Posting here a portion of another post at Matt's suggestion...This change seems to have major unintended consequences. Assuming it is helpful in one situation, it creates a huge problem in other situations.
Having volume controlled at the front of the audio chain blows away certain plug-ins that have nothing to do with playback volume, but are used to process and adjust other aspects of the audio. This especially eliminates using a multi-channel compressor/equalizer with MC, because it relies on a "standard" input level.
The manipulation of this type of DSP plug-in -- standard in the audio chain of TV/radio/broadcast and production facilities and PA systems -- begins with a stable input level. Until this new change, this was accomplished by enablling MC's automatic replay gain track-level adjustment, followed by the plug-in module's combination of input compressor + main processing + output limiter, THEN MC's internal volume control driving the external amplifiers. This order of processing is essential, because the compressor must have consistent input level or it has no baseline for dynamic adjustment of the audio stream to maintain overall consistency. The goal is to massage the audio as desired on the source side, independent of whatever playback might be used.
In my experience, playback volume control is entirely separate from all other audio-chain stages. Consider a radio station processing its audio (in this case via MC's DSP chain), then transmitting. The radio listener then sets local playback volume as desired -- but the listener's choice of volume obviously does not somehow feed back to the radio station and affect its audio processing.
MC audio output can be considered as three independent "modules" (picture separate hardware devices) that should not interact:
- DECODE module converts a variety of audio files into a standard digital audio stream format. This MC module might alter sample rate, multi-channel mixing, etc, all to achieve a standard audio stream format.
- PROCESS module sends the standard audio stream through a chain of internal and external DSP stages/plug-ins, as chosen and ordered by the user. ONLY the DSP stages should alter the audio, per their settings. Normally these stages are configured once for the environment, then untouched. Some of these stages might have their own in/out level controls so they interact and behave as desired, but this is NOT PLAY volume, it is all audio stream PROCESSING.
- PLAY module sends the final, processed MC audio stream through the computer's hardware and into the listener's external audio system. This final module is where user adjustment of MC's internal PLAY volume control should act in most situations, controlling the volume of external amplifiers/speakers. Play environment volume adjustment should not affect MC's DECODE and PROCESS modules.
The "new" problem is that the reason for this major change in MC is just one possible external setup, but bolting it in makes MC unsuitable for other common (in my experience) situations. I have many instances where MC is THE volume control for the entire external audio system; the external amp's volume is fixed (such as a basic power amp, or an array of active amp-speakers on poles and walls).
Instead of forcing the new change, thereby breaking existing systems, I ask that it be OPTIONAL and/or CONFIGURABLE.
Perhaps internal volume can be a processing chain stage that is re-orderable as desired, at the front, back, or anywhere in the chain. (Ideally EVERY stage/plug-in could be positioned as desired anywhere in the chain.)
Or maybe there can be TWO volume control stages, at front and back of the DSP chain, so we can enable whichever control fits the installation situation.
PLEASE at a minimum allow an option to retain the long-standing behavior of internal volume acting only at the END of MC's audio chain. Otherwise my installations will be forced to remain with an older version of MC, because the dynamic compressor-equalizer processing we use is much too valuable to lose.
