Hi everyone,

Can any of you tell me how to adjust the relative sound volume of different applications in Windows. Here's the problem:

I'm running a "work" program that makes noises that I need to hear. At the same time, I'm running Winamp to play mp3s (I'm also trying iTunes and foobar per the other thread).

The problem is that certain mp3s are too quiet, so that if I turn my computer speakers up enough to hear the music well, the sounds from the other application are obnoxiously loud.

I want Winamp louder than the rest of the applications. Is there any way to accomplish this?

Thanks in advance,

Jim

I'm assuming your Winamp internal volume (the volume control on Winamp itself) is at 100% when you say your MP3s are too quiet. (Otherwise, it'd just be a matter of turning Winamp's volume up, as it works independently, within the range of what your WAV mixer is set to.) If it is maxed out and some MP3s are still to quiet, I think you'd be best served by normalizing and reencoding those problem tracks. If *all* of your music was too loud even with Winamp at full volume, I guess there are DSP plugins that could apply gain, but I haven't researched that, and it might be subject to some distortion, not to mention blowing your ears off if you encounter a properly normalized track.

Strange situation, those "work sounds" must be really loud if they can't compete with Winamp at 100%.

Are you sure Winamp's volume control doesn't just affect the system "Wave" volume setting? Nope. Looks like it's separate these days. I could swear it didn't used to be. Maybe it's dependent on a sound card feature?

Well, I knew that sounded suspicious...

I've been supporting myself with poker playing since I'm currently out of work. The sounds are the chips clacking when someone bets/calls/raises. I use those sounds because I play multiple tables simultaneously and it can get a bit hectic.

Anyhow, if my system volume is adjusted loud enough for Winamp, the chip clacking is obnoxious. I don't just want to turn it off, because it helps orient me in the games. 4 tables is about 200-240 hands per hour, so the auditory cues help a lot. There is also a "chime" sound when the action is to me and I need to make a decision at a particular table. This chime gets rather obnoxious when I am playing very quiet (classical, some folk) mp3s at a decent listening volume.

How winamp seems to work is that its volume attenuates the music volume, but it does not increase the volume beyond the system volume. 100% Winamp volume = 100% system volume. That's the problem.

I appreciate the thoughts.

Jim

The obvious thing to do is turn down the volume on the poker app. I assume it doesn't have a volume control, though. You may want to triple-check that. I'm afraid that beyond that, there's no hope. really:

There are multiple system volume controls. We're only interested in two: Master volume and "Wave" volume. Master volume is the volume control for everything that comes out of your speakers. It's the equivalent of the volume knob on your speakers themselves. "Wave" volume is the volume of waveform playback. Unfortunately, this encompasses both Winamp and your poker app. Winamp has a volume control of its own that is specific to Winamp and nothing else, but at 100%, it's as loud as the "Wave" and Master system volumes will allow it to go. Your poker app, if it does not have its own volume control, is playing at 100% loudness all the time. Which means that it's as loud as Winamp can ever be.

Too bad. Maybe there's some hack out there that will allow you to attenuate volume from just one app. I doubt it, but I suppose it's possible.

One thing to try is to check and see if the poker app is using midi to play its sounds instead of wave files. Try muting the midi setting in the volume mixer to see. It's a long shot, but it'll do exactly what you want if it works.

Matthew

TigerJimmy, since you're on the Empeg board, I assume that means you've got an empeg?

Simply plug the empeg into the sound card's line-in, and balance it to your poker game volume using the windows volume control applet.

This should be easy to fix. The app, no doubt, uses wav files for the sounds. Just open these wav files with something like cooledit and reduce the volume.

There was a non-startling wave file that came with either win98 or an old netscape called 'notify.wav' that I used to use for everything. Now that I use the 'puter for music I have all other system sounds disabled. If you want to try the notify.wav, I can e-mail it to you.

He edited the original message, which briefly confused me.

Being a bot, that sort of stuff is dangerous. You know, like on Star Trek, when they tell the alien computer "everything I tell you is a lie", so its monitor explodes? Hey. That could happen to me. So just be careful of that stuff.

Hey, thanks you guys. These are some great suggestions. There are a few external graphics resources for the poker apps, so I'll check if the audio resources are external as well. As Tony mentioned, hacking is a major concern with poker apps.

I really appreciate the thoughts.

Jim

Tony,

I can't tell you how happy that makes me that I was able to offer a bit of help in you finding a job you love!

I'm struggling now in that area. I'm a mechanical engineer by training, who moved to the software industry as a technical expert (finite element analysis software for engineers), then moved into the sales side of business and ERP software. After doing that for a while, I did some stright-up business consulting. I love the problem solving aspects of these jobs, but more than anything I enjoyed learning the skills for the new jobs. After 12-18 months or so, they became repetitive and boring. I'm not very good at doing work that bores me. This is a major struggle for me in my life. I think I would find *any* job enjoyable at first. When I was in high school I ran printing machinery and loved it -- as long as I was learning and trying to do it faster and better. Then, well, you know...

I've supported myself with blackjack for the last 9 months or so (yes, you can make good money at it), but the career lifetime of that is short because you'll eventually get "barred" everywhere. Poker is much more fun, much more difficult, and an expert has a much greater advantage with a much smaller statistical variance (smaller standard deviation vs. expectation). Casinos don't care if you have a mathematical edge in poker, but they *definitely* care if you are playing against *them*, like you are with blackjack.

For now, poker is a fun and profitable diversion. I'm still playing small limits, but it appears that I can make $200-300 a day without killing myself. I have read that poker is considered by many to be the most complex card game, even more so than bridge. I don't know anything about bridge, but I can see that poker is a truely fascinating, complex and challenging game to master. I've studied it very intensely for about 4 or 5 months and I have barely scratched the surface of a single variant. I'm hoping that I can keep interested and learning at it for quite a while. There are two things I like about it: 1. you are paid based upon your abilities. 2., there is almost no limit to what you can achieve. Bellagio "spreads" limit games of $3000-$6000, and there are some ridiculous no-limit games. For now, I'm playing strictly small-stakes internet poker, but the game potentially offers a lifetime of challenge.

I still want to find my "life's work", and I'm afraid and depressed over the idea that I never will. I have a few ideas about what that may be, but I feel that I've either missed my opportunity in those areas, or that I just can't get there from here. Its a very stuck feeling.

That might be way too much information. Anyhow, I'm delighted that you are in a job you love. I think this is one of the most important things a person can do for themselves.

Jim