My Kingdom For A Remote Volume Knob! can this be made?

[mglobe]

Amazon has the Surface Dial for $49 right now. I’m going to pick one up and see what I can do with it. I know I can control Roon volume with it. What I really want to do is control my mInIDSP Flex with it.

Microsoft Surface Dial https://a.co/d/7JB8YbR

 

[MCH]

Amazon has the Surface Dial for $49 right now. I’m going to pick one up and see what I can do with it. I know I can control Roon volume with it. What I really want to do is control my mInIDSP Flex with it.

Microsoft Surface Dial https://a.co/d/7JB8YbR

You can control the minidsp SHD series with a surface dial. The flex.... I am not so sure. See:

SHD + Microsoft Dial

miniDSP is a leading manufacturer of Digital Audio Signal Processors for the HomeTheater, Hifi, headphone and Automotive market. Join our large community of Audiophiles, Engineers and DIYers using our innovative products.

www.minidsp.com

 

[Gorgonzola]

What I like about both the Senic Nuimo and the Smartknob View is:

1. Rotating knob volume controls, and
2. volume setting digital volume read-outs. (The Microsoft Surface Dial lacks this feature.)

I'd love to have these features on a relatively simple, IR code learning device. I would personally prioritize the digital volume read-out even head of the rotary control. Why? Because my eyes are too poor to read the digital read-out on my preamp located across the room and I do like visually see where the volume is set. My 25+ y/o preamp has no wi-fi or Bluetooth capability. It would be nice to have, say, Mute, Source Selector, but these are non-essential for me.

... Humm, no. The remote control is round but isn't a rotary volume control.

 

[mglobe]

You can control the minidsp SHD series with a surface dial. The flex.... I am not so sure. See:

SHD + Microsoft Dial

miniDSP is a leading manufacturer of Digital Audio Signal Processors for the HomeTheater, Hifi, headphone and Automotive market. Join our large community of Audiophiles, Engineers and DIYers using our innovative products.

www.minidsp.com

Yeah I’ve looked through that. It controls it via a conversion to Wi-Fi I think, which I’m not sure will work with the flex. For the Flex I would need to go from BT to IR and figure out how to emulate the DSP remote. The BT to IR looks doable. It’s getting the remote codes in the mix that is probably more than my laziness will allow. I use the Flex for my TT and for my Roon signal. Worst case I can use it to control streaming volume, but I really want to control both.

 

[MattHooper]

RME has something.



e: Also:

Going back to the first page, this haptic input knob looks friggin' awesome!

The problem is, I've watched the video and it all goes over my head.

What is this thing? Does it exist? Is it vaporware? Can you get a hold of one? Can it learn IR codes?

 

[digitalfrost]

Going back to the first page, this haptic input knob looks friggin' awesome!

The problem is, I've watched the video and it all goes over my head.

What is this thing? Does it exist? Is it vaporware? Can you get a hold of one? Can it learn IR codes?

You'd need to built it yourself. You need to get the components, know how to solder, print 3D print parts and you'd need to have the PCBs made.

GitHub - scottbez1/smartknob: Haptic input knob with software-defined endstops and virtual detents

Haptic input knob with software-defined endstops and virtual detents - scottbez1/smartknob

github.com

In that regard it's pretty much vaporware. But it does exist for people with the necessary know how.

 

[MattHooper]

You'd need to built it yourself. You need to get the components, know how to solder, print 3D print parts and you'd need to have the PCBs made.

GitHub - scottbez1/smartknob: Haptic input knob with software-defined endstops and virtual detents

Haptic input knob with software-defined endstops and virtual detents - scottbez1/smartknob

github.com

In that regard it's pretty much vaporware. But it does exist for people with the necessary know how.

Thanks, that's what I figured.

Maybe someday I'll hunt down someone local with the chops to make such a thing, and pay them to make it. There's a custom intall AV company who is doing some stuff for me. Maybe they have a geek somewhere in their staff who'd be interested.

 

[Old Listener]

Best volume knob ever was the long discontinued Emotiva Control Freak. Best one I've found since my CF passed away is the TC Electronic Level Pilot X.

TC Electronic | Not Found

www.tcelectronic.com

View attachment 213377

I use a TC Electronic Level Pilot with balanced cables in and out next to my listening chair. Here's how they fit in my main system:

Laptop by my listening chair playing Flac files or streaming audio -> SDAC balanced DAC -> level Pilot volume control -> balanced cables under the rug -> Active monitors 9 feet from my listening chair.

I've used various methods to control volume and select music from my listening chair for about 15 years. Moving the music source, the DAC and the volume control next to my chair is far and away the simplest and most trouble free solution to the remote control requirement.

 

[mglobe]

My $49 surface dial arrived today. I paired it to the Mac Mini that is my Roon Server, and just like that I can click and start and stop songs, and double click and move to the next track. When I turn the wheel it changes the system volume, but that doesn’t change the volume going to my mInIDSP Flex which is connected to the mini via USB and acts as my DAC and also as my Dirac processor. In record time I’ve cut ruts and buried my wheels to the axles. Seems like there should be a simple solution to this but I’m stuck in the mud.

 

[mglobe]

Ok I left out a detail. To make the Dial work I installed MacDial. I downloaded the binary. I suspect there’s a way to build an executable with custom commands, but that’s way above my level of knowledge. The files might as well be written in Bulgarian.

GitHub - andreasjhkarlsson/mac-dial: macOS support for the Surface Dial

macOS support for the Surface Dial. Contribute to andreasjhkarlsson/mac-dial development by creating an account on GitHub.

github.com

 

[Timcognito]

Schiit Audio: Audio Products Designed and Built in Texas and California

www.schiit.com

 

[Neddy]

Best volume knob ever was the long discontinued Emotiva Control Freak. Best one I've found since my CF passed away is the TC Electronic Level Pilot X.

TC Electronic | Not Found

www.tcelectronic.com

View attachment 213377

I agree on the Emotiva CF, when mine started showing signs of ill health (one chan NOP, but never trouble shot it down to confirm it was the CF!), I replaced with the JBL Nanopatch, and tho not anywhere near as elegant, handles more types (IRCC both bal and unbal), & includes a mute feature, which the Emo was sorely lacking (it begged for a slap to mute capabality!). I considered the above, and like the 'view' but wasn't sure about the quality.
But this was for use on my desk, & not wireless.
For the big system, I finally went all balanced analog (I had had some AES channels) and now use the tiny little apple remote with the OktoDAC as my main volume control. I love it. Only downside is that it has a tendency to hide.
I'd like to try the MS dial thing on the WinPC/Jriver, but suspect that's a Thing Too Far.

 

[Kal Rubinson]

I'd like to try the MS dial thing on the WinPC/Jriver, but suspect that's a Thing Too Far.

????? The Dial works OK although the range is somewhat limited. OTOH, the USB VC works even better.

 

[mglobe]

????? The Dial works OK although the range is somewhat limited. OTOH, the USB VC works even better.

I like everything about that except for the USB cable that would stretch 10' from my seating position to my stereo. :-/ I want a wireless solution.

 

[iann]

Well it's here... ortho remote

and I'm pleased to report it works seamlessly controlling Spotify volume and play/pause on my Android phone via Bluetooth.

Sure it's a bit plasticky but the rotary knob feel is very smooth.

 

[somebodyelse]

https://teenage.engineering/products/orthoremote
Interesting device. Seems to send standard BLE (Bluetooth Low Energy) keyboard events for media keys by default so should work with a wide range of hardware without needing anything special to support it. It can also do BLE MIDI things, which lets people do interesting stuff to support several of them:
https://github.com/happycodelucky/ortho-remote-node

 

[Mehdiem]

I have defeated my basal instincts for a volume knob by having loudness normalisation enabled at all times.

I’m still confused about how normalization works? Sometimes it messed up and bring the average volume to a different level specially when I listen to random songs on random playlists, I could never get use to it. Tell me your secret.

 

[mglobe]

So after working with Mac-Dial for a while I decided that while it was developing, it was a bit flaky, so I’m now using my Surface Dial with RooDial. More expensive as you have to buy a Rpi and the software, but so far it’s rock solid. Rpi’s are difficult to come by and more expensive than they should be. I found a Rpi Zero 2W which is so far working well.

 

[Mehdiem]

I don’t use Roon and I was hoping I could control the volume of my preamp using Surface by sending signal through Pi. I’m now speaking with a raspberry pi developer through Fiverr. He is supposed to help me achieve this and would charge me $100.

-Use Pi to learn IR code from my preamp
-Use Microsoft Surface dial to control the Pi
- Subsequently send IR signal to my preamp to control its volume

 

[mglobe]

I don’t use Roon and I was hoping I could control the volume of my preamp using Surface by sending signal through Pi. I’m now speaking with a raspberry pi developer through Fiverr. He is supposed to help me achieve this and would charge me $100.

-Use Pi to learn IR code from my preamp
-Use Microsoft Surface dial to control the Pi
- Subsequently send IR signal to my preamp to control its volume

I’ll be very interested in hearing how this works out. I’d like to have a solution like that as I would prefer to control volume with my mInIDSP flex instead of Roon, since the pre for my turntable goes through the flex also. I do have to say though that I like the click to pause double click for next song functionality that rooDial offers.