Decorative Wall Audio VU Meter

Update note from 07-08-2025: The code has been updated again. I added a couple of patterns that cycle through when there is no audio. If you do not want them to cycle through, there is an 'int mode = 1;' line in the code. Change that to 0.

There is an alternative code in the .zip file that does the same as the other, but it connects to your WiFi, grabs the time from an NTP server and waits. When the time turns 4:20 (am or pm) the two VU Meters go all green in a nice animated fashion. See the code header for more info on that.


This is a decorative audio VU meter that gives off a nice light show. I made 2 of these for left and right channels, and I have them both running off an ESP32 dev board. I'll probably add a brightness pot, but you could also use a light sensor to have it automatically adjust the brightness. This design takes an unbalanced audio line input. I used a male 1/8" stereo TRS connector out of a headphone amp. The audio interface to the ESP32 is the MSGEQ7 (L+R) Board