Get Your Eyes on RTW Meters

RTW meters come in many shapes and forms. In this article, I'll delve into where you can find our meters - which is about everywhere.

Thomas Valter

September 30, 2020 9 min reading time

As mentioned, RTW meters come in many shapes and forms. From the high-end TouchMonitor TM7/TM9's to the smaller and affordable TM3. You can also have them as standard plug-ins for your DAW, and they might even be built into the broadcast console you work with on a daily basis.

 


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High-end TouchMonitor

TouchMonitor is our line of desktop meters, and TM7 and TM9 are the absolute hi-end metering solutions for the worlds of production, post-production and broadcast.

Featuring high-grade 7“ or 9“ touch screens and an easy-to-use GUI, TouchMonitor provides the absolute highest level of professional audio metering in terms of precisionperformanceefficiency and flexibility.

TouchMonitor TM9 and TM7

Make it your own

Whether it comes to software or hardware, TouchMonitor is super flexible.

Our software licensing structure allows you to equip your device with precisely the type of features you are looking for, and with our customizable screen layout you can tailor it to match your exact needs – whether that might be a super simple or a highly advanced setup.

The screen layouts can be locked to allow a seasoned sound engineer to set up the device on behalf of a less experienced user.

The TouchMonitor Screen Layout can be tailored to anything from super simple to super advanced

Inputs and Outputs

Also when it comes to Inputs and Outputs, the choice is entirely yours.

The maximum number of inputs is 32 channels, depending on the input type you choose:

This list shows the number of audio channels and type of IO available:

  • 16-ch. Analog (2 x D-Sub)
  • 8-ch. Analog + 8 AES3 (2 x D-Sub)
  • 16-ch. AES3 (2 x D-Sub)
  • 8-ch. Analog + 8-ch. AES3id (1 x D-Sub + 4 x BNC)
  • 16-ch. AES3id (8 x BNC)
  • 32-ch. 3G-SDI (BNC, Input and Loopthru), combined with Analog and/or AES
  • 32-ch. Dante (RJ45, Primary and Secondary)
  • 32-ch. Ravenna/AES67 (RJ45, Primary and Secondary)

 

A Plethora of IO options are available for TouchMonitor

4-Channel Solution for Radio Broadcast

You will also find a dedicated version for Radio Broadcast, TMR7.

Two AES3 digital inputs allow for parallel monitoring of the on-air signal as well as a PFL source.

 

TMR7: Dedicated to Radio Broadcast

TM3: Professional Metering for Video- and Music Post Production

Metering Simplified: While TM3 is a compact desktop unit, it still features the professional metering tools known from its bigger brothers. And it even comes in a 3G SDI version, perfectly tailored for small video-editing suites.

TM3-3G: Compact Professional Metering with SDI-3G

The measurement technology in the TM3 is the very same as is found in the high-end TouchMonitor.

 

Primus is the smallest TouchMonitor: Stand-alone or USB-connected to your Mac or PC

Plug-in or Standalone Software for PC and Mac

Most of the tools found in our hardware meters are also available as software. All of our software is available as standard plug-ins for DAWs such as Pro Tools, and as stand-alone applications running independently from any other software.

The plug-ins support AAX Native, Audio Units and VST, making it compatible with all major DAWs and most NLEs.

Loudness Tools is the package containing everything you need for loudness-compliant metering: PPM with True-peak, Phase Correlation, Loudness acc. to all relevant standards, Loudness Range and more.

Mastering Tools is the most comprehensive package containing everything you need for mastering: PPM with True-peak, Phase Correlation, Loudness, Real Time Analyzer, Surround Sound Analyzer, Vector Scope, Multi-Correlator and more.

Loudness Tools (left) and Mastering Tools (right) for PC and Mac

 


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TouchMonitor in Broadcast Consoles

Not least will you find RTW metering in many consoles. TouchMonitors are built-in to large scale broadcast consoles from prominent manufacturers like Lawo, Studer, Calrec, SSL and Stagetec.

TouchMonitor built into Lawo MC2-56

The most popular built-in TouchMonitor is the 7" TM7 OEM, which sports all of the features that you find in the desktop version.

RTW OEM Partners

Tektronix®

For many years, highly acclaimed Tektronix has featured RTW inside a selection of their product lines.

Latest to the Tektronix family is the PRISM SDI/IP Waveform Monitor, which is designed to be used in video engineering, operations, live acquisition and post production. And with the latest firmware version 2.3, the PRISM now features the highly acclaimed RTW Surround Sound Analyzer (SSA) as part of the optional Audio Management and Analysis license.

 

Custom Solutions

While the desktop version is the most popular choice, building a TouchMonitor into a rack is also possible, and we can provide rack mounts for both TM3 (2U), TM7 (3U) and TM9 (4U).

Whether you work in broadcast, post-production or transmission and whether you work with a large broadcast console or a small Pro Tools rig, there is always an RTW metering solution for you.

International Standards

And, oh yes. In case you wondered. Yes, we do support all international measuring standards.

But not only do we support them, we actively take responsibility in international committees like EBU, participating in forming the next generation of audio standards in a continuous effort to improve audio quality for the benefit of your end listeners.

 

CALM Act
EBU R128
ITU BS.1770-4
BS.1771-1
ATSC A/85
LEQ(M)
ARIB
TASA
OP-59
SAWA
AGCOM

 

Consistency Across all Products

Regardless of whether if you go for the high-end TouchMonitor, the smaller TM3, the plug-ins or the meters that are built into consoles, they all have one thing in common.

All of our products build on the same technology

If you cycle between different applications - one day broadcasting live, the next day editing with Pro Tools - you may have experienced that measurements made with products from different manufacturers give different measurement results. LUFS is not LUFS. True-peak is not true-peak.

Using RTW products across the line simply ensures that you don't have to worry about consistency in your measurement equipment. Since all RTW products are built on the same measurement technology, they show the same measurement results on the same source material – every single time.

 


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