APU Loudness Meter

User Manual
v1.2.2
 Table of Contents
Table of Contents 2
1. Introduction 3
2. Parameters 3
2.1. Meters 3
2.1.1. Presets 4
2.1.2. Loudness type 4
2.1.3. Meter type 4
2.1.4. Visualization 5
2.1.5. Target range 5
2.1.6. Target range presets 5
2.2. Visualization 6
2.2.1. Raster type 6
2.2.2. Super-sampling mode 6
2.2.3. Delta field type 6
2.2.4. Bucket count 6
2.2.5. Histogram hold 7
2.2.6. Delta X/Y/T 7
2.2.7. Delta field 7
2.2.8. History length 7
2.3. Theme 8
2.3.1. Theme presets 8
2.3.2. Source color 9
2.3.3. Normal color 9
2.3.4. Target color 9
2.3.5. Output color 9
2.4. Settings 9
2.4.1. Load preset visuals 10
2.4.2. Prefer dark themes 10
2.4.3. Blocksize 10
2.4.4. Delay compensation 10
2.5. About 10
3. Glossary 10
3.1. Range sliders 10
3.2. History 10
3.3. Histogram 11
3.4. Source 11
3.5. Target 11
3.6. Output 11
4. Credits 11
1. Introduction
APU Loudness Meter is a modern loudness analysis plug-in released by APU Software, LLC. This plug-in is designed to provide both real-time
lmonitoring and full histogram analysis of your audio’s loudness over time. Here you can read about the different features and parameters
available with the meter.

2. Parameters
This software supports a variety of parameters, most of which can be adjusted in real-time. This section provides an overview of each
parameter, with each subsection detailing the parameters for the associated tab in the user interface. From within the user interface, you can
also hover the mouse over a slider, combo-box, or checkbox to see a popup description of the parameter.

2.1. Meters

The meters tab contains configuration, visualization, and statistics for loudness analysis. This section details each of the individual
parameters and components.
2.1.1. Presets

The meter’s presets combo-box contains a collection of basic presets.

You can configure whether or not to load preset visuals when switching between presets, and you can switch between loading dark or
light themes through the prefer dark themes parameter.

Currently, the following presets are available (“Full Reset” restores all default parameter values):

• Full Reset
• Live Monitoring - APU Default
• Live Monitoring - Apple
• Live Monitoring - Deezer
• Live Monitoring - Spotify/Tidal/YouTube
• Live Monitoring - Spotify Loud
• Full Histogram - APU Default
• Full Histogram - Apple
• Full Histogram - Deezer
• Full Histogram - Spotify/Tidal/YouTube
• Full Histogram - Spotify Loud

2.1.2. Loudness type

The loudness type combo-box allows you to configure which type of loudness measurement is used by the meter. Each loudness type
supports dual mono or stereo processing. Dual mono treats each channel independently, while stereo averages the loudness values between
channels.

Two of the supported loudness types use a popular modern measurement standard for perceived loudness called LUFS. These loudness
types are momentary (400ms window) and short-term (3s window).

There are also two peak loudness types (True Peak and Peak) as well as traditional RMS (300ms window). True Peak is an improvement on
peak which takes into consideration waveform behavior between samples, which allows it to properly respond to inter-sample peaks. Peak
mode loudness types use a blocksize window.

2.1.3. Meter type

The meter type combo-box allows you to configure which type of metering measurement is displayed by the visualizer. These measurements
are displayed using the current output color.

Integrated meter type takes into consideration the full history of audio since last reset, and is implemented according to the LUFS
specification.

History average, history peak, and history min are based on the history buffer, whose length is configurable from the visualization tab. This
allows you to continuously analyze any length of time supported by the history length parameter.

Global average, global peak, and global min analyze all loudness measurements since the last reset.
2.1.4. Visualization

The visualization component displays a continuously evolving real-time view of your source and output loudness over time. There are
currently two main types of visualizations: history and histogram. History displays a rolling window of the most recent history of loudness
samples. Histogram divides this history up into buckets and displays the relative proportion of each bucket in real-time.

You can hover the mouse over a bucket to see the loudness range the bucket corresponds to.

The visualization component also displays the current target range, allowing you to precisely target this range based on the dynamics of the
audio. Detailed visualization settings can be adjusted from the visualization tab, with some features also available by right clicking on the
visualization component.

You can double-click the visualization component to zoom in and hide everything else.

2.1.5. Target range

The target range parameter allows you to specify a min and max loudness value for the target range, displayed in the visualization
component as an overlay.

See range sliders for information about range sliders in general.

2.1.6. Target range presets

Target range presets are provided for convenience as an example set of industry related loudness ranges. The average loudness and
loudness range are provided in the preset names in parenthesis. These values were transcribed from the RTW delivery standards page. Note
that some presets only include the average loudness, not a range. In those cases, a default range will be set.

Currently, the following target range presets are available:

• APU Default (-20/10)

• Netflix Online Streaming (-27/2)
• US TV ATSC A/85 Broadcast (-24/2)
• EU R128 Broadcast (-23/.5)
• AES Streaming (-18/2)
• Apple (-16)
• Deezer (-15)
• Spotify/Tidal/YouTube (-14)
• Spotify Loud (-11)
2.2. Visualization

The visualization tab contains parameters related to real-time configuration of the meter’s visualizations. This section describes these
various settings.

2.2.1. Raster type

The raster type parameter allows you to specify the type of raster visualization. You can select between history and histogram views, with
either loudness or delta values. Loudness values match the currently selected loudness type while delta values take the difference between
target and output (meter) loudness.

2.2.2. Super-sampling mode

The super-sampling mode parameter determines the amount of super-sampling to use when rendering visualizations. The default render
dimensions match the default plug-in window size. You can enable super-sampling to multiply this resolution by up to 4x.

2.2.3. Delta field type

The delta field type parameter allows you to specify the type of delta field used by the visualization.

The delta field is basically a mapping from each source pixel on the screen to a destination pixel. Pixel shaders are used to iteratively apply
this delta field using interpolation and some light dithering effects. This feature is purely for aesthetic purposes and has no effect on the
audio.

Raster type effects are drawn into the delta field on each frame.

2.2.4. Bucket count

The bucket count parameter determines how many buckets to display horizontally in the visualization window. Individual buckets will appear
merged at higher bucket counts, giving the visualization a continuous shape.
2.2.5. Histogram hold

The histogram hold parameter enables or disables “hold” mode for the histogram raster types. While “hold” mode is enabled, the histogram
will continuously accumulate measurements indefinitely. This can be used to capture a full duration view of your source audio. This allows
you to easily adjust ranges to target to a specific region of the full dynamic range.

The histogram will still continuously accumulate measurements while “hold” mode is disabled, but for each new measurement the oldest
measurement in history is replaced. This results in a continuously evolving histogram of duration specified by the history length parameter.

2.2.6. Delta X/Y/T

The delta X/Y/T parameters are provided to the visualization delta field in order to manipulate the delta field in real-time. The exact behavior
of each parameter depends on the active delta field type.

2.2.7. Delta field

The delta field parameter allows you to enable or disable the visualization delta field.

The delta field is basically a mapping from each source pixel on the screen to a destination pixel. Pixel shaders are used to iteratively apply
this delta field using interpolation and some light dithering effects. This feature is purely for aesthetic purposes and has no effect on the
audio.

Raster type effects are drawn into the delta field on each frame.

2.2.8. History length

The history length parameter allows you to change the duration of visualization history. This history is a rolling-window where each new
loudness sample pushes out the oldest sample, maintaining a continuous history length with the duration you’ve configured here. Note that
this setting applies both to history and histogram raster types.

During histogram hold the histogram has an effectively infinite history length.
2.3. Theme

The theme tab contains parameters related to color themes. Here you can select between the bank of color theme presets, or configure the
individual colors yourself.

2.3.1. Theme presets

The theme presets combo-box allows you to switch between a variety of theme presets. Each theme has a light and dark variation. Switching
between theme presets will load values into source color, normal color, target color and output color.

Currently, the following themes are available:

• Night Sea (dark)

• Night Sea (light)
• Midnight (dark)
• Midnight (light)
• Cozy (dark)
• Cozy (light)
• Redwood (dark)
• Redwood (light)
• Ruins (dark)
• Ruins (light)
• Purple Velvet (dark)
• Purple Velvet (light)
• Peas (dark)
• Peas (light)
• Jungle (dark)
• Jungle (light)
• YlOrBr (dark)
• YlOrBr (light)
2.3.2. Source color

The source color parameters control the red, green, and blue components of the source color.

The source color is used in a variety of contexts, from interactive widgets to visualization elements. This color signifies that an element
relates to the source signal in some way. This color is expected to contrast against the normal color to some extent.

2.3.3. Normal color

The normal color parameters control the red, green, and blue components of the “normal” color.

The normal color is used in a variety of contexts, from interactive widgets to visualization elements. This color signifies that an element is
essentially neutral, not related to source, target or output signal. This color is expected to contrast against the source color, target color, and
output color to some degree.

2.3.4. Target color

The target color parameters control the red, green, and blue components of the target color.

The target color is used in a variety of contexts, from interactive widgets to visualization elements. This color signifies that an element relates
to the target signal in some way. This color is expected to contrast against the normal color to some extent.

2.3.5. Output color

The output color parameters control the red, green, and blue components of the output color.

The output color is used in a variety of contexts, from interactive widgets to visualization elements. This color signifies that an element
relates to the output signal in some way. This color is expected to contrast against the normal color to some extent.

2.4. Settings

The settings tab contains various additional parameters. These parameters are broken down between General and Latency parameters.
Since Latency parameters impact delay compensation, changes to these parameters are deferred until you click the Apply button. It is
generally not advisable to automate the parameters in the Latency section.
2.4.1. Load preset visuals

The load preset visuals option allows you to enable/disable the loading of visualization and theme settings when loading presets. All other
settings will still be loaded; this setting only has an impact on the visual appearance of the plug-in and does not impact the audio.

2.4.2. Prefer dark themes

The prefer dark themes option causes presets to load the dark version of their associated color theme. Note that this feature is only
applicable if load preset visuals is enabled.

2.4.3. Blocksize

The block size parameter determines the time resolution of the meter’s loudness measurements. Generally speaking, lower block sizes will
give more accurate results. However, lower block sizes also require more CPU resources, so it is necessary to find a balance. You can squeeze
improved quality and/or performance out of the meter by tuning this setting based on your available CPU resources.

BPM units for block size are evaluated once at the time you press Apply.

2.4.4. Delay compensation

The delay compensation parameter determines whether or not the plug-in will report latency to the host. Delay compensation is used by
hosts to keep audio synchronized across channels.

The delay compensation option is not available (nor applicable) to the standalone application.

2.5. About
The about tab contains basic information about the plug-in.

3. Glossary
This section defines some of the concepts used within the software.

3.1. Range sliders

Range sliders are used throughout the plug-in in order to specify the upper and lower boundaries of a range. These ranges can be controlled
via mouse in various ways.

• Click and drag the lower thumb to adjust the minimum value.
• Click and drag the upper thumb to adjust the maximum value.
• Click and drag the region between slider thumbs to move both values. This allows you to adjust the average volume without
expanding/contracting the dynamic range.
• Ctrl + click and drag the region between slider thumbs to expand/contract range without changing the average (center) value. Drag the
mouse up and down, left and right are ignored.
• Shift + click and drag the region between slider thumbs to combine both. Drag the mouse up and down to expand/contract range. Drag
the mouse left and right to move both values.

3.2. History
One of the primary views into your audio that this software provides is real-time history. The history view maintains a recent history of
loudness measurements, continuously displaying them in FIFO order. This view helps you understand how the signal is changing over time, in
real-time. History length and bucket count can be configured dynamically without forcing the history to reset.
3.3. Histogram
One of the primary views into your audio that this software provides is a real-time histogram. Histograms in general provide a quick and
intuitive way to understand the relative frequency of different measurements. This is very useful when judging the overall dynamic range of
the audio. The histogram provided by this software is capable of changing history length, bucket count and size continuously.

3.4. Source
The term “source” is used throughout the plug-in to identify the plug-in’s input source signal. This signal is represented in the user interface by
the current theme’s source color.

3.5. Target
The term “target” is used throughout the plug-in to identify the configured target range loudness. This signal is represented in the user
interface by the current theme’s target color.

3.6. Output
The term “output” is used throughout the plug-in to identify the meter type signal. This signal is represented in the user interface by the
current theme’s output color.

4. Credits
This software was developed by APU Software, LLC and is available as VST (windows x64/x86, macOS universal), Audio Unit (macOS
universal), or Standalone Application. The software libraries below are utilized for portions of the software:

• JUCE (cross-platform audio and user interface framework)

• Boost (header-only algorithms)
• libebur128 (loudness measurements)

Demo video song credits:

• Annasara - A Lifetime Rolls By, licensed via Audiio.