I need this for Mac!
Deej: An open-source hardware volume mixer for Windows and Linux
11–20 of 57 posts
Re: Deej: An open-source hardware volume mixer for Windows and Linux
#12You can buy premade MIDI faders for about $25 [0], there's no way that the hardware aspect of this project is worth making over that. The software is the only real issue, at a quick glance, [1] appears to be relatively equivalent for generic MIDI fader support, perhaps with a few more bells and whistles available.
[0] https://www.aliexpress.com/item/1005005589381790.html (a chinese clone of the korg nanoControl 2, the original korg aren't that great quality, but they work, the clones are 'just as good', or you can pay more for korg or another brand)
Re: Deej: An open-source hardware volume mixer for Windows and Linux
#13Unless the faders are motorized, which I believe are expensive, I don't see how you can make that thing work reliably without some nasty surprises. What happens if you change the levels through software and your faders do not move? I would just have used rotary encoders.
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.
Re: Deej: An open-source hardware volume mixer for Windows and Linux
#14Unless the faders are motorized, which I believe are expensive, I don't see how you can make that thing work reliably without some nasty surprises. What happens if you change the levels through software and your faders do not move? I would just have used rotary encoders.
>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.
Re: Deej: An open-source hardware volume mixer for Windows and Linux
#15Unless the faders are motorized, which I believe are expensive, I don't see how you can make that thing work reliably without some nasty surprises. What happens if you change the levels through software and your faders do not move? I would just have used rotary encoders.
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...
Re: Deej: An open-source hardware volume mixer for Windows and Linux
#16Unless the faders are motorized, which I believe are expensive, I don't see how you can make that thing work reliably without some nasty surprises. What happens if you change the levels through software and your faders do not move? I would just have used rotary encoders.
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, inc…
What happens when software is at 0%, your slider is at 100% and you want to raise the volume?
Re: Deej: An open-source hardware volume mixer for Windows and Linux
#17This is neat! Is there a list of simple DIY hardware projects somewhere? I have a 3D printer and a bunch of microcontrollers laying around that don't get much use.
Re: Deej: An open-source hardware volume mixer for Windows and Linux
#18Earlier quoted context omitted.
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, inc…
What happens when software is at 0%, your slider is at 100% and you want to raise the volume?
You must move your slider down, and then up. It becomes reasonably intuitive with a small amount of practice :)
Re: Deej: An open-source hardware volume mixer for Windows and Linux
#19Would be funny, if this is as useless as the Windows volume mixer itself, because as a person with OK hearing, you need to regulate volume between 0 and 5 out of 100, while on GNU/Linux distros you could use it just fine. Imagine that in a scene:
A: Hey, somehow it is super loud when I use this to regulate volume. How come yours is set so high?
B: Ha, that's because you are regulating volume on Windows, where it maps 1 to 1 to the software volume mixer!
A: frustrated stare at their screen showing a Windows desktop
B: Having fun with volume regulation going wuuuuiii
Re: Deej: An open-source hardware volume mixer for Windows and Linux
#20You can buy premade MIDI faders for about $25 [0], there's no way that the hardware aspect of this project is worth making over that. The software is the only real issue, at a quick glance, [1] appears to be relatively equivalent for generic MIDI fader support, perhaps with a few more bells and whistles available. [0] https://www.aliexpress.com/item/1005005589381790.html (a chinese clone of the korg nanoControl 2, th…
> 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.