Do you really need to use a spectrum analyzer ?

John

here's a shot of bandpass and the bottom one is span vs blue cat where i get the same results.  might be how you have them set up.  it's worth noting that if you turn precision down to 5 on blue cat you get the same results as cakewalk analyst.  :/

jwh


Do you really need to use a spectrum analyzer ?

John

they come in fairly handy when building algorithmic composing tools using pure data and/or reaktor and you want different calculations based on the movement of frequency ranges or real-time live acoustic modeling.  and sometimes mixing environments might be sub-par, like when a studio monitor blows out and you're forced to use a backup plan that may or may not have the same frequency response that you're used to.  and, of course, finding errant frequencies is a time-saver! :D

rabeach

swamptooth


the cakewalk analyzer does not accurately reflect frequency cuts, esp in low ranges, and i would be wary because of this that it accurately reflects activity across the frequency range.  here's a screenshot showing cake's analyzer and blue cat's after a 96db/oct filter was applied to a track...

don't disagree. 

from the help file...

Lower resolution yields faster updates but less accurate low frequency analysis. Higher resolution yields much better low frequency analysis but slower updates.

yeah, raebach, but as you can see my resolution in CW analyst is already set to hi. unless there's a hidden setting somewhere, that's as good as it gets! ;)  

I use a frequency analyzer all the time when EQ'ing parts to make them complement each other better. When all is said and done your ears make the final choice, but an analyzer can give you a rough idea of where most of an instrument's energy is coming from, which gives you a little head start at least. Also, they can help the beginner in identifying how different frequency bands sound. 

I was bored, so I did some testing on this with straight Sine waves.

I'm not sure how it translates to actual music ... but as far as a straight signal goes ...

I created a Mono 100Hz tone in Sound Forge. I picked that so it would fall on a grid line in the Analyzers.

I found that none of them were 100% accurate ... but Melda's free one was the closest.

Span has something funky going on with the db range it looks like, unless I'm reading it wrong.

Cakewalk Analyzer looked to be fairly accurate, but it seems it's shifted a bit. The Red line is the Max Hold setting. The peak of it is exactly at 100Hz, but you can see the Real Time bars are shifted. When I hover my mouse over the center of it, it shows 87Hz. That's quite a difference IMO.

I tried using the Pro Channel EQ and cut the 100Hz tone by -10db and all three reflected the change ... Melda being the most accurate.

Right click on the image to view it in high res.

I don't know how all this translates to analyzing music, but this is how it looks with a 100Hz Sine wave.

hey bub i bnotice your cake analyzer is only going to -40db.  if you throw a high pass filter on the sine wave and then stretch the analyzer down to -140db then you'll see how all the low freqs still show up.

swamptooth

rabeach

swamptooth


the cakewalk analyzer does not accurately reflect frequency cuts, esp in low ranges, and i would be wary because of this that it accurately reflects activity across the frequency range.  here's a screenshot showing cake's analyzer and blue cat's after a 96db/oct filter was applied to a track...

don't disagree. 

from the help file...

Lower resolution yields faster updates but less accurate low frequency analysis. Higher resolution yields much better low frequency analysis but slower updates.

yeah, raebach, but as you can see my resolution in CW analyst is already set to hi. unless there's a hidden setting somewhere, that's as good as it gets! ;)  

the help file didn't say gives excellent low freq analysis.  I have always used voxengo span.  

Hi swamptooth ... here's a screen shot of it showing the full scale.




It looks pretty close to SPAN.

I won't do another screenshot ... ... but I just increased the scale on the Melda one too and it shows roughly the same as Cake and SPAN.