[ddots-l] Re: VU meters in DD

  • From: Bryan Smart <bryansmart@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
  • To: "ddots-l@xxxxxxxxxxxxx" <ddots-l@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
  • Date: Wed, 21 Oct 2009 18:14:25 -0400

Maybe I misunderstood what he wants, or maybe you misunderstood. Anyway...

If you release the lock and hold, then you have a mostly instantaneous report 
of the current signal strength. You are right that this isn't the traditional 
definition of a VU meter, but you are wrong that a VU meter measures "loudness".

The difference between the instantaneous report and a traditional VU meter is 
that a VU meter is designed with a lag to eliminate abrupt changes. Roughly 
speaking, a VU meter will trend toward the average input over the last 300Ms or 
so. Sonar's meters don't respond in this way by default, but you can easily 
make them respond with any curves that you'd like by using the Audio Meter 
options dialog in the options menu.

As to "loudness", the concept of loudness is very vague when we're talking 
about a recording, since we could be listening to that recording on tiny 
headphones or a huge PA. The only factors that matter in gauging the level of a 
recording is its relative strength when compared to another signal of fixed 
strength, and the dynamic range of the material (difference between the most 
quiet and most loud parts of the recording). In digital audio, the maximum 
signal strength is 0DB, so the peak of your recording matters, and you'd use a 
peak meter for that. However, more important is the dynamic range of the 
recording. A narrow dynamic range makes the recording seem louder, and you'd 
measure that with an RMS meter. You can switch between these meter modes in the 
meter's context menu.

CakeTalking is not able to report separate meters for the left and right 
channel of a stereo track. Instead, you hear a single meter that represents the 
summed signal. In most situations, that is what most people care about, since, 
if you're establishing level for a stereo signal, you rarely, if ever, wish to 
distort the stereo image by independently adjusting gain on the individual 
channels.

Bryan







________________________________
From: ddots-l-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx [mailto:ddots-l-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx] On 
Behalf Of Studio Montebello
Sent: Wednesday, October 21, 2009 5:17 PM
To: ddots-l@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: [ddots-l] Re: VU meters in DD

Unlocking the peak meter hold  doesn't make a peak meter a VU meter!
A peak meter is what it says it measures the peak signal whereas a VU meter 
measures the loudness, two different things.
Jean

Visitez mon site / Visit my site at http://www.studiomontebello.com


----- Original Message -----
From: Bryan Smart<mailto:bryansmart@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
To: ddots-l@xxxxxxxxxxxxx<mailto:ddots-l@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Sent: Wednesday, October 21, 2009 3:34 PM
Subject: [ddots-l] Re: VU meters in DD

But it can. If you open the meter context menu and deselect hold and lock 
peeks, then you'll have a continuously fluctuating, and mostly useless, vu 
meter.

Not sure why people want a non-peek meter when it isn't possible for any screen 
reader to report every value that appears without driving you crazy with 
non-stop speech, but this method will let you have the experience of trying.

Bryan

________________________________
From: ddots-l-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx [mailto:ddots-l-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx] On 
Behalf Of Phil Muir
Sent: Wednesday, October 21, 2009 2:39 PM
To: ddots-l@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: [ddots-l] Re: VU meters in DD

No it doesn't.



Regards, Phil Muir
Accessibility Training
Telephone: US (615) 713-2021
UK+44-1747-821-794
Mobile: UK +44-7968-136-246
E-mail:
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URL:
www.accessibilitytraining.co.uk/<http://www.accessibilitytraining.co.uk/>
-----Original Message-----
From: ddots-l-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx [mailto:ddots-l-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx]On 
Behalf Of Christopher Bartlett
Sent: 21 October 2009 18:37
To: ddots-l@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: [ddots-l] VU meters in DD

Previous iterations of Dancing Dots would report peak meters but not the 
running VU meters.  Since Jsonar can do this, does Cake Talking do it now?

                Chris Bartlett

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