Praxis vs. Soundeasy

[Amphiprion]

OK, I am on the brink of ordering one of the above for a measurement system. I was set on Praxis up until I started researching Soundeasy. I'll probably end up getting both eventually knowing me, but I was wondering if anyone had any input or had used both. Thanks!

[ThomasW]

Jon started with SoundEasy, he dumped it for LspCAD Pro after trying out my version during a visit to Denver. He recently bought Praxis after using Clio for a dozen years or more.

[Dennis H]

Apples and orangutans. Soundeasy is an inexpensive do-it-all program -- basic measurements, box design, crossover design. The only problem is nobody except John K can understand how to work it and most people pull their hair out. Praxis is the Mercedes of measurement programs -- you can do any kind of measurement you can imagine with a minimum of fuss -- but it's spendy and all it does is measurements and assorted measurement related math. You'll still need separate box and crossover software.

[Davey]

Hey, I can work Soundeasy and I got hair! Well, I can kinda work it.....okay, I can get by with it.

Actually, I like the measurement suite portion of SE the best of any. Praxis might be better but it's way too expensive for me so no interest there. The emulator portion of SE is also extremely cool....but I did have to exchange a few emails with John K. to help me get it working with my soundcard on an interesting project. All of the box modeling capabilities are excellent, but I have no interest in box speakers so I don't use it.

Mark,

I would get the standard version of LspCAD and SE. Between those two you can accomplish pretty much anything.

Cheers,

Davey.

[Mark K]

Hi Mark,

I've got all three.

They all have their strengths and weaknesses.

As already mentioned, Praxis is a measurement only program. You'll need SE or lspCAD (or some other pgm) to design xovers. I dig Praxis. It's very intuitive and elegant. But it's probably more than what the average designer needs, unless you really are into measurements.

I think the comparison to Praxis is clio. And Praxis is still better, though I saw that the makers of clio/win finally updated it with some enhancements.

As far as SE or lspCAD. Boy, that's a tough one. Both are excellent. I have SE, and just upgraded to v12. I also have lspCAD pro. lspCAD is still somewhat more elegant and intuitive. However, support for SE seems a bit better. And, despite it's clunkiness, I think SE does some things better.

Most of my projects have been done in lspCAD, but I'm trying a new one in SE.


So my recommendation is to buy all of them... :E

[Marzen]

I have some screen shots of Sound Easy here with somewhat of a walk through, or at least a document of how I got from start to finish...and I'm bald :T

Ward

[dlr]

SoundEasy good and bad

I use the free version of Praxis for much of my work for my web site after making measurements with LAUD, precurser to Praxis that I think you're familiar with. Praxis has by far the most intuitive, flexible GUI I've seen in practically any piece of software. I'd buy it but I still prefer to measure with LAUD, though I do have SoundEasy and can make and have made measurements in it. I use CALSOD for design, but now use Jeff B's Passive Crossover Designer to start the optimization process. Tthat could actually be used alone, albeit without the fine tuning that comes from a program that automates the repetitive work.

I like SoundEasy primarily for the Digitial Filter/Digital Emulator. SE is, however, not very intuitive. But were I to choose software having none other, I think it might be SoundEasy due to the all-in-one factor, having a full optimizer. Once you become familiar with it and intuitiveness is no longer the issue, it's a great piece of software.

The one other significant difference, to me at least, is that with Praxis you can calibrate the system to get absolute references (I believe). I like LAUD because it's by default a calibrated system and normalized to 2.83v/1m. This is not available at all in SoundEasy. I like the fact that I can make measurements months apart and know that they will be directly usable against all other measurements I've made previously.

Just a bit more to consider.

Dave

[Paul W]

I have been using LspCAD Pro for the past few years (which includes Just MLS for basic measurements) and have really enjoyed it because it is so intuitive. I recently purchased Soundeasy to get more comprehensive measurement capabilities and have played with the Praxis demo on several occasions. I picked SE over Praxis because I couldn't justify the huge price difference when SE would do everything I want.

Still in my early stages with Soundeasy, I have to read the documentation every time I want to do something. (I printed the SE documentation and estimate it at 800 pages!) I eventually accomplish my objective, but it seems unnecessarily time consuming. With LspCAD, I was up and running almost immediately.

So, if you want intuitive programs, I'd go with LspCAD & Praxis. If price drives the decision, SE wins.
Paul

[Remotia]

We use PRAXIS at TC Sounds and love it!

[jdybnis]

I have some screen shots of Sound Easy here with somewhat of a walk through, or at least a document of how I got from start to finish...and I'm bald :T

Ward

Ward,

It looks like Adelphia blacked out the last two thirds of your images because of bandwidth limitations.

-Josh

[Marzen]

Oops. Sorry 'bout that. I ran a scan with MS FrontPage and get numerous errors for the site (Ex: Invalid value for property: border-top); none of which I understand. It does load fine with Internet Explorer 6 but has black outs in Opera 9. ops:

Ward

[JonP]

I used to complain about Speaker Workshop being difficult, unintuitive, etc, etc... Then I got SoundEasy!!!

Now I don't complain about SW anymore! :rofl:

I will admit that SE is the more evolved, more capable program. And the Digital Filter feature is very cool... But I think the only reason I'm not bald is I don't have the habit of pulling out hair when extremely frustrated...