OT: What hardware to control monitor volume?

NickHope wrote on 6/17/2005, 2:49 AM
I have a pair of M-Audio BX5 audio monitors and I'm proposing to buy the Echo Gina 3GL sound card.

The monitors have built-in amps and have independent volume controls on the back.

I use the monitors not just for Vegas but basically for everything that the PC does, which is A LOT. Initially I'd like to be able to adjust or even mute the volume of both monitors in unison QUICKLY and easily and precisely. The software volume controls don't really allow this.

So I need a simple hardware volume control that sits between the soundcard and the monitors. I'm really just talking stereo in / stereo out for now with the outputs ganged and if possible maintaining the balanced signal. I'm an audio newbie so I'd like to know...

1. Should I be searching "mixers", "faders" or something else?

2. Has anyone got any good value/quality recommendations?

3. Is the extra box a bad idea in terms of quality loss?

4. Should I get a mixer with more inputs/outputs that might be be useful in other ways?

5. Is there an alternative sound card comparable to the Gina that has hardware output level controls, preferably gangable?

thanks, Nick

Comments

Chienworks wrote on 6/17/2005, 4:10 AM
If you're a DIY kinda guy, for about $10 you can get a 5K Ohm stereo audio taper pot, a small metal box, and some RCA or 1/8" stereo jacks at Radio Shack. I built one of these and am now using it in my office for exactly this same purpose. It took about 10 minutes to put it together. Most of the time was spent drilling the holes in the box. It's entirely passive so as long as the pot is clean quality isn't an issue. I've been using it for about 15 years now and it's still clean and crackle-free.
farss wrote on 6/17/2005, 4:56 AM
5K ohm sounds a bit low to me for consummer line levels, I think I used 47K ohms in mine, but what the heck they're cheap enough!
Such boxes can have more than one use too, many sound cards don't have level controls on their line levels inputs and some gear doesn't have output level controls so a box like this one is sometimes needed between gear.
Bob.
GlennChan wrote on 6/17/2005, 8:18 AM
Another method:
You could get a mixer like the Behringer UB802 or UB1002 or higher. The main advantage of going this more expensive route is:
A- If you want to record voice-overs, the mixer gives you a decent quality preamp. The metering and headphone jack may also be nice touches.
B- If you have lots of decks in your system (VHS, DVD, DV, etc.), you can use the mixer to help manage where all the audio goes.

2- Radio Shack may not stock electronic components anymore. They've kind of turned into Best Buy (you can buy an extended warranty on an overpriced cable that comes with a lifetime manufacturer warranty). Their website might let you check in-store availability?
Spot|DSE wrote on 6/17/2005, 8:56 AM
Mackie Big Knob. I love it! Switcher, volume, etc etc. It's much more expensive than these guys are mentioning, but it works wonderfully. Nice to look at, too.
busterkeaton wrote on 6/17/2005, 10:14 AM
On the high end there is something like the Mackie Big Knob.

On the lower end there is the Power Mate

I have a dell keyboard that comes with a volume knob and a mute button. It works pretty well for what I need it for. In fact, I just got a phone call while typing this and muted my audio. One thing that is wierd with Vegas is that starting with Vegas 5, if I use this button when Vegas is the application that has the focus, it will mute the track that is selected. So it mutes the video or the audio track which is not what I want. So I have to Alt-Tab to another program and then hit Mute.

If anyone knows how to change this keyboard action, let me know. Thanks.


I see that as I was on the phone, Spot, already told you about the Mackie Big Knob.



NickHope wrote on 6/17/2005, 12:27 PM
Thanks for all the great replies folks. The Mackie Big Knob looks great but is OTT for me for the time being, but one of these other solutions should be OK.

I do have mulitimedia keys on my cordless Microsoft keyboard. The mute button does an OK job but the volume is changed by up and down push-buttons. Unfortunately the "down" button doesn't work in most programs including their own Windows Media Player.

Edit: I think perhaps the MS keyboard doesn't get on with my Terratec sound card. I wonder if it would be possible to write macros to increase or reduce master system volume which could then be assigned to other keys on my keyboard?
Sidecar wrote on 6/18/2005, 10:47 AM
How do you control 5.1 audio? That's six line level signals coming out of the sound card going to six powered monitors.

I don' t see anything out there that allows volume control for a bunch of speakers.
mattockenfels wrote on 6/18/2005, 5:38 PM
Maybe something like this ......

http://www.mac-pro.com/s.nl/sc.2/category.133/it.A/id.362/.f

I imagine it could talk to you sound card master ouput bus ... has anyone heard of this?

Cheers,

Matt
Spot|DSE wrote on 6/18/2005, 6:02 PM
Matt, that's the Griffen knob Buster was referring to. Works very well indeed, and is kinda sexy too
musman wrote on 6/19/2005, 2:43 PM
This is a problem I came across when demoing Vegas 5 and it drove me nuts! I tried disabling the functions in the keyboard mapper thing and it stopped the muting of tracks and the raising of track volume, but it did not default back to the old functions of muting all volume to the speakers, etc.
I sent an email to Sony about it and after some correpondance they concluded that this feature was not working as it should and that they hoped to correct it in an upcoming update. Guess that hasn't happened.
Maybe I'm the weird one here, but I don't see the need for the multimedia keyboard controls to affect track volume settings. Actually, I see it as a disaster waiting to happen if you accidentally change track volume and don't notice until later, etc. But, until I read these posts I thought I was the only one who was bothered by this. Anyway, I wish they'd just put things back the way they were.