In this week's Friday Free Plug-in, we are featuring the Bitter Bitscope & Intersample Clip Monitor Plug-in from Stillwell.
Bitter is designed to show how many of the available bits are being used by the audio signal. It also can report clipping samples and estimates as to when the digital-to-analog conversion would cause inter-sample clips. Typical uses for a bitscope include: verifying that a render dither is working properly; verifying that a particular plugin is not reducing the signal bit depth; testing for faulty audio source data.
Bit Tree Display
Each bit’s usage in each audio channel is shown by a horizontal line: the shorter the line, the less the audio signal uses that bit. A missing line indicates a bit that is not used at all. A line the full width of the window indicates a stuck-bit error. Within a given bit depth, the bit tree display can be read as a dynamic range meter. A signal that is always loud and never quiet will have longer lines at the top of the display than the bottom.
Sample Rate Information
When you hover the mouse over the Bitter display screen, the audio stream sample rate is displayed.
Features
Check for Intersample Clipping that may appear during digital-to-analog conversion
Detailed display of the usage density of each bit
Reveal the bitrate of the digital signal, which may well differ from that of the file’s bitrate or your DAW’s audio engine bitrate
Display the audio sample rate
Free Tutorial: Bit Depth And Dither In Pro Tools Using Stillwell Bitter
In this free video tutorial, community member Paul Maunder discusses and demonstrates the implications and considerations of using different session bit depths in Pro Tools using the Stillwell Bitter plug-in. He considers questions like..
- When should you use 32bit float?
- Under what circumstances should you apply dither?
- Does Pro Tools automatically apply dither when exporting from the Clip List?
This is an often misunderstood area and Paul explains and demonstrates the issue in this extended tutorial.
How Do I Get This Plug-in?
Visit the Bitter page on the Still website for more information and to be able to download the installer for this free plug-in. There is no need to give any details or email address, just select your operating system and click on the Download button.
Note also when you have in installed in Pro Tools, if you look for it by the brand category you will find it under the brand name Schwa and not Stillwell.