PPMulator+ is a cross-platform VST plug-in meter for digital audio workstations which exactly mimics the look and feel of a professional broadcast Peak Programme Meter (PPM).

Following on from our earlier, stereo-only PPMulator plugin, PPMulator+ ('PPMulator plus') adds features such as surround (5.1) capability, user-configurable colours and layouts, a fully-featured phase-correlation meter, surround peak-logging, RTAS-compatibility and several other features.

By adding this plugin to the master output of your audio editing program, you can record, edit, mix and export your audio within a precisely-calibrated workspace - something which is often impossible to do when working in a non-studio environment.

PPMulator+ is designed to closely-follow the ballistics of mono, stereo, mid-side (MS) and surround (5.1) PPM meters (conforming to IEC 268-10/DIN 45406) and has a number of built-in additional features, including various display style options and a highly-useful Peak Logging process which logs all peaks/overloads against the timecode in the host application where they occurred.

PPMulator+ Feature Set

• RTAS, VST and AU plug-in for Windows/OSX, 100% compatible with Pro Tools, Nuendo, Tracktion, Logic & other hosts
• Mono/Stereo/Mid-Side/Surround (5.1) metering options, with overload leds
• Configurable as a Type I/Type II PPM, or set your own custom reference levels, ballistics and settings
• Both 'box-and-needle' PPM or plasma bargraph graphical display options
• Unique Peak Logging feature - create lists of 'overs' logged against timecode for unattended mixes/laybacks
• Colour-assignable and user-configurable meter layouts and channel labelling
• Fully-resizable single, dual or multi-meter display, from massive to weeny
• Monitor both input level when recording and output level when mixing
• Also includes 'standalone' version for monitoring the input levels from a soundcard
• Mono gain trim to M3 (-3dB) or M6 (-6dB) standards
• Assignable phase-correlation meter, to check mono compatibility
• Built-in reference tone generator for meter alignment and calibration

Supported Metering Standards

IEC 269-10 Type I : Nordic N9 IEC 269-10 Type I / DIN 45406 IEC 269-10 Type IIa : BBC scale IEC 269-10 Type IIb : EBU scale

Click thumbnail (right) to show a larger version of PPMulator+'s Peak Logging panel in surround/5.1 mode.

Documentation

Each download of PPMulator+ comes complete with full documentation and installation instructions, but if you fancy a read, you can download the PDF help file for PPMulator+ below:

Frequently-asked questions

• Do I have to buy the VST, RTAS and AU versions separately? - No. For one price, the download of PPMulator+ contains several formats of plugin, as well as the standalone version of the application.
  
  
• How can I use PPMulator+ to monitor the output of my video editor? - a lot of Final Cut and Avid users are asking for this one... In standalone mode, PPMulator+ monitors the level of audio inputs, but can't intercept the audio streams coming from other applications. We're investigating ways that this might be possible on the Mac in future, but you could also have a look at either Audio Hijack Pro, or Soundflower, both of which allow VST plugins to be placed on audio output streams (and if you get it to work, let us know!)
  
  
• How accurate is PPMulator+ compared to 'hardware' meters? - Well, we've sold a lot of copies to professional broadcasters in both the UK and Europe (as well as other countries around the world) and to date have not received
  one single complaint... so, the answer would have to be - it's spot-on!

Download

You can download a free evaluation version of PPMulator+ below. This is fully-functional, but will time out after a short while. To continue trying out PPMulator+, simply close and reopen the standalone version, or remove and reinsert the plugin version (you don't need to uninstall the plugin - simply remove it from your edit and replace it).

Purchase

Once you are content that PPMulator+ is wonderful and you can't live without it, you can purchase and register your copy online by creating a customer account and then purchasing it from the Raw Material Software shop (if you don't already have an account, you can create one by clicking on the button below).