Press Play released Wave Observer, a freeware oscilloscope and audio level monitor in VST, VST3, and AU plugin formats for compatible DAW software on PC and Mac.
Wave Observer is a virtual oscilloscope with the addition of peak level metering functionality. As such, it is useful as a monitoring tool on the master channel, as well as the individual tracks and audio busses.
The plugin offers several handy features that set it apart from most other freeware oscilloscopes. Wave Observer features a wide zoom range, going from a pixel per sample to four seconds of audio in a single frame. It also features a stabilization algorithm that helps with fixing a single waveform on the screen.
Perhaps the most interesting feature, though, is the ability to “freeze” the oscilloscope display and scroll through history. This enables the user to closely inspect the audio waveform in the time domain and locate any potential issues with the transients.
To freeze a single waveform on the screen, engage Wave Observer’s “waveform mode” and adjust the zoom. This mode is useful for isolating a specific area of the signal. For example, when mixing a drum set, it might be useful to focus on the snare drum or the kick drum while adjusting the compressor and EQ plugins.
You can customize Wave Observer’s color scheme and resize the user interface.
For a more traditional type of oscillator monitoring, use Wave Observer’s “envelope mode” to observe a wider portion of the audio signal. This can be useful on the master bus, as a visual guide to how much compression is needed and whether or not there is sufficient dynamic range left.
Here’s how the team at Press Play describes Wave Observer:
“Wave Observer is an oscilloscope and monitoring plug-in for time-domain audio analysis. It visually supports mixing, mastering, and sound design by offering a number of unique features.”
Also worth noting is Wave Observer’s user interface. The GUI is well-designed, with a customizable color scheme and support for high-resolution displays. The user can freely resize the GUI by clicking and dragging the bottom-right corner.
Wave Observer is available for free download from the developer’s website. You don’t need to register nor activate the software.
More info: Wave Observer (1.7 MB download size, ZIP archive containing EXE installer, 64-bit VST/VST3/AU plugin format for Windows & macOS)
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11 Comments
Rushy
onLink was blocked by my browser as a dangerous web page
ege
onDon’t trust every developer. I also don’t want to get my computer infected, just to download an unnecessary plugin.
Kirill R.
onMalwarebytes and Bitdefender doesn’t see any problems with this plugin, as well as my browser.
Tomislav Zlatic
onI didn’t get any warnings here, either. But hey, it’s always better to be safe than sorry. If your AV software sees a problem, then probably skip the plugin.
Lord Overhead
onCould be false positives, yet seems odd that virustotal gives 4,5 Alarms for the .exe and .rar?
Tomislav Zlatic
onFalse positives are quite common with new plugins nowadays, but my suggestion is to always trust your AV software. It’s better to be safe than sorry.
Gustaf
onI have downloaded it despite all the “suggestions” from the browser. But trying to use it with Cubase 10 PRO crashes the system … I have deleted it from the order instantly. Too bad, it looked good …
garyg
onI didn’t get any warnings, subsequent scans showed nothing. Installed fine and running in Reaper with no issues.
Pretty neat, does what it needs to without fuss. The only thing I’d really want is a ‘transient trigger’ mode to make examining a waveform easier without freezing/zooming etc.
Michal Ochedowski
onThanks for the comment. Transient trigger question was the only one that came to my mind when I saw this article. You saved me quite some time!
Peat
onHey there. I am the developer of this plug-in. Thank you very much for the nice article. I hope you find Wave Observer useful! Regarding malware alarms, this is very annoying to be honest. Nowadays, antivirus programs stand out from the crowd by a huge amount of false positives. At least that’s my subjective impression. It is almost impossible for me to contact all the antivirus companies in order to clear the results. I have no clue how they calculate the score, but obviously this improves over time. The more people download the files the better the results. The installer is not yet signed, this might be another issue. Anyways, for those brave enough to install, enjoy ;) I am going to add more features and improve stability and performance in the coming months. Cheers!
Gregory
onThe latest version of this (v1.2.0) does not work in Ableton Live 10 Lite. Neither the VST3 or VST2 versions. I get the following error message : “A serious program error has occurred. Live will shut down after this message box is closed”.
Also, I had the download warnings referred to above. And installation warnings.