vu meter...

[jamiewoody]

i miss the days of the analog vu meter, on cassette decks, etc!  there is just something cool about that needle jumping, and in my opinion, they are more accurate and easier to read than the led versions, but i digress...

has anyone here tried to incorporate a "needle" style vu meter into their work? if you do, would this be in series with the "output" pin on am IC? can only 9 volts push one of these?!

i just think it would look sweet to have one of these built into a synth! ;-)

[Dylan]

I think Peter Edwards has something with one.

[Gordonjcp]

There are loads of VU meter driver circuits out there.  Mostly they consist of a buffer amplifier, a rectifier, and some sort of capacitor and resistor network to set the time constant.  Without the latter, the needle will swing about wildly.  Without the rectifier, it won't move at all, and without the buffer amp it might make your audio a bit manky and distorted.

This would be wired *across* the output - connecting things in series is quite often not what you want at all.

[jamiewoody]

i just think it would look cool! i don't care really how accurate it is, just to see a needle jumping when i go BZZZWWWWEEERREEEWWW!!! LOL!

[tinsolder]

i love built in vu-meters . kiddy-computers look..outspaced?. i usualy find the spot by probing  around with the positive end of a led.(minus to battery-minus.) and where the led flashes with the voice or sound, theres the connection for the vu-meter. they are polarized too, i guess . if the signal is to strong, use resistors. or illumin ::)ate it with a led..