Impulse Response mode also includes a suite of acoustical intelligibly criteria such as STI, STIPA, Clarity, RT60, EDT, etc.

Smaart is based on real-time fast Fourier transform (FFT) analysis, including dual-FFT audio signal comparison, called "transfer function", and single-FFT spectrum analyzer.

[3] It includes maximum length sequence (MLS) analysis as a choice for impulse response, for the measurement of room acoustics.

Pink noise is still in common usage because its energy distribution allows for quick measurement acquisition, but music or another broadband test signal can be used instead.

Grateful Dead sound system engineer "Dr. Don" Pearson worked out the method in 2000, using Smaart to compare the voltage drop through a simple resistor between a loudspeaker and a random noise generator.

[8] Smaart can be used to find the delay time between two signals, in which case the computer needs two input channels and the software uses a transfer function measurement engine.

Pearson published articles about impulse response measurements taken during setup and testing of concert sound systems, and recommended the Dead buy an expensive Brüel & Kjær 2032 Dual Channel FFT analyzer, made for industrial engineering.

[18] Smaart was developed by Sam Berkow in association with Alexander "Thorny" Yuill-Thornton II, touring sound engineer with Luciano Pavarotti and The Three Tenors.

[19] First exhibited in New York City at the Audio Engineering Society's 99th convention in October 1995 and described the next month in Billboard magazine,[20] in May 1996 the software product was introduced at the price of $695, the equivalent of $1,350 in today's currency.

[21] Studio Sound magazine described Smaart in 1996 as "the most talked about new product" at the 100th AES convention in Copenhagen, exemplifying a new trend in software audio measurement.

[19] Smaart was unusual because it helped audio professionals such as theatrical sound designers do what was previously possible only with highly sophisticated and expensive measurement devices.

[24] As it increased in popularity, engineers who used Smaart found mixed results: touring veteran Doug Fowler wrote that "misuse was rampant" when the software first started appearing in the field.

[18] Version 3 was introduced under EAW's ownership,[1] with the additional capability of accepting optional plug-ins which could be used to apply sound system adjustments, as measured by Smaart, to digital signal processing (DSP) equipment.

For version 6, the designers decided to tear Smaart back down to its basics and rebuild it on a flexible multi-tasking, multi-platform framework which would allow it to be used on Mac OS X and Windows machines.

Writing it took two years, and it was released in a package which included the earlier version 5 because there was not enough time to incorporate all elements of the existing feature set.

[28] The console could be configured to send multiple microphone inputs to Smaart, and it offered constant metering of sound pressure level in decibels.

[29] When it was put into production in 2007, band engineer Don Dodge took the mixer out on a world tour with Foreigner, the first concert mixed in March 2007.

[18] On November 9, 2009, under the leadership of Jamie and Karen Anderson, programmer Adam Black and technical chief Calvert Dayton, Rational Acoustics became the full owner of the Smaart brand.