Acoustic Software Reviews

Review of TrueRTA Level 4, (version 3.4.1)

TrueRTA level 4 (for Windows)
version 3.31
$99
Reviewed by Jack

Contact:
TrueAudio
387 Duncan Lane
Andersonville TN 37705
865-494-3388
www.trueaudio.com
www.trueaudio.com/truerta

Pros:

• Realtime 240 band analyizer
• Reasonably priced ($99)
• Demo (level 1) never times out
• soundcard calibration
• DB calibration
• Easy to understand, easy user interface.
• User Interface is top notch – supports printing, saving, etc..
• Excellent for the acoustic beginner.

Cons:

• Only an RTA*
  * there is an oscilliscope, however in the version we tested, it works in real time only, without any trace and hold features – making it nearly impossible to use to analyze early reflections.
• Limited to 2 inputs at once, but can only store as one?
• More complex products exist that would give more insight.

Before I begin my review, I’d like to comment that TrueRTA is available in several ‘levels’ with the first level being free. While it’s true that the free version is severely limited – there is NO TIME LIMIT! – If you’ve been thinking of jumping into computer based measurement, I urge you to stop, and download and install level 1 right now – there is no time limit, so there is no reason not to at least load it up and take a look. This is especially true for anyone who owns any of the Radio Shack SPL meters – if you own one of these, and have a PC and a soundcard then it’s time to get your feet wet (in fact testing your computer speakers is probably a great place to start – computer speakers are pretty cheap, and it should be entertaining to see their response. Once you move past the stage of ‘thinking of doing it’ to ‘I did it’ the reviews on this sight will have a lot more meaning.

TrueRTA offers an easy to grasp, real time RTA.  This type of product is ideal for beginners who want to get a handle on the frequency response of their systems. It’s real time nature makes it a great tool for seeing the effects of moving your sub around the room, as you can immediately see even small changes on the display.

True RTA worked great on my 600mhz laptop running xp SP2, and an external USB sound device.

Interface – I have to admit, I really like the layout of the program, and especially it’s display – the default color schemes are easy on the eyes and look great.

  An easy product to start with….

   I have used programs that refuse to do anything until you run the calibration routines on them. While TrueRTA has all the calibration rotuines you’d expect (soundcard response, input voltage level, input dB level) you are not REQUIRED to do any of these – If it’s your first time using software like this – you’re likely to want to skip all that and get straight to a measurement – and the good news is you can!

  The first measurement:

  When I first played with TrueRTA, I was a little reluctant to hook it to my main system – I’d heard stories of people blowing drivers while running things like this and I didn’t want to take a chance that my own stupidity would lead to my looking for a replacement pair of speakers. in fact I didn’t have anything hooked up at all – So I put it in record mode – and measured the noise floor of my laptop:

(this was taken with nothing connected! – what you’re seeing is the ‘noise floor’ of my laptop’s sound card.)

ok I’ve got my first measurement, even if it is just my soundcard. 

Now on to some “Real” measurements!  To take actual measurements you’ll need some basic hardware (This hardware isn’t software specific – if you want to do acoustic measurements with your PC, you’re going to need some basic hardware (a soundcard, and a microphone). 

Here’s my ‘test bench’ a Radio shack sound meter, hooked up the usb sound card. I have to say, I really like this configuration – the sound card is connected via a 15 foot usb cable, and the spl meter is connected via a 9 foot rca cable.  I ran a short RCA cable to the line in on this 20 year old ‘boom box’

A License You Can Live With / Registering Your Copy

One of the things I really like about TrueRTA is it’s end user license – When you purchase the product, you are emailed an unlock key – this key is good forever – you can uninstall and reinstall as many times as you’d like – in the event that TrueAudio closes its doors you can still use that same key. Why is this important? Many readers will probably attempt to use an old laptop – and someday, they’ll want to upgrade that laptop – That seems especially true with measurement software – where portability really counts.

Entering the license information from your email is pretty easy – you do have to enter ALL of the information and it has to be CORRECT.
When I first entered my info, I transposed a few digits in my phone number – and there was no indication that I had gotten it wrong – but I did not have the 1/24 resolution that I had expected. After realizing my  mistake, I corrected the phone and was rewarded with this dialog:

With a Microphone attached and some  pink noise, you can take your first real measurement and get the frequency response of your  room.

However you probably bought the software in hopes of Improving your sound..

This is one of True RTA’s weaknesses, You get the RTA, but not much else – there’s little advise on what to do with it, how to interpret it, etc…  I hope to have some guides posted on this someday, but it’s such a big topic – and there are other software programs who’s authors have done a tremendous job posting real life information on how to interpret the output.

Anyhow, one use that true RTA is well suited for is the placement and integration of your subwoofer. In fact the real time nature of true rta makes it almost perfect!

You can easily view true RTA as you move your sub around the room, make adjustments to it’s phase (if you have a surround receiver the distance feature does basically the same thing).

You can also save your measurements and overlay them on each other, making it easy to take a bunch of measurements first, then look at all the results as a whole instead of individually.

Summary

I’m a big fan of things that are easy to use.  TrueRTA is one of the easiest programs out there. What it does, it does really well. There are a few advanced features that other programs offer, but those programs take much longer to learn, and many look plain awful. Which makes TrueRTA is a great place to start. Highly reccomended.