Topic: WDM driver and volume control (Read 11322 times)

BCZ · « **on:** April 02, 2017, 10:21:51 pm »

So I got JRiver and installed the WDM driver in order to start making an active crossover with the DSP studio. I installed the WDM driver and it works, but then the system volume control doesn't work. I can change the system volume all I want and the volume stays the same. What do I need to do in order to get system volume control back?

Thanks

BCZ · « **Reply #1 on:** April 12, 2017, 12:35:09 pm »

Bump. Having to go to JRiver to drag the slider for volume control is very cumbersome.

mattkhan · « **Reply #2 on:** April 12, 2017, 02:06:11 pm »

I don't know the answer to your question, why do you want to use the Windows volume control though when you are using the wdm driver?

BCZ · « **Reply #3 on:** April 12, 2017, 02:10:47 pm »

How else do I change the volume on my computer? I use my volume key on my keyboard to change the volume. Even though it is showing under "Windows Sound" that it is reducing the volume on JRiver WDM, but in fact it does nothing.

mattkhan · « **Reply #4 on:** April 12, 2017, 02:34:57 pm »

It seems you need to work out how to redirect those keys to control jriver instead and use internal volume rather than system volume. There is an option in jriver around media keys and a fair number of threads in the subject so i suppose the answer is out there somewhere.

jachin99 · « **Reply #5 on:** April 12, 2017, 02:55:50 pm »

Do you have remote control enabled in JRiver? There is also an option somewhere in the settings where you tell JRiver which volume to control. Its been a while since I have looked into this setting but I know it is there.

stewart_pk · « **Reply #6 on:** April 12, 2017, 10:39:10 pm »

Out of the 4 volume types under Player ---> Volume which one are you using?

BCZ · « **Reply #7 on:** April 12, 2017, 10:42:23 pm »

Quote from: stewart_pk on April 12, 2017, 10:39:10 pm

Out of the 4 volume types under Player ---> Volume which one are you using?

I have mine at internal.

mattkhan · « **Reply #8 on:** April 13, 2017, 08:54:48 am »

what do you have for tools/options/general/advanced/media key mode?

for me, with this set to automatic, the volume keys on my keyboard change the jriver internal volume (while jriver is running)

BCZ · « **Reply #9 on:** April 13, 2017, 02:51:55 pm »

Quote from: mattkhan on April 13, 2017, 08:54:48 am

what do you have for tools/options/general/advanced/media key mode?

for me, with this set to automatic, the volume keys on my keyboard change the jriver internal volume (while jriver is running)

Media key mode is on automatic.

Does my computer being a MacBook running Windows 10 on Bootcamp make a difference?

EDIT: Just tried on a normal Windows desktop. It doesn't work either. The main problem is that the volume keys are changing the WDM driver's volume (basically the same volume if you click on the volume icon in the system tray). But the thing is that changing JRiver's WDM driver volume does nothing to change JRiver's volume.

stewart_pk · « **Reply #10 on:** April 13, 2017, 08:35:56 pm »

OK, this is how I do it. I'm not claiming this is not time consuming to setup and achieve.

I use LM Remote Keymap as key-mapping software and NirCmd as a command line tool.
I have a LM Remote Keymap profile for each application (Netflix, PowerDVD, Spotify).
On the volume up and down command for each profile I issue the following NirCmd's:
nircmd changesysvolume 1000
nircmd changesysvolume -1000

mattkhan · « **Reply #11 on:** April 14, 2017, 05:24:09 am »

Quote from: BCZ on April 13, 2017, 02:51:55 pm

Media key mode is on automatic.

Does my computer being a MacBook running Windows 10 on Bootcamp make a difference?

EDIT: Just tried on a normal Windows desktop. It doesn't work either. The main problem is that the volume keys are changing the WDM driver's volume (basically the same volume if you click on the volume icon in the system tray). But the thing is that changing JRiver's WDM driver volume does nothing to change JRiver's volume.

have you tried the different options under media key mode?

BCZ · « **Reply #12 on:** April 14, 2017, 08:58:07 am »

Quote from: mattkhan on April 14, 2017, 05:24:09 am

have you tried the different options under media key mode?

Yes, I tried every one of them. It is all the same.

stewart_pk · « **Reply #13 on:** April 14, 2017, 10:59:19 pm »

Use GIZMO.

BCZ · « **Reply #14 on:** April 15, 2017, 07:50:04 am »

Quote from: stewart_pk on April 14, 2017, 10:59:19 pm

Use GIZMO.

I'd prefer not to take out my phone every time I want to change volume.

So does everyone have this problem? And everyone has their own way to deal with this? This seems like a very basic and big limitation.

mattkhan · « **Reply #15 on:** April 15, 2017, 10:34:06 am »

Quote from: BCZ on April 15, 2017, 07:50:04 am

So does everyone have this problem? And everyone has their own way to deal with this? This seems like a very basic and big limitation.

I don't have this problem on any of my machines, it just works for me (on linux and windows). Is there anything useful in the jriver log?

mwillems · « **Reply #16 on:** April 15, 2017, 12:45:52 pm »

One thing I haven't seen: how are you interfacing with the WDM Driver? I.e. how are you playing to it to test it? If I change the WDM driver's volume in the windows mixer it changes the volume coming out of JRiver on the back end. The only way I've found to reproduce what you're seeing is if some program takes exclusive control of the WDM driver (for instance by using WASAPI exclusive or ASIO4All to interface with the WDM driver). Then the volume change is being ignored, but that's by design (i.e. that's what exclusive control of the device means in part).

It's very odd that you can't get JRiver's internal volume to respond to media keys; that just works out of the box on every machine I've tried on, although it sometimes acts unpredictably when MC isn't in focus. Can you test to see if focus affects it?

In any case, a little more info about what your playback chain looks like would be helpful.

BCZ · « **Reply #17 on:** April 15, 2017, 12:54:52 pm »

Quote from: mwillems on April 15, 2017, 12:45:52 pm

One thing I haven't seen: how are you interfacing with the WDM Driver? I.e. how are you playing to it to test it? If I change the WDM driver's volume in the windows mixer it changes the volume coming out of JRiver on the back end. The only way I've found to reproduce what you're seeing is if some program takes exclusive control of the WDM driver (for instance by using WASAPI exclusive or ASIO4All to interface with the WDM driver). Then the volume change is being ignored, but that's by design (i.e. that's what exclusive control of the device means in part).

It's very odd that you can't get JRiver's internal volume to respond to media keys; that just works out of the box on every machine I've tried on, although it sometimes acts unpredictably when MC isn't in focus. Can you test to see if focus affects it?

In any case, a little more info about what your playback chain looks like would be helpful.

I've actually completely reinstalled (i.e. format) Windows 10 twice for JRiver, then installed the Boot Camp drivers (because this is a MacBook Pro), the latest Asus Xonar U7 driver, installed JRiver, followed the wiki to activate WDM in the features list, set JRiver's output to the U7 on WASAPI, then use foobar2000 to play music. I've done that on 3 different computers, 2 MacBooks and 1 HP desktop (which I used an integrated sound card). The volume control does not work on any of the computers.

The signal chain is just enable WDM driver, set JRiver as default output, then use foobar2000 for music. JRiver outputs to my Xonar U7, which is connected to my amps for my active speakers.

I'll check out the log later when I have some time. But it must be something procedural that is wrong.

mwillems · « **Reply #18 on:** April 15, 2017, 01:08:17 pm »

Foobar 2000 supports wasapi exclusive mode; check your foobar configuration to see if it's taking full control of the sound device. If so that may be why the volume isn't working. It's also possible that Foobar (being an audio program) is intercepting the media keypresses intended for JRiver. One useful way to test would be to exit foobar entirely and try using web-audio (i.e. from youtube) to test the WDM driver. Then see if volume control works. If it does, it's probably foobar taking control of the device and/or intercepting media keys.

I'm sure you've thought of this, but for plain old local playback of audio and video files you'd probably be much better off (both practically and in terms of reducing processing steps in the signal chain) by playing the files directly in JRiver rather than using foobar to loop back through the WDM driver (so JRiver can then play them). The place where the WDM driver shines is in funneling web content or netflix which you can't play directly in JRiver.

BCZ · « **Reply #19 on:** April 15, 2017, 02:13:25 pm »

Quote from: mwillems on April 15, 2017, 01:08:17 pm

Foobar 2000 supports wasapi exclusive mode; check your foobar configuration to see if it's taking full control of the sound device. If so that may be why the volume isn't working. It's also possible that Foobar (being an audio program) is intercepting the media keypresses intended for JRiver. One useful way to test would be to exit foobar entirely and try using web-audio (i.e. from youtube) to test the WDM driver. Then see if volume control works. If it does, it's probably foobar taking control of the device and/or intercepting media keys.

I'm sure you've thought of this, but for plain old local playback of audio and video files you'd probably be much better off (both practically and in terms of reducing processing steps in the signal chain) by playing the files directly in JRiver rather than using foobar to loop back through the WDM driver (so JRiver can then play them). The place where the WDM driver shines is in funneling web content or netflix which you can't play directly in JRiver.

Media key volume control doesn't work anywhere. Not with a YouTube video on Chrome, or when JRiver is the program in focus. My trial ended on my Windows desktop, so I can't confirm if this happens on a non Bootcamp Windows computer.

Yes, I do plan on moving my music over to JRiver, but only if things actually work. So far I've gotten many things to work, but there are still thorns about this problem. The next one is dealing with the very noticeable lag of about 1 second with audio streamed through WDM. Video is very out of sync.

stewart_pk · « **Reply #20 on:** April 17, 2017, 07:32:11 pm »

Quote from: BCZ on April 15, 2017, 02:13:25 pm

Yes, I do plan on moving my music over to JRiver, but only if things actually work. So far I've gotten many things to work, but there are still thorns about this problem. The next one is dealing with the very noticeable lag of about 1 second with audio streamed through WDM. Video is very out of sync.

From memory any re-sampling done by Windows and/or JRiver causes significant lag when using WDM driver.
Also set Buffering to a Minimum hardware size and increase it until skipping/distortion stops.

RoderickGI · « **Reply #21 on:** April 18, 2017, 07:15:55 pm »

This stuff does just work in MC. At a guess, Foobar may have been capturing the media key commands. Maybe.

If you still have a machine with a working trial, import some music into MC, kill everything Foobar, and try using the media keys to control volume with just MC running. It should work.

Also, if this was the only major issue you found with MC, buy it and then keep working on this issue to sort it out. Or just change over completely to MC as your player. A search of the forum will also find other threads where people discuss using Foobar with MC.

BCZ · « **Reply #22 on:** April 19, 2017, 10:41:56 pm »

Quote from: RoderickGI on April 18, 2017, 07:15:55 pm

This stuff does just work in MC. At a guess, Foobar may have been capturing the media key commands. Maybe.

If you still have a machine with a working trial, import some music into MC, kill everything Foobar, and try using the media keys to control volume with just MC running. It should work.

Also, if this was the only major issue you found with MC, buy it and then keep working on this issue to sort it out. Or just change over completely to MC as your player. A search of the forum will also find other threads where people discuss using Foobar with MC.

Yeah I'm going to buy it when the trial ends. But still would like to get a fix for this problem.

So upon deeper inspection, this problem may be troublesome. The volume for "Speaker" (main output of my Asus Xonax U7) affects the JRiver volume. But of course, since WDM is on default for sound output, the volume keys change the WDM driver's volume, which does nothing. However, even when WDM is on default, changing the volume for "Speaker" under Control Panel --> Sound will change the volume.

I attempted to use Nircmd to change the "Speaker" output's volume even though JRiver's WDM is the output default with a single command. Then I used AutoHotKey to remap my volume control keys to run that nircmd command. That does not work because I'm not mapping the right keyboard keys. Turns out, the volume key on a MacBook under Bootcamp isn't actually a key. When I used a keylogger to see what the volume up key is, it was never actually captured even though every other non Fn key is captured. This most likely means that when F1-F12 keys are pressed, the default is Fn + F1-F12 (since other than us programmers, who uses F1-F12 keys?), Apple's keyboard driver is simply converting it to a command to do various actions like adjust brightness and volume, and therefore the keylogger never captures it.

So, ummm, maybe get a MacBook with Windows installed and try it out?

madbrain · « **Reply #23 on:** August 04, 2021, 02:35:20 am »

Waking up this zombie thread. I would also like to have a functioning volume control in the WDM driver. The Windows Volume Mixer should work. The WDM driver is about support of any 3rd party application, such as full screen games, which may be sending volume control commands to the device. Those commands just get ignored. Using remote control doesn't sound right to me. IMO, volume control is a feature that should be added to the WDM driver.

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Author Topic: WDM driver and volume control (Read 11322 times)