The six readings
| Reading | Unit | |
|---|---|---|
| Key | Tonic and mode | Key |
| Camelot | 1A–12A, 1B–12B | Camelot wheel |
| Tempo | BPM, two decimal places | BPM |
| Length | Minutes and seconds | — |
| True peak | dBTP | True peak |
| Loudness | LUFS | Loudness |
Key and tempo each carry a confidence band, and when two readings were close, DropWave names the second one instead of hiding it. A tool that tells you "A minor, possibly C major" has given you something you can act on. One that prints a single answer in a large font has given you a coin flip formatted as a fact.
Loudness and true peak are measured to ITU-R BS.1770-4, the same standard streaming platforms normalise against — so the numbers mean the same thing here as they do everywhere else.
And inside your DAW
The same analysis runs as a plugin. Insert it on any channel, play, press Analyze, and it reads what is going through that channel — a vocal bus, a loop, a mix. How the plugin works →
Start here
The readings
Reference
Getting in
DropWave 2.1.1 is in closed beta, and the Discord is the only way in. Builds are posted there, access is handed out there, and false readings are reported there. There is no download on this site.