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3D Meter

The 3D Meter mode provides a 3D spherical representation of the directionality of an ambisonic signal. It works by decoding the encoded ambisonics signal to 32 virtual speaker positions, which are arranged around a sphere. It then calculates the Peak level at every virtual speaker position on the sphere. A heatmap representation is then generated from each of the sampled positions on the sphere. The 3D meter mode is currently only available on busses that have an ambisonics channel configuration. During the decoding process, gain factors are applied to each channel in the ambisonic signal, resulting in meter levels that are very specific to the target speaker configuration. For this reason, the 3D meter mode is primarily designed for monitoring directionality rather than level.

Panels and Context Menu

The 3D Meter provides four individual panels that can be used to view the meter from different viewpoints. The viewpoint in each panel can be changed. To do this, right click anywhere within a panel and open the "Viewpoint" submenu. To reset a viewpoint to its default orientation and zoom level, right click and select Reset Viewpoint.

Interaction

It is possible to zoom in and out on each panel using the mouse wheel. When the perspective viewpoint is selected, the view can also be rotated by clicking and dragging the left mouse button.

Local bus space

The meter displays the directionality from the point of view of the bus. The local bus space is indicated using axes labels around the perimiter of the sphere (front/back, top/bottom, and left/right). The directional data on the meter depends on the positions of emitters that are routed through the bus, and their listeners. For example, consider an emitter source that has two listeners and is positioned directly between them on the horizontal plane. In this case, the 3D Meter would show directional data coming from both left and right.

Positioning busses

Any positioning that is applied directly to the bus itself will not affect the meter, since this positioning is applied after the incoming sources are mixed into the bus. To observe the effect of positioning applied to a bus, the meter of the parent bus should be used.

Spatial resolution

When decoding an ambisonics signal, the spatial resolution depends on both the ambisonics order and the target speaker setup. The 3D Meter mode uses 32 virtual speakers arranged around a sphere in order to visualise the signal. Therefore, there may sometimes be inconsistencies between what is shown on the meter and the actual result you hear from your speaker setup.

3D Meter Settings

There are various configurable settings for the 3D Meter, accessible from the Meter Settings dialog.

Interface Element

Description

Click the Configure Columns... shortcut (right-click) option from the column header band.

The Configure Columns Dialog opens. Specify which columns to display and their order.

Smoothing Options

Attack

The time it takes for the output value to rise by 10 dB when the monitored level is above the current output value.

Default value: 0

Range: 0 to 10

Units: s

Release

The time it takes for the output value to fall by 10 dB when the monitored level is below the current output value.

Default value: 0.1

Range: 0.05 to 10

Units: s

Color Mappings

Volume Mapping: Black - Blue

Volume level above which the meter color will transition from black to blue.

Default value: -20

Range: -96 to 0

Units: dB

Volume Mapping: Blue - Green

Volume level above which the meter color will transition from blue to green.

Default value: -16

Range: -96 to 0

Units: dB

Volume Mapping: Green - Yellow

Volume level above which the meter color will transition from green to yellow.

Default value: -12

Range: -96 to 0

Units: dB

Volume Mapping: Yellow - Orange

Volume level above which the meter color will transition from yellow to orange.

Default value: -8

Range: -96 to 0

Units: dB

Volume Mapping: Orange - Red

Volume level above which the meter color will transition from orange to red.

Default value: -4

Range: -96 to 0

Units: dB

Volume Mapping: Red

Volume level above which the meter color will be red.

Default value: 0

Range: -96 to 0

Units: dB


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