It’s sort of a best-of-both-worlds solution to metering in a single free plugin. This is a 2-in-1 meter showing classic analogue VU, as well as an LED peak meter in the center of the plugin.

PreSonus VU MeterĪ simple, analogue-style meter for mono or stereo sources. Without further stalling, these are the top 5 free VU meter plugins in 2023. You honestly won’t find a ton of variation amongst these free VU meter plugins, apart from maybe an extra feature here or there. VU meters read from -20 to +3, and that’s pretty much standard across the board. So if a VU goes into the red-they go up to +3-don’t worry! Best Free VU Meter Plugins 2023 0 on a VU meter is equal to -18 dBFS-plenty of headroom. One last though to help us read these free VU meter plugins once we have them. 1 dB fluctuation for half a second! That’s why VUs are still useful in a DAW: they’re an organic representation of power as opposed to a mathematical reading. The accuracy of digital full scale meters is so precise-no one can actually hear a. Many people will tell you that VU meters more accurately show us what people are truly hearing that is, the overall loudness and energy/feel of a signal. Full scale meters, on the other hand, tell us more about exact volume and peak levels in decibels at any given point in a signal. Since VUs show us an average, they also tell us more about the loudness, and perceived loudness, of a signal.

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. Before people started working in-the-box, VU meters measured the average level of a signal.

Denon V6 Foobar Vu Meter