Hi, I have SoundMAX Digital Audio on an Intel motherboard, and the latest
drivers.

When I change the volume or press mute, it has no effect on the SPDIF output
to my amp, so I have to use the amp's remote control to do this! A pain as
I'm using Windows Media Center edition which has buttons for the PC
volume/mute already on it.

Any tips, tricks or programs that will make the SPDIF follow the mixer?

Thanks in advance.

J

"John" wrote
Hi, I have SoundMAX Digital Audio on an Intel motherboard, and the latest
drivers.

When I change the volume or press mute, it has no effect on the SPDIF
output
to my amp, so I have to use the amp's remote control to do this! A pain
as
I'm using Windows Media Center edition which has buttons for the PC
volume/mute already on it.

Any tips, tricks or programs that will make the SPDIF follow the mixer?

Thanks in advance.

J
Nope, no tips, tricks or programs - the whole idea of SPDIF is that it's
using the full range of the DACs in your amplifier - it's a fixed digital
format, designed that way. To vary the level the PC's soundcard would have
to decode the SPDIF bitstream as it was read from whatever medium you're
listening to, perform a floating-point divide (hard work for the PC) on each
sample value , re-encode to SPDIF format and push the bitstream out again.

HTH,
Dave H.
(The engineer formerly known as Homeless)

Strange, I'm sure the Audigy used to do it.

"Dave H." wrote in message
...

"John" wrote
Hi, I have SoundMAX Digital Audio on an Intel motherboard, and the
latest
drivers.

When I change the volume or press mute, it has no effect on the SPDIF
output
to my amp, so I have to use the amp's remote control to do this! A pain
as
I'm using Windows Media Center edition which has buttons for the PC
volume/mute already on it.

Any tips, tricks or programs that will make the SPDIF follow the mixer?

Thanks in advance.

J
Nope, no tips, tricks or programs - the whole idea of SPDIF is that it's
using the full range of the DACs in your amplifier - it's a fixed digital
format, designed that way. To vary the level the PC's soundcard would have
to decode the SPDIF bitstream as it was read from whatever medium you're
listening to, perform a floating-point divide (hard work for the PC) on
each
sample value , re-encode to SPDIF format and push the bitstream out again.

HTH,
Dave H.
(The engineer formerly known as Homeless)

"John" wrote in message


Strange, I'm sure the Audigy used to do it.

Usually SoundMAx is implemented as an audio interface that is part of the
system board. Incremental cost is a few dollars or less. Products like this
rely heavily on the system CPU to perform most sound-related processing
chores, so there is some motivation to keep their function as simple as
possible.

In contrast the Audigy is a fairly complex sound card that still sells for
$35 or more. It has a fairly powerful DSP on-board.

Digital is wonderful but you still get what you pay for!

Okay, the plot thickens. SoundMAX just e-mailed me back (same day
response!) and pointed out that the SPDIF volume out can be controlled, you
just have to move the Wave slider instead of the Master volume control
slider. It works.

However, this doesn't quite solve my problem as the keyboard and remote
volume shortcuts only control the master volume, and mute only mutes the
master volume.

Basically I want the input devices to control the Wave volume and Wave mute,
not Master! Any ideas?

"Arny Krueger" wrote in message
...
"John" wrote in message


Strange, I'm sure the Audigy used to do it.

Usually SoundMAx is implemented as an audio interface that is part of the
system board. Incremental cost is a few dollars or less. Products like
this
rely heavily on the system CPU to perform most sound-related processing
chores, so there is some motivation to keep their function as simple as
possible.

In contrast the Audigy is a fairly complex sound card that still sells for
$35 or more. It has a fairly powerful DSP on-board.

Digital is wonderful but you still get what you pay for!

What about with Girder? http://www.girder.nl Anyone tried that?

"John" wrote in message
...
Okay, the plot thickens. SoundMAX just e-mailed me back (same day
response!) and pointed out that the SPDIF volume out can be controlled,
you
just have to move the Wave slider instead of the Master volume control
slider. It works.

However, this doesn't quite solve my problem as the keyboard and remote
volume shortcuts only control the master volume, and mute only mutes the
master volume.

Basically I want the input devices to control the Wave volume and Wave
mute,
not Master! Any ideas?

"Arny Krueger" wrote in message
...
"John" wrote in message


Strange, I'm sure the Audigy used to do it.

Usually SoundMAx is implemented as an audio interface that is part of
the
system board. Incremental cost is a few dollars or less. Products like
this
rely heavily on the system CPU to perform most sound-related processing
chores, so there is some motivation to keep their function as simple as
possible.

In contrast the Audigy is a fairly complex sound card that still sells
for
$35 or more. It has a fairly powerful DSP on-board.

Digital is wonderful but you still get what you pay for!