RoomMap

[molybdamu]

Search doesn't find a single mention of RoomMap here. It was brought to my attention in a video by AndyMacDoor (whose videos are mentioned in another thread about Helmholtz resonators). He uses it to plot the low frequency behaviour of his room.

Does anybody know this software? It requires taking a lot of measurements, then seems to interpolate between them to produce 2D SPL maps. But I haven't checked the source.

I suppose it's abandoned (or done, looks feature complete enough) as the last commit was seven years ago, but it runs fine on my Linux machine.

 

[DraNard]

curious since you've gotten it to run on your linux machine, Are you finding any use out of it? The 2D map seems cool and all, but i wonder about the 3D perspective? For me i have drop ceiling so I seriously wonder how helpful something like this would be

 

[molybdamu]

I haven't done any measurements yet, just checked with the provided examples that the thing runs. And frankly I'm am not looking forward to several hours of repetitive careful mic positioning in a furnished room and 120 sweeps for 85cm accuracy, i.e. up to 400Hz.

Yeah a built in 3d view would be amazing. I think I'll go the same route as in the vid and screen cap the program while stepping through the frequency band, then comp the horizontal slices side by side.

 

[somebodyelse]

The program is especially useful when analyzing rooms which are not rectangular or non-symmetric. Modal behaviour can not be calculated properly for such rooms, but this program can deliver a good overview of the room's low frequency distribution.

This is no longer true - see for example https://www.audiosciencereview.com/...ds/arbitrary-shape-room-mode-simulator.20805/ for an example. It may not be particularly easy to use, but probably no worse than taking a load of in-room measurements. On the other hand real measurements get around the problem of getting the right boundary properties for different wall types, windows etc. so it would be useful to see how closely the simulation and the measurements match.

 

[HiMu]

Another option for odd shaped rooms, Modal from https://audieum.com/
Requires registration and 3d model of your room if the templates can't be modified to match. Couple examples from my small room.

 

[molybdamu]

Isn't modelling only appropriate for empty rooms? As soon as there's cupboards and bookshelves and closets and couches and what not, the geometry of the room becomes so complex that I doubt a simulation could achieve its potential. Like, any large piece of funiture is going to affect the room by shrinking it, maybe by resonating etc.

 

[HiMu]

Isn't modelling only appropriate for empty rooms? As soon as there's cupboards and bookshelves and closets and couches and what not, the geometry of the room becomes so complex that I doubt a simulation could achieve its potential. Like, any large piece of funiture is going to affect the room by shrinking it, maybe by resonating etc.

Yes those have effect on the results a bit and they are frequency dependent, you can include cupboards etc. fixed furniture into the 3d-model, it boils down to what accuracy is required from the simulation. Both methods are useful.