Multichannel and Surround Sound Monitoring

In addition to an unparalleled range of vectorscope/waveform tools, 4KScope, HDRScope, and 2110Scope also feature advanced multichannel audio meters, loudness meters, and surround sound audio monitoring and analysis. This article provides details.

Multichannel and Surround Sound Monitoring

Drastic signal analysis software products provide a standard set of audio meters, as well as audio vectorscope, audio phase, audio histogram, and audio waveform. The Audio Peak and Audio RMS values are also displayed in the real time status page.

The above tools are available in all of our signal analysis software, including sdiScope.

4KScope, HDRScope, and 2110Scope also feature advanced meters for multichannel audio monitoring and analysis, loudness meters, and 5.1 and 7.1 surround sound audio monitoring and analysis.

Audio Meters

For monitoring and analysis of multichannel audio, a full set of up to 16 audio meters is provided. These can be selected in the Scope Config, by choosing a layout, selecting a scope location, and pressing the Audio Meters button.

The meter is designed to gauge the capabilities of the system and provide a set of up to 16 meters. In a system with only two channels available, the display would offer two meters. Channels with no audio present are shown as muted.

Loudness Meter

For monitoring and analysis of loudness, a full set of loudness meters is provided. These can be selected in the Scope Config, by choosing a layout, selecting a scope location, and pressing the Loudness Meter button.

The meter is designed to gauge the capabilities of the system and provide a set of up to 16 loudness meters.

Surround Sound Meters

For monitoring and analysis of 5.1 or 7.1 audio, a set of dedicated surround sound meters are provided. The Surround Meter can be selected in the Scope Config, by choosing a layout, selecting a scope location, and pressing the Surround Meter button.

To specify which surround sound type will be used, the following controls are offered:

Display pulldown menu – choose between Cinesound 5.1 or Cinesound 7.1.
Config pulldown menu – choose the type of surround sound that is being monitored. The Type sets the channel order per various manufacturers' specs. The available options depend on whether 5.1 or 7.1 is selected.
Offset pulldown menu – use the offset menu to offset the first channel, for monitoring signals where the surround sound channels start at a channel other than channel 0.

Since various manufacturers developed their surround sound setups independently, they have have different channel ordering. Here are the channel identifiers we refer to when specifying channel ordering:

L = Left
R = Right
C = Center
Ls = Left Surround
Rs = Right Surround
Lfe = Low Frequency Effects
Lss = Left Side Surround
Rss = Right Side Surround
Lsr = Left Surround Rear
Rsr = Right Surround Rear
Bsl = Back Surround Left
Bsr = Back Surround Right

5.1 Surround Sound Window

The Surround Sound window has 4 modes for setting up 5.1 inputs. Switching between modes changes the order of the channel assignment to match specific manufacturers' layout.

Smpte - L R C Lfe Ls Rs
Protools - L C R Ls Rs Lfe
AAC - C L R Ls Rs Lfe
DTS - L R Ls Rs C Lfe

7.1 Surround Sound Window

The Surround Sound window has 4 modes for setting up 7.1 inputs. Switching between modes changes the order of the channel assignment to match specific manufacturers' layout.

Smpte - L R C Lfe Lss Rss Lsr Rsr
Protools - L C R Lss Rss Lsr Rsr Lfe
EXT - L R C Lfe Lsr Rsr Lss Rss
Dolby - L C R Ls Rs Lfe Bsl Bsr

Multichannel audio and surround monitoring are available in 4KScope, HDRScope, and 2110Scope.