Which would you invest in.

[thedoc298]

Which of the two programs LTspice or Multisum would you choose to invest your learning in. I would like to start to learn one or the other and the learning curve does not matter. I have played with both lightly but not enough to make a sound decision.  Thans for any input.

[AndyC_772]

LTspice is free and useful. Start there, and don't buy anything else unless you really need to.

[thedoc298]

Which industry are you in? In power electronics (which I'm in), LTSpice is the dominant simulator. Every power device manufacturer provides their model in LTSpice format (which will also work for other SPICE3F5-based simulators, but are most likely developed and tuned on LTSpice for LTSpice users).

But I have to say, it's not a beautiful software, and it certainly doesn't have the luxury of MultuSim when it comes to UI, learning curve and support.

I have just retired and like to play. I was field service for Glass Industry. Glass machine software and controls. Also tv repair at the end of tubes and the beginning of the solid state era. Thanks for input. 

[Gyro]

The other offering you might want to have a play with is Tina-TI, also Spice based, which is given away free by TI (their alternative to LT's LTSpice). It's maybe a little less featured than LTSpice but some people find it a bit more intuitive and easier to drive, ymmv. With all the company acquisitions, I'm not sure which one has the most comprehensive parts library these days.

Either of those two should be more than adequate for your needs. Having just retired, the only investment involved is your time.

http://www.ti.com/tool/tina-ti

[Raj]

I have just retired and like to play. I was field service for Glass Industry. Glass machine software and controls. Also tv repair at the end of tubes and the beginning of the solid state era. Thanks for input.

Man, i'd rather be making nixies and be a millionare : -D
I'd download a crack/demo before I buy, whenever i'm in such a situation

[Tomorokoshi]

I have just retired and like to play. I was field service for Glass Industry. Glass machine software and controls. Also tv repair at the end of tubes and the beginning of the solid state era. Thanks for input.

Man, i'd rather be making nixies and be a millionare : -D
I'd download a crack/demo before I buy, whenever i'm in such a situation

Hey! Did you see this one:

https://youtu.be/wxL4ElboiuA

[Wimberleytech]

LTspice is free and useful. Start there, and don't buy anything else unless you really need to.

Yup. MultiSIM is anyway a toy. If you need "real" simulators, go to PSPICE or IC-grade SPICE tools like HSPICE and Spectre (if you need them, money isn't an issue for you anyways).

I do not have access to PSPICE, or Cadence Analog Artist or any other expensive tool any longer (been retired).  Outside of RF, I would be interested to see a comparison of LTSpice with one of those.  Don't compare based on UI...LOL.  Compare based on accuracy.  Sure, LTSpice does not support the zillion MOS models that, say, HSPICE does, but using the same model (BSIM3 or 4), how do they compare?

I used to own my own personal copy of SmartSpice but it died when I moved away from WindowsXP and has been dead ever since.  I refused to pay $2K/yr maintenance.  I have an old version of EMAG's spice engine but I finally moved fully to LTSpice and glad that I did.  EMAG spice is good, sits on top of Berkeley code with their own tweaks and has many bells and whistles and arguably a better UI but I am now going with the crowd.

[jackbob]

LTspise is incredibly powerful. UI sucks but some of the most powerful features you can trigger using just the SPICE language. Both Multisim and LTspice are SPICE based and have a similar backbone. LTspice is free, Multisim is expensive. As for Pspice, the light version is free for anyone I think, you could say you are a student or whatever and just fill out the form to get the light version for free but I prefer to use LTspice as it is free without any limitations. A great book for LTspice and the SPICE language is "The LTSpice IV Simulator Manual, Methods and Applications" by Gilles Brocard. Also Pspice seems to be much more laggy and have more overhead when running, LTspice, although the UI is half baked, it runs very smooth and when you know the keyboard shortcuts and spice commands you can become incredibly fast and efficient with the software.