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Vu-meters

Newk Yuler

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Nice work. As far as VU meters go I preferred well designed VFD meters in cassette decks shortly before they (the decks) began to seriously go away. With peak hold. I got way more satisfaction out of staring at those things than analog meters. Lines of LEDs weren't anywhere near as cool as VFD.
 

Mtbf

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the most interesting and hypnotic thing was the analog vumeter.
Have you ever tried stereoscopic viewing with your hypnotic VU-meters? Stereoscopic viewing is used to view, well eh..., stereo(scopic) images.

You can get stereoscopic viewers for that, but then you don’t need those. The only thing you have to do is to look cross-eyed at a pair of stereo images. So look with your right eye at the left image and, vice versa, with your left eye at the right image, simultaneously.

1566833968386.png

It takes some practice, but you will notice that suddenly your eyes “lock on”.

Have a look at
http://www.starosta.com/3dshowcase/ihelp.html
and
https://petermobbs.wordpress.com/20...yed-stereo-viewing-the-swivel-eyed-challenge/
for more explaining and some example images.

Anyway, if you look at VU-meters this way when playing music in stereo (!), you will see that the meter is moving in 3D, in and out of the plane of the meters themselves. Looks mesmerizing.
 

cjfrbw

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Does it flip the Orang Pi Zero over when it's done on one side?
 
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Fledermaus

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You SBC/Python guys are never short of a - more or less - indispensable tweak... This one's quite nice !
 

waltzingbear

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Only one comment, this has nothing to do with VU meters

VU meters are calibrated to respond in a system with predictable dynamics and at known levels.
While these meters may be fun and maybe even tell you something, they are not VU meters.

Try looking it up in Wikipedia.

Cheers
Alan
 

waltzingbear

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I only referred to the use of the term VU, which has a very specific meaning, and this ain;t it.

and as you say, this is audio SCIENCE review, so I guess correctness in verbage IS important.

and it seems you still don't get it about how to measure or units, there is no such thing as 0db signal. And it also would have nothing to do with a VU meter even if it existed.

otherwise, looks like a fun project
 

Cbdb2

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I only referred to the use of the term VU, which has a very specific meaning, and this ain;t it.

and as you say, this is audio SCIENCE review, so I guess correctness in verbage IS important.

and it seems you still don't get it about how to measure or units, there is no such thing as 0db signal. And it also would have nothing to do with a VU meter even if it existed.

otherwise, looks like a fun project

First let me apologize for the rant but the improper use of the decbel is a bit of a pet peave, and its rampant in both professionals as well as amatuer, and it makes comunication difficult.

If your gonna be picky theres no such thing as a 0db level for anything, dbs are a ratio. so you can say A is x db different than B ( like S/N or headroom ) but you cant say that a signal level is A db. It has to be A dbu, or dbm, or dbfs, or dbVU or even dbspl. The letters after the db tell you what quantity and the reference level ( the level that is multiplyed by the db). So 0 VU is 1.3volts ( into a 600ohm load) or +4dbu. Unfortunately this dropping of the suffix is common place and confusing and the two different uses of db, a ratio as in 100db signal to noise, and a signal level as in -3 dbfs, dont help.
 

g29

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Too bad the OP got run off. He shared a cool DIY project that others can no longer enjoy.
 
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scott wurcer

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Too bad the OP got run off. He shared a cool DIY project that others can no longer enjoy.

I agree and have no idea what was behind some of the comments. VU meters have well defined ballistics and time constants and dBu or dBV have clear definitions. I assumed the VU meters in and old well designed piece of equipment were being re-purposed and there was no reason to believe they did not conform to the standards at the time they were made.
 

BeepPeep_61

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I remain of the opinion that that of my MC601 is one of the most fascinating types of VMeter in circulation ..... which strangely does not seem appreciated by the large representation of the US forumers present on this forum !! ..... Why ??? :facepalm::facepalm::facepalm::eek::eek::eek::eek::rolleyes::rolleyes::rolleyes:o_Oo_Oo_O
VMeter.jpg
 
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RayDunzl

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I remain of the opinion that that of my MC601 is one of the most fascinating types of VMeter in circulation ..... which strangely does not seem appreciated by the large representation of the US forumers present on this forum !! ..... Why ???

Is it accurate?
 

jfetter

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I like the #1816 bulb used on Univalve instrument amplifiers as both power output indication and for noise reduction.
Sort of a trailer park VU meter...
I have one and can verify it works great. A stereo to mono box and injects recordings from soundcard.

Light bulb tracks fast and non-linear.
 

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mhardy6647

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Is it accurate?
Mac claims that they are -- well, at least Mac fans claim that they are. ;)
Accurate as power meters, that is -- thus, they're not VU meters by definition.

Is this a good time, or a bad time, to mention magic eye tubes?
http://www.magiceyetubes.com/


I've got a few tuners (and even a tape deck or two) here that use various magic eye tubes to indicate signal levels.
Not that I can find a decent photo of any of them at the moment! :(

giphy (11).gif

borrowed GIF
 
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Cbdb2

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Acurate power meters arnt essy to make. They need accurate current measurements over a 30db range and if you want real power, phase measure as well. Most amp "power" meters only read the voltage and reference to a constant 8 ohm impedance. There for show, pretty. So at freqs where the impedance is 30 ohms the meter is out 6db
 
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