Pocket RTA - Spectrum Analyser app for iPhone and iPad

4.4 ( 1744 ratings )

Utilities Music
Developer: EA Chillingo

29.99 USD

Current version: 1.0.7, last update: 7 years ago
First release : 01 Jun 2009
App size: 3.08 Mb

Pocket RTA is a highly portable award winning real-time spectrum analyser for the iPhone.

Pocket RTA has many advanced features which are normally only found in much more expensive sound analysis software, providing fast and accurate spectrum analysis suitable for both amateur hi-fi enthusiasts and professional A/V engineers. Uses include system calibration, monitoring of noise levels and testing of audio equipment.

PocketRTA samples sounds using either internal or external microphones and then applies a Fourier Transform to the samples to obtain a frequency spectrum. The result is an accurate representation of the sampled sound broken down into its frequency components.

Various display modes include, linear narrow band, logarithmic narrow band, Octave, 1/3 Octave, Oscilloscope, SPL and Spectrogram displays with ANSI A and C weighting curves. Use the iPhones multi-touch interface to perform real-time magnification of displays. The touch screen allows selection of the nearest FFT point giving a display of its frequency and decibel level. Up to 16 times oversampling allow more stable readings for fluctuating or unstable input signals whilst our unique noise cancellation system allows you to remove unwanted background noise.

PocketRTA features the ability to calibrate the display using a 1/3 Octave display in order to compensate for imperfections in frequency response of both internal and external microphones. The program automatically detects and switches between both sets of calibration data.

Pocket RTA has the ability to capture up to 3 input signals and overlay them as a reference over live input. All display modes allow exporting of graphed data to the camera roll in JPEG format. These images can then by synced to your desktop PC for better analysis.

Features
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-Automatic Tilt Control for Portrait / Landscape displays.
-44.1KHz sampling rate for up to 22KHz measurements.
-Definable FFT frame sizes.
-Standard ANSI/IEC A and C weighting curves.
-Automatic noise cancellation.
-Automatic peak note / frequency and octave display.
-Root musical note detection and tuning.
-Narrow band Linear and Logarithmic scalable displays.
-Spectrograph display.
-Octave and 1/3 octave displays.
-SPL (Sound Pressure Level) display.
-10x zoom for accurate analysis of narrow band data.
-Internal Signal Generator (tone and pink noise).
-Touch screen display of nearest point with frequency and decibel readout.
-Up to 16x oversampling.
-Independent gain controls for both internal and external microphones.
-Pause facility freezes the live trace to aid analysis of data.
-Independent 1/3 Octave Calibration of internal and external microphones.
-Capture Buffers allow an additional 3 reference traces to be displayed.
-Camera Roll capture facility (640x480 graphing facility).
-Peak trace facility for better reading of fluctuating frequencies.
-Capture peaks over time facility.
-Comprehensive PDF help system.

Pocket RTA is developed by Limelight Software Ltd

Pros and cons of Pocket RTA - Spectrum Analyser app for iPhone and iPad

Pocket RTA - Spectrum Analyser app good for

This is a professional tool Not for kids!!! Precise, clear interface, accurated. Use on field as a pro tool! Very nice!

This app works as well as advertised. Provides quite meaningful data, especially considering that the hardware is an iPhone [3GS here] (in contract to specialized equipment). I am using the app with the iPhones internal microphone, which is unreliable for frequencies below 200 Hz and above 16K Hz. (A good quality external mic may provide better results at those frequency ranges.) The buyer of this app would want to take some time to calibrate the analyser. (No surprise there, as any test equipment needs calibration.) The apps user guide provides valuable information about calibration. For those users who are not familiar with acoustics, complementing the user guide with wikipedia may prove useful. Overall, anyone interested in quantitative acoustics can get tons of data to chew from this app, and overall, Pocket RTA performed well above my expectations: If you want a serious spectrum analyser with a large suite of features that you can carry with you everywhere (like a mobile phone!) Pocket RTA will meet your requirements.

This is a great tool for testing large room acoustics. With an external mic and adapter, you can do some serious acoustical and sound system testing. I have the Shure SE102 MPA mic and headset. The mic has a line out connection to connect to a sound system to feed a test signal or you can use a re-recorded test single and make meaningful acoustical measurements. I have already tested several churches with this and it was accurate enough to make the right recommendation. In one case, it confirmed the need to use my SMAART system. Considering that a basic quality RTA will cost over $450.00, this program along with any 2 or 3 generation iPod is a bargain and a tool both amateurs and professional can use.

Dont be swayed by the reviewer who wants his money back... i am a live sound and studio professional and can say that this product works wonders. I am a monitor tech for a major artist and Pocket RTA nails the problem frequencies in a heartbeat. Even if you know your frequencies well, this thing helps you NAIL that offending unstable feedbacker. You acoustical purists get off your high horse and relax a bit. So it might not be true flat below 200 hz and be slightly off due to the iPhone internal mic... So what. Use your ears for that. The way it pin points most everything accurately is invaluable. Just throw it on 1/3 octave and now even the artist can hold up their phone and tell the monitor guy where the problem is. One slight criticism is that the spectral mode does not need to put so much emphasis on the display of 10 kHz and up. I would like to see it focus more around 2 kHz in the middle and the to the left would be everything under, and to the right, everything over 2 k. Buy It- its worth alot more than $29.00!

I wouldnt say its as good as smaart but if your looking to put your mind at ease while mixing monitors this app works. Great tool!

This app has taken over for my day to day needs as a Live Sound Engineer... Its not only an RTA, but a SPL Meter, Oscilloscoope, and Spectrogram...

Some bad moments

Not works. After payed worked 1 month ! So i lost my money and had no soluton ! I wonder know if a piracy "version" works more than a month.

I cant belive that it could exist a company seling a scrap like this and that for 30$. It is incredible bad. Dont buy. I will try to see how could I give my money back. 30$ doesnt represent the end of the world, but I dont want to support peoples who put in a respectable store this type of applications. Guys from Clickgamer, if you still have some honour, please refund the monay.

Dont know with other OS version but with iPod touch and OS4, this app freezes regularly. Very buggy and annoying to re download the application everytime it freezes. At $30.00 this app should work perfectly.

Not sure which is causing the problem, but RTA display is doubled, and tiny! Unusable. Please update for iOS4!

This program has limited features, and is quite expensive. 1. It is NOT calibrated for the iPhone microphone. To quote a response from their tech support: "Pocket RTA uses fast fourier to analyse an input signal so its frequency detection is incredibly accurate, however the quality of the internal microphone is far from perfect, so accurate dB readings at across the entire frequency spectrum are not its forte. In particular low frequencies below 100Hz and high frequencies over 12-13KHz are not so accurate. We do allow you to calibrate yourself if you have the required test equipment, but dont apply any pre-determined calibration." Right there I wish I could get a refund! Other programs are pre-calibrated for each iPhone model. 2. It lets you output a tone, or "noise", but the tone requires you to key in a frequency. This makes it impossible to sweep the tone up and down. I wanted to use it to test speakers, but I cant do that without the ability to sweep the tone. Again a quote from tech support: "Unfortunately Pocket RTA doesnt have the ability to perform sweep tones at present, but might be something we will add in future updates." 3. The price is about 3x too high. Its much higher than others that work better. I gave this app two stars instead of one because they actually responded to my questions. Unfortunately I cant use it, and wasted about $30.

The product hangs almost ever time I try to use it. The only way to free it is to power down my phone. one of the most expesive apps in the iStore and its basicly useless.

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