Deej: An open-source hardware volume mixer for Windows and Linux (opens in new tab)

> there's no way that the hardware aspect of this project is worth making over that.

Well making it yourself would allow it to customize it to your needs. I though about creating something to hang below my monitor. That way it will not take any desk real-estate.

If you buy a chip with pins you don't even need to solder, just use female to female dupont.

Of course buying a midi controller is a valid option. I would just not say there is "no way" creating it yourself is not worth it.

That MIDI controller is absolutely massive, you're not going to casually put that next to or above your keyboard like you can with the Deej.

It's a neat product, but a completely different market.

There's no way this project is for you. But let us enjoy it at least.

You are comparing a commercial solution to a DIY “learn as you build” hobbyist project?

Where’s the fun in that?

There are elegant ways for handling actuator/software mismatch for actuators with finite travel, like pots and faders.

Most schemes involve scaling the available fader travel to the "available" software travel.

Ex: Fader at 40%, software at 60%. Fader motion "up" between 40-100 moves software "up" between 60-100. Fader motion "down" between 40-0 moves software "down" between 60-0.

There are various other schemes, including multiple regimes and nonlinearity. Programmable synthesizers have dealt with this for many years. See pp13-14 of this manual for an example: https://www.davesmithinstruments.com/wp-content/uploads/2015...

They're not cheap, but not terribly expensive either. Adafruit has some[1] for $25, with 5V DC motors which is convenient. On DigiKey and Mouser there are some slightly cheaper[2] but with 10V motor.

[1]: https://www.adafruit.com/product/5466

[2]: https://eu.mouser.com/c/passive-components/potentiometers-tr...

Audio software will typically allow you to configure a soft takeover, where you must move the fader or knob until it matches the software value, and only then does it take over, to eliminate these surprises.

Rotary encoders are just not as good for controlling volume as faders.

This is an ancient problem which has been around since synthesizers first got patch memory in the 1970s like the Prophet-5.

There are a number of ways to handle the knob or fader's physical position not matching the current value:

* As soon as the control is touched, it becomes "live" and the value jumps to wherever it is. This is the simplest, but most disruptive approach because a value can jump abruptly.

* When the control is moved, it has no effect on the value until it physically reaches where that value is. This avoids any disruptive jumps, but can be confusing because a control feels "dead" until you reach the right point to get it alive again.

* I think there are other approaches where moving the control starts interpolating the live value to where it is.

There's no perfect solution, but it's tractable and not a huge issue in practice. Motorized faders are nice but very expensive and have shorter life spans.

For knobs, you can more easily avoid it by using endless encoders instead of potentiometers and then interpret its current location as the current value. (For example, Elektron hardware and the Hydrasynth take this approach.) But you lose the nice tactile affordance of having the knob stop at either end of its extent.

The trick is to train yourself to always use the hardware :D

But like the others said, Soft-takeover has been a thing for many many years.

I would use the pots, you still have software vs hardware problem, but don't need to fiddle with small sliders when you just want to change the volume a tiny bit.

>What happens if you change the levels through software and your faders do not move?

Wouldn't your software changes are overwritten by the absolute values from the Deej? That wouldn't be a surprise.

I haven't dug through the code for the app, so I don't know if it monitors the levels in software and immediately corrects them with the hardware values, if it loops at a specific interval, or only triggers on significant hardware value change.

But if not monitored, I can't imagine it would be an insurmountable task to add.

Can't help you with a list.

But https://hackaday.com/ features sometimes nice DIY project, I often also see them popping up on youtube. But you might be able to find some if you search on 3D printing websites such as https://www.printables.com/

Maybe I'm blind, but what you linked doesn't seem to have any faders, and instead have four knobs?

Everything already exists, which is no excuse for doing it again.

Also check some of the forks of Deej; some already implement this in a DIY form

While this is certainly possible to hack together using LADSPA [1] plugins it may be easiest to use something like e.g. Easy Effects [2], configure some sound profiles - 'music', 'voice', 'video', '...' - and configure some key combinations to load these on demand using easyeffects -l <preset>. As to how to bind these keys depends on your operating environment, this is how it could look in e.g. Xmonad (which is what I use):

   newKeys conf@(XConfig {XMonad.modMask = modm}) = [
     ((modm .|. shiftMask, xK_m), spawn "easyeffects -l music"),
     ((modm .|. shiftMask, xK_v), spawn "easyeffects -l video")
      ]

In this (contrived) example you'd press SHIFT-L_ALT-m to enable the 'music' profile, SHIFT-L_ALT-v for the 'video' profile.

You can also make a script which cycles through available plugins and bind that to a key, showing which plugin is activated when the key is pressed. There are many ways which lead to this version of Rome, choose the one you like best.

If you're using Gnome there is an extension which does most of the work:

https://github.com/wwmm/easyeffects/wiki/Preset-Selector-GNO...

(quote) It basicly adds a button to your top panel. Then you can click on it to see your available presets and click one to activate it without opening EasyEffects window. It also adds keyboard shortcuts to cycle through available input and output presets. Those can be set from extensions preferences window. Default keybindings are Ctrl + Super + o for output and Ctrl + Super + i for input presets.

[1] http://www.ladspa.org/

[2] https://github.com/wwmm/easyeffects

VoiceMeeter and it's macro buttons can do that.

<insert meme here where it's just one fader like their older mice with one button>

Maybe an Elgato StreamDeck +?

I normally use between 20 and up 50 when I want it loud. I've set my external amplifier to suit this.

I keep 50 "normal max" because sometimes I can be useful to be able to quickly go temporarily to 80-100 for really weak sources, without fiddling with the application or volume mixer.

That said, I have experienced what you mention when using an external headphone DAC/amp combo where there's been a mismatch between the output impedance of the DAC/amp and the headphones, and no option to adjust output impedance. But that's hardly Windows' fault.

Sounds like your hardware isn’t set right. The volume of your hardware device should be set so that it’s barely above comfortable listening volume when your device is at 100%, and then the device attenuation works from there. You probably have the hardware volume maxed out, which is also bad because it tends to run the amplifier all-out which will use much more power and generate more heat, as well as having lower dynamic range because you’re only using a subset of the amp’s range if you’re keeping it at a comfortable listening volume.

Can not confirm. On my windows I often regulate the volume between ~20 - ~80%