TBProAudio releases mvMeter 2 - Multivariable Meter including RMS, EBUR128, VU and PP
by TBProAudio   15th January 2018

Graphics look very good indeed but at least on my Windows laptop here at home the needle movement is very choppy/non-smooth. It's hard to look at when I'm used to the extreme smoothness of VUMT Deluxe put on "Lightning" refresh rate.

Yeah, I know.. VUMT Deluxe is a commercial product so it's probably not fair to compare but your plugin is more than a little bit "inspired" by it so.. it's only fair the key feature of VUMT, the virtually perfectly smooth needle movement of it is mentioned.

Hmm, which OS, DAW and plug-in format are you using? Which HW specs?

Thank you!

Windows 8.1 64bit, Reaper. Intel i7 3630QM using the built in intel graphics.. but I also have Nvidia 675MX in the machine.

Still, I don't think it's down to the hardware specs or DAW. There are other plugins that have perfectly smooth meters. I just think you need to up the refresh rate of them.

- Preset management: fix for user presets
- GUI: refresh rate increased to 60FPS
- GUI: Small fixes

Much better framerate now! Needles are almost smooth. Perhaps if possible could you make the frame rate a user definable parameter? Or even try 120Hz with interpolation (which would still benefit 60Hz screens). Also worth noting that to avoid all flicker some screens need to run at 59Hz. So a user definable frame rate would be awesome.

It'd be interesting to see something crazy like 240Hz refresh that interpolates to make it super smooth.

Also, would it be possible to add a feature where the Overload led is always tied to digital overshoot of 0dBFS? As it is now I can not setup my desired "range" with the reference level while keeping the OL led to show me digital overs.

EDIT: You may be wondering about my strange requests but I suspect my way of working with meters is very similar to most people.. I'm not at all interested in real values or readouts, well most of the time I'm not.. I'm mainly interested in the meter movement and what visual range it covers. It's an intuitive way of "seeing" the density of the music, a sort of visual aid to dial in and confirm the sweetspot of various instruments and mixes. Thus the meter ballistics and smoothness of movement are of utmost importance. Probably the most important feature.

This is how I use it: I roughly dial in the "range" on my preferred meter "target". In my case it's zero and I'm using the RMS meter. Doesn't really matter what instrument or bus group I'm metering, I just tweak the meter reference level so that the needle corresponds with the audio and moves around zero as it's a nice position on your meter plugin.

This may not make much sense from a technical point of view but it's all about intuition and the movement of the needle. When I'm tired and fatigued it's sometimes easy to start overcompressing stuff. That's when these kinds of needles will help keep you grounded. They need to move in a certain way to confirm the sweetspot.

OK, let us think how to add this. GUI space is already limited...

OK, i got your point, makes sense. On the other side there are already commercial VU Meters available which full fill your requirement

In any case we will consider your request.

Yes of course. I'm actually just spouting off ideas here as I thought you may want to further develop the plugin. I'm already pretty much settled with VUMT Deluxe but it's never a bad idea to list off ideas. You can always ignore them.

Though I have to admit, your 'Retro' skin is absolutely fabulous. That alone may get me to have your meter in various projects.

Thank you for your nice words

Well, we do not want to "copy" feature sets of other products, not our style.
But big meter GUI is unique, so i like the idea of increasing the frame rate to ridiculous values:-)

I suggest you'd better use motion blur for needle movement, than extreme frame rates, and get better realistic smoothing effect even on lower f/r

+1 for a smoother needle movement, whatever way it is achieved. I didn't find software that compares to the hardware behaviour yet.

Update 1.0.2:
- Presets: EBUR128 ML/SL and Peak added
- Preset management: menu entries "set to default" and "save as default state" added
- Preset management: internal storage changed, old presets become invalid!
- Gain match: changed function, please consult the manual
- NEW: FPS control (1-100 FPS)
- NEW: Gain link control
- NEW: Gain match button

Thank you, gain match seems like a great addition.

Change from 60 to 100 fps seems visibly minimal, could you increase it to 300 please?

Thank you!

Sorry, not yet, as it needs major code rewrite :-(

Thanks for the update, the EBUR128 SL preset is especially appreciated.

I have to say, you are extremely patient and accommodating, not to mention generous! I was looking for a good Master Buss meter for Sonar X3 (I'm so tired of staring at bar meters), and this fits the bill perfectly... the 10+ meter types and half-dozen skins are a sweet bonus. Thank you so much for the time and energy you put into creating and sharing such a useful and handy tool! You are greatly appreciated!

Thank you!

I too am absolutely loving this (and not just because it's FREE ) So many options, and I'm just getting started exploring.

One question, and I apologize if I missed it; is there official documentation for this? As a newbie to any metering but stock Pro Tools, I'm curious what all these options actually do and how best to use them in my mixing/mastering.

Thank you for your hard work and generous offer.
Jc

Thank you very much. The manual comes with plugin or can be found here.

Oh my, that's embarrassing I didn't even think to look in my installation! Thank you for your quick reply.

Enjoying your plugin very much. Thanksrockout

Bump...for those looking for a nice freebie VU meter plugin. Also, for those who don't know that version 1.0.11 is now available.

Cant seem to get this to work under Logic Pro. I installed it and it says "successful" but I don't see it anywhere under the plugins in Logic. Doesn't even show up in the Plug-In Manager. THEN I realized that it does not state on your page that it was tested with Logic. DUH, LOL. Anyone know if this indeed does work with Logic??

Yes, it works fine in Logic 10.4.4. If it's not showing up in the Plugin Manager, either reboot or just logout and back in. Most plugins in Logic require this these days.

It seems to me that it's not just about FPS. IK Multimedia metering VU meter looks very good, and looks like a real one. It would be great to make your meter look like it in terms of needle movement.

https://www.ikmultimedia.com/products/tr5metering/

PSP Vintage Warmer 2 VU meter also looks realistic. If MV Meter works in a similar way, it will be great.

Maybe in a future paid upgrade...for free I'm just happy to have something that looks neat.

Klanghelm VUMT is the one to beat/emulate.

Compared to IK Multimedia, Klanghelm's needles move more stepwise, making it difficult to read information about the loudest sounds in the mix, which is important information anyway.

Try, work and compare.

I have a dream that MV Meter 2 looks the same as it does now, and works like IK Multimedia, or VU meter from PSP Wintage Warmer.

I would then throw out IK Multimedia. And the only thing that, the settings of the peak indicator would also make it adjustable, it is quite convenient.

what misses mvMeter2?

BTW: you can change the needle update speed by adjusting the FPS parameter.