> On Tue, Jul 13, 2010 at 3:46 PM, Tim E. Real wrote:
> > But nothing was ever done about the slider markings.
> > Having them go from 0 to 164 is not really helpful.
> > It's not clear where the 0dB mark is.
> > At the very least a 0dB mark should be added.
> > Uh, do you feel like taking a stab at this?
> > IIRC it would be a bit tricky because you have to look up
> > the corresponding values in the IC data sheets, I think.
>
> This makes sense... I was thinking of a simple ruler with a 0dB label
> at 127 and a + dB label above and a - dB label below.
>
> Some thoughts on further usability improvements to envy24control:
>
> (1) In "alsamixer" the snd-ice1712-card's input levels are
> represented by (versus envy24control's value):
> 100% (163) -> ADC [dB gain: 18.00]
> 78% (127) -> ADC [dB gain: 0.00]
> 1% (001) -> ADC [dB gain: -63.00]
> 0% (000) -> ADC [dB gain: mute]
> Mixers like envy24control, kmix, alsamixergui, gst-mixer, etc, are a
> lot less useful than they could be because they just present sliders.
> At least envy24control gives numeric values, -- which is essential if
> you want to know stereo channels are balenced, or what unity-gain
> levels are for inputs.
>
> In "alsamixer", the snd-ice1712-card's output levels are represented
> by (versus envy24control value):
> 100% (127) -> DAC [dB gain: 0.00]
> 1% (001) -> DAC [dB gain: -63.00]
> 0% (000) -> DAC [dB gain: mute]
>
> As this is a separate issue from the meters, it makes sense to do the
> changes to the "Analog Volume" panel of envy24control as a separate
> patch.
>
> (2) The "0-96" sliders, feeding the digital mixer, need better
> labeling and mappings too: The "96" actually being "-96dB" and only
> valid for 16 bit depths. On the other hand, alsamixer is showing the
> 24 bit dB values, even when 16 bits are being used:
>
> 100% (0) -> H/W Multi [dB gain: 0.00, ...]
> 1% (95) -> H/W Multi [dB gain: -142.50,...]
> 0% (96) -> H/W Multi [dB gain: -144.00,...]
>
> Worse than the labelling, but associated -- the scaling: Right now the
> digital mixer's input sliders all have linear response -- which wastes
> the lower half of the slider and makes setting levels difficult
> because all the "action" is near the top. If you use an external MIDI
> controller for the mixer, you can use this existing option:
> -M, --midienhanced Use an enhanced mapping from midi controller to db
> slider However this does not apply to the GUI controller, which stays
> linear.
>
> Clearly the GUIs digital mixer controls also need a logarithmic scale
> (perhaps as default settings); matching that, each mixer input's
> meters also need to have their scale expressed "logarithmically" so as
> to provide, for example 50% of the display resolution for 0 to -20dB,
> and remaining 50% for -20dB to -96dB/-144dB.
>
> Alongside the numbers indicating the 0 to -96db L or R gain on each
> mixer input channel, I would also add the current peak value held in
> the meters in dB, which would be based on hardware metering level
> "0xFF" representing 0db, and hardware meter level "0x01" representing
> all but the last of the 9 MSB's being 0 (per
>
http://alsa.cybermirror.org/manuals/icensemble/envy24.pdf: "Peak data
> derived from the absolute value of 9 msb. 00h * min - FFh max volume.
> Reading the register resets the meter to 00h."
>
> Other missing features:
>
> (3) Due to the hardware metering employed by envy24control, the peak
> meters don't actually detect "clipping" ; rather, they just detect
> "full scale" as 255. Is there a hardware clipped indicator on the
> ice1712? It doesn't make sense to turn on a big red "clipped" light
> for 0dB output, so the current peak-meters are "subtle," and just
> indicate that a peak occurred at the given level... And color-code the
> peak towards red as it reaches 255.
>
> (4) The "IEC958 Input Status" isn't presented, even though it's
> available and working, e.g from the command-line,. with SPDIF input
> going to the Delta66 soundcard:
> .....
> gnulem-176-~> amixer -c M66 cget numid=50,iface=MIXER,name='Delta
> IEC958 Input Status'
> numid=50,iface=MIXER,name='Delta IEC958 Input Status'
> ; type=BOOLEAN,access=r-------,values=1
>
> : values=on
>
> .....
> And without any SPDIF input:
> .....
> gnulem-177-~> amixer -c M66 cget numid=50,iface=MIXER,name='Delta
> IEC958 Input Status'
> numid=50,iface=MIXER,name='Delta IEC958 Input Status'
> ; type=BOOLEAN,access=r-------,values=1
>
> : values=off
>
> Perhaps this isn't available in envy24control because it has differing
> levels of support across envy24-based cards? I only have a Delta66's
> and a Terratec Dmx6Fire 24/96 for testing, and both support the SPDIF
> input status.
>
> -- Niels
>
http://nielsmayer.com
>
> PS: ALSA tip of the day. To read ice1712's hardware level-meter values
> from the command line:
> "amixer -c M66 cget iface=PCM,name='Multi Track Peak',numid=45"
> type=INTEGER,access=r-------,values=22,min=0,max=255,step=0
>
> : values=0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,255,198,255,198