RealTraps - New Graphical Mode Calculator

[Ethan Winer]

Folks,

I just finished converting my ModeCalc program to native Windows. I also made a new Windows version of my Frequency / Distance calculator. Both of these are (free) acoustic tools you can use to help design a room or identify problems in an existing room.

These new Windows versions are nicer to use, nicer looking, and both have more features than the previous versions. Here's the page to ModeCalc:

www.realtraps.com/modecalc.htm

And here's the Frequency / Distance calculator:

www.realtraps.com/sbirlbir.htm

--Ethan

[Lunatic]

Good work, Ethan. Thanks for sharing the program and the information

[Sui_City]

[3rd world order]

cool stuff... but if you could build a mix room from the ground up, what's a good ratio to use? there's gotta be some schools of thought here...

[Ethan Winer]

> if you could build a mix room from the ground up, what's a good ratio to use? <

If you read the ModeCalc page (or the same text in the Help file) you'll see there's no one perfect ratio. They're all a compromise. And the ratio is not the whole story. For example, a room that's only 500 cubic feet but has an excellent ratio is far worse than a room five times larger with a less favorable ratio.

If there were one "best" way to shape a control room, all control rooms would be built that way!

--Ethan

[Gabriel Sousa]

Ethan Winer, you ROCK,

[Empty Planet]

Agreed. You rock.

Not to open a can of worms, but how does one calculate L-shaped rooms?

Nice bit of coding, particularly friendly in being able to enter both meters and feet so casually. Well done.


Cheers.

[Ethan Winer]

> but how does one calculate L-shaped rooms? <

You don't - you measure them afterward to see what happend.

Seriously, the point of a mode calculator is to help you pick good dimensons for a room that's not yet built. It's not particularly useful for rooms that are already bult because you tell how they behave better by simply measuring.

So if you're planning to build a new room, and you want it to be good, don't make it L shaped!



--Ethan

[3rd world order]

Originally Posted by Ethan Winer

> if you could build a mix room from the ground up, what's a good ratio to use? <

If you read the ModeCalc page (or the same text in the Help file) you'll see there's no one perfect ratio. They're all a compromise. And the ratio is not the whole story. For example, a room that's only 500 cubic feet but has an excellent ratio is far worse than a room five times larger with a less favorable ratio.

If there were one "best" way to shape a control room, all control rooms would be built that way!

hmm.. the Donald Rumsfeld answer...

ok.. say in the 15'x25'x10' range...

[Ethan Winer]

> hmm.. the Donald Rumsfeld answer... <

Puh-lease!

> ok.. say in the 15'x25'x10' range <

It mostly depends on the outer shell size, and maximum possible ceiling height, and existing ceiling construction, and whether isolation is needed or not which reduces the available space, and also what you plan to do in the room. I'm not trying to be evasive! But there's no one correct "cookie cutter" answer. That said, 25 by 15 by 10 feet is not bad, and it follows one of the "recommended" ratios, though there's a triple mode at 113 Hz.

This is exactly why I wrote ModeCalc and make it available publicly - so you can play around yourself to see how the modes change with different dimensions. If you read the ModeCalc web page (or the program's Help text - same thing) you'll know almost everything I do about room modes!

--Ethan

[Kalite Marka]

No Mac Version?
My studio and Laptops are all Mac.

[Ethan Winer]

> No Mac Version? <

Sorry, no, but you can get most of the information you need to design a rectangle room from the page that describes the program and the screen shot that lists the eight "favorable" ratios.

--Ethan

[Jules]

Originally Posted by Kalite Marka

No Mac Version?
My studio and Laptops are all Mac.

New mac's can dual boot into PC...

[raal]

Originally Posted by Jules

New mac's can dual boot into PC...

but why would you want to?

[DirtyMan]

to run this software

[überschall]

Thank you, Mr. Winer

[peak limit]

Originally Posted by Kalite Marka

No Mac Version?
My studio and Laptops are all Mac.

Hi,

The DOS version of MODECALC runs fine under emulation using DOSBOX on linux, should also work fine on OSX (or even windows - for the perverted).

Thanks to Ethan for making this program availiable.