User Manual — v1.2.0
Download Page — Tonecraft Tokyo Official Website ↗SCOPE2 is a meter plugin for visually monitoring audio level dynamics. It combines four display modes—WAVE, RMS, PEAK, and Lissajous—with a loudness meter (LUFS / LRA / True Peak). You can check at a glance on a single screen how much louder or quieter your audio is relative to target levels for Spotify (-14 LUFS) and broadcast (-23 LUFS). It is a measurement-only plugin that does not alter audio; inputs pass straight through to outputs.
SCOPE2 is recognized as a separate plugin from SCOPE. You can use both side by side in your DAW, and existing projects using SCOPE will not be automatically replaced by SCOPE2.
| Item | SCOPE | SCOPE2 |
|---|---|---|
| Loudness | LOUDNESS single simple readout (not LUFS) | Displays INTEGRATED / MOMENTARY / SHORT-TERM / LRA / TRUE PEAK MAX in LUFS. Measurement can also be paused and resumed |
| Target standards | None | Selecting -14 LUFS (Spotify) or -23 LUFS (EBU R 128) displays the difference from the target and True Peak overshoot |
| Presets | Headroom buttons only (-18 to -6) | 7 factory presets plus user preset saving and exporting. Headroom buttons are also retained |
| Time axis | Two controls: WINDOW and ZOOM | WINDOW only. The displayed duration in seconds can be read directly |
RESET | Peak hold and CLIP | Resets peak hold, CLIP, and loudness measurement all together |
| Operation hints | None | Hovering the mouse displays descriptions in the InfoBar (in English, or in Japanese when the OS display language is Japanese) |
| Window size | 800 × 480 | 1100 × 680 |
If 1100 × 680 does not fit on laptops with smaller screens, or when opening existing projects made with SCOPE, you can continue to use the legacy SCOPE as is.
SCOPE2 on the track you want to measure, or at the end of your master track.STREAMING -14 LUFS or BROADCAST -23 LUFS according to your delivery destination.RESET, then play the track from start to finish.LU vs -14) appear in INTEGRATED on the right. If TRUE PEAK MAX is red, there are peaks exceeding the target limit.Choosing where to insert: Insert on a track when monitoring the raw level of source audio (recording levels, instrument volume, or input levels into downstream effects), or at the end of the master track when monitoring the loudness and clipping of the entire mix.
WAVE / RMS / PEAK / LISSA — Switches the central display mode.GRID — Toggles grid line display.FILL — Toggles the fill underneath waveforms.LINK — Links left and right channels (see "Stereo Link").HOLD — Toggles peak hold (retaining maximum values for a set duration) ON/OFF.CLIP — Lights up red when a sample exceeds 0 dBFS, and remains lit until clicked to clear.FREEZE — Freezes only the central waveform. Peak meters, numerical readouts, and loudness measurements continue running.RESET — Resets peak hold, CLIP, and loudness measurements all at once.WINDOW — Duration displayed in the waveform area (0.5s to 30s)HOLD — Duration peak hold retains maximum values (0.5s to 5.0s)FLOOR — Lower boundary of the waveform area (-120 dB to -20 dB, in 10 dB steps)CEILING — Upper boundary of the waveform area (0 dB to +12 dB, in 3 dB steps)HEADROOM (VU 0) — Reference level for VU 0 (-24 dB to 0 dB). Displayed as a gold dashed line in the waveform area. Buttons above the knob (-18 / -14 / -12 / -9 / -6) let you select common values with a single click.ATTACK — Rise speed for RMS display (1 ms to 500 ms)RELEASE — Fall speed for RMS / PEAK displays and peak hold (50 ms to 1000 ms)FLOOR to CEILING. A gold dashed line appears at the VU 0 position.HOLD is ON, L / R peak hold lines are displayed.FLOOR / CEILING only affect the vertical axis of the waveform area; the meter scale does not change.| Level | Color |
|---|---|
0 dBFS or higher | Red |
-6 dBFS or higher | Orange |
-12 dBFS or higher | Yellow |
Below -12 dBFS | Base channel color (different colors for L / R) |
OFF / -14 LUFS (Spotify) / -23 LUFS (EBU R 128). In both presets, the True Peak ceiling is -1 dBTP.INTEGRATED — Integrated average loudness of the whole track. Measures all audio since the last reset. When a target standard is selected, the difference is displayed below (e.g., +2.3 LU vs -14).MOMENTARY — Loudness over the most recent 0.4 seconds. For checking instantaneous volume.SHORT-TERM — Loudness over the most recent 3 seconds. For checking loudness by phrase.LRA — Loudness Range (dynamic spread). Larger values indicate a greater difference between quiet and loud parts.TRUE PEAK MAX — Maximum peak level, including inter-sample peaks between samples. Turns red when exceeding the target standard (or when exceeding 0 dBTP if target is OFF).MEASURED — Elapsed measurement time. Displays PAUSED while paused.PAUSE / RESUME — Pauses / resumes loudness measurement.Displays the sample rate (SR), buffer size (BUF), and channel count (CH).
WAVE — Displays the input waveform directly. For inspecting transient shapes and envelopes.RMS — Displays average level dynamics over time. Response speed varies with ATTACK / RELEASE, allowing it to be used like a VU meter. Because it averages over time, momentary clipping may not reach near 0 dBFS. Check for clipping using the CLIP indicator.PEAK — Tracks peaks instantaneously on rising signals, while RELEASE takes effect only when falling (ATTACK is not applied).LISSA — Displays the phase relationship between left and right channels (Lissajous). Shapes closer to a diagonal line slanting up to the right indicate mono, while shapes closer to a line slanting down to the right indicate out-of-phase audio.Links left and right channels, displaying the louder channel. Stereo link affects the central display only in RMS and PEAK modes. WAVE and LISSA are not linked because they are intended to show differences between channels directly. Peak meters and peak hold lines are linked regardless of mode.
RESET first: Because INTEGRATED and LRA calculate all audio since the last reset, measuring mid-track will include earlier audio.INTEGRATED: Green = within ±1 LU of target / Orange = louder by more than 1 LU / Light blue = quieter by more than 1 LU.MOMENTARY / SHORT-TERM bars, a lime line marks the target standard position and a white line marks the maximum level since reset. The maximum value is also shown numerically at the bottom right under MAX.LRA requires 60 seconds of measurement to stabilize. During this time, it displays WAIT.INTEGRATED reading.PAUSE during sections you do not want to measure. Press RESUME to continue accumulating values from where you left off.CLIP lights up when an individual sample value exceeds 0 dBFS.TRUE PEAK MAX is the maximum peak level including inter-sample peaks that occur between samples (which appear during D/A conversion or lossy encoding for streaming). Even if CLIP is not lit, TRUE PEAK MAX may still exceed the target ceiling.There are 7 factory presets that switch loudness target standards and display settings together:
| Preset | Description |
|---|---|
DEFAULT | RMS display, no target standard. Default startup state |
STREAMING -14 LUFS | For streaming platforms like Spotify (-14 LUFS / -1 dBTP) |
BROADCAST -23 LUFS | For broadcast (EBU R 128, -23 LUFS / -1 dBTP). 10-second display duration |
PEAK WATCH | PEAK display, -6 dB reference. For monitoring peak overshoot |
VU -18 dBFS | RMS display, -18 dB reference, stereo linked. For VU meter use |
WAVEFORM | WAVE display, 1-second display duration. For inspecting transients |
STEREO IMAGE | LISSA display. For inspecting stereo width and phase |
Current settings can be named and saved from the preset bar. Saved presets are stored in %APPDATA%\SCOPE2\Presets\. Exporting and importing preset files (.s2p) is also supported.
| Parameter ID | Description |
|---|---|
display_mode | Display mode |
window_sec | Display duration |
loudness_target | Loudness target standard |
floor_db | Waveform area floor |
ceil_db | Waveform area ceiling |
headroom_db | Headroom (VU 0 reference) |
show_grid | Grid lines |
show_fill | Waveform fill |
show_peak_hold | Peak hold |
stereo_link | Stereo link |
attack_ms | Attack |
release_ms | Release |
hold_time_sec | Peak hold retention time |
STREAMING -14 LUFS.RESET, then play the song from start to finish.INTEGRATED is green (within ±1 LU) and that TRUE PEAK MAX has not turned red.Streaming services automatically turn down songs that exceed their target standard. Even if INTEGRATED is louder than the target standard, it will not result in distortion, but the perceived volume advantage of pushing loudness will be lost.
Under the VU meter specification, rise time and fall time are both 300 ms. The VU -18 dBFS preset (both ATTACK and RELEASE set to 300 ms) provides similar behavior. If you want to follow North American convention, set VU 0 to -20 dB.
| Item | Details |
|---|---|
| OS | Windows 10 / 11 x64, macOS 11 or later (Apple Silicon / Intel) |
| Format | Windows: VST3 (64bit) / Mac: VST3, AU |
| Supported DAWs | DAWs supporting VST3 or AU |
| Audio I/O | Mono / Stereo |
| Sample rates | 44.1 kHz to 192 kHz |
| Window size | 1100 × 680 (fixed) |
| Latency | None (audio passes through completely unprocessed) |
SCOPE2.vst3 folder to the following location:C:\Program Files\Common Files\VST3\SCOPE2.vst3 to ~/Library/Audio/Plug-Ins/VST3/ and SCOPE2.component to ~/Library/Audio/Plug-Ins/Components/ (where ~ represents your home folder. In Finder, choose "Go" → "Go to Folder...", paste the path, and press Return. If the folder does not exist, create it).cd ~/Library/Audio/Plug-Ins
xattr -dr com.apple.quarantine VST3/SCOPE2.vst3
xattr -dr com.apple.quarantine Components/SCOPE2.componentIf nothing is displayed, it succeeded. If you do not run this, macOS will display messages like "is damaged and cannot be opened" or "cannot be opened because the developer cannot be verified", and your DAW will not load the plugin. This command only removes the quarantine attribute attached by macOS to downloaded files. You need to run it again when updating or reinstalling.
Delete the copied SCOPE2.vst3 folder. To also delete saved user presets, delete %APPDATA%\SCOPE2\ as well.
Delete the copied SCOPE2.vst3 and SCOPE2.component files. To also delete saved user presets, delete ~/Library/SCOPE2/ as well.
Display does not change when lowering track fader
SCOPE2 display. This is expected behavior, not a defect.SCOPE2, lower the level before SCOPE2 (e.g., in Ableton Live, use the Gain on a Utility plugin placed before SCOPE2, clip gain, or the output level of instruments/effects).SCOPE2 on a master track or a group track.RESET, then play only the section you want to measure.---
PAUSED is displayed, click RESUME.WAIT
FREEZE is turned ON (only the central waveform freezes).CLIP or press RESET to turn it off.C:\Program Files\Common Files\VST3\, and ensure you performed a plugin rescan in your DAW.~/Library/Audio/Plug-Ins/VST3/, AU to ~/Library/Audio/Plug-Ins/Components/), verify that you ran the Terminal commands, and perform a plugin rescan in your DAW. If the AU plugin does not appear in Logic Pro or other DAWs, restart your Mac.