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PeppyMeter (software VU meter)

hifi

May 09, 2016 03:55

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I've just finished the program which I use together with HiFiBerry Amp+ that's why I thought that maybe it will be also interesting for anybody else on this site.

PeppyMeter is a software VU Meter written in Python. It was originally developed as the new 'VU Meter' screensaver for Peppy Player (https://github.com/project-owner/Peppy.doc/wiki). With minor modifications it became a stand-alone application. PeppyMeter gets audio data from media players (e.g. mpd) via fifo and displays current volume level in a Graphical User Interface in a form of traditional VU Meter.

Here are the key features of the program:

• Written in Python.
• Pygame library leveraged for UI purposes.
• Fixed resolution 480x320 pixels.
• Can work with any media player which is capable to output PCM signal to the fifo/named pipe.
• Supplies 9 default meters out of the box.
• Allows to add your own meters.
• Open-source. All source files are available on Github.
• Provides different algorithms for processing PCM data.
• Several data sources are available for testing and tuning.

All details including source files can be found on project's wiki:

https://github.com/project-owner/PeppyMeter.doc/wiki

 

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10 comments

• 0
  
  Nityesh Schnderbeck May 09, 2016 12:37

  This VU meter looks amazing, I am so impressed, nice artwork.

• 0
  
  HiFiBerry team May 09, 2016 16:02

  Wow, soo cool. Which display did you use?

  Best regards,
  Daniel

• 0
  
  hifi May 09, 2016 17:51

  Thank you Nityesh and Daniel!

  Unfortunately my attempt to make mplayer output data to both - sound card and fifo failed. When it outputs data to fifo:
  mplayer -ao pcm:file=/tmp/mpd.fifo filename
  PeppyMeter works fine but there is no sound :( That's why it works only with mpd right now.
  
  As for display I use PiTFT 3.5" from Adafruit. It's 480x320 pixels. Therefore PeppyMeter also has the same resolution.
  You can get all connection details for that touchscreen in Peppy Player wiki:
  https://github.com/project-owner/Peppy.doc/wiki
  (Use the navigation on the right side)
  
  
  

   

   

   

   

   

• 0
  
  hifi May 29, 2018 02:06

  New version of PeppyMeter was released today.
  New features:
  
  Added new native resolution 320x240px
  Redesigned volume data extraction from named pipe
  Handling of data input from different audio players through ALSA file plugin
  Implemented support for output to Serial Interface and I2C interface
  
  Here is example implementation of I2C output:

  

  
  Here is example implementation of Serial interface created by Tobias (Hamburg):

  
  More details can be found on wiki pages:
  https://github.com/project-owner/PeppyMeter.doc/wiki
  
  

• 0
  
  hifi October 14, 2018 21:57

  New version of the PeppyMeter which leverages peppyalsa plugin was just released:
  https://github.com/project-owner/PeppyMeter
  
  The details about peppyalsa plugin can be found here:
  https://github.com/project-owner/peppyalsa.doc/wiki

  

• 0
  
  hifi November 13, 2018 04:59

  New version of the PeppyMeter was released today.
  New feature - added one more native resolution - 800x480 pixels.
  Here are two examples:

  

  

• 0
  
  hifi January 27, 2019 00:26

  New version of the PeppyMeter was just released.

  New features:
  - Fixed 'Display' output. If disabled it will be possible to output signal to a hardware only. No UI will be displaied in this case.
  - Added 'PWM' output. It will allow to use LEDs and gas tubes as a hardware VU Meters.

  

  

  More details can be found on the meter wiki page:
  https://github.com/project-owner/PeppyMeter.doc/wiki/PWM-VU-Meter

   

• 0
  
  luciano March 25, 2022 13:30

  Hi there, I’m not sure I got this. Can Peppy meter be used in combination with Hifiberry OS?

• 0
  
  hifi March 26, 2022 03:12

  Hi, I've never used HiFiBerry OS. So, I don't know.

  I know that it works on a regular Raspberry Pi OS as a stand-alone application:

  https://github.com/project-owner/PeppyMeter.doc/wiki

  or screensaver for the Peppy Player:

  https://github.com/project-owner/Peppy.doc/wiki/VU-Meter

  It also works as a plugin for Volumio:

  https://community.volumio.org/t/project-with-peppymeter-screensaver-plugin-for-volumio-v2-9xx-and-3-0xx-buster/45862

   

  Edited by hifi March 26, 2022 03:12
• 0
  
  KolfMAKER February 06, 2023 15:28

  Hi all, please bare with me that I have just found out about PeppeyMeter. Wow, I am greatly surprised by PeppyMeter!

  Also, I am eager to learn more. So I have been collecting and reading info from several sources, and I have read that PeppyMeter is mainly used as a plugin on Volumio, running on a Raspberry Pi. Though, I am not looking to build my own streamer, as I already have one. My streamers are based on Linkplay modules that I have integrated in active speakers. For streaming music I mainly use Spotify.

  What I would like to do, is use PeppyMeter as active VU meter display, responding to the music streamed via Spotify. So for me it is all about the visual effect of the PeppyMeter VU meters.

  Question

  Is this possible, how, and can I do that without Volumio?