Hope this might be of use to csound users.

I wrote a command line 'vu' meter.  You
send an audio sample stream through its
standard in and out, while it displays a
nice graph of the amplitude, warning about
clipping.

It is great for recording, or monitoring the
max amp in a pipe:

	record | vu > foo.wav
or
	record | vu | csound -istdin ...

vu understands wave files, and can be instructed
to use raw or other formats on the command line.

Here is some sample standard error output:

WAVE file: 16 bits per sample, Mono
OOOOOOOOO|    |    |    |    |    |    |    |    < T:0.5     19% 1184 
OOOO|    |    |    |    |    |    |    |    |    < T:1        8% 213 
OOOOOOOOOO    |    |    |    |    |    |    |    < T:1.5     20% 1327 
OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO    |    |    |    |    < T:2       51% 8806 
OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO|    |    |    |    < T:2.5     58% 11076 
OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO|    |    |    |    < T:3       58% 11270 
OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO < T:3.5     96% 30536 
OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO T:4       ***** CLIP *****  
OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO   |    < T:4.5     82% 22095 
OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO |    < T:5       86% 24693 
OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO    |    |    |    |    < T:5.5     50% 8505 
OOOOOOOOOO    |    |    |    |    |    |    |    < T:6       20% 1437 
OOOOOOOOOOO   |    |    |    |    |    |    |    < T:6.5     23% 1804 
OOOO|    |    |    |    |    |    |    |    |    < T:7        8% 248 
OOOOO    |    |    |    |    |    |    |    |    < T:7.5     11% 457 

Any or all of the columns can be turned off, so for example just
the raw amplitude can be output, or saved to a file.  Graph can
be updated at any rate, down to 1 per sample frame.

Package contains source and linux ELF binary.  Should compile on
any UNIX.  Don't know about others.  stderr exist on others? 

Find it at:

	ftp://198.176.199.138/pub/vu

Toby
	
	-There otta be a law-