AC -R128. Version 1.0

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Gertrude Warner
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1 Version 1.0

2 USER MANUAL Dear User! The AC-R128 is a loudness metering plug-in for measuring the loudness levels of mono and stereo signals inside your DAW. The measurement is based on the EBU R128 recommendation. AC-R128 provides an easy entry to the new way of leveling and helps you become familiar with what many people call an audio revolution. Good luck and enjoy your newly gained loudness freedom! Studio Magazin & Audiocation I Compatibility Basic system requirements: PC with Microsoft Windows TM XP, Vista or 7 (32 bits or 64 bits) VST compatible software sequencer or digital audio workstation (DAW) We are working on other systems and platforms. Installation notes Please use the installation file to install this plug-in into your VST-plug-ins folder. You will have to download the 64 and 32 bit installer versions separately. The PDF manual can be found in the plug-in folder.

3 License agreement and disclaimer 1. This product is freeware. Everyone is free to use the plug-in in any private or commercial application. 2. The plug in is provided as is. This means we do not guarantee its function on your computer or support of future platforms and operating systems. We do not take any responsibility for system crashes or data loss. By installing this piece of software you agree to using it on your own risk. 3. You are allowed to spread this plug-in to anyone at no cost. Selling this plug-in or offering it on pay-for-download websites of any kind is strictly prohibited. If you want to add this product to a software compilation or magazine insert CD you need to get in touch with Audiocation and Studio Magazin first.

Using the plug-in The user interface contains of a display part (orange) and five control buttons (blue). Display This is the main display. It shows the current measurement.

4 Using the plug-in The user interface contains of a display part (orange) and five control buttons (blue). Display This is the main display. It shows the current measurement. Its parameters are changed by the buttons [SCALE] and [TIME]. The MAXIMUM MOMENTARY measurement is shown here. The [RESET] button can be used to (you probably suspected this already) reset the meter value. You can switch the meter scale between the LU and the LUFS scale using the [SCALE] button. The timer shows the duration of the INTEGRATED measurement. It can be started or stopped by the [START/STOP] button. Restarting the measurement resets the current value. Buttons [SCALE] This button switches the meter scale of the current loudness measurement (1) and the maximum momentary measurement (2) between the relative LU-scale and the absolute LUFS-scale.

5 [TIME] This button is used for switching the measurement durations defined in EBU R128: MOMENTARY (MOM) The momentary loudness is measured over a 400 ms interval. It indicates the current loudness level and reacts pretty fast. SHORT TERM (SHORT) The short term loudness is measured over a period of three seconds. This correlates roughly to the human loudness perception and therefore is a very practical measurement. Please note that the short term measurement needs at least three seconds to provide the first valid value! INTEGRATED (INT) The integrated measurement needs to be started and stopped manually with the [START/ STOP] button. Please note that restarting the measurement discards the last value. The integrated measurement value changes rapidly in the first couple of seconds and slows down over time. It indicates the mean value of the whole measurement from start to stop.

6 [START/STOP] This buttons starts and stops the INTEGRATED measurement. Its duration is indicated by the timer. If the measurement was stopped the mean loudness value is indicated until you restart it by clicking the [START/STOP] button again. Restarting the measurement discards the last value. [RESET] This button resets the MAXIMUM MOMENTARY value only. [ABOUT] Shows or hides the about page.

Automation The use of automation is something special to this product. You can of course automate the buttons but the special feature is the automation curve of the measurement itself.

7 Automation The use of automation is something special to this product. You can of course automate the buttons but the special feature is the automation curve of the measurement itself. If you start the automation by switching the plug-in into write mode, one of the automation lanes is used as a loudness logging graph. Please be aware that 1. the automation lane indicates only the value of the main measurement and the maximum momentary value. If you switch between the three time modes the graph will switch too and indicate the new value from this point on. To be clear: It is not possible to e.g. log the INTEGRATED value while watching the MOMENTARY measurement. They are not logged in three separate lanes! If you need this, you have to use two instances of the plug-in. 2. the automation read feature does not necessarily work flawlessly in all DAWs. Therefore we announce this feature in experimental state and do not support it officially at this point. If you need to know the value at a given position in time take a look at the graph and not the GUI. 3. the automation lane is an approximation of the real loudness progress and provides a good overview without qualifying for being a substitute to a real logging system.

8 The two scales All measurements can be switched between two different scales. One is the relative LU (Loudness Units) scale and one is the absolute LUFS (Loudness Units referenced to digital full scale) scale. They share the target value of the EBU integrated measurement as a reference point: -23 LUFS = 0 LU Both scales are fully interchangeable but have their advantages in different settings. 1 LU = 1 db A step of 1 LU equals a step of 1 db. LUFS = LKFS The LKFS scale, defined by the ITU in recommendation 1770, equates the LUFS scale, defined by the EBU in recommendation 128. EBU and ITU are working on an international harmonization and LUFS is possibly the future scale for everyone. But again: They both mean exactly the same. The maximum and minimum values are limited to the recommendations of the EBU scale. Values higher than +9 LU (-14 LUFS) will be indicated with an OVER warning. Values below -18 LU (-41 LUFS) will be indicated with a LOW warning.

Values below that target range are shown in orange digits and values above +1 LU (-22 LUFS) are indicated in red.

9 Scale comparison The AC-R128 provides a color warning system for the INTEGRATED measurement. This means, that values within the target range of +/- 1 LU around 0 LU (-23 LUFS) are indicated by green digits. Values below that target range are shown in orange digits and values above +1 LU (-22 LUFS) are indicated in red. This allows you to recognize whether you are within, above or below the target range even from the corner of your eyes. As there are no recommendations for target levels of the MOMENTARY and SHORT TERM measurements yet, their values are of neutral greyish color. dbfs LUFS LU Note > -14 OVER OVER Maximum value exceeded Maximum value Upper deviation limit Target value Lower deviation limit Minimum value < -41 LOW LOW Minimum value under-run

10 The INTEGRATED measurement The momentary loudness level of your signals will vary over a wide dynamic range. The MOMENTARY loudness level measurement therefore provides an overview over the current levels, but its fast changing value will not give you a useable documentation of the overall loudness of the program. The same holds true to the SHORT TERM measurement, although this reveals some more information as you will learn if you gain some experience with loudness metering. The EBU loudness level recommendation with its target level of -23 LUFS was defined for the INTEGRATED measurement only. It shows the mean loudness of the whole program, measured from start to stop. This period of time can be defined by the user himself and it is very likely that some typical usecases will develop over time. You can start with measuring over logical program partslike commercials, trailers or even films. Please be aware, that the INTEGRATED value is not very useful for measurements shorter than 10 seconds. à Hint We recommend to use the LU scale for most applications. You can keep track of your gain corrections with the LU scale as you don t need to compensate for positive and negative values. With the LU scale you know that you need to lower your gain if you read positive values and to raise your gain if you read negative values.

11 Feedback - Bug Reports loudness@studio-magazin.de info@audiocation.de Version History AC-R128 - v1.0 Released: Credits Programming: Christian W. Budde Development: Christian W. Budde and Friedemann Kootz Manual: Friedemann Kootz Interface Design: Patrik Sneyd/Audiocation Website Copyrights Audiocation is a registered trademark of Audiocation GmbH Studio Magazin and the Studio Magazin logo are registered trademarks of the Studio Presse Verlag GmbH. VST name and technology are registered trademarks of the Steinberg GmbH. Windows Vista, XP and Windows 7 are registered trademarks of the Microsoft Corporation. All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners.

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