TOPIC: Acourate vs FIR Designer

I've been trying numerous filter software since purchasing an OpenDRC recently.
I feel though the free solutions don't quite do what I would like (rephrase is almost there but I would like a more automated means to create the filters).
It looks as though I need to get either AcourateDRC or FIR Designer (by Eclipse Audio). There's not much on the net about Fir Designer. I wondered if anyone had used them both and how they compared. The full version of Acourate is more money than I would like to spend. The DRC version is similar cost to FIR Designer but FIR looks more powerful/flexible.
Has anyone got any advice as to whether FIR Designer is any good vs AcourateDRC?

Thanks.
Peter

Hi Peter,

I'm the creator of FIR Designer. Happy to answer any specific questions you might have.

I wasn't aware of Acourate and AcourateDRC until your post. Looking at their product pages, they have measurement capability built in, whereas FIR Designer assumes you have access to other measurement tools. On the other hand FIR Designer runs on both Mac and PC, and has comprehensive measurement averaging.

Kind regards,
Michael

Thanks for the quick response. Acourate seems to appear in forums much more than FIR Designer which (maybe wrongly) makes FIR Designer feel like more of a risk to me.
Is it fair to say that the 'same' filter specification would produce the same practical quality of filter? Or can one software with the 'same' correction produce an audibly better filter on my OpenDRC than a similar peice of software?
Thanks.
Peter
PS maybe MiniDSP should put an FIR Designer sub section in their 3rd partly software forum area.

Hi Peter,

FIR Designer is fully functional without a license key, except for final FIR filter export. What you see on the export screen is what you will get.

Two filters, created with two different software packages but with essentially identical magnitude and phase, are essentially identical. IMO the differences between software packages are in workflow; how to take in measurements and generate filters in relation to the measurements that give you the results you're after, how to average measurements (since filtering for one point in the room only could make things worse elsewhere), how to use FIR and IIR together, and what import/export file formats are supported.

W.r.t. "quality" and whether one package "audibly better" than another.... it comes down to how the user uses the tools. It's easy to make a complete mess if one doesn't know how to use the tools. My hope, particularly with the workflow we've created, but to a lesser extent with tutorials, is that users can get to a useful and pleasing filter design quickly.

Keep the questions coming!

Kind regards,
Michael

@ Peter,

Great idea to have FIR Designer sub section!
Here is one now created.. www.minidsp.com/forum/fir-designer-by-eclipseaudio

We look forward to Michael's comments there.

DevTeam