Free Audio Spectrum Analysers

hardware, software, tips and tricks

Moderators: dubway, wub, seckle, fractal, badger, pete bubonic

Forum rules
By using this "Production" sub-forum, you acknowledge that you have read, understood and agreed with our terms of use for this site. Click HERE to read them. If you do not agree to our terms of use, you must exit this site immediately. We do not accept any responsibility for the content, submissions, information or links contained herein. Users posting content here, do so completely at their own risk.

Quick Link to Feedback Forum

Postby dj nation » Fri May 15, 2009 12:27 pm

lol, alright, does no one want to tell me how to use it?
User avatar
dj nation
 
Posts: 324
Joined: Thu Apr 23, 2009 2:05 pm
Location: LEEDS, UK

Postby futures_untold » Fri May 15, 2009 1:09 pm

Once the Blucataudio .dll is in your VST folder, it should come up in your VST compatible host as an assignable FX. You should be able to assign it as an insert or a send.

Personally, I'd assign it as an insert on the audio channel you're interested in working with. Sometimes it is nice to be able to do A/B comparisons between audio that is dry, and audio that has effects processing on it. In this case, I'd insert one analyser at the beginning of the signal chain, ie, as the first insert. I'd insert a second analyser as the last insert on the signal chain, thus being able to make comparisons.

Why don't you visit the blue cat audio web site and see if there is some info on how to use the actual analyser linked there? I'm sure they have a downloadable PDF or something??! :)
User avatar
futures_untold
 
Posts: 4311
Joined: Thu Dec 13, 2007 10:25 pm
Location: London

Postby beerz » Fri May 15, 2009 3:15 pm

are there any non-vst ones?? i use reason n have to export to acid pro to use the vst and i reli cba lol
User avatar
beerz
 
Posts: 1182
Joined: Thu Dec 13, 2007 12:46 am
Location: Manchester/Leeds

Postby futures_untold » Fri May 15, 2009 10:10 pm

bEErz wrote:are there any non-vst ones?? i use reason n have to export to acid pro to use the vst and i reli cba lol


I think Voxengo Span can run in standalone mode, although I am unsure.

Google standalone frequency analysers and some will come up ;)

Also, you could use a freeware audio routing program to route your audio to a VST compatible host without having to rewire (which is another option). Reaper with ReaRoute would be able to do this easily enough... Google google google! :P
User avatar
futures_untold
 
Posts: 4311
Joined: Thu Dec 13, 2007 10:25 pm
Location: London

Re: Free Audio Spectrum Analysers

Postby sainttex » Thu Oct 08, 2009 4:44 pm

Does anyone know which analyzer is capable of outputting the highest resolution spectral graph without eating up your CPU?

Currently I'm using Bluecat FreqAnalyst and the last three settings for graph precision eat up way too much CPU, even with only a single instance on the main out channel on a basic track. The other precision settings don't show the level of detail I'm looking for either (The 4th to last setting starts to average out by 100hz or something retarded)...

I've tried the preset which is supposed to be more CPU conscious than the default, but it's not helping much. Any suggestions aside from upgrading CPUs, freezing tracks or basic stuff like that?
sainttex
 
Posts: 87
Joined: Tue Sep 22, 2009 7:01 am
Location: Bay Area, CA

Re: Free Audio Spectrum Analysers

Postby futures_untold » Thu Oct 08, 2009 5:19 pm

go on an electricians forum or forum for people who do sound checking/build studios etc. Maybe someone there will give you some advice on a more CPU efficient meter?

Also try KVR or Harmony Central.
User avatar
futures_untold
 
Posts: 4311
Joined: Thu Dec 13, 2007 10:25 pm
Location: London

Re: Free Audio Spectrum Analysers

Postby macc » Thu Oct 08, 2009 10:22 pm

sainttex wrote:Any suggestions aside from upgrading CPUs, freezing tracks or basic stuff like that?


Dunno.... listening?
www.scmastering.com / email: macc at subvertmastering dot com
macc
 
Posts: 1727
Joined: Thu Aug 28, 2008 12:56 am
Location: http://www.scmastering.com , maac at subvertmastering dot com

Re: Free Audio Spectrum Analysers

Postby Depone » Thu Oct 08, 2009 10:43 pm

The new izotope 'All-in-one' plugin has a fantastic eq and spectrum analyser built in. Give it a look, i forgot what its called now..
User avatar
Depone
 
Posts: 3290
Joined: Fri Sep 18, 2009 4:49 pm
Location: South-West UK

Re: Free Audio Spectrum Analysers

Postby 86. » Thu Oct 08, 2009 10:47 pm

Depone wrote:The new izotope 'All-in-one' plugin has a fantastic eq and spectrum analyser built in. Give it a look, i forgot what its called now..


alloy?
User avatar
86.
 
Posts: 2605
Joined: Fri Jun 19, 2009 6:04 pm
Location: Canada

Re: Free Audio Spectrum Analysers

Postby Depone » Fri Oct 09, 2009 12:12 am

:D:
86. wrote:
Depone wrote:The new izotope 'All-in-one' plugin has a fantastic eq and spectrum analyser built in. Give it a look, i forgot what its called now..


alloy?
User avatar
Depone
 
Posts: 3290
Joined: Fri Sep 18, 2009 4:49 pm
Location: South-West UK

Re:

Postby decklyn » Fri Oct 09, 2009 12:15 am

r wrote:haha no problem. Just tryin to keep people down to earth. Technology isnt everything !

no worries


I disagree with this.
Robots should write all of the music us humans listen to imo.
Just kidding. I don't use freq analysers iether. Just a VU and my ears. But honestly I do find that when I use the VUs I make better mix downs. I bet if I started working with freq analyzers it would be even better I bet.
Image
Decklyn Dublog - Rants, Raves and Tutorials - http://www.decklyn.com
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
http://www.soundcloud.com/decklyn
Mar 18th: Seba Remix
http://soundcloud.com/decklyn/chase-and-status-time-decklyn
User avatar
decklyn
 
Posts: 1546
Joined: Sun Feb 25, 2007 4:29 am
Location: Toronto, Canada

Re: Free Audio Spectrum Analysers

Postby sainttex » Sat Oct 10, 2009 5:45 pm

thanks everyone.

I was hesitant to try Alloy since it bundles features other than an analyzer and has a UI that looks like it is more aesthetic focused than resource conscious... I gave it a try among others and will definitely be using that now. Surprisingly it takes far less CPU cycles than FreqAnalyser even with the other features switched on. I replaced the instances of FreqAnalyser in a project with it and it was taking around 20% less CPU.

Edit: This being the free analyzers thread, I should note that Alloy isn't free for folks coming here off the production bible.
sainttex
 
Posts: 87
Joined: Tue Sep 22, 2009 7:01 am
Location: Bay Area, CA

Re: Free Audio Spectrum Analysers

Postby futures_untold » Tue Mar 16, 2010 11:03 pm

My new favourite freeware analyser!

Image

Grab it from http://sevenphases.wordpress.com/spectrum-analyzer/
User avatar
futures_untold
 
Posts: 4311
Joined: Thu Dec 13, 2007 10:25 pm
Location: London

Re: Free Audio Spectrum Analysers

Postby deadly habit » Tue Mar 16, 2010 11:11 pm

span just got an update. saw it in kvr newsletter
User avatar
deadly habit
 
Posts: 17276
Joined: Tue Oct 24, 2006 4:41 am
Location: rochester, ny

Re: Free Audio Spectrum Analysers

Postby futures_untold » Tue Mar 16, 2010 11:17 pm

deadly habit wrote:span just got an update. saw it in kvr newsletter


Cheerz bru :)

I'm having issues updating the first post on this thread... something to do with 'image size could not be calculated'??? :(
User avatar
futures_untold
 
Posts: 4311
Joined: Thu Dec 13, 2007 10:25 pm
Location: London

Re: Free Audio Spectrum Analysers

Postby deadly habit » Tue Mar 16, 2010 11:20 pm

futures_untold wrote:
deadly habit wrote:span just got an update. saw it in kvr newsletter


Cheerz bru :)

I'm having issues updating the first post on this thread... something to do with 'image size could not be calculated'??? :(

yea actually has some new features to it
gonna install it soon as i finish getting my gear all hooked up again
User avatar
deadly habit
 
Posts: 17276
Joined: Tue Oct 24, 2006 4:41 am
Location: rochester, ny

Re: Free Audio Spectrum Analysers

Postby Depone » Tue Mar 16, 2010 11:25 pm

Another fantastic one for mac heads here -
Image
Its an eq with X4 oversampling and stackable EQ's as well as mid/side processing.
Coupled with a first class visualiser and you have a winner!
User avatar
Depone
 
Posts: 3290
Joined: Fri Sep 18, 2009 4:49 pm
Location: South-West UK

Re: Free Audio Spectrum Analysers

Postby futures_untold » Wed Mar 17, 2010 12:13 am

Yeah man, after you introduced me to ApQualizr I went and bought it! It has now replaced the venerable ReaEQ as my go to EQ when working on individual elements in a mix.

The spectrum analyser I posted above has better control over the ballistics than ApQualizr however. Another feature of 'spectrum analyzer' is that it give both peak and RMS readings. The final feature I like is that it is also rezisable and has customisable colours.

The moral of this story is get both haha!!! :)

Pat
User avatar
futures_untold
 
Posts: 4311
Joined: Thu Dec 13, 2007 10:25 pm
Location: London

Re: Free Audio Spectrum Analysers

Postby dizzy035 » Thu Mar 18, 2010 10:07 am

i tried downloading all of the free vsts that are provided in the links but none of them seem to work can anyone point me in the direction of one?
dizzy035
 
Posts: 37
Joined: Sun Feb 28, 2010 11:33 am

Re: Free Audio Spectrum Analysers

Postby futures_untold » Thu Mar 18, 2010 11:13 am

dizzy035 wrote:i tried downloading all of the free vsts that are provided in the links but none of them seem to work can anyone point me in the direction of one?


Hi Dizzy, can you tell me whether the links don't work or the VST plugins themselves.

All of the links should work, but I'll recheck them.

All of the plugins should also work, which leads me to believe that you may have placed them in the wrong VST directory on may have not rescanned your VST directory within your host application.

Which host app are you using, maybe someone here can help you get some of these working for you? :)

Pat
User avatar
futures_untold
 
Posts: 4311
Joined: Thu Dec 13, 2007 10:25 pm
Location: London

PreviousNext

Return to Production, Hardware & Technical

Who is online

Users browsing this forum: bodom418, Sharmaji, wobbler. and 18 guests