MiniMeters 1.0.30 — macOS

The latest MiniMeters update, v1.0.30, clears up a few long-standing bugs and small UI annoyances. If you’ve been living with a meter that occasionally misbehaved, this is the version to grab.

MiniMeters is a compact real-time audio monitoring tool that runs on both Intel and Apple Silicon Macs. You can pick your own tools, colors, and layout, so the window looks the way you want it to while you work.

To get audio from your DAW to the meter, you run MiniMetersServer alongside it. That server sends the signal over, and the meter display updates live. It’s a practical setup for keeping an eye on levels without cluttering your session.

Version 1.0.30 runs on macOS 10.15 or later

MiniMeters sits on a secondary display with loudness and stereo meters

I usually keep MiniMeters on a secondary display, off to the side of my DAW. It sits small but readable, showing the loudness meter and the stereo meter side by side. When I start a mixing session, I begin by loading a reference track into my project and letting it play through a loop. The LUFS meter in MiniMeters gives me the overall loudness reading and the momentary peak values, so I can see right away where my own mix sits compared to the reference.

The frequency spectrum display comes into play when I’m trying to balance a bass guitar against the kick drum. I mute the kick, look at the low end on the spectrum, then unmute it and check again. The waveform display below shows me the overall shape of the audio — it’s handy for spotting sections where the transient peaks are uneven. I can glance at the stereo meter to confirm the bass is sitting center while the overheads spread wide. That’s the kind of quick check that saves time.

When I need to compare two mixes of the same song, I route both through the server. I set up MiniMetersServer in my DAU on one track, then switch the input on the meter between the two sources. The loudness values update fast enough to make A/B comparisons practical, even with short looped sections. I don’t have to stop and export — I just toggle the mute on each track in my session and watch the meters respond.

Hide unused tools and customize colors to reclaim screen space

• The toolbar lets you choose exactly which tools are visible. If you only want the loudness meter and the waveform, you can hide the rest and reclaim screen space.
• Color customization goes beyond just picking a look. Different colors for different tools help you locate your focus at a glance when you’re working fast.
• The window layout is adjustable. You can pull the edges to resize individual panels without digging into a settings menu.
• MiniMetersServer runs quietly in the background. It doesn’t pop up alerts or steal keyboard focus, which matters when you’re in the middle of a take.

Standalone app routes system audio from your browser into the meter

MiniMeters works as a standalone app for checking system audio, not just DAW output. If you’re listening to a streaming track through your browser and you want to see its loudness profile, you can route system audio into the meter. That’s useful when you’re evaluating a reference track you found online before importing it into your session.

The app respects macOS window management. You can snap it to a screen edge, use it in full-screen mode alongside other windows, or minimize it to the dock and bring it back with a click. It doesn’t demand to stay on top of everything.

For anyone who uses multiple monitoring setups, the meter’s display responds to the output device you’ve selected in your system preferences. If you switch from your studio monitors to headphones, the reading still reflects what you’re hearing. That consistency helps when you’re checking levels late at night.

Match a mix to a reference track using the loudness meter panel

1. Load your mix and the reference track into your DAU on two separate tracks.
2. Launch MiniMeters and open the loudness meter panel.
3. Start MiniMetersServer in your DAU and set it to send audio from the reference track.
4. Play the reference track in a loop and note the overall LUFS reading and the peak values on the meter.
5. Stop the reference track, then route the server to send audio from your mix instead.
6. Play your mix. Adjust its levels, compression, or limiting until the loudness meter shows numbers that match the reference you noted earlier.
7. Use the frequency spectrum to compare the low-end balance between the two tracks. If your mix looks thin below 100 Hz, you can add some bass shelving EQ and check the spectrum again.
8. Check the stereo meter to make sure your mix’s width isn’t drastically narrower or wider than the reference. Adjust panning if needed.
9. When the numbers and the visual spectrum look close, play both tracks together for a final A/B listen. The meters give you a head start, but your ears still decide.

That workflow takes maybe ten minutes once you’ve done it a couple times. MiniMeters gives you the numbers and the visuals, but you make the calls on what sounds right.

The installer comes as a disk image with a .pkg file inside. Follow the prompts and you’re set.

• Fixed long-standing bugs and small UI issues in v1.0.30.

• macOS 10.15 or later
• Intel or Apple Silicon