Windows 11 - Accurate Peak Meter Required On "What U Hear"

[mike7877]

So Windows 10 was a very nice OS in that, when you went in its Control Panel > Sound, and found your audio device under the Output tab, the little meter to the right of it:

Yes, that one there, in the black square + blown up 400%


That was an actual meter, and when the internal mix came up to 0dB, all the bars would go green. It was like... functional!

But now, with gunky junky yucky mucky Windows 11, it's just to look pretty!
Basically, yeah, it'll show you a volume difference - quiet stuff will not be as high as louder stuff..
But clipping? I can't get the thing to even approach clipping!

I can get it up to 6/10 using Tidal > (Default Audio Device {ie. Windows Mixer}). Tidal is turned up all the way, and when I open Equalizer APO and crank the preamp to +20dB, that's what I get: 6/10!

Now, there's heavy compression happening at +20dB (of course), and I don't like that.
What I'd like to be able to do, is adjust the preamp in Equalizer APO to maximize the SNR of the audio device, without bumping up against compression.

But I don't have a visual representation of where 0dB is! After years of practice, I'm decent.. But the skill has to be maintained - If I don't have a reference for 0dB, over time, I'm sure I'll fall further and further away...

I have no idea why M$ took the functionality part of the sound meter away, but I'm not impressed...
Is there an alternative? Programs like foobar2000 have their own peak meters, yes, but I use equalization outside of, and after the programs.
Eg. Some albums on Tidal are recorded entirely too low - it's like they were normalized to -12 or -15dB. Preamp gain needs to be applied (it's not always a cut). I also have the EQ set up so that it only subtracts from 0dB, so even music that's not mastered too quiet does sometimes need to have the preamp add level.
It's just so frustrating... Why Microsoft? Why??? lol

 

[kemmler3D]

So Windows 10 was a very nice OS in that, when you went in its Control Panel > Sound, and found your audio device under the Output tab, the little meter to the right of it:

View attachment 554181

Yes, that one there, in the black square + blown up 400%


That was an actual meter, and when the internal mix came up to 0dB, all the bars would go green. It was like... functional!

But now, with gunky junky yucky mucky Windows 11, it's just to look pretty!
Basically, yeah, it'll show you a volume difference - quiet stuff will not be as high as louder stuff..
But clipping? I can't get the thing to even approach clipping!

I can get it up to 6/10 using Tidal > (Default Audio Device {ie. Windows Mixer}). Tidal is turned up all the way, and when I open Equalizer APO and crank the preamp to +20dB, that's what I get: 6/10!

Now, there's heavy compression happening at +20dB (of course), and I don't like that.
What I'd like to be able to do, is adjust the preamp in Equalizer APO to maximize the SNR of the audio device, without bumping up against compression.

But I don't have a visual representation of where 0dB is! After years of practice, I'm decent.. But the skill has to be maintained - If I don't have a reference for 0dB, over time, I'm sure I'll fall further and further away...

I have no idea why M$ took the functionality part of the sound meter away, but I'm not impressed...
Is there an alternative? Programs like foobar2000 have their own peak meters, yes, but I use equalization outside of, and after the programs.
Eg. Some albums on Tidal are recorded entirely too low - it's like they were normalized to -12 or -15dB. Preamp gain needs to be applied (it's not always a cut). I also have the EQ set up so that it only subtracts from 0dB, so even music that's not mastered too quiet does sometimes need to have the preamp add level.
It's just so frustrating... Why Microsoft? Why??? lol

Given your use case with EQAPO I would suggest finding a good VST metering plugin, this will do everything you're asking and more. Just put the VST slot last in your overall setup.

There's a list of options here: https://www.musicradar.com/news/12-of-the-best-vstau-metering-plugins but I am sure more are out there if none of them seem quite right.

 

[Surfrat]

I'm going to write an app for just this. I have VU meter envy whenever I see the old school amps. I will approach it from an engineering perspective as well where you can calibrate the meters via a sound level meter. It will also be visually rich so will do VU as well a bar type meters. Going to be a fun project.

I just completed Umnatha Network Monitor

Umnatha Network Monitor: a free app that watches your home network

I've spent the last couple of months building a Windows app that watches my home network, and it's got to the point where it's genuinely useful rather than just a toy. I wrote it with Claude Code as an exercise to learn agentic coding while applying software engineering principles. Judge it on...

www.audiosciencereview.com

if you are interested in my approach to SW engineering.

 

[kemmler3D]

I'm going to write an app for just this. I have VU meter envy whenever I see the old school amps. I will approach it from an engineering perspective as well where you can calibrate the meters via a sound level meter. It will also be visually rich so will do VU as well a bar type meters. Going to be a fun project.

I just completed Umnatha Network Monitor

Umnatha Network Monitor: a free app that watches your home network

I've spent the last couple of months building a Windows app that watches my home network, and it's got to the point where it's genuinely useful rather than just a toy. I wrote it with Claude Code as an exercise to learn agentic coding while applying software engineering principles. Judge it on...

www.audiosciencereview.com

if you are interested in my approach to SW engineering.

You should look over some of the existing VST options, I would say this is not only a crowded space, but has been for decades in the studio world, so in order to best use your time (vibe coding or not) you should get familiar with existing tools. There are at least 2 VSTs in that old list I linked with bar and VU meters.

 

[audio_tony]

I use Wavemon to get accurate DB and voltage readings.

I had to email the developer to get the (free) download.

It's just a single executable.

 

[Redacted]

Wavemon needs a calibration procedure, I think.
But as far as "...Accurate Peak Meter Required On "What U Hear"" is concerned, I very much doubt you'd want to trust any built-in graphic-thing for recording purposes....

 

[audio_tony]

Wavemon needs a calibration procedure, I think.
But as far as "...Accurate Peak Meter Required On "What U Hear"" is concerned, I very much doubt you'd want to trust any built-in graphic-thing for recording purposes....

If I set my oscillator to -3dB that's what Wavemon states. I'm just using a straight loopback.

I guess you could go through a calibration procedure if desired - which would be trivial.

EDIT: Sorry - I forgot that I had indeed calibrated it some time ago!

I have built my own version now (with the help of AI) - I should probably rename it however!

This is a Windows executable built in C#

I have attached a .zip - you'll be prompted when running it, because it's from an unknown publisher.
It is assumed that the end user has all the dot net libraries etc. - if not I have a 'full fat' version but it's 65MB zipped and too large to upload here.

As the levels approach 0dB the bars will change to orange and then red at 0dB.

A calibration file (vfs_setting.txt) will be saved in the directory it's run from. Calibration is only required if you want accurate voltage readings.

The dB readings will be accurate regardless I think.

Recordings will be saved in the same directory the app is run from.