Excite Audio Vision 4X review

Excite Audio Vision 4X: What is it?

Audio analysis tools are a key component of modern music production so it’s tempting to upgrade your DAW offering with something more capable. Vision 4X (VST, VST3, AU, AAX and standalone) from Excite Audio and Dutch trio Noisia is such a plugin and bundles six key analysis and metering tools into one workspace. These are VU and RMS meters, spectrogram, bar graph analyser, waveform display and phase correlation meters.

The plugin uses a single resizable window divided into four panes and these can be rescaled collectively within the window by dragging the panel divider to achieve 4, 2 and 1-panel configurations. 

Clicking on the tiny cog in the bottom left reveals a side panel with further settings including an option to rotate the display orientation. Other global settings include a choice of channel metering, and you can set the audio to follow this setting or continue to hear the full stereo signal. 

Meanwhile, spectrogram display settings include factor and multiplier parameters to set a timeframe, and also choose whether the view overlays the previous one or draws the graph as a continuous scrolling view. 

To freeze the meters and displays, click on the play/pause button next to the settings cog. All told Vision 4X delivers a flexible metering solution, and a bunch of handy presets to get you up and running quickly.

Excite Audio Vision 4X: Performance and verdict

Metering tools really come into their own when you can adjust how they display information. Vision 4X has a good array of further parameters relating to the spectrum, bar graph and waveform tools. Fundamental to both spectrogram and bar graph displays are the frequency and decibel ranges as these allow you to focus the display. 

Importantly, you can also use the cross-hair and your mouse scroll wheel to zoom in on the display. Other fundamental aspects are the FFT size (three choices) and the colour map (choice of 10 colour schemes), and it’s worth saying that both the spectrogram and waveform displays use the colour map to indicate intensity. 

The colour map also has Map Bias and Map Curve parameters that influence the distribution of colours across the frequencies and to some degree influence the high/low-frequency emphasis of the curve.

The bar graph has more settings including speed, peak hold time, reference (see box out) and number of bars (4 to 120). We’re glad to see that the final setting beyond the maximum 120 bars is actually a line plot. 

There’s also a highlight option that lets you specify threshold (dB) and duration (ms), and we found this really helps with spotting the more dominant frequencies. 

Finally, Vision 4X’s includes phase correlation via a typical line meter and also a goniometer. Unfortunately, you can’t tweak how these look, but they’re still welcome inclusions.  

Reference

We use meters to gain an objective view of our audio and part of that process is comparing it to other audio and in particular our favourite reference tracks. With this in mind, the Vision 4X bar graph analyser includes a choice of 17 reference curves with styles including DnB, hip hop, techno, dubstep, classical and jazz. 

Each reference includes a pair of line curves with shading in between, and the separation of the curves indicates the dynamic range of the reference. The curves are based on mastered tracks so that the dynamic range may be smaller than your mix master. Even so, one can still see from the 2-part curve how the dynamic range varies across the frequency range. 

Alas, it’s not possible to import audio and generate your own reference curves; this would be great. However, the different curve shapes provide a useful reference or even something to work towards.

Verdict

So, any gripes? At times, we found Vision 4X quite CPU-intensive, particularly with all four panes active, though we understand this will be improved in an update. 

Also, the standalone version doesn’t have an integrated player, so you’ll need to use your computer’s internal audio routing to access inputs. 

Still, Vision 4X is a decent analysis tool with some great features and is ideal for frequency-focused tasks.

MusicRadar verdict: Vision 4X is a visually engaging plugin with some nice options and is ideal for frequency-focused analysis.

Excite Audio Vision 4X: The web says

"Although the price may seem on the higher end for some, this is a high quality audio analyzer that has just about all of the analysis you will ever need, and a workflow that can benefit producers of any experience."
Basic Wavez

Excite Audio Vision 4X: Hands-on demos

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Excite Audio Vision 4X: Specifications

• macOS 10.7 or higher (Intel / Native M1 Apple Silicon supported)
• Plugin Formats: VST, VST3, AU, AAX, Standalone
• macOS compatibility: 64-bit compatible only
• Windows 7 or higher
• Plugin formats: VST, VST3, AAX, Standalone
• Windows compatibility: 64-bit and 32-bit compatible
• DAWs supported: Ableton Live, Pro Tools, Logic Pro, FL Studio, Cubase, Nuendo, Reaper, Reason + more
• Buy at Plugin Boutique