Delinking Playback Volume and Windows Volume?

[Papasmithnc]

On my old computer that ran Windows 7, the playback volume of Audacity wasn't exactly correlated with the windows speaker control. Now, running 8.1 it is. That is, moving the playback volume slider in Audacity moves the Speaker/Headphone slider in Windows exactly to the same level. Is there anything I can do? I really need to fix this.

Thanks,

[Gale Andrews]

On my old computer that ran Windows 7, the playback volume of Audacity wasn't exactly correlated with the windows speaker control. Now, running 8.1 it is. That is, moving the playback volume slider in Audacity moves the Speaker/Headphone slider in Windows exactly to the same level. Is there anything I can do? I really need to fix this.

How it is now is exactly how the developers intend it to be, so that the Audacity playback slider controls the system slider of the playback device selected in Device Toolbar, just as the recording slider controls the system slider of the selected recording device. That way, you get better signal to noise ratio when playing quietly. I'll record your vote that you want to change this, but it isn't a bug.

What you can do is play some audio in Audacity, then you can make the Audacity playback volume quieter without affecting the system volume by left-clicking the speaker icon by the system clock, then click "Mixer", then turn down the Audacity slider.

If that does not do what you want, what sound device exactly are you using and what exactly are you trying to do that requires different behaviour?


Gale

[Papasmithnc]

On my old computer that ran Windows 7, the playback volume of Audacity wasn't exactly correlated with the windows speaker control. Now, running 8.1 it is. That is, moving the playback volume slider in Audacity moves the Speaker/Headphone slider in Windows exactly to the same level. Is there anything I can do? I really need to fix this.

How it is now is exactly how the developers intend it to be, so that the Audacity playback slider controls the system slider of the playback device selected in Device Toolbar, just as the recording slider controls the system slider of the selected recording device. That way, you get better signal to noise ratio when playing quietly. I'll record your vote that you want to change this, but it isn't a bug.

What you can do is play some audio in Audacity, then you can make the Audacity playback volume quieter without affecting the system volume by left-clicking the speaker icon by the system clock, then click "Mixer", then turn down the Audacity slider.

If that does not do what you want, what sound device exactly are you using and what exactly are you trying to do that requires different behaviour?


Gale

Thanks for the response. Adjusting the Taskbar Mixer Slider for Audacity worked fine. I did find a way to lower the volume from the Audacity controls by using the gain slider. I am not a power user of this program. Having tinnitus, I have created files to produce such as what is called Phase Shift Files and Notched Files as background noise which is important to keep the mind from attending to the affliction. Adjusting the relative volume of something else I am listening to and the background sound is important. Thanks again. Dave in NC