Original Post: https://www.reddit.com/r/audiophile/comments/dcitfr/lets_talk_about_audio_hotkeys_useful_tools_advice/
This post has been made by my own free will. I’m not and I’ve not been paid by Actual Solutions to make this post.
I’ve been listening to music for a while. (5+ years) Here’s a plug to all my music I update regularly - Spotify
Using different applications can be a pain and I wanted to control my music universally in the same way I control all my music applications. (That being foobar, Spotify, a web browser, etc. etc.)
I didn’t want to have to open my music application (whatever it may be) whenever I wanted to turn down/up the volume, skip track, skip to a previous track… etc. etc.
I wanted to be able to control my music with actual physical controls being on my desk. A few examples could be a digital volume knob, keyboard controls, and/or a foot pedal just as examples.
Let me explain one subject which is volume adjustment. No, I don’t mean adjusting volume with the AMP. Sometimes I want other applications to be a certain volume and my music to be a specific volume. I’m not always sitting at my computer ONLY listening to music I’ve tried to find a setup that works for me on a budget.
I’m browsing the internet, talking to friends, doing other stuff like playing games, etc. etc… The possibilities of what I could be doing while listening to music can vary of course and I’m 100% sure most of you reading will completely understand this concept.
So I’m going to share with all of you what I’ve been doing to control all my music universally. (Never found a completely free solution.) Considering how much I listen to music and how much some of you do as well I think putting in a couple $ to get the setup you want as I’ve done is a small price to pay.
I couldn’t find a universal solution with Autohotkey however which was my original intention when delving deep into universal volume adjustment for a specific application on somewhat of a budget… (At least not an intuitive simple way anyway) No matter how much I tried to research the topic on how to control specific applications with a digital volume knob I just couldn’t find an easy answer using that software.
I would love to hear everyone else’s PC audio listening setups for hotkeys! If you have solutions and/or suggestions please feel inclined to provide them.
To The Setup:
I’m currently using some software named “Power Mixer” & “VolumeLock” created by a company named “Actual Solutions.”
You can download and test the free trial of the software here - Windows volume control replacement - Power Mixer
I use VolumeLock to lock my main Windows audio source to 100%. Because we control our overall audio with our AMPs. Well, at least I hope most of you do and are not over amping your headphones…lol…Not that you would really damage them anyway.
(Any DAC can be locked to 100% using this software.)
Power Mixer allows you to adjust volume levels, balance and support multiple other hotkey features.
(I only use it for volume adjusting specificly a singularly piece of software.)
Coarse the software isn’t really per se "cheap."Power Mixer & VolumeLock together are $25 as a package product key purchase.
I use this volume knob to control volume. https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01MV411BR/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1
Negatives:
Power Mixer isn’t completely pain-free to use… Sometimes I need to use Autohotkey to reset the software easily instead of having to close and re-open it so it can gain focus back to the original source being played… (Not sure why this happens but I’m almost 90% sure it has something to do with Windows and not the software.)
Here are my Autohotkey hotkey scripts I use to reset the application if I run into a small hiccup.
This resets “Power Mixer” pain-free.
F7::
Process, Close, pwmixer.exe ; close the radio
run C:\Program Files (x86)\Power Mixer\pwmixer.exe
This resets “Volume Lock”
F8::
Process, Close, pwmixer.exe ; close the radio
run C:\Program Files (x86)\VolumeLock\vollock.exe
Coarse you can use other F keys instead of mine. You could even use a combination of keys I’m sure. I haven’t got that far yet though.
If any of you have recommendations please feel welcome to provide feedback or constructive criticism for my hotkey use!
Thanks for reading!