Teensy 4.0 , analog VU meters for DAW

K

Kosta

Member
Hey everyone, first time here.
I recently came across a project that I wanted to build. It consists of a Teensy 4.0 working through MIDI - USB with a DAW plug-in ( DP meter Pro ) that allows you to send midi to the teensy ——> converts to analog and sends out to analog VU meters being triggered separately per track. So basically when this is all put together , you can build an external meter bridge. Meters are connected to the teensy PWM which is receiving midi from a DAW. I hope I got this right…..
The code is available for DL and the instructions to build the vu meters unit are available on the Blue Cat Audio site. I guess that I’m doing something wrong because I can’t get the VUs to work. I’m new to Teensy so maybe it’s a lack of knowledge on my part. If anyone has any knowledge on this or can help to guide me it would be great..

Thanks

Kosta
 
Last edited:
Hi Paul
Thank you for responding.

Yes, this is the project.

So I wired it up as seen in the pics on their site.
I'm wiring up 8 VU meters for 8 tracks for now and the 4 center VU's and LED VU's monitor the Stereo Output..... I want to increase that 8 input to 16 eventually when this is setup and working.
Now im not sure that Teensy is receiving midi and i dont really know 100% how to test that it is. I tried to use serial plotter and serial monitor to find activity , but its blank. I believe that the PWM pins should send a reading that I would pickup with my volt meter, but all the pins not sending any signal.
The PWM wired pins connect to the VU positive signal lead on the VU.
From what I've read about Blue Cat Audio ( DP meter Pro plug-in ) , It analyses and sends midi to the Teensy.
Im using Logic Pro X 10.5.? and DP is loaded on each track as an effects plug-in and it is reading and displaying activity per track. I assumed that the code would talk to the Plug-in and automatically communicate with the Teensy. Im probably wrong about that theory.

Im wondering if the code is a skeletal model whereby i must insert the PWM pin numbers and or values manually ?
Im also wondering if the plug-in must be configured manually to talk to Teensy ?
as I mentioned I am new to this but eager to learn.

I've attached the code for you to review and a Pic of what it will look like.
Please let me know what you find.

Best regards

Kosta
 

Attachments

  • VuRack.ino
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  • Kosta's Meter Bridge.jpg
    Kosta's Meter Bridge.jpg
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Last edited:
PaulS said:
Are you sure the DAW plug-in actually sends out MIDA data to your Teensy?
Click to expand...
The latter you can easily check by adding Serial.begin(9600); to void setup() like so:
C++: 
void setup() {
  Serial.begin(9600);
  usbMIDI.setHandleControlChange(onCC);
  < stuff deleted >
}
and by adding some Serial.print()s to void onCC(byte channel, byte control, byte value) like so:
C++: 
void onCC(byte channel, byte control, byte value) {
  Serial.print(channel);
  Serial.print("\t");
  Serial.print(control);
  Serial.print("\t");
  Serial.println(value);
  if (channel == kMIDIChannel) {
    < stuff deleted >
    digitalToggle(LED_BUILTIN);
  }
}

On the serial monitor you will see the CC data sent out by the plug-in, alike:
1743261464172.png

(my Teensy LC-based MIDI controller sending out CC data on channel 1, control #16, values 1 & 65)

Paul
 
I know that there is a demo of DP on the site that i am trying out. The team at B C audio told me it does send midi and to test before i buy.

i will try what you suggested..

just wondering .....maybe you can try it out too,, you could certainly get this going I'm sure.
 
So just to say that it doesn't have to be that plug-in. If you could suggest a better or another way to do what im looking to do... Im all ears..
 
Well, you may want to elaborate on what you exactly want. Are you looking into connecting the VU meters to your DAW in order the show volumes of different tracks? Or is it a completely different application without using a DAW at all?
When it's indeed a solution for a DAW, you need some tool to convert the amplitude values of the MIDI tracks to MIDI messages, like Blue Cat's DP Meter Pro.
With my comments and test above, I just wanted a way to verify whether the plug-in is actually sending data.
I'm not into DAW software so I can't really advice you on a better or different way.

Paul
 
You got it exactly.. I want to connect VU's to my DAW to show volume per track.
Im doing something wrong ... I just cant figure out what it is...
Im not getting a reading either on the serial monitor...
 
Thanks for mentioning our project here!

Paul's suggestion is indeed a great way to debug and find out where the issue comes from. You will have to double check every single step of the whole process to find out the issue.
 
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