When working with audio for production (work) stuff which you need to separate from non-work, maybe use something like Voicemeeter Banana and route your audio signals separately (and adjust loudness separately.) That way you can keep things separate so that nobody is picking up things you don't want them to pick up (and the same for your end.) There's also apps like Krisp which filter background noise from incoming calls. I don't know if it sets loudness, but something like that would probably be good for saving your ears.
We need physical audio kill switches
321–330 of 443 posts
Re: We need physical audio kill switches
#322Earlier quoted context omitted.
I assume you're referring to bit depth and sampling. In that case, any digitization is lossy, because where do you draw the line?
> In that case, any digitization is lossy Yep, that’s part of my point, but CD audio in particular isn’t that great of bit depth or sampling rate, even by standards of the time for uncompressed digital audio. There’s also the point that the “audio wars” era covered the era of CD audio and that’s certainly another major audio quality factor.
Only one of these points is a thing. Even if you could find some situation where the dynamic range of a CD was inadequate, shaped dither or even complete garbage uniform dither would render that moot.
No producer or technician has any basis to complain about CD audio quality for listening by humans; the deficiencies of their CDs are entirely their fault.
Re: We need physical audio kill switches
#323Nothing will ever come close to convenience of analogue volume knobs. They give both immediate action and infinite granular control. Same goes for kitchen stoves. All the modern touch controls with step-based control is the absolute nightmare in terms of UI.
Talking about knobs on stoves and UX - I never understood why American stoves have the knobs on a panel at the back of the stove instead of at the front. Isn't it inconvenient having to reach over hot, frying, steaming pots and pans?
That's a very broad generalization, I have used dozens of stoves in my American life and the knobs are often at the front.
I agree, though, it is stupid when they are in the back. Presumedly this is just to save money by putting all the controls and displays in one place.
Re: We need physical audio kill switches
#324I've been thinking the same about power switches lately. If I turn a flashlight, or an old radio on or off, I flip a switch and get the result I want. With my 65 EUR gamepad, or 300 EUR headphones, I hold a button and wait several seconds for the result. Why has UX regressed so much in these areas?
I have always wanted a flashlight with a brightness knob, that clicks to off. It is incredibly hard to find this. I have one somewhere, but the knob was a little silly: https://amzn.com/B07BDQS3XX I think a better design would be a ring around the circumference that you twist. But I agree - when it came to putting a good stereo in my car (when you used to be able to do such a thing) I always kept looking until I foun…
> I have always wanted a flashlight with a brightness knob, that clicks to off... a ring around the circumference
There is one: the Jetbeam RRT-01, at least certain iterations of it. Most designs use a separate power switch.
This isn't more common because there's a patent covering using a Hall effect sensor in a ring around a flashlight body for this purpose, and the patent holder, Surefire has sued several manufacturers and vendors over it. A well-funded challenge would probably succeed on obviousness grounds, but patent challenges are expensive and I don't think the flashlight industry is profitable enough to justify it. The patent expires in three years, so this will probably become more common then.
Re: We need physical audio kill switches
#325I let my spouse, who likes the novelty of a touchscreen, talk me into a Whirlpool oven a couple years ago that is controlled by touchscreen. I had no idea it was possible to hate an oven so much. The only saving grace is that the stovetop elements are still controlled by knobs.
Ah yes, all this engineering for a device that has a single control, heat level, and has to function for possibly decades.
What better use for a fragile and overly complicated touchscreen than in a hot, moist, harsh environment?
Please tell me it has to sync with a cloud server as well, lol!
Re: We need physical audio kill switches
#326Earlier quoted context omitted.
Beeping appliances is one thing I can't stand. They're always too loud and rarely offer any adjustment or mute functionality. I got a new microwave recently. It beeped on every button press, 5 beeps after a cook cycle, no way to mute (yeah, I checked). Within a day of owning it I took it apart and ripped the beeper off the board. Problem solved.
Weren't you worried about damaging the microwave shielding?
Not at all.
Re: We need physical audio kill switches
#327Earlier quoted context omitted.
Same here. One advantage of a home studio setup is many, many sweet knobs. The musicians have figured it long ago that physical controls and no latency is a must. $50 mixer solves many problems.
If I could power on my computer with a giant roller coaster pull lever I would
Be the change you want to see in the world.
Then post it on hackaday.
Re: We need physical audio kill switches
#328Earlier quoted context omitted.
I use an induction stove and it is even more pleasurable than gas in terms of the speed of response of the pot. Response is literally instant because the pot is the source of heat, and not something external. They are also by far the safest since the hottest thing in the entire system is the bottom of the pot, which is usually at about 100-200 C depending on what you're cooking, which is usually not hot enough to sta…
I hate induction stoves (cooktops) because they seem to hit intermediate temperatures by cycling the power on and off rather than having a continuous intermediate setting. (It's possible I've only ever encountered crappy induction cooktops...)
This is sadly a problem with cheap and/or crappy induction cook tops. And it is quite annoying.
One of those little traps that it's often hard to know about in advance.
Re: We need physical audio kill switches
#329Earlier quoted context omitted.
> In that case, any digitization is lossy Yep, that’s part of my point, but CD audio in particular isn’t that great of bit depth or sampling rate, even by standards of the time for uncompressed digital audio. There’s also the point that the “audio wars” era covered the era of CD audio and that’s certainly another major audio quality factor.
Only one of these points is a thing. Even if you could find some situation where the dynamic range of a CD was inadequate, shaped dither or even complete garbage uniform dither would render that moot. No producer or technician has any basis to complain about CD audio quality for listening by humans; the deficiencies of their CDs are entirely their fault.
> No producer or technician has any basis to complain about CD audio quality for listening by humans
Ok, so since I can still identify sound frequencies >22khz despite being now 40yrs old, I’m not entitled as a human to critique the CD audio format, especially as I can tell you the exact moment when the audio range is being clipped in the songs I enjoy?
Re: We need physical audio kill switches
#330Earlier quoted context omitted.
I don't think there's much benefit to being an audiophile, unless you're so rich you can actually enjoy your insanely expensive setup in your sound-proofed room with your specially-purchased lossless audio sources. Luckily, very few people who claim to be audiophiles can actually hear the difference in a blind test. https://www.npr.org/sections/therecord/2015/06/02/411473508/...
Heh, back in the day we purchased those "CD" things and they were lossless. Actually, they didn't employ any compression at all!
What's interesting is that you can play back lossless recordings via USB in tesla - I believe FLAC and ALAC - but the USB playback software is basically unmaintained.
One tesla website has a thread hundreds of pages/thousands of comments long of complaints.
https://teslamotorsclub.com/tmc/threads/comprehensive-usb-bu...