druid.
The TelenatorThis is possibly the best bit of recording software I’ve ever been able to share with anyone before, so I wanted to put it on this forum.
I found a fantastic little free plugin recently and have now tested it for quality and compatibility. I have been looking all over for some really deluxe metering. The meters designed by Zynewave in Podium are very good and wonderfully adjustable, but I need something even more detailed at times. I need to have something that better reveals the dynamic range, particularly at the mixing and mastering stages, and this thing does it well:
Roger Nichols Digital makes what he calls the “Inspector.”
michi_makwas a matter of copy and paste :
link removed
nice finding btw
michi_makas i’m said to be the trouble maker i removed the link in my previous post…
druidI have to say that Roger Nichols didn’t make it, but bought it from another company, and quite a few people were put out about it, back in the day. I still have the old free version by Elemental. I believe Inspector was essentially untouched in function, but their other plugins were altered I believe? Or maybe it was something to do with authentication or something else. I never touched them after their plugins were bought out and I keep Elemental – Inspector handy all the time with backups to make sure I don’t lose it. 🙂
Pulse@The Telenator wrote:
Roger Nichols Digital makes what he calls the “Inspector.”
Yeah, Inspector is really great, used to use it a lot. However I’m slowly preparing for the 64 bit jump so had to look for alternatives. Here are some very useful plugs in the metering department that I use all the time:
http://hofa-plugins.de/pages/start_de/4u.php
http://www.kvraudio.com/product/dbvu-by-sleepy-time-records
Plus some a bit esoteric anti-loudness war metering and phase plugs:
EDIT: Oops posted twice the same page:
https://www.audiocation.de/en/plugin
Phase AP1 and AC-R128
And the new Voxengo “Analog Third-Octave Meter”
http://www.voxengo.com/product/anspec/
Btw, Voxengo’s Span offers some hidden features. Like K-metering, that is: K-20/14/12, K-20/14/12C, DBFS and DBFS+3. Also offers Clipping, RMS, Max Crest Factor and Peak statistics. And on top of that there’s a correlation meter. 🙂
In order for them to become available one must Un“Hide Meters And Stats” at the top, and they show at the bottom of the GUI. So we have the best spectrum analyzer + pretty complete metering stats – how generous of Aleksey – awesome.
Just my 0.0001 cents.
All the best guys
CC
The Telenatordruid, that’s a very interesting history of Inspector. I enjoy knowing about where these plugins got their start and this sort of background. I haven’t seen the original Elemental version. I searched all over for a free unit of this sort before finding Inspector. Now I see that CymaticCreation has posted some other helpful options. Thanks for you input also. I might add that I’ve taken to making backup copies of certain favorite plugins as well.
http://www.rndigital.com/inspector.html
I’m not sure if you were aware, but Nichols died of pancreatic cancer last April. There was all kinds of legal stuff going on after this. There was something about his friends at Sweetwater holding an auction of his extensive studio hardware to raise money to help with expenses. He was widely respected in the audio world. Anyone interested can look the info up, but apparently this site above for the Inspector plugin and its brief manual is now owned and maintained by another party.
The TelenatorCymaticCreation, thanks for greatly extending our metering options here. I’ve had SPAN all along but used it only to check audio bands a few times and have never had the time to investigate what else it might do! You know, I continually underestimate Voxengo’s free offerings. I recently added their Overtone GEQ to aid in final mix and mastering and I’m impressed with that one, too. I’ll have to take a look at the other links you included.
SmurfSPAN works great under Win7 x64 here with Podium, Reaper, and Studio One.
MultiInspectorFree is another metering one that is a must have IMHO…great for making space in the low end…
The TelenatorYes, SPAN was the very first Voxengo I acquired! I’ll have to take a good look at the MultiInspectorFree you mentioned as well. Meanwhile, I’ve been playing with HOFA’s 4U meter, a charming little assortment of items from them.
I’ve decided to stick with 32 (x86 in Windows terminology) for the foreseeable future and just want to conclude by adding that everything I’m doing and using is working fine in that format.
Thanks, Smurf!
GuaranathHi all! New Podium user here…
I checked out the site for this plugin and while the site looks good and legit, the download comes from a site that has a pretty ugly reputation. I know, I know.. a lot of these download sites can pretty easily get a bad rap and it must be hard to manage large quantities of free downloads.. I would just advise a higher than usual level of caution with these downloads and maybe take a look at the WOT scorecard reviews if you are interested in more of the sorted details.
The TelenatorWelcome to Podium, Guaranath. I think you’ll enjoy this software system.
Ironically, it’s WOT I don’t trust for any rating or comments they may have. Any hysterical idiot can diss any site he or she dislikes for ANY reason, and if few or no others chime in, then the site gets a terrible rep and is stuck with that rating potentially forever. Very unfair and little oversight from the WOT admins.
Now, regarding Inspector, it is widely used, was created by a great guy who passed on recently (see info above), and the plugin is completely safe — the meter is use most and very often. If you are worried about the website, which he sold off to pay for his medical bills, there are at least a dozen other reputable audio sites that have the very same download available. Just do a quick search.
Cheers!
GuaranathAwesome! I will look around for that!
It really is hard to know what to trust out there on the internet, and I am perhaps overly cautious and skeptical. But it is good to know that folks are safely using the plugin, so I will go forth to with confidence!
The TelenatorEDIT: HOFA 4U Meter is good also and as cute as a bug’s ear to boot, but site is in German, so use a browser that can translate.
druidI’m going to sound overly cynical, but if you are truly cautious and skeptical wouldn’t you also be distrustful of WOT? 🙂
The Telenatorlol! WOT is officially approved and supported by Microsoft and supported by IE brower, so you know they are a safe site, right? ‘Cause you know that Microsoft is God, right?
I thoroughly hate WOT. Had a run-in with their owner last year. Wanted to send them some special giftware.