Free
Real-time level display
Per-channel RMS rendered as segmented LED-style bars at the native screen refresh rate via CADisplayLink. vDSP-accelerated, clamped to −60 .. 0 dB.
Features
Every surface, named and tiered.
52 features across seven surfaces. We mark the tier on every row so you can see exactly what Free gives you, what Plus adds, and what's reserved for Pro.
Free Plus · $29 Pro · $79
Metering
Standards-grade ballistics, done to spec — not approximated.
Free
VU meter mode
ANSI S4.40-aligned VU ballistic — exponential moving average with τ = 65 ms (99% rise in ~300 ms) and symmetric release. The slow-bouncing classic, timed to the standard.
Free
PPM meter mode
IEC 60268-10 Type I (BBC PPM) fast-attack. ~6.2 ms attack reaches 80% in roughly 10 ms; ~0.49 s release yields the canonical 24 dB fallback in about 2.7 s.
Plus
LUFS meter mode
ITU-R BS.1770-4 K-weighting with both gates (−70 LUFS absolute, −10 LU relative), 4× oversampled true peak per Annex 2, EBU Tech 3342 LRA over a 701-bin histogram.
Plus
Peak hold + ghost peak overlay
Holds the highest level per channel for 1.5 seconds before decaying. Reset preserves the prior peak as a translucent segment that fades over 20 seconds.
Plus
LUFS target presets
YouTube/Spotify (−14), Apple Music/Podcast (−16), EBU R128 (−23), ATSC A/85 (−24), ARIB TR-B32 (−27). Custom integer stepper. Reference line on the strip.
Plus
LUFS countdown nudge
A trend arrow on the integrated cell shows whether loudness is tracking toward target. ↑ red, → green, ↓ yellow, threshold ±1 LU.
Plus
Loudness range (LRA)
Real-time EBU Tech 3342 LRA in LU, computed from a session-long short-term histogram with both gates and the 95th/10th percentile spread.
Plus
1 kHz reference tone
−20 dBFS line-up tone for confirming signal chain alignment. EBU/SMPTE badge lights when the smoothed input locks within ±0.5 dB for ≥1 s.
Pro
Standards Sweep diagnostic
Four PASS/WARN/FAIL checks against ITU-R BS.1770-4 and EBU R128 reference values: K-weighting coefficients, sample rate, true-peak/RMS, LUFS integration gate.
Display & interaction
The strip lands where your eye lives. Skins, edges, multi-monitor, and the controls that stay out of the way.
Free
Four dock positions
Pin to left, right, top, or bottom. 16-point default thickness. NSScreen.visibleFrame respects the menu bar and Dock.
Free
Drag repositioning with snap
Press and drag the strip; a short threshold engages drag mode and the strip snaps to the nearest edge of the current display.
Plus
Multi-monitor with display affinity
When multiple screens are connected, choose where the meter pins. Repositions cleanly when screen parameters change.
Free
Adjustable opacity
30% to 100%, with quick presets in the context menu (30 / 50 / 80 / 100).
Free
Fullscreen + Spaces
canJoinAllSpaces · stationary · fullScreenAuxiliary. The meter follows desktop switches, stays during Mission Control, appears over fullscreen apps.
Plus
Meter skins
LED (default) on Free. Studer (industrial blue smooth gradient) and VU Needle (spring-physics palette centerpiece) on Plus. Engine identical across all skins.
Plus
Phosphor afterglow
CRT-scope-style decaying trail behind the peak indicator. ~100 ms exponential decay, color-matched to the peak. Off by default.
Plus
Calibration sweep on start
One-shot −60 → 0 → −60 dB sweep across 600 ms when the engine boots, lighting every segment. Confirms the rendering pipeline.
Free
Channel labels
Right-click → "Channel Labels…" to name each input channel. Stored per device; appear as small overlays when thickness ≥ 24 pt.
Modules
Three strips, one chassis. Each can be enabled, sized, and positioned on its own.
Pro
Tally Light
A colored strip alongside the meter for on-air signaling. Red, green, amber, blue, white, or hex. Three animation modes. Gradient fills. Brightness scaling. Screen Edge or Content Side.
Plus
Text Strip
One line of styled text on its own dock edge. Content, text color, background color, bold flag — all per message. Vertical strips rotate text −90°.
Pro
Air Log session recording
Every session saved to local SQLite: integrated LUFS, LRA, true peak, overs (with per-clip timestamps), source, preset, version. No data leaves your Mac.
Pro
Air Log browser + trends
Session list, overs timeline, detail pane, CSV export, and a trends panel sparklining your last 10 sessions against your target with a consistency label.
Pro
AI Session Coaching
On-device FoundationModels (macOS 26) generates a one-paragraph coaching insight per session. Cached locally; never sent off-device.
Pro
Dead Air alerting
Local time-sensitive notification fires when peak stays below threshold for the configured duration while on-air. Four presets: Spoken Word, Music, Strict, Custom.
Pro
Auto-cascade Tally → Air Log
When Tally goes on-air, an Air Log session begins automatically and ends when the tally clears. No manual start/stop during live production.
Pro analysis
Stereo correctness, frequency content, and a reference track you can A/B against the live session.
Pro
Stereo Suite
Pearson correlation meter, M/S level bars, mono delta, and a 3 000-point Lissajous goniometer. Catches phase problems before your broadcast folds to mono.
Pro
Spectrum Analyzer
4 096-point real FFT with 50% overlap, Hann window, per-bin smoothing. Log-frequency axis 20 Hz → Nyquist with labels at 50, 200, 1 k, 5 k, 10 k, 20 k.
Pro
Reference Track A/B
Drop any file and compare its integrated LUFS, true peak, and LRA against the live session. Same ITU-R BS.1770-4 processor — analysis runs offline.
Pro
Secondary input strip
A second AudioMeterEngine meters an independent input device on its own dock edge and thickness. Talkback, program-bus, anything.
Pro
Air-time clock
A live elapsed on-air timer appears at the bottom of the Metering Palette while the Tally is active. Clock text color matches the active tally signal color.
Automation surface
Pair any of them with macOS Focus Filters to apply a preset and tally state when a Focus mode activates.
Pro
flex:// URL scheme
A registered URL scheme handles tally and text strip commands. Works from Terminal, Stream Deck Open URL, Automator, anything that opens a URL.
Pro
WebSocket API
Local server on port 9812. Per-machine Keychain token. Origin-blocked at the handshake. Four-client cap. Bonjour discovery as _flexmeter._tcp.
Pro
WebSocket v3 — levels subscription
10 Hz push stream of per-channel RMS, peak, true-peak, LUFS M/S/I, and clip state. Drives the iPhone Companion live status and Live Activities.
Pro
OSC over UDP
OSC server advertises as _osc._udp via Bonjour. TouchOSC, Lemur, QLab, MA Lighting consoles can address flexMeter without manual IP entry.
Pro
Outgoing webhooks
Make, Zapier, Slack, or any HTTP endpoint receives tally / Air Log / dead-air events. "Send Test Event" button in Settings verifies delivery.
Pro
AppleScript dictionary
Tally, Text Strip, Air Log, and preset commands. ProPresenter cues, OSAScript, Script Editor — anything that scripts macOS.
Pro
App Intents (Shortcuts + Siri)
Five intents: Go On Air, Go Off Air, Toggle Tally, Show Text, Clear Text. Three read-only UI Snippets: Get Current Loudness, Get Tally State, Get Session Summary.
Pro
Focus Filter integration
Each macOS Focus mode can apply a workflow preset, tally state, Air Log behavior, and Metering Palette visibility — without launching the app.
Hardware & DAW
Footswitch. Phone call. Logic plug-in. iPhone in your pocket.
Pro
AUv3 plug-in
A self-contained AUv3 Audio Unit (type: aufx, subtype: fMtr, manufacturer: pxLn). Appears under Audio Units → Effect in Logic, GarageBand, Final Cut.
Pro
CoreMIDI control
Bind note-on/off or CC from any footswitch or controller to Tally On/Off/Toggle, Pre-roll, Text Presets 1–4, Air Log Start/End, Reset, Lock/Unlock. Virtual destination appears in MIDI Studio.
Pro
CallKit auto-Tally
When a phone or FaceTime call begins, Tally switches to amber-blink automatically and restores prior state on hang-up.
Pro
Push to Talk
Hold any configurable key to activate Tally; release to clear. Global NSEvent monitor — no special entitlement, just Accessibility permission.
Pro
Mute Detection
When system input is muted but signal persists above threshold, fires a time-sensitive notification. Catches hot-mic bypass on interfaces with hardware monitoring.
Pro
iPhone Companion
Free App Store app pairs to a Pro Mac. Live status, cue pad, Tally Light Mode, Live Activities, Dynamic Island, Lock Screen widgets. Multiple Macs, Keychain-stored.
Workflow & accessibility
Workflow Presets, Smart Presets, and accessibility primitives that take the work seriously.
Plus
Workflow Presets
Streaming, Podcast, Broadcast, Classic VU, Peak Watch. Each bundles meter mode, target, dock position, opacity, and effects.
Plus
Smart Preset from App Context
When OBS, Zoom, Logic, or Pro Tools takes focus, a banner offers the matching preset. Confirm once and flexMeter remembers the mapping per app.
Free
Living menu bar icon
Two mini vertical bars run at 30 fps in the menu bar with the same green/yellow/red ladder and peak ticks. Tally border rings the icon when on-air.
Free
Keyboard shortcuts
Ten global shortcuts: toggle visibility, reset, lock meter, show palette, find meter, toggle tally, four dock-edge commands. Remappable on Pro.
Free
Triple-click quiet zone
Three clicks within 600 ms shifts the color ladder to −20 / −14 dB for low-level monitoring. "QZ" badge appears; haptic and VoiceOver confirm.
Free
VoiceOver, Reduce Motion, Reduce Transparency
Channels report level and peak in dB. Console-room vocabulary: "Standing by," "Holding for signal," "No source." Decorative motion is fully suppressible.
Plus
Notification Center widget
Three sizes show the last-known metering snapshot in macOS Notification Center. Refreshes via WidgetKit Timeline. Pro data dimmed on Plus.