Expat Audio Multi-Input Hybrid VU Meter/Indicator

[Rochey]

Good Afternoon Folks!

Thought I'd share a little more of what I've been dabbling with recently.

Click the image below to see a teaser youtube video.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0IumWQGwtjM

It uses a standard TR-35 meter (or indicator, if you want to be precise about VU ballistics etc!), along with a custom 3d printed case, OLED display, Input conditioning/Mux and an Arduino. The video explains it a whole lot better than I can.

The software will be open-source once it's respectable, so this can monitor inputs, outputs, gain reduction and all sorts!

You can follow for daily updates, whilst I have motivation, over at http://www.facebook.com/expataudio

If you're interested in a kit that puts this all together to update your GSSL, Mic Pre, EQ or any other project you're working, please comment below, and join us over on facebook for updates. Interaction with our customers, and idea sharing etc is what really fires me up to spend those off-work ours working on this stuff.

Cheers

Rochey

 

[NOON]

Nice work!

What kind of ballpark are kits likely to cost?

 

[Rochey]

Fair question. Not sure yet. Depends if you want all the parts including all the stuff you could source from amazon yourself.

I’m estimating ~$60 or so. Less if I can shave costs here and there. A lot of time has already gone into this, and there’s a lot more to go in documentation and videos! Assembling this thing will be like assembling a model railway kit, thin wire wrap wires feeding through little gaps etc.

However, I’ll open the software, allowing you make custom splash screens, logo’s when clipping and.... stretch goal... midi control from your daw with a plugin, so you can control what your looking at, and what color the LED’s change etc from across the room.

What kind of sticker shock does that cause?

 

[NOON]

Sounds reasonable for what it is and the amount of work you've put in. I won't be rushing out to buy 24 of them to set up a wall of metering any time soon, but it's definitely a good one to keep in mind for special projects. I built loads of model planes as a kid, so should be OK with the fiddly assembly.

 

[Rochey]

Sounds reasonable for what it is and the amount of work you've put in. I won't be rushing out to buy 24 of them to set up a wall of metering any time soon, but it's definitely a good one to keep in mind for special projects. I built loads of model planes as a kid, so should be OK with the fiddly assembly.

I did the same with with the model planes!
there was always that thin<1mm rod that would go down the side of the body of the plan that would snap, that you'd glue both ends back on, make it look like it was connected, but it was never the same again!

Understood about the wall of meters! It could get expensive quickly.

Once i'm done with this design, I may consider doing a smaller kit that simply adds red LED's to the standard TR-35 and a comparator, so that you can show clipping. That'll be a much simpler circuit, and for some, just as useful.

 

[Rocinante]

Very cool. I am interested. Can this be used for other projects? Would one treat it like a standard vu meter?

 

[Rochey]

Yes. The analog needle isn’t touched or modified.
For audio (not gain reduction) the analog signal chain is:
Mux-> Precision rectify -> mux -> needle

The emulation of the Side chain for GR mode makes it “special” along with the ability to use the RGB LED ring and OLED display.

Please come over to the expat audio Facebook page to see more details and to ask more questions!

Best regards

Rochey