Old 12-31-2013, 09:33 AM   #321
bluzkat
Human being with feelings
 
bluzkat's Avatar
 
Join Date: Jun 2007
Location: Northern Michigan
Posts: 6,919
Default

Thank you... very much!!

Happy New Year.


__________________
Peace...
bluzkat
bluzkat is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 01-04-2014, 04:48 AM   #322
rstockm
Human being with feelings
 
rstockm's Avatar
 
Join Date: May 2012
Location: Berlin, Germany
Posts: 171
Default

Tank you Lerian for the update - and for the donate-button. One question though: I liked the three-colored VU meter (yellow, orange, red) - is there a way to get this back? Now it seems all-yellow.
rstockm is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 01-05-2014, 01:47 PM   #323
lerian
Human being with feelings
 
Join Date: Oct 2011
Posts: 442
Default

Thank you all for your thoughts, I really appreciate them.

Quote:
Originally Posted by rstockm View Post
Tank you Lerian for the update - and for the donate-button. One question though: I liked the three-colored VU meter (yellow, orange, red) - is there a way to get this back? Now it seems all-yellow.
Thank you Ralf for your donation I also liked those meters but I let them aside for a while because most of the users prefer the solid ones. Anyway, as I promised, I'm working on different meters to include in the final/stash version, and I will post the green/yellow ones first as soon as I finish them. Right now I'm working to fix the horizontal scaling issue which made them look skewed on larger meters (big meters and master when RMS is off)



LE: did anyone used pink in meters? I'm trying to tell Reaper what to scale and what not in meters but it doesn't seem to work.


Last edited by lerian; 01-05-2014 at 03:05 PM.
lerian is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 01-05-2014, 03:36 PM   #324
pcmusicpro
Human being with feelings
 
pcmusicpro's Avatar
 
Join Date: Jul 2010
Location: Cali, Colombia.
Posts: 630
Default

I´d like to change the color of the solid meters with the Theme Editor. How can I do this? I tryied but nothing happens.

Thanks.
pcmusicpro is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 01-06-2014, 12:17 AM   #325
rstockm
Human being with feelings
 
rstockm's Avatar
 
Join Date: May 2012
Location: Berlin, Germany
Posts: 171
Default

Solid is fine - but three colors would make sense nevertheless? So I vote for solid AND color separation at the same time.
rstockm is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 01-06-2014, 11:12 AM   #326
Swamp Ape
Human being with feelings
 
Swamp Ape's Avatar
 
Join Date: Mar 2012
Location: Asheville NC
Posts: 1,335
Default

Quote:
Originally Posted by pcmusicpro View Post
I´d like to change the color of the solid meters with the Theme Editor. How can I do this? I tryied but nothing happens.

Thanks.
You have to delete the .png files that correspond with the meters first, I believe.
Swamp Ape is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 01-06-2014, 05:35 PM   #327
rstockm
Human being with feelings
 
rstockm's Avatar
 
Join Date: May 2012
Location: Berlin, Germany
Posts: 171
Default

Quote:
Originally Posted by Swamp Ape View Post
You have to delete the .png files that correspond with the meters first, I believe.
Hm, I did that - to no effect...
rstockm is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 01-06-2014, 11:23 PM   #328
lerian
Human being with feelings
 
Join Date: Oct 2011
Posts: 442
Default

Quote:
Originally Posted by pcmusicpro View Post
I´d like to change the color of the solid meters with the Theme Editor. How can I do this? I tryied but nothing happens.

Thanks.
i've spotted a topic about that, it's a hack that works on meters wider than 13px http://forum.cockos.com/showthread.php?t=130398
lerian is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 01-08-2014, 03:54 PM   #329
lerian
Human being with feelings
 
Join Date: Oct 2011
Posts: 442
Default

Who wants 3 color meters? Get them here http://bit.ly/AD_Meters_G3c

To install, rename the .ReaperThemeZip to .zip, extract, and copy the folders over the old ones. It's the same directory structure from the latest betas.

I you use the default meter settings (-60 to +6 db) yellow starts at -18db and orange at -3db.

Enjoy

lerian is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 01-08-2014, 05:41 PM   #330
rstockm
Human being with feelings
 
rstockm's Avatar
 
Join Date: May 2012
Location: Berlin, Germany
Posts: 171
Default

\o/

(I'll tweak the images a bit - I prefer Yellow-Orange-Red for the recording state, and maybe I'll expand the red to -6 DB (my recording target)
rstockm is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 01-09-2014, 11:12 AM   #331
lerian
Human being with feelings
 
Join Date: Oct 2011
Posts: 442
Default

Quote:
Originally Posted by rstockm View Post
\o/

(I'll tweak the images a bit - I prefer Yellow-Orange-Red for the recording state, and maybe I'll expand the red to -6 DB (my recording target)
Can you please explain to me what recording target means and when/why it applies? I'm trying to understand how people use the meters.
lerian is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 01-09-2014, 11:43 AM   #332
Swamp Ape
Human being with feelings
 
Swamp Ape's Avatar
 
Join Date: Mar 2012
Location: Asheville NC
Posts: 1,335
Default

I think he probably just means that -6 db is about where he aims to have tracks peaking.
Swamp Ape is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 01-09-2014, 07:01 PM   #333
lerian
Human being with feelings
 
Join Date: Oct 2011
Posts: 442
Default

Quote:
Originally Posted by Swamp Ape View Post
I think he probably just means that -6 db is about where he aims to have tracks peaking.
I kinda understood that, but why would anyone stop at -6db when clipping starts at 0? Isn't the louder the more input signal and the more "fullness" to the sound?
lerian is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 01-09-2014, 09:57 PM   #334
rstockm
Human being with feelings
 
rstockm's Avatar
 
Join Date: May 2012
Location: Berlin, Germany
Posts: 171
Default

Quote:
Originally Posted by lerian View Post
I kinda understood that, but why would anyone stop at -6db when clipping starts at 0? Isn't the louder the more input signal and the more "fullness" to the sound?
I and my peers use Reaper (and thus your theme) for Podcasting. See http://die-sondersendung.de for an example or my youtube channel (german) for Reaper-Podcast-Foo https://www.youtube.com/playlist?lis...60uSK26JNxbFzG (I mention this because the next episode will cover how to install Default Analog :-))

The dynamic range of the human voice is a bit tricky. If we speak with our casual "radio voice" we are quite some db under an outburst of laughter or an fierce argument (and both occur). One way to deal with it it to set up an expensive hardware compression/limiter effect-chain. But most of the podcasters use just a mic and do the processing post-recording. Thus, you need some serious headroom for recording, and -6db is something like the "gold standard" in podcasting.
rstockm is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 01-10-2014, 09:50 PM   #335
UncleAge
Human being with feelings
 
Join Date: Jan 2007
Location: Phoenix, AZ
Posts: 209
Default Thank You

Just wanted to drop a quick note to say 'Thank You Lerian!'

This theme is really nice to work with. Your efforts are appreciated.
UncleAge is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 01-11-2014, 06:01 PM   #336
richie43
Human being with feelings
 
Join Date: Dec 2009
Location: Minnesota
Posts: 9,090
Default

Quote:
Originally Posted by lerian View Post
I kinda understood that, but why would anyone stop at -6db when clipping starts at 0? Isn't the louder the more input signal and the more "fullness" to the sound?
The only reason a louder input will sound fuller is either you are being fooled by the louder sounds, or the device inputted into (preamp, for example) sounds better driven harder. But digital audio is NOT like recording to tape, you don't get "better saturation" with louder inputs to the DAW. If things sound a little low while tracking, turn up your headphones or monitors.
__________________
The Sounds of the Hear and Now.
richie43 is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 01-11-2014, 06:57 PM   #337
Swamp Ape
Human being with feelings
 
Swamp Ape's Avatar
 
Join Date: Mar 2012
Location: Asheville NC
Posts: 1,335
Default

Yeah, I think -6 db on average while allowing peaks to hit just below zero is a pretty good "loud" range. Not too squished by compression, not clipping the whole time, not too quiet...
Swamp Ape is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 01-12-2014, 05:13 AM   #338
lerian
Human being with feelings
 
Join Date: Oct 2011
Posts: 442
Default

Quote:
Originally Posted by richie43 View Post
The only reason a louder input will sound fuller is either you are being fooled by the louder sounds, or the device inputted into (preamp, for example) sounds better driven harder. But digital audio is NOT like recording to tape, you don't get "better saturation" with louder inputs to the DAW. If things sound a little low while tracking, turn up your headphones or monitors.
good to know, thanks!

Quote:
Originally Posted by rstockm View Post
I and my peers use Reaper (and thus your theme) for Podcasting. See http://die-sondersendung.de for an example or my youtube channel (german) for Reaper-Podcast-Foo https://www.youtube.com/playlist?lis...60uSK26JNxbFzG (I mention this because the next episode will cover how to install Default Analog :-))

The dynamic range of the human voice is a bit tricky. If we speak with our casual "radio voice" we are quite some db under an outburst of laughter or an fierce argument (and both occur). One way to deal with it it to set up an expensive hardware compression/limiter effect-chain. But most of the podcasters use just a mic and do the processing post-recording. Thus, you need some serious headroom for recording, and -6db is something like the "gold standard" in podcasting.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Swamp Ape View Post
Yeah, I think -6 db on average while allowing peaks to hit just below zero is a pretty good "loud" range. Not too squished by compression, not clipping the whole time, not too quiet...
cool then, I will remake the 3 color meters with -18 and -6 db margins.
lerian is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 01-12-2014, 04:31 PM   #339
pcmusicpro
Human being with feelings
 
pcmusicpro's Avatar
 
Join Date: Jul 2010
Location: Cali, Colombia.
Posts: 630
Default

One thing that you should not forget is that the recordings should be made at the nominal level of your AD converter, that´s where the fabricant calibrated his converter to have the best sound.

The calibration is where the peak is in dBFS when the interface receives a +4dBU line level signal.

Understanding that in digital 0dBFS is the highest level, the nominal level is around -12 for interfases like Focusrite Saphire Pro 40, -16 for MOTU interfases, and betwen -20 to -22 for interfases and converters like UA Apollo, Lynx Aurora and Apogee converters.

So it´s very usefull to have a change of color in the -16 or -18 area because that is where you want your RMS level when recording with peaks up to -6, so a change of color at -6 is desirable.

A meter color like this would be great:

Green up to -16dBFS (in ProTools green goes to -12)
Yellow between -16 to -6dBFS
Orange between -6 to 0dBFS
Peaks Above 0dBFS should allways be red color.

This way the recordings in the yellow area are ok or in the best level, orange is the headroom you have for peaks.

Hope this helps and I´ll be looking for those new meters to this great theme.
pcmusicpro is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 01-12-2014, 05:18 PM   #340
rstockm
Human being with feelings
 
rstockm's Avatar
 
Join Date: May 2012
Location: Berlin, Germany
Posts: 171
Default

Quote:
Originally Posted by pcmusicpro View Post
Green up to -16dBFS (in ProTools green goes to -12)
Yellow between -16 to -6dBFS
Orange between -6 to 0dBFS
Peaks Above 0dBFS should allways be red color.
This way the recordings in the yellow area are ok or in the best level, orange is the headroom you have for peaks.
I second: that would be perfect. I recommend the colors Green/Yellow/Orange in this order for the recording-mode, too - now the orange/yellow/orange/Red is quite confusing. Maybe the play-state could switch to blue/yellow/orange. yellow/orange should be the same for both recording and playing.
rstockm is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 01-12-2014, 05:25 PM   #341
rstockm
Human being with feelings
 
rstockm's Avatar
 
Join Date: May 2012
Location: Berlin, Germany
Posts: 171
Default

btw: I feature your theme (and the donation button) in the latest episode of my "reaper for podcasters" Screencast: http://ultraschall.wikigeeks.de/2014...casting-tunen/ (German)
rstockm is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 01-12-2014, 09:09 PM   #342
cincikat69
Human being with feelings
 
cincikat69's Avatar
 
Join Date: Apr 2012
Location: Cincinnati area...
Posts: 642
Default

I have been making custom multi-color meters set up this way in my theme designs for over a year...
cincikat69 is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 01-12-2014, 09:41 PM   #343
esosotericmetal
Human being with feelings
 
esosotericmetal's Avatar
 
Join Date: Nov 2012
Posts: 372
Default

Quote:
Originally Posted by pcmusicpro View Post
One thing that you should not forget is that the recordings should be made at the nominal level of your AD converter, that´s where the fabricant calibrated his converter to have the best sound.

The calibration is where the peak is in dBFS when the interface receives a +4dBU line level signal.

Understanding that in digital 0dBFS is the highest level, the nominal level is around -12 for interfases like Focusrite Saphire Pro 40, -16 for MOTU interfases, and betwen -20 to -22 for interfases and converters like UA Apollo, Lynx Aurora and Apogee converters.

So it´s very usefull to have a change of color in the -16 or -18 area because that is where you want your RMS level when recording with peaks up to -6, so a change of color at -6 is desirable.

A meter color like this would be great:

Green up to -16dBFS (in ProTools green goes to -12)
Yellow between -16 to -6dBFS
Orange between -6 to 0dBFS
Peaks Above 0dBFS should allways be red color.

This way the recordings in the yellow area are ok or in the best level, orange is the headroom you have for peaks.

Hope this helps and I´ll be looking for those new meters to this great theme.
I second this. I use a UA Apollo and this is essentially the same way I use my meters when tracking. I would also vote for solid meters as I don't see any advantage to them. They don't make it any easier to monitor levels and in the current versions of this theme they look pixelated, which bothers me a little. Not a huge deal, but I don't think it looks good with this theme even if they weren't pixelated.
esosotericmetal is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 01-21-2014, 04:26 PM   #344
Frantick
Human being with feelings
 
Join Date: Aug 2012
Posts: 28
Default

Accidentally I enter here and it's nice to see that lerian took similar approach to next rev. of his skin that I made when I put my fingers on ver 1.8
Frantick is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 01-22-2014, 03:14 AM   #345
w1lh
Human being with feelings
 
Join Date: Dec 2012
Posts: 20
Default

This is seriously the best theme I've seen in any software. Thank you! Green-Yellow-Orange coloring isn't necessary either because they won't replace inevitable loudness metering anyway.
w1lh is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 01-23-2014, 01:29 AM   #346
lxm
Human being with feelings
 
lxm's Avatar
 
Join Date: Mar 2010
Posts: 2,638
Default

Just wanted to once again say that this theme is amazing! Tracking is especially awesome with the GIANT meters. Is there a way to get the edit window to a darker tint ALA Imperial Dark?
lxm is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 01-23-2014, 03:07 AM   #347
bluzkat
Human being with feelings
 
bluzkat's Avatar
 
Join Date: Jun 2007
Location: Northern Michigan
Posts: 6,919
Default

Quote:
Originally Posted by lxm View Post
Is there a way to get the edit window to a darker tint ALA Imperial Dark?
I would prefer it to be darker also.


__________________
Peace...
bluzkat
bluzkat is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 01-27-2014, 09:50 PM   #348
Darmerpie
Human being with feelings
 
Join Date: Jul 2009
Posts: 13
Default

Beautiful theme; liked it since the beginning. Many changes since...
My DAW is down-awaiting new parts. What do you mean by 'flatter interface'?
Darmerpie is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 01-30-2014, 11:26 AM   #349
lerian
Human being with feelings
 
Join Date: Oct 2011
Posts: 442
Default

Quote:
Originally Posted by Darmerpie View Post
Beautiful theme; liked it since the beginning. Many changes since...
My DAW is down-awaiting new parts. What do you mean by 'flatter interface'?
I mean like that - see the difference between the tracks mcp (flatter) and the master mcp.



Quote:
Originally Posted by bluzkat View Post
I would prefer it to be darker also.



I'm not sure what do you mean by "edit window". Can you provide a screenshot?


Quote:
Originally Posted by rstockm View Post
btw: I feature your theme (and the donation button) in the latest episode of my "reaper for podcasters" Screencast: http://ultraschall.wikigeeks.de/2014...casting-tunen/ (German)
Thanks, Ralf.


Quote:
Originally Posted by esosotericmetal View Post

Quote:
Originally Posted by pcmusicpro

Green up to -16dBFS (in ProTools green goes to -12)
Yellow between -16 to -6dBFS
Orange between -6 to 0dBFS
Peaks Above 0dBFS should allways be red color.
I second this.
I'm not sure where exactly (as in pixels) is -6dbfs since the scale is using -18dbfs I used that as a reference for the green. Also I modified the orange part to start on -6dbfs. I'll upload a new beta (rc1 as i named it) with those 3-color meters.

Speaking of meters, I also have in mind a software meter generator - kind of like the one embeded in reaper but with more options: multiple colors with custom margins (some want green up to 16dbfs, some need 12), custom bg color, gradients, maybe complementary color shades. What do you think? It will sure be awesome to just make the reaper generate them like that.

Last edited by lerian; 01-31-2014 at 09:55 PM.
lerian is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 01-30-2014, 12:07 PM   #350
lxm
Human being with feelings
 
lxm's Avatar
 
Join Date: Mar 2010
Posts: 2,638
Default

This is the edit window:



If you can check out:

http://forum.cockos.com/showthread.p...=imperial+dark

You can see an example of a darker edit window in a theme. Cheers
lxm is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 01-30-2014, 12:17 PM   #351
lerian
Human being with feelings
 
Join Date: Oct 2011
Posts: 442
Default

Quote:
Originally Posted by lxm View Post
This is the edit window:



If you can check out:

http://forum.cockos.com/showthread.p...=imperial+dark

You can see an example of a darker edit window in a theme. Cheers
I thought so, but in the latest betas it IS darker than Imperial's. Hmm.. maybe they didn't checked the betas. Maybe i should update the first post with the links. Yeah, maybe that's it.
lerian is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 01-30-2014, 12:25 PM   #352
Swamp Ape
Human being with feelings
 
Swamp Ape's Avatar
 
Join Date: Mar 2012
Location: Asheville NC
Posts: 1,335
Default

Quote:
Originally Posted by lerian View Post
Speaking of meters, I also have in mind a software meter generator - kind of like the one embeded in reaper but with more options: multiple colors with custom margins (some want green up to 16dbfs, some need 12), custom bg color, gradients, maybe complementary color shades. What do you think? It will sure be awesome to just make the reaper generate them like that.
This would be AWESOME.
Swamp Ape is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 01-30-2014, 08:55 PM   #353
lxm
Human being with feelings
 
lxm's Avatar
 
Join Date: Mar 2010
Posts: 2,638
Default

Quote:
Originally Posted by lerian View Post
I thought so, but in the latest betas it IS darker than Imperial's. Hmm.. maybe they didn't checked the betas. Maybe i should update the first post with the links. Yeah, maybe that's it.
Sweet sweet darkness! Thanks
lxm is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 02-02-2014, 04:00 AM   #354
jimmey
Human being with feelings
 
Join Date: Jan 2014
Posts: 248
Default

Quote:
Originally Posted by lerian View Post
Do you mind sharing this meter_strip_v.png?
jimmey is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 02-02-2014, 08:17 AM   #355
ambient
Human being with feelings
 
Join Date: May 2012
Location: Japan
Posts: 259
Default

Quote:
Originally Posted by lerian View Post
Who wants 3 color meters? Get them here http://bit.ly/AD_Meters_G3c

To install, rename the .ReaperThemeZip to .zip, extract, and copy the folders over the old ones. It's the same directory structure from the latest betas.

I you use the default meter settings (-60 to +6 db) yellow starts at -18db and orange at -3db.

Enjoy

I'm pretty sure I followed these instructions properly, but I'm still stuck with the original meters.
ambient is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 02-02-2014, 10:43 AM   #356
lerian
Human being with feelings
 
Join Date: Oct 2011
Posts: 442
Default

Quote:
Originally Posted by jimmey View Post
Do you mind sharing this meter_strip_v.png?
here you go, straight lines and rounded corners
Attached Images
File Type: png meter_strip_v.png (2.2 KB, 263 views)
File Type: png meter_strip_v_corners.png (3.9 KB, 240 views)
lerian is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 02-02-2014, 10:49 AM   #357
lerian
Human being with feelings
 
Join Date: Oct 2011
Posts: 442
Default

Quote:
Originally Posted by ambient View Post
I'm pretty sure I followed these instructions properly, but I'm still stuck with the original meters.
you have to go to the layout folder and replace meter_strip_v.png. I made them separately for each layout to match the different colors in meter_bg_mcp.png (each layout having a different shade of black).
lerian is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 02-02-2014, 11:26 AM   #358
jimmey
Human being with feelings
 
Join Date: Jan 2014
Posts: 248
Default

Thanks for the meters!
jimmey is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 02-04-2014, 09:21 AM   #359
ambient
Human being with feelings
 
Join Date: May 2012
Location: Japan
Posts: 259
Default

Quote:
Originally Posted by lerian View Post
you have to go to the layout folder and replace meter_strip_v.png. I made them separately for each layout to match the different colors in meter_bg_mcp.png (each layout having a different shade of black).
Got it, thanks!

I think I must have hit a wrong button when I copied the files over the first time.

Started from scratch, now all is well.
ambient is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 02-21-2014, 11:38 AM   #360
lerian
Human being with feelings
 
Join Date: Oct 2011
Posts: 442
Default

Updated to v2.0 RC (use File > Download or Ctrl-S to get the whole archive): http://bit.ly/AD_2_rc

This is a major update, you should get it. If all looks and works right, I will put it on stash in the next days.


Last edited by lerian; 02-21-2014 at 03:28 PM.
lerian is offline   Reply With Quote
Reply

Thread Tools
Display Modes

Posting Rules
You may not post new threads
You may not post replies
You may not post attachments
You may not edit your posts

BB code is On
Smilies are On
[IMG] code is On
HTML code is Off

Forum Jump


All times are GMT -7. The time now is 02:33 PM.


Powered by vBulletin® Version 3.8.11
Copyright ©2000 - 2024, vBulletin Solutions Inc.