Smaart v.6 Anyone?

[bpconley]

I have a copy of smaart and run it off my computer a mac book pro. I was wondering if anyone out their uses it with their system tuning their system. I want to incorporate it maybe use the RTA somehow off smaart since we dont have a rack mounted one yet not sure what i want to do with it at the moment but open to suggestions. Even thinking about buying a measurement mic. Trying to dig a little deeper in how to use this program to its full potential.

[Brad Weber]

Take a class, trying to understand what something like Smaart can do or how to assess whether you are getting valid results can be difficult to learn on your own if you are not already familiar with the general concepts.

The reality is that few people use anywhere near all the capabilities of Smaart. Many use it as basically a glorified RTA and the spectrograph mode can be very interesting for that use, for example run it in that mode and adjust the limits to just not normally show anything or just show a bit and any feedback may clearly show up, also indicating the related frequency. Or set the limits based on a maximum desired level and exceedances will show. If you just want it for show, the spectrograph can make a pretty picture that constantly changes as the audio changes.

More serious system tuning gets into using the transfer function and impulse response functionality and having to have a much greater understanding of what you are doing and when you are getting results that are valid or not.

In case you didn't know, Smaart v.7 was recently introduced and they are currently offering deals to those holding licenses for earlier versions. This is the first version developed by Rational Acoustics, which is essentially the core group involved in developing Smaart for years but that are now out on their own. As someone who held on to v.5 for some of the things it did that were lost in v.6, which I also have, I'm really interested to see what they have developed.

Studio Six Digital is releasing their audio interface for the iPod touch soon and is apparently already working with Rational Acoustics on a Smaart app that would utilize that interface.

[bpconley]

Yea iv worked around it but when it comes to the nitty gritty i just get lost sometimes even with some basic training. I have also used measurement software for sound panel installation for finding sound reflections in a studio. In the size venue im working in now using it and tuning my system im probably going to need some more hands on training I guess. Im just trying to figure out if its wise to invest the time to learn it if it could really help that much in a large scale production church environment.

I did try out the new trial version of v.7. I am only going to upgrade if I find a viable need to utilizing the program more. But its one of those things you know I like the idea behind it iv seen its capabilities and I mean its just awesome to know how to walk into a venue set up your measurement mic and take readings throughout the room and adjust your system accordingly great freelance side work also if your good at it.

I think im going to do some research on finding maybe a seminar or training course and price it out. I just want to make sure its worth the time, effort, money.

Also I did not hear about the ipod interface. Thats going to be really awesome. What I really want to do is take advantage of something on the lines of Dolby Lake so I can walk around on stage ring out my monitors say instead of using a tablet PC maybe the new Ipad.

Hey, Thanks for the quick reply to!

[nevmoor]

It is definitely worth learning! There are a lot of functions that most people will never use, so if you aren't going to get THAT deep into it and really use it then training might not get you big ROI.
If you are trying to take your knowledge about audio in general to a new level do it.

[Gracetech]

Learn it, use it. Also remember that beyond having a measurement mic attached to the software you need direct line to reference off of. The cool thing that RA has done with Smaart is add up to 8 inputs for multiple reference. Of course it would be great having mics all over the place to see the difference but buying that much hardware to support it is a bit out of my budget.

crt

[pdc]

Originally Posted by bpconley

I have a copy of smaart and run it off my computer a mac book pro. I was wondering if anyone out their uses it with their system tuning their system. I want to incorporate it maybe use the RTA somehow off smaart since we dont have a rack mounted one yet not sure what i want to do with it at the moment but open to suggestions. Even thinking about buying a measurement mic. Trying to dig a little deeper in how to use this program to its full potential.

If you are in a fixed install situation, especially a church, you don't NEED SMAART. It is waaaay overkill for an RTA. Your system designers and integrators have not done their jobs if you have need for an RTA. If your room is so hard to figure out, you need an acoustical engineer to come access the place. If an engineer needs an RTA to tell him what he is hearing, he should not be mixing. That's my opinion anyway.

Like the other guys said, you need to attend the classes. There are levels/modules in SMAART that serve different purposes. Unless you are a designer, consultant, integrator, you will never maximize it.

I know people with RTAs and other software and heard the effects of the active, ever-changing processing. They reveal their lack of understanding and skill. Don't be one of those guys that chases rabbits, always keeping your system in a state of change. You will make a bunch of people angry.

Frequency is only one small element to your system and room's performance. You have to deal with Time and Energy. Most people do not tackle anything but EQ, thus making the EQ process far more than what it should be. Take care of Time and Energy and Frequency issues can sometimes not be an issue at all.

BTW, unless you are buying a Meyer SIMM system, or something like that, you will find all rack mounted RTAs are junk. They are not resolute enough to do anything more than make people stare at them instead of paying attention to the stage. Some of these other sales guys here may not like that, but it is true. Having one measurement mic at the house position isn't going to give you a good representation of what the room is doing anyway. That is the reason why SMAART, Sencore/Terresonde and others allow for multiple mics and averaging. I am not even a fan of 1/3 octave 31-band EQs. Most rooms don't have problems on ISO centered frequencies and fixed q's, bells, etc. Most rooms really need a parametric EQ. How is a 1/3 octave RTA going to help the average room? It won't.

[Brad Weber]

You don't need something that will do transfer functions to look at frequency response on a more finite resolution basis, if you just want better frequency resolution then there are plenty of FFT based analyzers that can address that.

I like that Smaart v.7 can handle multiple inputs as can SysTune, but I'm not a big fan of spatial averaging. It very nice to be able to look at multiple locations so that you can make decisions based on more comprehensive information, but simply averaging the multiple measurements is often not the best idea. I think the advantage is really in more easily getting additional information to help you make better informed subjective decisions.

Unless you work with it a lot or it is part of what you do for a living, it can be difficult to justify the investment in software, hardware, education and time that is necessary to become skilled with many of the measurement and analysis tools. And unless you use them regularly, it is easy to lose efficiency in their use.

[bpconley]

Thanks for all the input its very appreciated, really.