Pro Tools Compatible Loudness Meters - Which Are The Most Popular? We Have The Answers
Back in 2017 we asked Which Loudness Meter Plug-in Do You Use In Pro Tools? and a couple of weeks ago we repeated the question and poll. In this article we analyse whether loudness meter popularity and usage has changed during the last 2 years.
The Results
To create a readable chart we have split the data across two charts. If you want to access the detailed data for a particular loudness meter then hover over a pair of bars and a floating window will pop up with the data for that loudness meter…
Notes
The vertical scale is different between the two charts.
In the 2017 poll, we did not include the Youlean Loudness Meter and Signum Audio BUTE Loudness Analyser meters.
In the 2019 poll, we did not include an ‘Other’ category.
What Has Changed In 2 Years
iZotope Insight, Waves WLM Plus, And Nugen Audio VisLM2
Although the top 3 haven’t changed you can see that the Waves WLM Plus and Nugen Audio VisLM2 have increased and the iZotope Insight has dropped so that all 3 are pretty similar with Insight just retaining the top slot. In 2017 it was suggested that Insight was in the top slot because it came bundled with iZotope products...
“Insight is free with a bunch of iZotope’s other very useful products. At this point, I don't know of a single facility in Hollywood that doesn't own a version of RX.”
and…
“Yeah, Insight is currently my option too for that reason, it came bundled with my RX 5 license.”
But as another community member pointed out…
“As of RX6, Insight is only included in the Post Production Suite 2 not RX6 Advanced.”
This might go some way to explain why Insight is no longer the runaway winner in 2019.
It may well be that the increase in take-up of Nugen Audio’s VisLM2 is due in part to the Netflix effect, combined with the news that Dolby quietly discontinued their Media Meter 2 loudness measurement software in August 2018.
Nugen Audio was very quick to insert the Dolby Dialog Intelligence Algorithm into their VisLM2 loudness meter and then to include a Netflix spec preset. They have since been followed by Signum Audio and iZotope.
Waves WLM Plus continues to be very popular and we suspect that this may be due to the price sweet spot, overriding the lack of a histogram.
The usage of the Avid Pro Limiter, which although primarily a true peak limiter also includes an R128 loudness meter, has doubled in the last 2 years, may show an increase in ‘multi-purpose’ tools, which would include the Waves WLM Plus that is a loudness meter, which also includes a true peak limiter.
Dolby Media Meter
Dolby quietly discontinuing their Media Meter in August 2018 is probably the main reason for the significant drop in the usage of the Dolby Media Meter.