USB Volume knob?

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Supreme [H]ardness
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Nov 17, 2000
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I have no control of sound on my keyboard other than setting up hot keys which seem to take forever to respond. Does anyone make a USB volume knob that just adjusts windwos volume? Something that just sits on a desk and makes it easy to adjust volume inside of a game?
 
Griffin Technology NA16029 PowerMate USB Multimedia Controller
 
wra18th said:
Griffin Technology NA16029 PowerMate USB Multimedia Controller
Click to expand...

I have one of these but they aren't really compatible with anything higher than windows vista. You can get it working on windows 7 but I have to manually launch the program (powermate) as an administrator to get it working reliably and even then once in a while it just stops working, and you have to double click on the program again. It's annoying when you are in a full screen game and it stops working.
The company has been lazy about updating the program and getting new drivers for newer version of windows.
 
Get a new keyboard. Most brands have at least one model with multimedia controls.

Personally, I just use the volume control on the speakers. But that would vary on your setup.
 
Griffen pisses me off so bad. They create some of the niftiest gadgets ever, then fail to support them worth a shit.
 
Depending on your speaker setup the Schiit Sys may be just what you are looking for: http://schiit.com/products/sys.

If you have something more elaborate than a 2.0 setup it won't benefit you, but if it fits your setup it should work and it looks nice too.
 
Seems like a general enough thread to ask. Is way to map the Windows mixer to a device? So I can have physical or digital knobs for Skype, TeamSpeak, Game, Steam voice chat, USB Mic, RaidCall, whatever else? Maybe something touchscreen?

Sometimes when you Tab out of a game to do other things it will inevitably crash. Perfect example is Project Cars.
 
Not sure, but it's been bad enough I considered selling my Filco stealth red switch keyboards to get one of those corsairs with the volume switches.
 
My Logitech G710 mechanical keyboard has a volume slider built in for example. Seems to work with Win10.
 
I use a Sescom SES-MKP-27 between my PC and my headphones, because they are IEMs with no volume control of their own. It's not an amp; it's only a volume control that reduces volume. It's much better quality than the Koss VC20. Sescom has a few other volume controls but they don't seem to be USB.
 
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On the back of the Sescom 27 is merely a 3.5mm audio input jack and a 3.5mm audio output jack. I'm sorry if my post might have impied by omission that it was USB; it's not. If you have a 3.5mm audio jack on your laptops and tablets, it's simply a volume control that can turn the volume down without pesky software and drivers and operating systems and video players and Flash screwing up the audio stream and not working. If you're trying to control audio volume through USB, I never even tried any of that.
 
weuntouchable said:
Depending on your speaker setup the Schiit Sys may be just what you are looking for: http://schiit.com/products/sys.

If you have something more elaborate than a 2.0 setup it won't benefit you, but if it fits your setup it should work and it looks nice too.
Click to expand...

I'm guessing if he asked for a USB control option it's because he's using a USB headset, some other USB device without volume control or an analog device in the chain (like USB speakers with a built in DAC etc), OR has his headphones hooked up directly to the sound card.

That's a big part of the reason I really loved my K90 originally, all I had was an STX + headphones and speakers so the K90's volume roller was bliss. Now that i have an external headphone amp with it's own knob I don't really touch the volume on my keyboard.

Now if he has a USB DAC or any sort of analog/RCA chain then yeah, there's a million options. There's Emotiva's control thing, same price but more compact:

https://emotiva.com/products/electronics/control-freak

That kinda thing is great if you have active speakers beyond reach or with independent volume on each... Amongst other kinds of setups. Doesn't do much for headphone users tho. That Sescom device doesn't look bad, tho it's like 1/3rd the price of an amp...

No clue what kinda impact it'd have on SQ, you notice a difference with/without evilsofa? For a little over 2x the price you could spring for a Schiit Fulla, entry level DAC/AMP + volume knob on board.

http://schiit.com/products/fulla

It might or might not be an upgrade over on board audio, depending on your desktop/laptop/headphones/etc. You can use it with pretty much anything tho, even Android devices.

Getting a BT dongle + receiver with volume control could be another option, tho you're going in the opposite direction with SQ there, but hey it's wireless (would run ya about $80 too).

I actually use a BT receiver w/mic (Sony MW600) to hook up my IEM and nicer headphones to my Android devices, the SQ hit hardly matters on the go and I bypass whatever sound issues my device's output has. Still got a wire going to the cans but having the phone/tablet free is nice.
 
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Impulse said:
That Sescom device doesn't look bad, tho it's like 1/3rd the price of an amp... No clue what kinda impact it'd have on SQ, you notice a difference with/without evilsofa? For a little over 2x the price you could spring for a Schiit Fulla, entry level DAC/AMP + volume knob on board.
Click to expand...

The Koss VC20 I mentioned earlier is popular on Amazon, but at around 80% volume or so, both of them that I got does this thing where one of the channels drops out. The two Sescom 27s that i got were more expensive but didn't have this problem, or at least have it very minimally. I'm no audio expert so I don't know how these non-amplifier volume controls do their work.
 
Impulse said:
I'm guessing if he asked for a USB control option it's because he's using a USB headset, some other USB device without volume control or an analog device in the chain (like USB speakers with a built in DAC etc), OR has his headphones hooked up directly to the sound card.

That's a big part of the reason I really loved my K90 originally, all I had was an STX + headphones and speakers so the K90's volume roller was bliss. Now that i have an external headphone amp with it's own knob I don't really touch the volume on my keyboard.

Now if he has a USB DAC or any sort of analog/RCA chain then yeah, there's a million options. There's Emotiva's control thing, same price but more compact:

https://emotiva.com/products/electronics/control-freak

That kinda thing is great if you have active speakers beyond reach or with independent volume on each... Amongst other kinds of setups. Doesn't do much for headphone users tho. That Sescom device doesn't look bad, tho it's like 1/3rd the price of an amp...

No clue what kinda impact it'd have on SQ, you notice a difference with/without evilsofa? For a little over 2x the price you could spring for a Schiit Fulla, entry level DAC/AMP + volume knob on board.

http://schiit.com/products/fulla

It might or might not be an upgrade over on board audio, depending on your desktop/laptop/headphones/etc. You can use it with pretty much anything tho, even Android devices.

Getting a BT dongle + receiver with volume control could be another option, tho you're going in the opposite direction with SQ there, but hey it's wireless (would run ya about $80 too).

I actually use a BT receiver w/mic (Sony MW600) to hook up my IEM and nicer headphones to my Android devices, the SQ hit hardly matters on the go and I bypass whatever sound issues my device's output has. Still got a wire going to the cans but having the phone/tablet free is nice.
Click to expand...

Nothing to do with my headphones which are Denon AHD2000.. I just wanted OS volume control from USB with a nice knob. Griffin makes some cool stuff but support sucks. They even made a bluetooth wireless knob that looks NICE but mac only. I don't like putting any un-needed equipment in the signal path as there is always a chance of introducing something in the signal I don't want. My new WASD keyboard has Audio control but I still miss the feel of a knob.. :rolleyes:
 
cyclone3d said:
This, a project box, and a knob of your choice.
http://www.amazon.com/Fusion-Control-Powered-Controlled-Rotary/dp/B00ANRRZCG

Or you could possibly make your own from an old mouse.
http://www.instructables.com/id/Desktop-Scroll-Wheel-and-Volume-Control/
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Wow that Fusion setup is tempting.. why would they not finish the thing? If they provided a case and knob that was nice I would have paid extra. Most of the cases for these I have seen ppl build look like crap or are way to huge. It's to bad Griffin doesn't make that bluetooth model for windows.. I would have been all over that thing.
 
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It is possible to just solder a potentiometer to gamepad electronics
Their analog stick axis have at least 255 different steps
You can read their value and change the system volume accordingly

Personally I just used hotkeys when I needed this years ago
The secret is increasing/decreasing the volume x times a second immediately and as long as your hotkey is held down
This gives you a fast and precise response as opposed to pressing a key and waiting for key repeat
 
ellover009 said:
I have one of these but they aren't really compatible with anything higher than windows vista. You can get it working on windows 7 but I have to manually launch the program (powermate) as an administrator to get it working reliably and even then once in a while it just stops working, and you have to double click on the program again. It's annoying when you are in a full screen game and it stops working.
The company has been lazy about updating the program and getting new drivers for newer version of windows.
Click to expand...


Interesting. I've been using mine since Windows 7 without any issue. Currently running Windows 10 and the core functions still work just fine. (volume, mute, and I've got it set as an encoder for NI Maschine) Wonder if the incompatibility you reference was remedied at some point given that mine is working just fine.

Awesome knob, btw - nice build quality, simple, smooth action.
 
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