I thought I'd drop in with this little gift for you all. It's nothing too special, but as is always the case with gifts, it's the thought that counts!
I've called it D-20L mastering meter, but it's a little more than just a straightforward VU meter because it's built within a 4x stereo IN > 4x stereo OUT audio switcher which is essentially a lightweight control room of sorts.
The audio signal passes completely untouched from whichever stereo input you select to whichever stereo output you select, so you don't need to worry about the signal being tampered with internally.
Meanwhile, the audio signal also goes to two VU meters: A peak level meter & an RMS level meter.
You get to see both the peak & RMS meters simultaneously so that you can measure average loudness at the same time as watching your peak levels to avoid clipping. I know that this is not a new concept by any means, but the metering is quite unusual compared to other VUs because it's pure linear from only -20 to 0 dBFS, so it's designed purely for metering/measuring the top end of the audio level scale. With 0.1 dB segments, it does this job quite accurately too.
The signal to the RMS meters can be calibrated should you wish by using the "CAL" pot which allows +/- 6dB of gain. By default this is set to 3dB which to my understanding is calibrating the RMS meters correctly, but the CAL parameter is there for you to adjust the RMS calibration if you desire to do so.
Likewise with the RMS integration time, this is set to 600ms by default, which I believe to be the correct setting for this type of metering, but the inclusion of the parameter allows you to lower it to say 300ms (or whatever) should you wish to do so.
The peak hold parameter adjusts the peak hold time for both the RMS & the peak meters simultaneously.
I think that just about sums it up, so have a try and see what you think yourself.
PS - I hope you are all in good health !!
. I can add a test signal generator as an input. Beauty.
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