Overview
The Sound Field meter panel features a stereo vectorscope and a surround scope meter.
Vectorscope
A Vectorscope is a meter that juxtaposes the two channels of a stereo signal on an x-y axis in order to display the similarity or difference between the two channels. A mono signal will produce a straight vertical line while signals with a wider stereo image will produce more horizontal shapes. A Vectorscope can be used to monitor the stereo width of a signal while mixing or mastering. It can also help to highlight potential issues with phase cancellation.
The following view modes are available in the stereo vectorscope:
- Polar Sample
- Polar Level
- Lissajous
Polar Sample
The Polar Sample Vectorscope plots dots per sample, but uses a polar coordinate display that is more useful in highlighting the stereo image of the incoming signal. Patterns that appear within the 45-degree safe lines represent in phase signals while patterns outside these lines represent out of phase audio. The history of the Polar Sample Vectorscope also fades out slowly. The infinite history is shown as the faintest shade of grey while the last few seconds are displayed as slowly fading data points. You can reset the display by clicking on the meter.
Polar Level
The stereo energy of a recording is clearly represented by the Polar Level Vectorscope which plots rays on a polar coordinate display that represent sample averages. The length of the rays represents amplitude while the angle of the rays represents their position in the stereo image. Rays within the 45-degree safe lines represent in phase audio while anything beyond these lines represents audio that is out of phase. History is represented on the Polar Level Vectorscope with the shrinking of the plotted rays slowly over time. The rays shrink towards the center of the vectorscope leaving the outer portion of the display for real-time analysis.
Lissajous
Like the Polar Sample vectorscope, the Lissajous Vectorscope plots per sample dots on a traditional oscilloscope display. Typically, stereo recordings produce a random pattern on a Lissajous Vectorscope that is taller than it is wide. Vertical patterns mean left and right channels are similar (approaching mono, which is a vertical line). Horizontal patterns mean the two channels are very different, which could result in mono compatibility problems.
The history of the Lissajous Vectorscope fades out slowly. The history is shown as the faintest shade of grey while the last few seconds are displayed as slowly fading data points. You can reset the display by clicking on the meter.
Clipping
The Vectorscope will draw any clipped samples in red.
Balance Meter
The horizontal bar meter below the stereo vectorscope display indicates the averaged stereo location of the input signal.
Correlation Meter
The vertical bar meter to the right of the stereo vectorscope display indicates the amount similarity (or correlation) between the left and right channels. When two signals are exactly the same (in phase) a reading of +1 would register on the correlation meter. When two signals are perfectly out of phase and thus completely different a reading of -1 would register on the correlation meter.
A Correlation Meter is used in stereo to ensure that the left and right signals will sum to mono without any cancellation of frequencies. If two signals are perfectly out of phase, then summing them would result in no audible audio. Typically, mixed audio will have values between 0 and +1 depending on the width of the stereo signal. Values that dip briefly below zero do not necessarily represent serious problems with your audio, but prolonged negative readings indicate issues with mono compatibility.
Surround Scope
The Surround Scope is a stylized display of the amplitude of surround channels. This display stresses the spatial relationship of the channels while still illustrating the level of each channel. The Surround Scope monitors the phase relationship between neighboring audio channels and displays an alert when there is a negative correlation or phase cancellation taking place.
Surround Amplitude
The Surround Amplitude Meter plots rays within a 360 degree readout with markers designating the various surround channels.
Surround Balance Indicators
The Surround Balance Indicator displays a tracking dot in different locations on the 360 degree readout. The location of the dot represents the summed surround location of all channels.
Surround Correlation Alerts
Correlation Alerts which bring your attention to any potential issues of phase between neighboring channels. The cells bordering the 360 degree plot of the Surround Scope each represent a given channel relationship. Only prominent signals that are significantly out of phase will trigger the alerts.
Surround Meter Scale
The rings within the meter represent precise RMS signal levels of each of your channels. Signals below -60dB RMS will not register as vectors on the Surround Meter.
Options
To access the meter specific options, click the gear button in the upper left hand corner of the Sound Field meter panel.
The Sound Field options tab offers the following options:
Meter Type
Selects between stereo or surround meter modes.
Vectorscope Mode
Selects the stereo vectorscope meter type. This can also be set by clicking the corresponding buttons in the Sound Field meter panel when Stereo Vectorscope is selected.
Vectorscope Detection Method
When in Polar Level mode, this determines how the sample averages are detected. Selects between Peak, RMS, and Envelope. Envelope mode can be most useful when analyzing amplitude as it detects even levels across all frequencies.
Insight 2.3.0
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