We need physical audio kill switches • Hacker News Board

Re: We need physical audio kill switches

#21

Post by wongarsu » Sun, Sep 20, 2020, 6:27 PM UTC

theon144 wrote: post #12

Tarsul wrote: post #9

I agree with him. Also, why is there no microphone mute button (or shortcut) integrated in windows? Seems like a must-have nowadays.

Absolutely, especially since software like Zoom allows the call host to unmute the microphone on your (!) end. It's unsurprising and possible with any kind of software mute of course, but still significant enough for me to seek out a solution - I use https://sourceforge.net/projects/micmute/ but it's not without its hitches, unfortunately :/

My headset has a mic kill switch [1]. It's very useful, and I'm honestly surprised that it isn't more common (especially since volume control is a fairly standard feature on headsets)

1: https://steelseries.com/gaming-headsets/arctis-7 The red switch on the back; when muted the front of the mic shines red.

Re: We need physical audio kill switches

#22

Post by toast0 » Sun, Sep 20, 2020, 6:27 PM UTC

armada651 wrote: post #6

The real design flaw here is not conveniently being able to set the volume per application. Most systems are able to do this, but don't expose that functionality conveniently. In my opinion the volume keys should only be adjusting the volume for the application/website currently in focus.

> In my opinion the volume keys should only be adjusting the volume for the application/website currently in focus.

If that extends to the mute button, that's definitely not the right thing for this application. If I can't turn off the fine noise before I find the fine application that's making it, I'm just going to pull the fine power.

Re: We need physical audio kill switches

#23

Post by woofie11 » Sun, Sep 20, 2020, 6:27 PM UTC

GistNoesis wrote: post #15

I have encountered the opposite problem. Some speakers turn themselves off automatically when they don't detect any sound on the line for a certain amount of time. So when you want to have your monitoring application ring the alarm on the speaker, you need to be aware of it so you don't miss it. Depending on the speaker you may need to be continuously playing some very low volume audio to prevent them from auto-turni…

> Depending on the speaker you may need to be continuously playing some very low volume audio to prevent them from auto-turning off.

Standard is very high frequency -- outside of audible range. It's a good hack. Especially helpful for disabling automatic gain control.

Re: We need physical audio kill switches

#24

Post by amiga-workbench » Sun, Sep 20, 2020, 6:27 PM UTC

onion-soup wrote: post #11

Nothing 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.

My Topping DAC/Amp has an optical rotary encoder for volume control and it is awful, it will randomly jump 10x the amount of steps you have rotated it, sometimes even in the opposite direction. There's something to be said for a good old fashioned potentiometer.

Re: We need physical audio kill switches

#25

Post by Negitivefrags » Sun, Sep 20, 2020, 6:28 PM UTC

GistNoesis wrote: post #15

I have encountered the opposite problem. Some speakers turn themselves off automatically when they don't detect any sound on the line for a certain amount of time. So when you want to have your monitoring application ring the alarm on the speaker, you need to be aware of it so you don't miss it. Depending on the speaker you may need to be continuously playing some very low volume audio to prevent them from auto-turni…

This is often caused by digital audio.

It takes most digital decoders a little while to start streaming again when a new digital signal comes in. I’ve noticed it in every setup using digital audio output from a PC I’ve ever used.

To fix it I believe it’s possible to send encoded complete silence, and that still works to stop the decoder from stopping.

I don’t know why there would be a delay, but my guess is that it’s something like waiting for the next “block” of audio to start to start.

I’ve noticed when bitstreaming compressed audio formats that the delay is longer, but also a bit arbitrary which I suspect is because the next block start position depends on where exactly you paused the video.

Re: We need physical audio kill switches

#26

Post by formerly_proven » Sun, Sep 20, 2020, 6:30 PM UTC

amiga-workbench wrote: post #24

onion-soup wrote: post #11

Nothing 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.

My Topping DAC/Amp has an optical rotary encoder for volume control and it is awful, it will randomly jump 10x the amount of steps you have rotated it, sometimes even in the opposite direction. There's something to be said for a good old fashioned potentiometer.

It's kinda ridiculous that seemingly three quarters of the people who write graycode decoder firmware get it wrong, despite the correct methods being publicly available with sample code since 15-20 years at least.

Re: We need physical audio kill switches

#27

Post by tetris11 » Sun, Sep 20, 2020, 6:30 PM UTC

onion-soup wrote: post #11

Nothing 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.

Every microwave I have ever owned have been under $30, purely because I didn't want to go digital. Analogue egg-timer knob - good enough accuracy, and instantly pliable

Re: We need physical audio kill switches

#28

Post by scotty79 » Sun, Sep 20, 2020, 6:30 PM UTC

onion-soup wrote: post #11

Nothing 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.

I kinda like step-based control of my stove. It makes things predictable. Although I'd probably prefer knob with numeric indicator to exactly what value it is set.

Re: We need physical audio kill switches

#29

Post by brandon272 » Sun, Sep 20, 2020, 6:31 PM UTC

I 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.

Re: We need physical audio kill switches

#30

Post by secondcoming » Sun, Sep 20, 2020, 6:31 PM UTC

GistNoesis wrote: post #15

I have encountered the opposite problem. Some speakers turn themselves off automatically when they don't detect any sound on the line for a certain amount of time. So when you want to have your monitoring application ring the alarm on the speaker, you need to be aware of it so you don't miss it. Depending on the speaker you may need to be continuously playing some very low volume audio to prevent them from auto-turni…

I seem to recall that during events where there is the 'one minute silence' beforehand, the TV commentator would have to interrupt the silence so that something doesn't get turned off automatically. I can't remember the exact details.