Youlean Loudness Meter v2.5.5 (beta) released

[TheSteven]

Youlean Loudness Meter – V2.5.5 BETA Update
by Youlean - Julijan Nikolic | Nov 22, 2023 | 14 comments

This should be the last update before the official release, well, I hope so. 😁

This update mainly improved the stability of the meter. I have fixed some crashes; hopefully, they won’t pop up this time.

Changed BETA label

Let’s start with the most critical change you’ve requested. The beta label will now include your license type as well. Here’s how it looks:

Old Look: 

New Look: 

Now seriously, some of you had some confusion about the license so I changed that, but you must admit, it is a pretty nice feature. 😁

Added more channel configurations

Oh, this was a tough one! 😰

Up to 5.1 channel configuration, situation is kinda OK, but once you go to 7.1 and up, it starts to be really messy.

There are a gazillion versions of how channel names and channel orders are handled. Why can’t our industry just agree on how 7.1.2 channel orders and names are handled?! 😠

Anyway, 40 papers and links later, I managed to make a list with channel configurations that this version will support. If you feel some channel configuration is missing, please let me know. 👍

In this version, you will have 49 new channel configuration options.

The meter will now support these channel combinations: 1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10,11,12,13,14,15,16, and 24 channel audio.


https://youlean-129cf.kxcdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/Recording-2023-11-22-134019.mp4  

 

What’s really cool is that plugins will now have an auto channel configuration selection feature. That means that the plugin will detect the bus channel configuration and it will automatically select the correct one.

This works in most major DAWs that people usually use to work with multichannel audio like Nuendo, Pro Tools, Logic Pro X, etc. If this is not supported by DAW, the plugin will use the stereo channel configuration by default.

BTW, all possible channel configurations should be supported in Pro Tools, Nuendo, and Logic Pro X.

Pro Tools supports up to 9.1.6

Nuendo supports up to 22.2

Logic Pro X supports up to 7.1.4

Here’s how this looks in practice:

The (A) will indicate that the channel configuration was automatically found. If you don’t see it, you will have to manually select the configuration.

This is such a time saver and helps prevent user errors such as selecting the wrong channel configuration, so I am super excited about it. 😄

Normalize will write BWF metadata

I have added an option to add BWF loudness metadata to the normalized file.

Here’s how it looks:

Multi mono normalization improvements

If you normalize multi-mono files, the normalization will produce the multi-mono files back. You can also force multi-mono output for multi-channel files.

Copy measurements summary to clipboard

Since we already have a text summary export option, I thought it would be nice if you could copy the summary of current measurements to the clipboard.

You can now do this by clicking on this button:

You will then get this copied to the clipboard:

Youlean Loudness Meter 2 – V2.5.5

14:39:54 11/22/2023

Channel Size: 2

Channel Layout:

1. L
2. R

Timecode Start: 00:00:00:00
Timecode End: 00:00:21:45

Preset Name: DEFAULT

Integrated = -14.3 LUFS
Loudness Range = 9.2 LU
Average Dynamics (PLR) = 13.5 LU
Momentary Max = -10.8 LUFS
Short Term Max = -11.3 LUFS
True Peak Max = -0.8 dBTP

Auto resizable peak meters

Believe it, or not, this was hard to implement and I wasn’t excited to work on it, but this was the top feature request from the previous beta version, so here it is. 😎

Meter bars will resize based on the channel configuration selected.

Here are a couple of examples:

You must admit, the 22.2 channel configuration does look a bit ridiculous, doesn’t it? 😂

You have the option to select automatic resizing, but you can also set the meter to have a fixed number of channels shown. This can be particularly handy if you are not sure how many inputs you have and you want to monitor all channels at once.

Here’s how you can set that up:

For example, if you set the meter to always display 10 channels, this is how it will look:

Updated window scaling

Some of you had a problem where the meter interface appeared super small, so I took a look at the code and found that some stuff can be improved there.

There was a bug that caused window scaling to reset to the minimum on macOS, which should now be fixed with this update. Also, I took the opportunity to update the Windows scaling. The meter now supports per-monitor window scaling in DAWs that support it. I’ve also added support for HiDPI for some DAWs that require the plugin to explicitly signal its HiDPI compatibility. Hopefully, plugins will now always open in HiDPI.

Here’s a look at how it appears in Bitwig with 150% Windows scaling:

It’s finally clean.

The only downside with this update is that window scaling will be reset to default, but you can always change it in the view settings:

The final BETA

I know that I am boring with these BETAs, but it was important to test these updates publicly as there were so many changes added to the meter.

I’m hoping this will be the last beta update. No more new features until I release a stable one. 😄

Please let me know what you think, and let me know how window scaling and channel configurations work for you.

Download V2.5.5 BETA

Changelog:

– Added 49 new channel configuration options
– Added a button to quickly copy current measurements summary in the clipboard
– Added a system to check if audio input is detected, and host playback is paused preventing measurements in Elapsed histogram mode
– Added ability to analyze up to 24 channel audio
– Added ability to register the PRO version from the command line tool
– Added option to always show all channels for peak meters
– Added option to force multi-mono export for normalized file
– Added option to hide full file paths in exports
– Added option to write BWF metadata to normalized files
– Drag and drop file info text will show file name only
– Fixed crash when GPU acceleration is disabled.
– Fixed message box showing the same messages concurrently
– Fixed resetting bug when rendering in SADiE
– GUI scaling was reset to a default value
– Holding CTRL + ALT on Windows, or Command + Option on macOS and dragging the resize corner will scale the meter interface
– Improved compatibility with SADiE
– Improved design for standalone app preferences
– Improved general stability
– Peak meters will now automatically resize based on the channel count.
– Plugins and standalone app will now automatically select the best audio channel preset for you (if the feature is available in the host)
– Updated GUI scaling code. Windows will now support per-monitor DPI scaling
– Using multi-mono files for normalization will now export multi-mono files instead of the single file
– You can now analyze and normalize 1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10,11,12,13,14,15,16, and 24 channel audio.

[satya]

did u copy paste the whole website

[TheSteven]

Downloads at https://youlean.co/download-youlean-loudness-meter/

[TheSteven]

3 minutes ago, satya said:

did u copy paste the whole website

I thought I could just paste in the info and then realized how much detail didn't get copied so I started pasting in images not realizing how many there were...
 

[Clint Martin]

I’ve always admired this guys dedication to loudness metering.

I had his original back from the KVR developers challenge, and have been an owner as soon as he released the commercial version. 
Highly recommended!

[ralfrobert]

Pro version is on sale at the moment.  

[telecode 101]

is the pro version worth in? its $40... i use IKM  meter and Cubase LUFS and guage loudness by that.

[Clint Martin]

2 hours ago, telecode 101 said:

is the pro version worth in? its $40... i use IKM  meter and Cubase LUFS and guage loudness by that.

I have the pro version. I’m not sure anyone needs all it offers! 
Seriously you’re okay with what you have. Youlean is probably the most in depth meter on the market.

[Marshall]

The pro version is on sale at the moment for $29 - I’ve had the free version for years and it’s all I need to be honest. The other useful free resource is The loudness penalty - I use it all the time 

[John Maar]

10 hours ago, Marshall said:

The pro version is on sale at the moment for $29 - I’ve had the free version for years and it’s all I need to be honest. The other useful free resource is The loudness penalty - I use it all the time 

Agree. My needs are pretty simple and the free version covers all of those bases. But after several years of using the free version, I bought the Pro version just to support the dev. It sat on v2.4.3 for a long time, and I started t wonder if it had run its course, but the dev is still clearly working on it, so I remain happy that I went Pro (with the plugin, not myself 😉). The dev has to pay rent and put food on the table like the rest of us.

Edited November 26, 2023 by John Maar

[TheSteven]

If you feel that the plugin is lacking a feature or something could be better implemented drop him a line.
The dev actively supports the plugin and responds to bug reports and general feedback.

[MusicMan]

7 hours ago, John Maar said:

Agree. My needs are pretty simple and the free version covers all of those bases. But after several years of using the free version, I bought the Pro version just to support the dev. It sat on v2.4.3 for a long time, and I started t wonder if it had run its course, but the dev is still clearly working on it, so I remain happy that I went Pro (with the plugin, not myself 😉). The dev has to pay rent and put food on the table like the rest of us.

I think that's the only reason I'd consider buying it too. The free version is really decent and very generous, so it would be good to support his development of it. Apart from that, I already have a bunch of metering options as it is. His price is reasonable as well. Love developers like that. That seems like a crazy about of updates coming also!

Edited November 26, 2023 by MusicMan