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[macdonjh]

OK, not disappeared, but it's 1/3 as loud as it should be, and flat and hollow when I crank the volume up trying to get some audible level.

Things I've tried:

Log off and restart my computer, and then restarting MC28.

Cycling the power on my preamp and power amps.

Make sure I'm playing from the correct Library and Zone.

Double checking my stereo's "chain".  My Schiit Eitr is on, preamp is on not muted and set to Eitr, power amps are on.

Double check my Zone/ Zone Switch: Player -> Zone (2channel) -> Zone Switch (plays [Audio] in 2-channel and stops play in Zone Multichannel).

Double checked Tools -> Options -> Audio -> Audio Device (Schiit Eitr, WASAPI), device is open to exclusive access, device volume is maximized.

In Windows: Settings -> Sound -> device is Schiit Eitr, master volume is 100%.

[EDIT] checked the physical connections of the various cables.

Any ideas about where else I can check?  I am stumped and music-less.  Arg.  The weird thing is everything was working fifteen minutes ago, and suddenly everything went quiet.  I didn't stop MC28, adjust the volume or turn anything off.  Very Strange, it's like a setting somewhere changed itself.

[JimH]

Right click on the speaker icon in the lower right corner of the Windows Desktop, select Mixer and check all the volumes there.

[macdonjh]

JimH, thank you, but you shouldn't be working on Sunday. 

<right click> on the speaker icon in the tool bar -> Open volume mixer

Schiit Eitr 100%
System sounds muted

The Schiit Eitr is the only Device I have connected to my computer.  Actually, that's not quite true: my computer's HDMI output is connected to my preamp as well, but the computer thinks it is a generic monitor so it doesn't appear in Audio Devices.

[macdonjh]

Something else I didn't post earlier, I don't know if it's an MC28 problem or a network problem on my end.  MC28 claims it can't see my media files on my NAS.  When I opened a Smartlist, every song had the "red circle with the white line" icon next to it.  When I tried to play one anyway I got the pop up "Something went wrong with playback".

I confirmed I'm logged in to my NAS.

If I use Windows Explorer to find a song, <double click> and choose <play song with MC28> the song plays, but a 1/3 the volume it should.

I copied a file to my NAS, then deleted the same file, just to be sure I was logged on and had the permissions I set up when I created my user account.

[macdonjh]

One final tidbit: we have two other installations of MC28 in the house.  They run on different computers (so three computers with MC installed) and with local libraries.  In an attempt to be clear, the computer I'm having trouble with is my Silver computer and the other computer I have MC28 on is my Black computer (my son also has MC28).

My current problem is with my Silver computer, connected to my stereo/ home theater gear.  While it was happily playing music for me (set as described above), I opened my Black computer and opened MC28 to check some Albums in my Library.  I didn't play any songs, and my Black computer is in no way connected to our home theater gear.

But two copies of MC were running simultaneously for a few minutes.

[JimH]

But two copies of MC were running simultaneously for a few minutes.

Nothing wrong with doing that.

[macdonjh]

I didn't think so, but thought I'd post it just in case. 

I am at this minute listening to music, with proper volume, using my Black computer and a head phone rig in another room.  It seems whatever is going on is isolated to my Silver computer and home theater gear.  Very odd. 

Unfortunately I don't really have a way to take the Silver computer out of the chain right now: my disc player is in the shop, so everything has to go through the computer. 

[JimH]

Did you check all the cables and their connections?

[macdonjh]

I did.  Signal is getting through, it's just not playing as loud as it should.  I don't have any spare cables around, so I just checked the connections.  I have not swapped out USB, 75 Ohm digital, RCA interconnects or speaker cables.

[macdonjh]

Eureka, maybe?

I tried playing a movie, and the volume was gloriously loud, just like it should have been.

I started looking in a couple of deep crevices looking for something I may have missed.  I started playing a song, volume was very low, just like yesterday when I posted.  I opened DSP Studio and double checked: 2-channel, no change to sample rate, no encoding, no up- or down-sampling.  That is all what I expected.

What I didn't expect: I opened audio path.  MC28 is playing the original audio file, but level is reduced -25.5 dB.  OK, perhaps that's what the level was after Audio Analysis.  But I opened three or four other audio files and ALL of them were reduced -25.5 dB.

I have Analyzed Audio for all of my Audio files, but there are a pretty wide range of "loudness correction" applied, certainly not -25.5 dB for every track I have.  Any idea what happened?  Any idea how to fix it, short of redoing Analyze Audio for every song I have?

[edit] It's not something weird with Analyze Audio.  I tried re-analyzing one Album and was told there aren't any files which need Audio Analysis.  I reopened Audio Path and it says "Volume reduced -25.5 dB for internal volume."  Any idea where this came from?  Looks like a setting got made somewhere and I need to find it and change it.

[dtc]

Try turning on Adaptive Volume in DSP Studio.

[macdonjh]

Try turning on Adaptive Volume in DSP Studio.

I've never used Adaptive Volume, so it wasn't active yesterday when my system was working, and it wasn't active or deactivated when it stopped working.

I read the Wiki article and I'm not convinced Adaptive volume is something I want to use long term.  I allow Analyze Audio to normalize the peak levels of my audio files, though. 

I'd like to simply get rid of this -25.5 dB "for internal volume".  After reading the Wiki article and looking at the Audio Path on both my Silver (home theater computer) and Black ("mobile" computer) computers, it really looks like the peak level normalizing applied by Analyze Audio got corrupted on my Silver computer.  Every song I play has been "volume adjusted" by -25.5 db.  On my Black computer, which seems to be working normally, every song is "volume adjusted", but by different amounts, and none appear to be adjusted by the huge -25.5 dB.

I don't know if this helps, but my MC28 is set up with Volume Mode: Internal Volume, Maximum volume: 100, Internal volume reference: 100.

[dtc]

Try some experimenting. Turn off both Volume Leveling and Adaptive Volume. Then turn on Volume Leveling. Then turn on Adaptive Volume. See what happens.

Reanalyze some tracks and see if the volume adjustment changes.  You can reanalyze by unchecking the Skip Analyzed Files option.

[JimH]

Is all DSP off?  DSP Studio.

[terrym@tassie]

I reopened Audio Path and it says "Volume reduced -25.5 dB for internal volume."

Internal volume is entirely adjusted by the volume slider, is this problem somehow related to your implementation of ZoneSwitching?
I know that you have set up two zones, one that bitstreams to your pre-pro and another that outputs decoded audio to the pre-pro.
In bitstreaming mode the volume slider has no effect however it does in 'decoded' mode.
Try moving the volume slider in 'Audio Zone' and check that the 'Internal volume' in audio path changes. It should vary between -95.5db for 1% 'Internal volume' and 0.5db for 99% 'Internal volume'

Having 'Volume reduced -25.5 dB for internal volume' reported in Audio Path equates to a volume setting of 49%

[macdonjh]

dtc:

I just checked, and both Volume Leveling and Adaptive Volume are "unchecked" in DSP Studio.  I must have confused Volume Leveling with the function Analyze Audio performs.

I'll have to look for the check box to allow MC28 to analyze files which have already been analyzed.  When I tried the other night, MC28 told me, "You've already analyzed those files, dummy".  If reanalyzing my audio works, I'd love to know what happened to suddenly have what appears to be every audio file in my collection have -25.5 dB applied.  Even if it works, I don't relish the thought of reanalyzing every audio file I have.

JimH:

I believe all DSP is off when MC28 is playing 2-channel audio.  No encoding, no change to sample rate, no upmixing or downmixing.

Continuing with the thought dtc has: if I restored my Library from a back-up made before Sunday Nov. 7 (the date everything went wonky), would my Analyze Audio settings be restored?

terrym@tassie:

Not quite.  One of my Zone Switches provides digital output to my Schiit Eitr which converts USB to S/PDIF and sends that to my pre-pro.

The other Zone Switch sends digital output from video files (sometimes mono, sometimes stereo, sometime multi-channel) via HDMI to my pre-pro. 

Seems like dropping the signal by 25.5 dB would result in much less than 51% output.  More like 6% output?  Regardless, I turned my pre-pro volume up to double its normal volume level and the sound was terrible.  Flat, hollow and lifeless.  I think perhaps too many LSBs were dropped when those 25.5 dB were taken away.

[macdonjh]

I forgot to say this in my previous post: thanks everyone for your continued help and support.

Update: re-Analyze Audio didn't solve the problem.  I ran Analyze Audio on one Album.  I unchecked Skip Previously Analyzed Files.  I watched the analysis process, each track on this particular Album was supposed to have approximately -4.5 dB applied.  When the analysis was completed, I played the first track and opened Audio Path.  -25.5 dB "for internal volume"...

Grrr.

[dtc]

Sounds like volume leveling is not the issue. How about trying the other volume options, like System or Application?

[blgentry]

I played the first track and opened Audio Path.  -25.5 dB "for internal volume"...

Look in the upper left part of MC underneath the play, stop, FF, REW buttons.  You will see a volume control.  Move it all the way to the right to maximize it.  That should fix your issue.

Brian.

[macdonjh]

Look in the upper left part of MC underneath the play, stop, FF, REW buttons.  You will see a volume control.  Move it all the way to the right to maximize it.  That should fix your issue.

Brian.

OH MY GOD!  Pardon my language, but sure as nuts, that volume bar was only "half lit".  Playing a test track and opening Audio Path shows "volume reduced -0.5 dB for Internal Volume".

I must have clicked that bar when I was trying to stop a track and skip to another Sunday afternoon.  Now, why didn't that affect video playback?

Welcome back, blgentry. 

[blgentry]

Very happy to hear that worked for you.

Why didn't it effect video?  My guess is that you have bitstreaming turned on for Dolby Digital, DTS, etc, and it's being sent "in the clear" without any decoding or alteration, including no volume changes.  But that's just a guess.

PS:  Terry deserves credit here also; he diagnosed the problem correctly earlier in the thread.

Take care,
Brian.

[macdonjh]

Why didn't it effect video?  My guess is that you have bitstreaming turned on for Dolby Digital, DTS, etc, and it's being sent "in the clear" without any decoding or alteration, including no volume changes.  But that's just a guess.

PS:  Terry deserves credit here also; he diagnosed the problem correctly earlier in the thread.

Take care,
Brian.

Bit streaming?  Maybe that's it.  I also wonder if it's because in my case audio and video are different Zones.

I reread Terry's post and see it now, I misunderstood what he was saying and got caught up in the details of his post.

Thanks again, everyone.

[blgentry]

I also wonder if it's because in my case audio and video are different Zones.

I'll bet that's it.  Each Zone has its own volume control I believe.

Brian.