I have always found that physical analog VU meters have a very specific feel that cannot be matched with metering plug-ins. There is also a particular charm in these physical needles moving with the sound of recorded tracks that I am missing in the digital world. So… What if you could monitor any signal from your DAW with physical analog VU-meters and get the best of both worlds?
Thanks to the DP Meter Pro plug-in‘s unique MIDI output capabilities and a bit of DIY skills, here is what you can get!
The rack shown in this DIY project includes 10 MIDI-controlled VU-meters that can be triggered from anywhere in your DAW with the DP Meter Pro plug-in. It was used in the video above to monitor the volume of 8 tracks and the stereo master channel, but it could be assigned to anything.
The rack was built with a Teensy microcontroller (MCU) that simply translates MIDI coming via the USB port into analog signals to drive the vu meters and LEDs. Metering and ballistics are managed with the DP Meter Pro plug-in inside your DAW.
Here are a few pictures of the building process. Feel free to comment below if you want more details about how to build your own!
