Fun Generation RTA-31 Reviews

LAGS. not true analog SA, it's a laggy/cheap digital->analog converter

product lags, has a totally unusuable refresh rate for anything professional or aesthetically as a consumer. don't buy this, the version shown in the pictures is not the same version shipped. I thought by buying directly from the company would be reliable, but no, this feels like some bootleg knockoff. this is a cheaper 'updated' version of a once good product. avoid at all costs, esp if in the US (double shipping costs, a robbery)

Looks Great & Works Well

I bought this because I enjoy the look, but I do like to be able to check my audio with a glance. I can see a rumble or whine I may not hear with just a glance. Nice adjustments on sensitivity and illumination.

Great Spectrum Display

I am very happy with this purchase - other than I had to hot wire the plug to make it work since I did not receive a US power cable. Now I have to find a US power cable that will work with it. 4 stars, since I am very disappointed that I did not receive a US power cable, or an adaptor that will work for US.

The display is bright and great fun to watch. Brightness knob is a great option since the green LEDs are very bright. I ran a frequency sweep into the unit and the LEDs respond as they should for each frequency. A couple comments: I would change is to add a couple yellow LEDs below the top red LED, in each frequency set, this would improve the appearance greatly and would let you know the signal is close to the top LED value. Also, I would include a way to adjust the display decay speed. Oh yes, and an option to add a peak hold that displays for a short time.

Cool Device to have that u n your mates will like!

Nice device to have visual spectrum that brings some aliveness to your set up as well.

Dimmer for the led panel n sensitivity for the input.

No issues so far. (Almost a year)

Would like to have better quality knobs n wrgb leds :)

Great value for money product

Bought it a few months ago .

Maybe not as accurate as the ( much ) more expensive rivals but definitely helpful for monitoring the frequencies .

Works perfect together with the Behringer FBQ6200HD .

Good job Fun Generation

Surprisingly Satisfying

I like looking at the lights— this worked straight out of the box. The build quality is much better than expected for the price. I’m thinking of including a couple more of these for center+sub, and rear channels.

Wonderful visual

This piece of kit, really allows me in real-time to see frequency energies.

Generate some Fun !

The RTA-31 provides a large clear and pleasant display of the audio spectrum in real time.

Both channels are combined into the single display.

I have checked the findings of another reviewer and there is a direct connection between the audio input and the output on XLR and on RCA, but these are not combined internally.

I have found the display useful in "Reminding" me of the frequencies of different instruments and harmonics. Very few of my mixes have much sub below 31.5 Hz and nothing other than my own recordings have anything above 12.5 kHz.

Pros:

Simple to set up and use with standard connectors and specifications.

Cons:

Sensitivity and brightness controls need to be kept full up at all times!

Works exactly as expected

I’ve been wary about getting this spectrum analyzer, as many recent reviews are saying the screen is different than what’s shown in Techmoan’s video. I’m happy to say that it works just like how it looks in the video! Only complaint is when taking off the protective plastic from the screen is that the top right corner started coming off with it, but it popped right back in.

Beautiful but terribly designed.

While it looks gorgeous, it induces a ridiculous amount of noise in the rest of my audio equipment, shorted an AMP, and even pushes significant voltage on one of the channels somehow. Must be isolated from the rest to prevent severe intereference.

Looks and behaves phenomenally but a little disappointed with lack of setup information and quality

Firstly, I want to say that this piece of equipment is certainly impressive and snappy. It’s a nice light show. Now, when I unpackaged the contents everything seemed in order. However, I was disappointed to see that the screen was slightly peeling off on the right side. I fear that over time more of it will continue to come off. When that happens I’ll have to apply a little adhesive to seal it on there but for the time being I’ll leave it as is. That being said, I shouldn’t have to deal with that as the consumer. Also, I had to figure out myself where to add this component in the audio chain. There’s no information in the manual to indicate where it should go. I ultimately put it between my preamp and amplifier, with all my sources going into the preamp. I also had the problem of getting a visual signal to actually appear on the screen. This is ultimately because the signal entering the RTA-31 needs to be pretty strong to appear. I had to significantly lower the gain on my amplifier so I can turn the preamp up. Even then, the sensitivity knob on the RTA-31 has to be turned up all the way to 10. This kind’ve problem and solution should really be addressed in the manual. Furthermore, what this all means is that you need to have a separate preamp and amp to get use out of this (i.e being able to increase the signal at the beginning of the audio chain without playing music so loud it shakes your foundation). That, or the sensitivity knob needs to be able to adjust to a much higher value then what we can do currently. I WANT to give this device 5 stars, as it’s exactly everything I want in a spectrum analyzer, but I think it needs to go back to the R&D and QC department for a while. I’m still gonna probably buy a second one and hope it doesn’t have a peeling screen.

Overall 3.8 out of 5

Cute but not great for in depth analysis

I bought this as a centerpiece for my production desk after having seen it in a TechMoan video - and it does exactly what I want it to do, i.e. react in a visually pleasing manner to my audio.

Some things to note:

The unit is passive and audio still passes through when turned off.

XLR in and out are linked as are RCA in and out. No summing of the two signals takes place, which might be exactly what you want. I use balanced audio from my interface and RCA from my record player so I thought this might save me a connection point -- it does not. Not a big deal, but worth mentioning.

With my studio monitors at unity gain I was not able to have this unit display well at a comfortable listening level, even with sensitivity turned all the way up - I had to have my interface output quite high. This was easily solved by lowering the input gain on my monitors.

Overally this is a solidly constructed rack unit and it's lots of fun to look at, but I wouldn't use it to make any mixing decisions.

***Perfection***

I placed an order from Canada for one of these Fun Generation RTA-31s, shipping was extremely quick, and had it in less than a week, the hook up was a breeze, works awesome as well! I had found item through a comment on a you tube video. Similar product was on Amazon but price was double, I give a 5 star rating on absolutely everything about this item including the staff for helping me on another issue, superb quality backed by a talented and professional crew! I will be purchasing future items through them, number #1, hands down!!!!

Eye catching gadget

Although it lacks the viewing precision of a professional spectrum analyzer, it draws attention and gives a sense of liveliness while playing music.

It is solid - well made for the price.

Lights of plenty

Fun Generation RTA 31 is awesome!

Easy to setup and connect and very cool addition to any studio!

I highly recommend it !

Ring Mics w/o guess work. Fast and just as reliable as it is on digital PA systems..

This S.A. is a major time saver. Rings my PA mics right, the first time, every time, in next to no time.

Visually ID problem frequencies and kill feedback very quickly and efficiently. No more guessing, no need for a complex/esoteric digital EQ/speaker management units riddled with firmware bugs and noisy circuitry.

I do have digital stage gear, used mostly for bigger events and recording jobs, but for smaller gigs, I love, and still use, old school rack of analog gear. This SA adds the ability to ring out mics just as easily as one does on digital gear, without the mouse and keyboard BS killing my workflow.

I whole heartedly recommend this device to everyone using an all analog setup. No more embarrassing mic ringing miscalculations and ensuing feedback disasters.

it's fun... useless, but fun.

to be honest, I bought this to fill a gap on my rack, and It looks pretty cool.

I guess it does the job, the bars look amazing, but I missed a dB range to see where the frequencies need some eq.

if it's Just for fun, it's a good deal. The return loop doesn't work. Maybe I've got a defective unit.

good for the price

it's good for that price, sure not a pro analyzer that would cost you 5 or 6 times but it works fine

Easy and nice visualiser

Bought it to fill up the empty space in my rack but now it always On and it helps me to control some extra low frequency while working on a track....