Alloy level meters display the input and output level for the left and right channels as your audio enters and exits Alloy. The
Module: By clicking on the Module button located at the bottom of both the Input and Output meters, you can view the Input and Output signals of the particular module you are focusing on. The I/O Gain Sliders will also control the Input Output Gain for that particular module, and not for the overall Input and Output of Alloy.
You can set options for the Input/Output meters by opening the ‘Options’ dialogue and selecting the 'Meters' Options tab. The available options for calibrating Alloy's I/O meters are listed below.
RMS: RMS (Root Mean Square) is a software-based implementation of an analog style level meter. Using different integration times, you can model popular VU or PPM meters. The RMS meter displays the average level calculated over a short window of time. The result is a meter that is appropriate if you are interested in tracking the overall loudness. The RMS meter readout will typically be lower than an equivalent PPM meter (Digital/Analog), since it is averaging peaks into the overall loudness.
Peak: The Peak meter is a fast meter that measures instantaneous maximum sample value OR peak analog waveform values, depending on the "detect inter-sample peaks" checkbox. If you are tracking the peaks for possible clipping the Peak meter is appropriate.
RMS + Peak: This is a combined RMS and Peak meter. This meter displays a lower bar representing the average level (RMS) and a higher bar representing peak level. There is also a moving line above the bar representing the most recent peak level or peak hold.
Setting the Scale of the Meters
By default, the range of the meters is from 0 dB to -96 dB. You can further customize you metering by adjusting the scale of the input and output meters. Clicking the (+) sign below the meters will increase the zoom or resolution of the metering scale, and clicking the (-) sign will decrease or zoom out the resolution of the metering scale.
You can also adjust the scale by pressing down the Ctrl key under Windows or the Command key under OS X and clicking with the left mouse button to expand the range or right to decrease the range. Once you've zoomed in, you can change the viewing range by clicking on the range and dragging it up or down.
Peaks
By default, the meters will hold peaks. You can configure this in the I/O tab of the Options Dialog, which you can also access by right-clicking (under OS X you can also ctrl-click) on the level meters.
To reset a peak that is holding, click anywhere on the meter.
Clipping
Above the meter is a red LED that serves as a clipping indicator. If the level exceeds 0 dB at any point, this LED will light up and remain lit until you double click anywhere on the LED itself. The clipping indicator will also show the number of samples over 0 dB you have clipped. (Once you have clipped over 99 samples the indicator will show three periods...)