Is there a good free VU Meter out there you'd recommend ?

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title says it all...
Reaper (win), i7-7700k, 16GB

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If you're a Studio One user, then there is this: https://shop.presonus.com/VU-Meter

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https://youlean.co/youlean-loudness-meter/

Is the best free meter out there.

btw there's a reason VU is nicknamed Virtually Useless, don't bother with it. PPMs (Peak Programme Meter) and the youlean meter are a better way to go.

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I actually wanted to recommend Youlean, but, i was a bit unsure whether it qualifies as a VU meter or not. :D

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You mean like this one? https://www.kvraudio.com/product/mvmeter2-by-tbproaudio

Although if it's all the same, I'd use a Sleepy Time Stereo Channel for the extra goodies
http://www.vst4free.com/free_vst.php?id=1216

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Not free (but pretty darn close) and worth the price from a quality developer:

https://klanghelm.com/contents/products/VUMT/VUMT.php

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tbproaudio mvmeter

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Seconding Sleepy Times Stereo Channel for pure VU.


More Versatile: Sonalksis FreeG

Has ballistics options for Digital PPM (default), PPM, VU and BBC.

(Plus different PanLaws (0dB, -3dB, -6dB), Trim, simultaneous Peak and RMS readouts, etc.)

My meter of choice because its free and does everything i find important.

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Sleepy Times Stereo Channel unfortunately is buggy as hell, but conceptually it's a great plugin.

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Another vote for TB Pro Audio mvMeter
Always Read the Manual!

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Mr Arkadin wrote: Thu Oct 10, 2019 8:29 pm https://youlean.co/youlean-loudness-meter/

Is the best free meter out there.

btw there's a reason VU is nicknamed Virtually Useless, don't bother with it. PPMs (Peak Programme Meter) and the youlean meter are a better way to go.
Interesting! Could you elaborate a bit on the advantages and use cases for PPM metering compared ti VU meters?

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VU is the way to go for gain-staging your analogue-modelling plugins and trimming to a rough balance. Peaks matter for clipping/headroom purposes; the difference between peak and RMS ("crest factor") is a useful measure of dynamic range. LUFS is an overall "loudness" measurement intended for mixed material.

VU, LUFS and RMS will be quite similar in practice. Youlean is great on the master bus but a bit cumbersome to use all over the mix.

The Klanghelm plugins are really good; smooth rendering/dynamics, lots of appearance/scale options and they let you switch between VU and peak+RMS views (as well as some more specialised metering standards).

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TBProAudio mvMeter2

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I actually wanted to recommend Youlean ten days before MasterTuner even thought about making this Thread.
Anyone who can make you believe absurdities can make you commit atrocities.

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Izak Synthiemental wrote: Fri Oct 11, 2019 2:00 pm Sleepy Times Stereo Channel unfortunately is buggy as hell, but conceptually it's a great plugin.
Admittedly I don't really use it. It looks nice and I have it in the folder, but I don't use VU meters.

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Re: what meter to use
It's digital domain so you might as well use a digital domain meter. VU is different universe. I can see the appeal to have it to 0 visually with some headroom, but might as well adapt to the DAW ways instead.

A simple trick to keep in mind is VU 0db = -18db digital. Is not an exact match (because the systems are different), but if you keep in mind to never RMS above -18db then you'll be in a better place to win the headroom battle.

Also, since we are talking paid meters:
https://www.hornetplugins.com/plugins/h ... meter-mk3/
https://www.hornetplugins.com/plugins/hornet-lu-meter/

These are not just meters, you can use them to auto balance things. It works as described, although the idea itself is gimmicky. But if you are going to spend some money on a meter might as well make it work for you. I personally don't use those two, I went for the Track Utility 2 that has peak+RMS meters but also goodies:
https://www.hornetplugins.com/plugins/h ... ility-mk2/

Track Utility 2 can also auto balance things by peak or RMS. (But auto balancing things is still gimmicky even with the fancier plugin).
Last edited by jochicago on Fri Oct 11, 2019 7:46 pm, edited 1 time in total.

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