me about acoustic analysis methods used in the software. Doug Plumb, the software creator provides fast and thorough support by email, which is a huge help, but I felt like a nag asking a  million dumb questions - but that's my own mental problem, Doug was always incredibly patient and helpful.

The only teaching tool I have found to get me up to speed is the 4 videos made by Doug which quickly mentions the features. There is not enough depth in the videos to get a novice up to speed on using the software in a creative and logical way that would yield its true potential. I would pay $100 for a thorough R+D technical manual that would explain all the features in depth, how to use and what they mean. With info to put the test results into context in how to treat a room for specific problems, including those beyond bass trapping.

I'm probably making it sound more difficult than it really is, the GUI is well designed. It is graceful and efficient if you know what you're doing. It is like using AutoCAD for the first time. Frustrating when you don't know what's going on, easy and fast once you figure it out. That little bit of training would make this work for me. Using a windows sound card with the auto setup features would help too, but might not be dead flat 20-20k like the firepod/earthworks combo. Doug sells a mic/preamp/soundcard that has best of both.

On the bright side Doug is now offering a consulting service. He helps you set up the software, use it to measure the room, and he will analyze the results and suggest treatment to improve the acoustics. From his description of the services offered and the price asked, it is a hell of a bargain.
Rich

EDIT: I went to sign up for Doug's consultant service this morning, and found new tutorial info that I had not seen before, or had been added recently. Seems that now, with a little effort the documentation should be enough to get a novice started and experimenting on is own.
http://www.etfacoustic.com/basics.html

[bpape]

The waterfalls are frequency limited in REQW.  Realistically, above 3-400Hz, it's not a big deal.  If you've got it right below that, it'll be OK above.  Also, you're more interested in impulse response, reflections, etc. up higher.

Bryan

[robertwb]

So I bought R+D

Did I miss something? What is this R+D?

[DSK]

So I bought R+D

Did I miss something? What is this R+D?

aka ETF6 .... www.acoustisoft.com

[PLMONROE]

Do any of these apart from the Acousticsoft product have the capability of psycho acoustic adjustment?

Paul