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As an alternative to a stream deck, I started using a MIDI board last year. I tried a copule and settled on the Behringer X-Touch Mini [1]. It's less than $100.

by cletus 4y ago

As an alternative to a stream deck, I started using a MIDI board last year. I tried a copule and settled on the Behringer X-Touch Mini [1]. It's less than $100. What I primarily use it for is volume control (including muting). Like I have a particular knobs for Chrome, Master Volume and games. This is all pretty easy to set up with something like MIDI Mixer [2]. There are Youtube videos on it. I also use the media controls for Spotify. This particular board has extra buttons you can use for, say, muting Zoom. As an aside, volume on Windows is a horrible mess. You can have an external speaker volume, a system Master volume, an app-specific volume (the last 2 through the Windows Volume Mixer) and then volume settings inside a game. One thing I appreciate about iOS for example is there's just one volume for what you're doing. There are separate volumes (eg ringer, speaker, music) but you only ever adjust one and it's context-dependent. Listening to music? You adjust music volume. On a call? You're adjusting call volume. Not on a call? You're adjusting ringer volume. In an ideal world, the hardware volume could be synced to the system master volume and there would be no game or app specific volumes. All of these would be deffered to the volume mixer. Or at least any in-game or in-app controls would merely adjust that volume. I can but dream. The only thing this particular board doesn't have is motorized sliders for volume. I didn't really find any options for this less than $300-500 and they tended to be much bigger boards. I'd really prefer a slider to a knob but that's just nit-picking. [1]: https://www.behringer.com/product.html?modelCode=P0B3M https://www.behringer.com/product.html?modelCode=P0B3M [2]: https://www.midi-mixer.com/ https://www.midi-mixer.com/

hbn 4y ago
> As an aside, volume on Windows is a horrible mess. You can have an external speaker volume, a system Master volume, an app-specific volume (the last 2 through the Windows Volume Mixer) and then volume settings inside a game. You never have 2 applications outputting audio and you want to balance them? Sometimes I'll be playing a game and listening to a podcast at the same time, and I want the podcast to have the louder audio, so I turn the game down. On my Mac I use for work, sometimes I'll be in a Teams meeting where I only need to be partially paying attention, and I'd like to be able to turn the Teams volume down and have something else at the forefront, but I can't do it because there's no volume mixer.
- cletus 4y ago
  You misunderstand my complaint. Windows already does this. There's a volume mixer where each app has its own volume. That's still the case AND the game/app has a separate volume. So the actual volume playing is effectively: Hardware volume x Windows master volume x Windows app volume x In-app volume No one wants or needs that level of control. You end up adjusting these separately as you need until you find out one day the hardware volume is on max but the master volume is near zero and you've been compensating for that by maxing out the in-app volume.
  - deleted 4y ago
    [deleted]
  - diffeomorphism 4y ago
    There is one x too many, yes. But otherwise I absolutely do want that. Hardware × software master × in-app, maybe condensed with "flat volume", so that raising the in-app volume also raises master if necessary, while leaving other sounds at the same effective level. The only difference I see compared to what you call iOS is that that one throws all "video" together in one giant pile. Thus youtube, netflix, spotify etc. all get the same default volume. That is really annoying me with android and I want that off!
  - reificator 4y ago
    > So the actual volume playing is effectively: > Hardware volume x Windows master volume x Windows app volume x In-app volume > No one wants or needs that level of control. I don't have a separate hardware volume relative to the Windows master volume, but otherwise I want and need that level of control. - Windows Master Volume: I turn the knob on my headset or keyboard and things get quieter or louder. This is the thing I adjust most frequently. - Windows App Volume: I turn games down, usually to 10-20% or so. Then I turn everything but comms (discord, zoom, etc) down to 80%. This ensures that I hear live communication over all else, and that my games aren't drowning out whatever I'm watching in the background. - In-App Volume: Here I adjust balance in games. Music unfortunately gets set to 0 because I'm rarely just playing a game these days. Voice lines get set higher than sound effects until I'm sure I can distinguish them clearly.
busterarm 4y ago
I'm doing similar with a Novation Launchpad X that I already had. I'm primarily using it with OBS but also use it with Zoom and a few other applications.
- filoleg 4y ago
  Any resources that you could recommend on this? Was thinking of trying to put mine up to a similar use.
  - busterarm 4y ago
    A lot of apps that I use support midi input. The Launchpad has a webapp that lets you configure the outputs of each pad to send different types of MIDI outputs. The only hitch is that the Launchpad doesn't send NoteOff messages, it sends NoteOn twice with the second time being volume 0. For apps that don't support MIDI input, there's a tool called Midikey2key which lets you map MIDI messages to keyboard inputs/shortcuts.
    - filoleg 4y ago
      Ah, so it gotta be done on the OS level, and the approach would differ per individual midi device (to set which exact midi signals are sent per button) and OS (for automating actions based on those signals received)? Got it, thanks for answering this.
sokoloff 4y ago
One of things that drives me crazy about iOS volume control is trying to adjust the volume of navigation while driving. Navigation system pipes up; that’s a little more quiet than I’d like; by the time I can adjust it safely, it’s only time to adjust the ringer; repeat.
eproxus 4y ago
They're a bit pricey but the gear from Intec would be perfect for this: https://intech.studio https://intech.studio
kllrnohj 4y ago
> In an ideal world, the hardware volume could be synced to the system master volume This already works if you're using something that can be controlled via the windows volume. Eg, a USB dac+amp usually works like this. That is, the "hardware volume" and "windows master volume" become one synchronized slider. Very often there's a break in the digital chain that prevents this from working more broadly, though (for example if you're outputing analog to your speakers, or using separate dac & amp)

by cletus 4y ago

hbn 4y ago

> As an aside, volume on Windows is a horrible mess. You can have an external speaker volume, a system Master volume, an app-specific volume (the last 2 through the Windows Volume Mixer) and then volume settings inside a game. You never have 2 applications outputting audio and you want to balance them? Sometimes I'll be playing a game and listening to a podcast at the same time, and I want the podcast to have the louder audio, so I turn the game down. On my Mac I use for work, sometimes I'll be in a Teams meeting where I only need to be partially paying attention, and I'd like to be able to turn the Teams volume down and have something else at the forefront, but I can't do it because there's no volume mixer.

cletus 4y ago
You misunderstand my complaint. Windows already does this. There's a volume mixer where each app has its own volume. That's still the case AND the game/app has a separate volume. So the actual volume playing is effectively: Hardware volume x Windows master volume x Windows app volume x In-app volume No one wants or needs that level of control. You end up adjusting these separately as you need until you find out one day the hardware volume is on max but the master volume is near zero and you've been compensating for that by maxing out the in-app volume.
- deleted 4y ago
  [deleted]
- diffeomorphism 4y ago
  There is one x too many, yes. But otherwise I absolutely do want that. Hardware × software master × in-app, maybe condensed with "flat volume", so that raising the in-app volume also raises master if necessary, while leaving other sounds at the same effective level. The only difference I see compared to what you call iOS is that that one throws all "video" together in one giant pile. Thus youtube, netflix, spotify etc. all get the same default volume. That is really annoying me with android and I want that off!
- reificator 4y ago
  > So the actual volume playing is effectively: > Hardware volume x Windows master volume x Windows app volume x In-app volume > No one wants or needs that level of control. I don't have a separate hardware volume relative to the Windows master volume, but otherwise I want and need that level of control. - Windows Master Volume: I turn the knob on my headset or keyboard and things get quieter or louder. This is the thing I adjust most frequently. - Windows App Volume: I turn games down, usually to 10-20% or so. Then I turn everything but comms (discord, zoom, etc) down to 80%. This ensures that I hear live communication over all else, and that my games aren't drowning out whatever I'm watching in the background. - In-App Volume: Here I adjust balance in games. Music unfortunately gets set to 0 because I'm rarely just playing a game these days. Voice lines get set higher than sound effects until I'm sure I can distinguish them clearly.

busterarm 4y ago

I'm doing similar with a Novation Launchpad X that I already had. I'm primarily using it with OBS but also use it with Zoom and a few other applications.

filoleg 4y ago
Any resources that you could recommend on this? Was thinking of trying to put mine up to a similar use.
- busterarm 4y ago
  A lot of apps that I use support midi input. The Launchpad has a webapp that lets you configure the outputs of each pad to send different types of MIDI outputs. The only hitch is that the Launchpad doesn't send NoteOff messages, it sends NoteOn twice with the second time being volume 0. For apps that don't support MIDI input, there's a tool called Midikey2key which lets you map MIDI messages to keyboard inputs/shortcuts.
  - filoleg 4y ago
    Ah, so it gotta be done on the OS level, and the approach would differ per individual midi device (to set which exact midi signals are sent per button) and OS (for automating actions based on those signals received)? Got it, thanks for answering this.

sokoloff 4y ago

One of things that drives me crazy about iOS volume control is trying to adjust the volume of navigation while driving. Navigation system pipes up; that’s a little more quiet than I’d like; by the time I can adjust it safely, it’s only time to adjust the ringer; repeat.

eproxus 4y ago

They're a bit pricey but the gear from Intec would be perfect for this: https://intech.studio https://intech.studio

kllrnohj 4y ago

> In an ideal world, the hardware volume could be synced to the system master volume This already works if you're using something that can be controlled via the windows volume. Eg, a USB dac+amp usually works like this. That is, the "hardware volume" and "windows master volume" become one synchronized slider. Very often there's a break in the digital chain that prevents this from working more broadly, though (for example if you're outputing analog to your speakers, or using separate dac & amp)