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Hello again. I’ve been using this enchacer for a few days now and I must say it really does improve audio (Even I noticed and I don’t usually notice small quality changes). Reference Settings preset seems to work for me most of the time, and I use those graphs and waves from main window as visualizer for music, I just love it (is it only me?).
Anyway only thing I can complain about is volume control. Since Breakaway’s volume control seems to ignore most other programs’ volume control (players for example), although it seems games can still control volume not all though. Problem is since you can only change volume from main window, tray icon or taskbar, if for example you are watching full-screen video or playing full screen game and you need to change volume, you are forced to exit full screen (or ALT+TAB from the game), change volume and return to video or game…… and some games really don’t like ALT+TABing. So I thought if Breakaway could have some hot key (combination) to control it’s own volume, that would work everywhere it would be great.
And on the other note I noticed when I installed breakaway on my notebook. My notebook has volume up down keys, so when i use them it changes volume of Breakaway AND internal sound card (and I don’t think that should happen). My "main" PC doesn’t have any such keys (So I currently have the problem mentioned above).
So if you could somehow add volume up down hotkeys to breakdown that would greatly increasy ease of use (in mentioned above situations).
Hi Maniak!
Here’s how the volume control keys are normally supposed to work with Breakaway:
The keys indeed affect both Breakaway, and the Default Sound Device.
However, the Default Sound Device is Breakaway Pipeline, and it ignores volume changes! Thus, only Breakaway’s internal volume control should be affected — the system volume should not have an effect.
I see what you mean about hotkeys — it’s a good idea (my IBM Model-M keyboard doesn’t have volume control keys either), but the problem is that hotkeys will always interfere with other software. Every possible hotkey is used by some piece of software that someone uses, and grabbing them for Breakaway means we will break other software out there.
I’ve had problems like this before — when I press ALT-F5 in Total Commander, I expect to create a ZIP file, I don’t expect nVidia’s crap to pop up, for example. 🙂
I absolutely understand the problem about full screen games though. Do you have any ideas?
///Leif
Even though Breakaway Pipeline is set as default output device, Volume up down keys still control both Breakaway’s and Sound card volume…. Maybe they are hard coded or something I don’t know.
As for hot keys… Yes I understand that some hot keys can interfiere with other program’s hotkeys, but if you let people set their own hotkeys in breakaway settings there would be much less chance of that happening since people use different sets of programs. In my case for example ALT+F5 won’t interfiere with anything cuz I don’t use Total Commander and I keep this "Nvidia crap" out of autorun )). Personally I was thinking of using Comtrol+up and Control+Down keys for volume comtrol, but then again if those combinations interfiere with something on other users’ PC, they could always change that to whatever they find more acceptable (if you let them). If you insist on using Preset hotkeys (users can’t change it), then tripple hotkey are less likely to cause interfierence (Control+Shift+up or Control+Alt+up).
Another thing I noticed, Not sure if that’s supposed to be that way. But yu can recreate the situation easily.
Let’s say Breakwaway pipeline is set as your default output device.I have Russian XP so I’ll use images to help.
1) Start some music
2) Go to control panel audio settings (http://www.tinyeye.com/avsetup/images/x … ayback.gif)
3) Select your sound card as your default device, but don’t press ok or apply (I think it shouldn’t matter what you cjoose there unless you click apply or ok)
4) Go to volume control (press volume button)
5) Slide left-most slider up or down (http://www.askdavetaylor.com/0-blog-pic … ontrol.png)And you’ll see that volume actually goes up or down even though breakaway’s volume do not change. I don’t think that should be happening and this may be the cause of my notebook problem.
Hi Maniak!
*Very* strange that the volume up/down keys control the sound card volume even though Pipeline is the default output device!
I have no explanation for this — it should be impossible.
Do the volume up/down keys also control the pipeline volume?
It is normal that changing the sound card output volume affects volume. The sound card is *after* Breakaway, so any change there will affect the audio.
///Leif
Yes Volume up down keys also control Pipeline’s volume (even though changing that volune has no effect) If I connect my USB headset, then the keys will control Pipeline and Headset volume but leave sound card alone. It’s either notebook specific problem or notebook model specific I think. If anyone else with a notebook could confirm how volume up down keys work for them it would be great.
Also if I put my notebook in sleep (hibernate) mode while let’s say game is playing then when I load it up again sound’s gone and when I change output device in breakaway settings it crashes (after pressing finish), however after that I just start it again and everything’s fine (don’t even have to restart game). I didn’t tested it much with hibernate mode since I don’t use it on my main PC. edit: it doesn’t always crash but sound seems to always disapear untill I change output device via settings (even to the same one).
P.S. And what about hotkeys? you didn’t answer on my suggestion.
Hi Maniak!
When you connect your USB headset, I believe Windows changes the default sound device to the headset behind your back. I wonder if there’s a way to stop Windows from doing that.. Anyone have any ideas? 🙂
Hibernate is a known problem — I’ve attempted to fix it but so far been unsuccessful, and I may need to take a completely new approach. I will look into it.
User-definable hot-keys are an excellent idea! Sounds like it’s a necessary feature — I will try to implement it.
///Leif
Vista does this on me, changes the default sound output to whatever I just plugged in, even with existing sound cards, it detects when I plug headphones in and suddenly all sound is out the front of the computer instead of the back, treating them like two different sound cards. In fact, I have set applications to send solely to a certain device output instead of the default device because of this extra-helpfulness of Vista.
When I plug in a USB sound card with the nice optical output, it jumps in there, and I immediately have to go to the control panel to correct the settings, which will remain until the sound card is removed then all settings for that device are lost.
Curses, Vista!
Possibly related to this topic…
The volume control for things like Winamp do not work on my desktop computer with XP Pro SP3, and a M-Audio 24/96 sound card. I have Breakaway set for KS for both input and output. I tried some of the various in/out settings and nothing made a difference.
On my laptop with a Realtek HD on-board sound card running Vista 32 SP1, the volume control on Winamp does work.
Any ideas as to how to get my volume controls working on my desktop XP machine?
Hi Dave!
Actually, the Winamp volume control isn’t supposed to work. For some reason, it works on your Vista machine, despite not being supposed to work, and that’s not good.
Allow me to explain. 😉
Breakaway, by definition, is a dynamics processor. It does its darndest to equalize the volume level between different sources. Thus, if you were to turn down the volume level in Winamp, then Breakaway would try to bring it up.. So, if you really wanted the volume down, you’d have to turn it down even further – until Breakaway would finally run out of range (when your Winamp volume is at 5% or so), but then you would also be amplifying noise. This isn’t a software issue, but rather just a logical conclusion of doing dynamics processing. Volume controls must be *after* the audio processor, not before.
To prevent this fruitless arms-race from occuring in the first place, Breakaway disables the volume control on incoming sources (when possible), and provides a convenient *global* volume control, which you can use to set the volume level you want, regardless of the level of the incoming audio (to a degree). Apart from the tray popup, you can also use the explorer toolbar — this gives you a volume control on your screen at all times.
Best,
///LeifI just checked my laptop running Vista again…and sure enough, the volume control on Winamp does work while running thru Breakaway Personal. I am still running the latest normal version of Breakaway, not the beta. Perhaps that is why…
The only reason I would like to have individual volume controls on my XP machine is because of my Siglos karaoke program. Breakaway does a great job of equalizing the levels of the various karaoke tracks. If I am in the middle of a song and want to skip to the next song, Siglos will perform a nice fade out of the current song before starting the next. But the fade out feature does not work when running thru Breakaway. After clicking the skip button, Siglos will continue to play for about five more seconds and then abruptly stop the current song and start the next.
I fully understand your reasoning for wanting to disable the volume controls in the individual software. I just wanted you to understand why I would like the option of having that access turned on. I also realize that my case is very unique and don’t really expect a change to accomodate this crazy request. 8)
I also work in radio as a production manager for six radio stations. I love listening to high-end audio systems too. Most say I have "the ears". Haha! I am amazed at how good your product sounds without destroying the integrity of the music. I have purchased two licenses just for myself. I ususally use the Reference Settings preset. Great job!!
There is a way, Dave.
Download the attached Breakaway Pipeline control panel. Check the Volume control box for Cable 1, press Set. That should do it!
///Leif
I just ran the Breakaway Config program on my XP desktop. I had to exit Breakaway Personal to make the change; then restart it. But my Siglos karaoke program now works perfectly with the fade-outs. Awseome!!!
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