TBProAudio releases dpMeter4 - Free Digital Precision Meter Plugin including Loudness

[TBProAudio]

Headline: TBProAudio releases dpMeter4 - Free Digital Precision Meter Plugin including Loudness Matching for Windows and Mac OS X

TBProAudio releases dpMeter 4, a precise digital audio multi channel meter
including RMS, EBUR128, DialNorm and TruePeak measurement. It is the sucessor of the very popular dpMeter2/3 and adds free GUI resizing, preset management and DialNorm measurement.



Features:

• click-free 64-bit internal processing
• 3 measurement modes: RMS/EBU R128/DialNorm
• multi channel metering: 2-6 RMS channels, 2.0 stereo, 4.0, 4.1 and 5.1 surround
• RMS: integrated, momentary, peak and true peak
• EBU R128: integrated, momentary, short term, true pack and loudness range
• true peak measurement based on ITU 1770
• ITU1170/A/B/C/M-weighting filter
• continuous/synced measurement
• record metering results as automation data
• large and accurate live meters
• adjustable pre-gain
• manual loudness/peak/TP match with given reference level
• loudness offset mode
• Preset management
• GUI resizing

System Requirements:

• Windows XP or newer
• Mac OS X 10.5 or newer
• Win: 32/64 Bit VST, 32/64 Bit VST3, 32 Bit RTAS, 32/64 Bit AAX
• OS X: 32/64 Bit VST, 32/64 Bit VST3, 32/64 Bit AU, 32 Bit RTAS, 32/64 Bit AAX
• Tested with: Cockos Reaper, Steinberg Cubase/Nuendo/Wavelab, FL Studio, Protools, Fruity Loops, Audacity

Price: free

[jrengmusic]

Thank you for this. It’s one of plugins that always stay on my monitor fx chain.

[TBProAudio]

Well, it is out since a while, just to let you know

[batcat]

Thanks again for a fantastic plugin!
One small feature request I have is having the option to turn true peak detection on/off.
True peak detection (in all plugins of this type) takes up a lot of the plugins load, often more than 50%.
Many times the True peak function isn't needed so it would be nice to be able to bypass it to make the plugin even more efficient for those situations.

[TBProAudio]

Originally Posted by batcat

Thanks again for a fantastic plugin!
One small feature request I have is having the option to turn true peak detection on/off.

Thank you for this. We will look into it:-)

[TBProAudio]

Update 4.1.1:

- earth tone colors

- Info menu added

- Toggle TruePeak measurement (info menu)

[batcat]

Thank you! Wow that was fast.

True peak on 0.8%
True peak off 0.2%

Continue making great plugins.
Cheers!

[heda]

Toggle peak measurement is a great idea. Thanks !
I wonder if we can disable/enable it from a script. I'll test it to integrate it with Track Inspector and HeDaMixer soon.

[batcat]

Is it recommended to use the new included Dolby Dial norm measurement instead of LUFS on voice material?
https://www.dolby.com/us/en/technolo...ence-code.aspx

[TBProAudio]

Originally Posted by batcat

Is it recommended to use the new included Dolby Dial norm measurement instead of LUFS on voice material?
https://www.dolby.com/us/en/technolo...ence-code.aspx

Well, there was a big debate around LUFS (https://www.pro-tools-expert.com/hom...delivery-specs).


Could make sense putting vocals/speech more into focus...

[TBProAudio]

Update 4.1.2:
- FIX: VST3 parameter restore fixed

[X-Raym]

I wanted to see how useful could be to have a chart which display a line for Short term loudness, and a band for Loudness range (or PSR) arround it (in other word: seing both percieved volume and dynamic over time).


Thanks to the very nice feature CSV export of dpMeterX (which has free trial), I started coded an interactive chart prototype just to see how it will look.


Here is the results:



(note: area scale shouldn't be read on Y axis, it is just visual indicator)



What do you think of this type of graph ?


I think it can be pretty convenient.


In this song we can see that it start low and uncompressed, and the more it goes, the more it will be compressed, and we can see that higher volume parts are the more compressed.


I wonder if this visualization couldn't be interested to have right in the plugin. Just an idea :P

[TBProAudio]

Originally Posted by X-Raym

I wanted to see how useful could be to have a chart which display a line for Short term loudness, and a band for Loudness range (or PSR) arround it (in other word: seing both percieved volume and dynamic over time).


Thanks to the very nice feature CSV export of dpMeterX (which has free trial), I started coded an interactive chart prototype just to see how it will look.


Here is the results:



(note: area scale shouldn't be read on Y axis, it is just visual indicator)



What do you think of this type of graph ?


I think it can be pretty convenient.


In this song we can see that it start low and uncompressed, and the more it goes, the more it will be compressed, and we can see that higher volume parts are the more compressed.


I wonder if this visualization couldn't be interested to have right in the plugin. Just an idea :P

Looks pretty nice:-)
In any case, dpMeterXT already displays dynamic range together with SL. And you you could get this in real-time from dpMeter 4 as well: TrackInspector from Heda demonstrates how to do it...

[X-Raym]

dpMeterXT already displays dynamic range together with SL.

How ? Can you make a screenshot ? I may have missed a setting somewhere ^^

[TBProAudio]

Originally Posted by X-Raym

How ? Can you make a screenshot ? I may have missed a setting somewhere ^^

Oh, sorry for being not precise: dpMeter4 "exports" the measured values as automation data. So you can collect them on the fly with the help of a reaper script, like Trackinspector.

[X-Raym]

Oh so you suggest that I could make this graph directly in REAPER if needed, just like trackinspector is also using dpMeter parameter, but that currently, neither dpMeter or TrackInspector do it ?
Indeed having it integrated eliminates some friction,
though gradient like that may not be easy with reascript API.
Also, it would have to be good on performance.
It would worth exploring the solution if needed.


But integrated in a VST, it could be way more nicer :P

[TBProAudio]

Originally Posted by X-Raym

But integrated in a VST, it could be way more nicer :P

As i said, dpMeterXT has this already: it is the PSR/PLR/LRA button left to the loudness view.

[X-Raym]

DpMeterXT has indeed PSR, but this dynamic range is displayed from a fixed Y axis at mid screen position, not according to SL as I did with my charts






(PLR and LRA are more for program wise analysis so there are not my concern here)

[TBProAudio]

Originally Posted by X-Raym

DpMeterXT has indeed PSR, but this dynamic range is displayed from a fixed Y axis at mid screen position, not according to SL as I did with my charts

(PLR and LRA are more for program wise analysis so there are not my concern here)

Correct, PLR/PSR and LRA display uses fixed center (target ILR value).

[HeyJeffreyDavis]

I downloaded this app but don't see anything except the manual and change log anywhere on my Mac.

I want to have this open while recording in garage band, but the most recent version doesn't seem to install anything.

Any suggestions?

[TBProAudio]

Originally Posted by HeyJeffreyDavis

I downloaded this app but don't see anything except the manual and change log anywhere on my Mac.

I want to have this open while recording in garage band, but the most recent version doesn't seem to install anything.

Any suggestions?

Maybe this helps: http://help.timespace.com/home/logic...o-unit-plugins

[HeyJeffreyDavis]

Originally Posted by TBProAudio

Maybe this helps: http://help.timespace.com/home/logic...o-unit-plugins

Ah, maybe the problem is that I'm not using logic pro. Is there a way to use this tool in GarageBand?

[TBProAudio]

Originally Posted by HeyJeffreyDavis

Ah, maybe the problem is that I'm not using logic pro. Is there a way to use this tool in GarageBand?

A reboot should help.

[TonE]

Originally Posted by X-Raym

I wanted to see how useful could be to have a chart which display a line for Short term loudness, and a band for Loudness range (or PSR) arround it (in other word: seing both percieved volume and dynamic over time).


Thanks to the very nice feature CSV export of dpMeterX (which has free trial), I started coded an interactive chart prototype just to see how it will look.


Here is the results:



(note: area scale shouldn't be read on Y axis, it is just visual indicator)



What do you think of this type of graph ?


I think it can be pretty convenient.


In this song we can see that it start low and uncompressed, and the more it goes, the more it will be compressed, and we can see that higher volume parts are the more compressed.


I wonder if this visualization couldn't be interested to have right in the plugin. Just an idea :P

Can you not achieve such results using SonicVisualiser or its command line brother Sonic Annotator? e.g. triggering via python script this command line, generating an image, reimporting into Reaper, all in one go. One click conversion from audio to image, from Reaper back to Reaper.

[HeyJeffreyDavis]

Originally Posted by TBProAudio

A reboot should help.

Indeed it did. I see it now! Thank you.

Can you recommend which preset would be most helpful for monitoring the recording of a podcast?

Also, when using GarageBand, the meter doesn't display different readings despite changing the native compressor settings, resulting in what seems to be inaccurate information.

Am I misunderstanding something?

[TBProAudio]

TBProAudio has updated dpMeter 4, a precise digital audio multi channel meter
including RMS, EBUR128, Dialog gated and TruePeak measurement.

[Pashkuli]

Originally Posted by TBProAudio

TBProAudio has updated dpMeter 4, a precise digital audio multi channel meter
including RMS, EBUR128, Dialog gated and TruePeak measurement.

Love those plugins. Thanks for the free update on the LUFS meter!

[TheMaartian]

Thanks again!

I noticed that ISOL8 was also updated, so grabbed that, too.

[ivansc]

Thanks! These may not be sexy, groovy plugins but they are useful and they work really well!

[plush2]

It seems that the Dialog Intelligence measurements for 5.1 audio are not working correctly. I can't seem to get any measurement at all with v.4.2.1 of the x64 vst3. This is comparing with the Waves WLM Meter 5.1 (a tortured acronym if I ever saw one) which seems to pull an LKFS/DIAL measurement out of whatever I use it on. Perhaps the 1770-4 g10 gate is still being used prior to the Dolby bits?

[TBProAudio]

Originally Posted by plush2

It seems that the Dialog Intelligence measurements for 5.1 audio are not working correctly. I can't seem to get any measurement at all with v.4.2.1 of the x64 vst3. This is comparing with the Waves WLM Meter 5.1 (a tortured acronym if I ever saw one) which seems to pull an LKFS/DIAL measurement out of whatever I use it on. Perhaps the 1770-4 g10 gate is still being used prior to the Dolby bits?

Do you have a test file to follow this?

Here is a test file which should give -24LKFS: https://www.dropbox.com/s/ikbyyehf2s...0Test.zip?dl=0

[Pashkuli]

Originally Posted by ivansc

Thanks! These may not be sexy, groovy plugins but they are useful and they work really well!

I do not understand what do you mean.
I am quite fussy and picky guy and I do fuck with those plugins in my Reaper sessions. They look pretty sexy to me.

[plush2]

Originally Posted by TBProAudio

Do you have a test file to follow this?

Here is a test file which should give -24LKFS: https://www.dropbox.com/s/ikbyyehf2s...0Test.zip?dl=0

I don't have a test file I can send. Using your test file, routing it to the Center channel (L,R,C,LFE,Ls,Rs) as per ITU and the channel order of the meter, choosing any of the DIAL presets and setting the channel number to 5.1 results in no measurement whatsoever on my system. Stereo (2.0) works fine but even routing that same file to the L,R channels set to 5.1 results in no measurement.

[TBProAudio]

Originally Posted by plush2

I don't have a test file I can send. Using your test file, routing it to the Center channel (L,R,C,LFE,Ls,Rs) as per ITU and the channel order of the meter, choosing any of the DIAL presets and setting the channel number to 5.1 results in no measurement whatsoever on my system. Stereo (2.0) works fine but even routing that same file to the L,R channels set to 5.1 results in no measurement.

Thank you for this. We will analyse it.

[TBProAudio]

Originally Posted by plush2

I don't have a test file I can send. Using your test file, routing it to the Center channel (L,R,C,LFE,Ls,Rs) as per ITU and the channel order of the meter, choosing any of the DIAL presets and setting the channel number to 5.1 results in no measurement whatsoever on my system. Stereo (2.0) works fine but even routing that same file to the L,R channels set to 5.1 results in no measurement.

Will be fixed with upcoming release 4.2.2

[plush2]

Originally Posted by TBProAudio

Will be fixed with upcoming release 4.2.2

Very much appreciated.

This is probably the wrong thread but would you consider making ISOL8 work for surround setups? Instead of the frequency band split the buttons could serve as solo and mute for the surround channels.

[kirk1701]

Does anyone use these tools for just watching levels? There's so much I just don't understand about loudness/amplitude science, I feel like it's overkill to just set my mix at -14lufs with this.

[plush2]

Originally Posted by kirk1701

Does anyone use these tools for just watching levels? There's so much I just don't understand about loudness/amplitude science, I feel like it's overkill to just set my mix at -14lufs with this.

It's mostly important for tv/radio/film mixing where the specifications are quite specific as to how loud a delivered mix can be. For music it's nice to know how much headroom one has with most services normalizing to around that -14LUFS +/- 2. It's definitely not essential in the way it is for those first scenarios though.

[kirk1701]

Originally Posted by plush2

It's mostly important for tv/radio/film mixing where the specifications are quite specific as to how loud a delivered mix can be. For music it's nice to know how much headroom one has with most services normalizing to around that -14LUFS +/- 2. It's definitely not essential in the way it is for those first scenarios though.

Thanks!

I have used this particular plugin, but I think there was some argument about its accuracy on this very forum, so I stopped at v3. I've since moved over to YouLean thanks to KennyG, but I may return to this as I'm not a fan of freeware that constantly nags to upgrade to the paid version.

[airon]

Most plugins I use don‘t let me control what I see well enough.

The best meter I ever used was a plasma display by RTW and some Dorrough meters. Waves however kits out the plugin version with extra shit in the franes around the stuff I do need. Waste of space to me.

For LU meters I need to know three things. Compliance with a spec such as momentary max and integrated for example indicated as a green, yellow or red light, a slow release short term loudness level for general overview and perhaps an integrated level indicator.

The only plugins that really hit the mark for me are VU plugins that let you switch off and hide all the fluff. That‘s why I like and use Klanghelms VU Deluxe at times but that doesn‘t do LU. Oh well. Compromises all around.