There’s an important distinction between VU meters and full scale meters that needs to be understood. VUs don’t show us exactly how loud something is at one particular moment. Now, you could argue that VU meters aren’t as accurate as digital full scale meters, and you wouldn’t be wrong.

They show us the average of all those quick peaks and dips-an overall picture versus a quick snapshot. VU meters, on the other hand, are not quite as exact. Full scale meters are also extremely precise, catching moment-to-moment peaks and drops in volume. We know that 0 dBFS is the limit for digital audio anything above that is considered clipping. Most default DAW meters measure volume in decibels full scale. It’s easiest to describe these classic meters in relation to today’s digital meters inside a DAW. What a VU meter does is track and display the average level of any given signal. VU is an abbreviation of ‘volume unit.’ Bell Telephone invented the technology in 1939 and it hasn’t changed much since. The default digital meter is what most of us go by these days, but VU meters are still useful! These are the best free VU meter plugins in 2023. You’d see them on consoles and outboard gear for measuring input or output level as well as gain reduction on compressors. My humble cannery: Sennheiser PX 100, HD 25 plastic, Aluminum, and 75th Anniv., HD 600, HD 800, Fostex TH900mk2 SB, TR-X00 Mahogany, Audeze LCD-2C, 3F, HIFIMAN HE6SE V2, HE400i 2020, Beyer DT 1770, DT 880/600, Shure SE535, SE215, RHA MA-750, Dunu Trident, Cables by .uk and skyaudiocables.Before people started working in-the-box, VU meters measured the average level of a signal. My humble cannery: Sennheiser PX 100, HD 25 plastic, Aluminum, and 75th Anniv., HD 600, HD 800, Fostex TH900mk2 SB, TR-X00 Mahogany, Audeze LCD-2C, 3F, HIFIMAN HE6SE V2, HE400i 2020, Beyer DT 1770, DT 880/600, Shure SE535, SE215, RHA MA-750, Dunu Trident, Cables by .uk and skyaudiocables.

Music: FreeBSD ZFS running on Xeon, CIFS/Samba and minidlna | Tidal MQA | Deezer Hifi | ScAmazon HD | Foobar2000 | ASIOProxy | BluOS | Yamaha MusicCast Headstation: Lenovo M75t Audio-gd DI-20, coax Mytek Brooklyn DAC+ RME ADI-2 DAC FS (AKM, 2nd Ed., first batch in Europe) Violectric V280 SPL Phonitor 2 Bluesound Node 2i Wireworld Chroma 8 coaxĢ Channel: Lenovo M90n IoT, Audio-gd DI-20HE, Master 19, R8 MK2 Mutec REF10, MC-3+ USB, MC-1.1+ TASCAM DA-3000, RW901MKII Oppo UDP-205 Bluesound B100S Musical Fidelity M5si, Klipsch R-26F floorstanders on custom isolators DIY AES/EBU and balanced analog cables from Sommer cable stock, Hicon connectors Wireworld Ultraviolet 7 HDMI & coax Damar & Hagen bydpete Tertiary systems: Yamaha MusicCast JBL Control 5s on Gravity stands Audio-gd R2R-11 rev.

Denon V6 Foobar Vu Meter