Voxengo SPAN Plus VS Melda MMultiAnalyzer?

[LGK_Dude]

Hey guys and gals,

Looking to upgrade my metering and I'm considering either Melda MMultiAnalyzer or Voxengo SPAN Plus as options. I like the idea of a multi-analyzer as a comparative tool for mixing (i.e. visually checking the frequencies of different mix elements and see if there are any collisions).

What are the main differences between these two plugins? It seems that SPAN Plus offers a correlation meter (which Melda does not) but melda offers a sonogram view (which I dont know if it would be beneficial at all) but more importantly Collisions view, which in theory should help you find potential mix problems. Also cool is the "Deharmonize" mode, which allows you to get rid of harmonics and focus on the fundamental frequencies of your sources.

Also, It looks like SPAN plus limits you to viewing only 4 spectrums at once (source plus 3 inputs) where it seems MMultiAnalayzer lets you easily see all available analyzers and select how many, or how few, you want to see - there seems to be no limit. In practice, do you find being able to view only 4 spectrums at once a limitation of SPAN plus, or in practice you never use more than 4?

So far it seems Melda is BY FAR the better tool, and with a hopefully 40-50% off sale at some point in the future can be had for between $33-$39. SPAN Plus on the other hand seems to offer far less and its current intro price is already $39.99 (dont know how much it will be after its intro period).

Am I missing something here? I must be, right? Any comments on these two plugins and/or other plugins I should check out would be appreciated. Plugins like these seem to be cool in theory, but how beneficial do you find them in practice?

Thanks!

[Trancit]

SPAN offers by far more metering options and is more the all in one tool...

But as all Voxengo products, it's more difficult to set up, it's more limited to a few visible spectren and you have to route the different channels you want to see to the plugin and inside the plugin too...(edit) or use import/export spectrum... nevertheless more complicated than Melda...

MMultiAnalyzer concentrates completely on the spectrum view in different ways, very easy to set up as every inserted instance is visible in every instance and it's very very configurable...

If you don't need the metering, for me the Melda plug wins... if metering is wished too, SPAN is the more "complete" tool imho

[LGK_Dude]

Thank you very much for your reply Trancit!!

SPAN offers by far more metering options and is more the all in one tool...

Do you mind explaining what additional metering SPAN offers? I see the correlation meter, but both have loudness metering - melda's is just not on the front panel but its own tab. Sure its handy to have it on the front page, but not a deal breaker.

Are there other metering options I'm missing?

[Breval]

Very happy using blue cat's multi for a few years now, wondering how it compares to these as well.

[Trancit]

Do you mind explaining what additional metering SPAN offers? I see the correlation meter, but both have loudness metering - melda's is just not on the front panel but its own tab. Sure its handy to have it on the front page, but not a deal breaker.

Right-hand side you've got the normal level meter with several metering options
As you already said, the correlation meter
The RMS metering for me is much more familiar than Meldas Loudness meter
You've got the "Max Crest Factor" and Clipping

That's for me 3 1/2 meters more than Melda has...

[chokehold]

Does SPAN plus support multiple inputs at all?

[LGK_Dude]

Does SPAN plus support multiple inputs at all?

Not quite sure what you mean by this, but SPAN plus will show you the spectrum for the source input and 3 additional inputs. They have an "export/import" function where you export different instances to different channels, and input them as needed. I.e. send your bass to output 2, drums output 3, bass synth output 4 and load a SPAN plus on your master, you can see all 4 of these graphs at once.

Here is a neat trick with Melda's that I'm wondering if SPAN plus can do. When I mix and add plugins I try to make sure the loudness before and after the plugin is the same when A/Bing if I like the sound. I currently do this by ear, but with Meldia Multi Analyzer I can add the plugin before and after my mix plugin, and using the loudness tab make sure that they are the same. I dont think SPAN plus can do this trick, as I believe the metering is only for the opened instance and does not have any "import" functionality, right? So this means you'd have to open two meters (one before and one after) instead of just one like the Melda. Big deal, no, but it is handy to only have to look at one plugin and always knowing which one is before and which one is after.

[Tricky-Loops]

Does SPAN plus support multiple inputs at all?

I thought that it supports up to 8 channels?