Frequency Response vs Microphones#
Both the Frequency Response Panel and Microphones can give insight as to the frequency response of individual sources, and complete system designs. This section covers their differences, and where to use each.
- The Frequency Response Panel
The Frequency Response Panel plots the frequency response at points sampled automatically along the audience for the selected array - one thin trace per point, plus an energy-averaged mean curve. The traces are automatically updated as the loudspeaker’s position and angles are adjusted.
When Should the Frequency Response Panel Be Used?
The Frequency Response Panel is ideal for quickly setting the inter-element angles of a line array, as it updates automatically and does not include interaction from any other source.
Assessing the response of a single array along the whole audience can be achieved in the quickest way by using the Frequency Response Panel.
- Microphones
Microphones in the application are analogous to that of their real-world counterpart - measurement microphones. In the same way as measurement microphones can be used to determine a transfer function in real life, Microphones can do the same thing within System Optimiser. Microphones placed within the 3D View show the complex summation of all loudspeaker sources that are currently unmuted.
When Should Microphones Be Used?
Microphones can be used for evaluating the frequency response of whole systems, or parts thereof, as they include complex summation of all sources which are unmuted.
Microphones can be used to align sources, for example, a Main Hang to a Sub Array, by observing the comb filter whilst changing the delay value in a Source Controller. Summation can be observed when the sources are aligned.
Recap: What Are The Differences?
Microphones are placed manually by the user, whereas the Frequency Response Panel samples its points along the audience automatically as described above.
The Frequency Response Panel acts as if the selected array is soloed, IE every other source in the 3D View is muted, so there is no interaction shown, only the pressure calculation of the selected array. Microphones show the complex response of all loudspeakers within the 3D View that are unmuted.
When viewing graphs using Microphones, there is typically much more interference than with the Frequency Response Panel, this is the nature of having multiple sources enabled, with the multipath arrivals that happen in real life.