33 replies to this topic

[rhythmboy]

Hey folks, I think this is the right place to post this... if not feel free to move me Cheyne!

Just wondering if anyone is using a multi-function analysis tool they swear by? Ya know, FFT, spectragram, level meter, phase/stereo meter etc.

I'm pondering on buying the Roger Nichols Inspector XL software
http://www.rogernich...inspectorxl.htm

I've played with it a bit and it looks pretty comprehensive, but any other ideas? My main need is exceptionally hi-res frequency analysis. Cheers!

[Jester_Fu]

Nope... always used a dedicated piece of hardware.

[Cheyne]

Well im not sure if these are really in the realm of what your using them for but for a general glance inside my sounds , i tend to use  "Izotope Ozone"  for my graphical EQ and spectrum analysis .. http://www.izotope.c...s/audio/ozone/#

Iv used Wavelab before aswell for analysis , although theres some hardcore stuff in there that really dosnt mean much to me .. ;D  The one that looks like a bunch of clouds comes to mind.

[rhythmboy]

Cheers, Ozone does look good but I'm now sold on IXL after chatting to a mastering engineer who says its great for the bucks.

[Beatmaster]

Hey there - as an obsessive meter watcher I've tried a lot of the audio analyzers available for Macs, so here's me view on 'em;
Inspector - bought it, love it - easy to read, able to set up different windows for RTA, stereo field etc, or have all in one window (the multimeter). I got it before the Rogering, so haven't updated to his version but it still works well in PT, GB and Peak. I use it in PT 7.3 and seems to be OK, although it isn't officially supported by digi, apparantly.
Spectre - newish thang I tried recently, very nice interface - and (Joy!) has VU meters. You can D/L a free trial of it - but it does need a decent CPU to do it justice.
Spectrafoo - (OS 9 only ) - still the best IMHO, I run it on my old PB G3 as a standalone - detailed, professional and smooth as - great for room analysis as well with the Transfer Function thing.
Wavearts Trackplug - not an analyzer per se but does have an RTA that runs in the EQ window - handy!
Ozone - yep, nice plug, and the analysis is simple but effective - similar to Trackplug with the freq response in the background of plug in window.
JBL Smaart - yes i know it's a PC thing, but apparently it's coming to OSX - used a lot by live engineers - fast, slick and has loads of measurement thingees. One thing it has which most of the others don't is an instant readout of the peaking or loudest frequency - which comes in very handy when you're desperately trying to find that feedback at a live gig!!!
Electromechanical toolbox - very comprehensive set of tools, only tried it briefly but seems to be aimed at the uber geek types.
But above all these most bigwigs always seem to defer to hardware - esp. real VU meters - read some of Stav's articles on them and you'll see why ;-)
Have fun now.

[echosystm]

I like the waves ones the best. Inspector is ok, but I don't like how they do the stereo thing.

[Beatmaster]

I knew I'd forget one! Yeah - the Waves PAZ is very nice - was a fav until I saw the new price and upgrade costs!!

[rhythmboy]

^ Hey beatmaster, thanks for the reviews, very helpful. Still looking like Inspector for me, mainly I like the spectragram options.

Re the PAZ I like this a lot as well. Just the money issue really, I can't afford a waves bundle and to buy the plugs individually is poorer value for $  I think than Inspector.

[bduffy]

rhythmboy, before you shell out $249.00 for an analyzer, check out NugenAudio's Visualizer.

It's my current favourite: it's a third the cost of Inspector XL and has a very comprehensive feature set, close or better than Inspector, plus it's got a nice, big version too! That's something I hate about all the other analyzers: too small.

Look how sexy it is! ???

[Beatmaster]

No good for RB - it's VST and Windows only!

[bduffy]

Crap, you know, that big-ass Mac logo should've been a giveaway...  :bang:

Sorry, I hate to be Window-centric. I go away now... :

[rhythmboy]

Yeah thanks anyway bduffy, although I do have an old P4 with win98 sitting at home, just for reasons like this. Might be useful still... Thanks everyone for the heads up, will do my research! whichever way I go I'll be going for the finest frequency resolution with the most flexible and definable analysis parameters, and multiple frequency views. The main application is analysing musical instruments rather than mixdowns.

Eventually I'm getting a software engineering postgrad at Swinburne Uni to write me a custom app but in the meantime I'm going commercial for temporary convenience. The custom app may be another year away at least.

btw I got a grant for the $$ so I can feel ok spending since it's not mine!

[bduffy]

Well, crap! There you go. I don't know if I could part with $240 for an analyzer without financial backing!

I think Inspector's your best bet, then. I wonder what your custom app will be like? Hey- you two could go into business!

[rhythmboy]

Quote

Well, crap! There you go. I don't know if I could part with $240 for an analyzer without financial backing!

I think Inspector's your best bet, then. I wonder what your custom app will be like? Hey- you two could go into business!

Yeah it's been shareware for me up til now!

The custom app will be specialised towards analysing percussion instruments, with a view to classifying and databasing the results for entire sample libraries. Sort and search your lib by sound rather than name is the goal. In the meantime I'm recording and analysing sounds in order to define the parameters of the classification - ie what acoustic properties of percussion do I need to account for and give values for? That's why the analyser has to have very high frequency and time resolution. Since I don't know code to save myself, it's ok for me to conceptualise what I want for my app and get a programmer to write it for me. A nice luxury of being at a good uni.

Who I want to go into business with is NI or the like, tack my database onto the back of Battery, for example. Imagine a Battery or BFD library full of sounds pre-analysed and classed by timbre, searchable by multiple acoustic attributes. Auto-build banks of sounds by acoustic similarity, from every sample on your hard drive, and auto mapped to MIDI. Any developers out there wanna chat? 

If you haven't ssen, I'm giving away some sounds from my studies here on SP. Go to the Samples thread and get my Rhythm Boy collection

[bduffy]

Quote

Yeah it's been shareware for me up til now!

The custom app will be specialised towards analysing percussion instruments, with a view to classifying and databasing the results for entire sample libraries. Sort and search your lib by sound rather than name is the goal. In the meantime I'm recording and analysing sounds in order to define the parameters of the classification - ie what acoustic properties of percussion do I need to account for and give values for? That's why the analyser has to have very high frequency and time resolution. Since I don't know code to save myself, it's ok for me to conceptualise what I want for my app and get a programmer to write it for me. A nice luxury of being at a good uni.

Who I want to go into business with is NI or the like, tack my database onto the back of Battery, for example. Imagine a Battery or BFD library full of sounds pre-analysed and classed by timbre, searchable by multiple acoustic attributes. Auto-build banks of sounds by acoustic similarity, from every sample on your hard drive, and auto mapped to MIDI. Any developers out there wanna chat? 

If you haven't ssen, I'm giving away some sounds from my studies here on SP. Go to the Samples thread and get my Rhythm Boy collection

No, I haven't seen yet! I'll check it out.

That sounds great, and not to be a downer, but doesn't NI already kind of do something like that with Kore?

[Cheyne]

Maybe im just being a child here ...  but has any one else noticed this thread title from the main index and chuckled to them selves ??

http://www.soundpunk..._serialNumber=1

[bduffy]

Favourite ANAL-yzer? ;D

Man, you're from Uranas.

[Cheyne]

;D  ..  I was waiting for the tumbleweed to blow by , and someone to politely let me know I was being immature  hahah ..

[rhythmboy]

Quote

No, I haven't seen yet! I'll check it out.

That sounds great, and not to be a downer, but doesn't NI already kind of do something like that with Kore?

There are a few systems out there, mine will be a variant, with as much emphasis on the analysis data as the search & sort functions. The classification mainly aims to provide people with highly detailed acoustic data about percussive sound - the library management system is a side-issue, a handy application for it.

My system will be able to ask a search 'question' like "find me all the instruments on my hard drive that change spectral density, attack time and pitch definition as a result of beater changes, stroke placement or dynamic variation", or "find me all the samples where the 2nd harmonic has the highest amplitude, in instruments with moderate to low spectral density and high pitch definition". There's quite a comprehensive set of criteria specially targeted at percussion.

[rhythmboy]

Quote

Maybe im just being a child here ...  but has any one else noticed this thread title from the main index and chuckled to them selves ??

http://www.soundpunk..._serialNumber=1

(RB ROFL)  ;D ;D he he... he said anal.... he he....


speaking of childish...

http://www.wakanatsu...l-explorer.html

get it? he he... anl... he he...