:musical_score: Sound on Windows 10 (and KDE) (and wallpapers)



  • STATUS:

    Did anyone rant yet about the new Windows 10 sound control?

    How it doesn't have quick access to Volume Mixer, arguably one of the few Windows' remaining advantages over Mac? Also, how you can't just use your mouse wheel over the speaker icon to change volume, but have to click icon, MOVE THE MOUSE OVER THE POPUP, and then change volume?

    No one else bothered by this? Everything's fine, right?


  • FoxDev

    @cartman82 said:

    How it doesn't have quick access to Volume Mixer

    TIL two clicks is unacceptably long to get to the Volume Mixer


  • BINNED

    @cartman82 said:

    Also, how you can't just use your mouse wheel over the speaker icon to change volume

    I did this so many times and wondered why it doesn't work. Interestingly, on 7 you had to click the icon but then scrolling worked without moving the mouse.

    Also, not being able to scroll without focusing the window, gaaaah!



  • I've also noticed it's quieter. Since upgrading to Windows 10 I had to crank the volume up much farther just to get the same perceived volume on my headphones. I used to run the volume at about 2 - 3, now I run it at about 30.



  • @RaceProUK said:

    TIL two clicks is unacceptably long to get to the Volume Mixer

    Especially since there's ABSOLUTELY NO REASON they couldn't have kept a quick button. Or added right-click to mixer shortcut. Plenty of space and potential solutions.

    That's not even the worst of these small slights.

    How about the hidden tray icons? There used to be a convenient button to enter a menu where you can pick which icons will be always visible and which hidden. Now its gone. Right click does nothing. You have to search for some non-intuitive thing to get there. You'd think entering "tray" or something would get you there, but nope.

    Don't even get me started about changing desktop background.

    It's like they took every single aspect of the UI and tried to make it infuriating in some small nitpicky way, just to mess with me personally.



  • @cartman82 said:

    Don't even get me started about changing desktop background.

    Explain.

    Desktop -> context menu -> personalize -> browse for picture is unacceptable for you?


  • Notification Spam Recipient

    @cartman82 said:

    No one else bothered by this? Everything's fine, right?

    I haven't been able to figure out how to swap back in the Mixer well enough as a workaround.

    No, haven't heard anyone rant, feel free!

    Just... not in the Status thread plz. 😛



  • @aliceif said:

    Desktop -> context menu -> personalize -> browse for picture is unacceptable for you?

    How about I have a folder with 100 desktop backgrounds and I want to see how each one looks on my desktop.

    On linux: pick a folder, load images, then keep pressing arrows and see the background change
    On Mac: pick a folder, load images, then keep pressing arrows and see the background change
    On Windows 7/8: pick a folder, load images, then keep pressing arrows and see the background change

    On Windows 10:
    Click browse, pick an image from list, click Ok
    Hmm.... no, I don't quite like that one.
    Click browse, pick a different image, click Ok.
    Hmm.... no, no that one.
    Click browse.....

    ..
    ...
    ......
    ..........
    #WHO THE FUCK DESIGNED THIS SHIT! ?


  • Notification Spam Recipient

    @aliceif said:

    Desktop -> context menu -> personalize -> browse for picture is unacceptable for you?

    It's fine to me, but Windows refuses to remember that for some reason and keeps switching back to the current Theme's slideshow. I've given up on having a solid black background with a theme....



  • @cartman82 said:

    No one else bothered by this? Everything's fine, right?

    I change my volume and use the sound mixer all the time, and I honestly have no issues with it.

    It would be nice to get a better way to change the default input/output device, one smart enough to put my "commonly used" ones on top. Considering most of the devices are either virtual devices, or devices with nothing plugged into them (like HDMI audio channels.)



  • @blakeyrat said:

    I change my volume and use the sound mixer all the time, and I honestly have no issues with it.

    Oh, wow, Mr. Microsoft shill likes how the new BROKEN shit works.

    "Everything is fine, people, just a little iceberg, nothing to see here."

    WHO WOULD HAVE THOUGHT!?


  • FoxDev

    @cartman82 said:

    Especially since there's ABSOLUTELY NO REASON they couldn't have kept a quick button.

    Double-click the icon, exactly like you did in WIndows 7 and 8.

    @cartman82 said:

    Or added right-click to mixer shortcut.

    Right-click the icon, the top option is Mixer. Just like Windows 7 and 8.

    @cartman82 said:

    Plenty of space and potential solutions.

    Yep, in exactly the same place they were in Windows 7 and 8.

    @cartman82 said:

    How about the hidden tray icons? There used to be a convenient button to enter a menu where you can pick which icons will be always visible and which hidden. Now its gone. Right click does nothing.

    Funny, because it still works exactly like it does in WIndows 7 and 8: right-click Taskbar > Properties > Customise.

    @cartman82 said:

    You have to search for some non-intuitive thing to get there. You'd think entering "tray" or something would get you there, but nope.

    That's because it's not a tray, it's the Notification Area. Plus there's that quick and easy way above that's identical to WIndows 7 and 8.

    @cartman82 said:

    Don't even get me started about changing desktop background.

    What, you don't like the way it remembers the last half-dozen images you selected so you can quick-switch between them?


  • Discourse touched me in a no-no place

    @cartman82 said:

    How it doesn't have quick access to Volume Mixer

    If you right-click the icon, you get a popup menu whose top item is the Volume Mixer.


  • Discourse touched me in a no-no place

    @cartman82 said:

    Also, how you can't just use your mouse wheel over the speaker icon to change volume

    Also, E_NOREPRO. I didn't know you could do that before, but I just tried it on W10 and it worked fine for me, so thanks, TIL.



  • @RaceProUK said:

    Especially since there's ABSOLUTELY NO REASON they couldn't have kept a quick button.

    Double-click the icon, exactly like you did in WIndows 7 and 8.

    Bullshit.

    @RaceProUK said:

    Or added right-click to mixer shortcut.

    Right-click the icon, the top option is Mixer. Just like Windows 7 and 8.

    Needlessly inconvenient.

    @RaceProUK said:

    Plenty of space and potential solutions.

    Yep, in exactly the same place they were in Windows 7 and 8.

    Except...

    Also, I can scroll wheel over the speaker icon and change volume.

    SO. MUCH. BETTER.

    @RaceProUK said:

    Funny, because it still works exactly like it does in WIndows 7 and 8: right-click Taskbar > Properties > Customise.

    Fair enough, it ONLY takes 6 clicks to get there instead of one.

    @RaceProUK said:

    What, you don't like the way it remembers the last half-dozen images you selected so you can quick-switch between them?

    I would prefer if I could go through my background image collection before the heat death of universe instead.



  • I think Cartman's computer is busted, based on some of the complaints he's made here recently.



  • @FrostCat said:

    Also, E_NOREPRO. I didn't know you could do that before, but I just tried it on W10 and it worked fine for me, so thanks, TIL.

    Well I'm on the latest W10, so if you're behind, you have something to look forward to once you update.


  • BINNED

    @blakeyrat said:

    It would be nice to get a better way to change the default input/output device, one smart enough to put my "commonly used" ones on top.

    KDE's solution is pretty decent:

    It's missing a quick way to override the list though. The best one I saw for that was on Cinnamon:

    You know what's real shitty? I saw no system where those two features are combined together. And it's not for the lack of support on the audio subsystem side, it's just that no one made a UI that unifies all those features.


  • Discourse touched me in a no-no place

    @blakeyrat said:

    I think Cartman's computer is busted, based on some of the complaints he's made here recently.

    Hmm, yeah, that could be.

    Still, today wasn't a total loss, what with learning about the scroll wheel. It doesn't make up for dropping my fries at lunchtime, though.



  • @blakeyrat said:

    I think Cartman's computer is busted, based on some of the complaints he's made here recently.

    Oh right, your Windows has a sane background image picker and mixer icon. Silly cartman and his silly broken Windows.


  • Discourse touched me in a no-no place

    @cartman82 said:

    @FrostCat said:
    Also, E_NOREPRO. I didn't know you could do that before, but I just tried it on W10 and it worked fine for me, so thanks, TIL.

    Well I'm on the latest W10, so if you're behind, you have something to look forward to once you update.

    10586.122, which I think is the November update, so I think you have to consider what Blakey said about your computer being busted.



  • @FrostCat said:

    10586.122, which I think is the November update, so I think you have to consider what Blakey said about your computer being busted.

    You're just trolling.

    Animated gif or it didn't happen.


  • ♿ (Parody)

    @cartman82 said:

    Did anyone rant yet about the new Windows 10 sound control?

    LOL. Reading this is just like living those jokes about how the best way to get an answer for how to do something on Linux is to post somewhere that it can't be done and wait for the indignant posts proving you wrong.



  • [img]https://what.thedailywtf.com/uploads/default/optimized/3X/6/c/6cfec457fb4844add0a87de7adda95b4b59b48c9_1_690x462.png[/img]

    Seriously? That's pretty terrible.

    What's a "Phonon" for example? Is that the name of your OS? If not, what is it controlling audio for? A "phonon"? Whatever that is?

    What's a P311? No icon to tell you what that device is? Is it a sound card? The name and icon are both useless. (Also the icon makes it look like a document instead of a device, doubly-useless.) Sounds like a WWII pursuit plane.

    "Built-in Audio Analog Stereo". First of all, I'm pretty sure those words are in the wrong order to have any kind of actual meaning. (Presuming it's not literally a stereo built-in to your computer, which would be a bit odd.) Secondly, how is that helpful when your built-in sound card (again, assuming a non-mutant computer) has multiple outputs and the outputs aren't labeled? How do I tell it to do the optical for audio instead of the line-out or headphone-out? Or does your OS just output to all of them simultaneously? Why is "Built-in Audio Analog Surround 2.1" listed as a separate device entirely? (And BTW, it should be spelled "Built-In", since it's title case, but that's relatively minor.)

    Why does a sound card device have the same icon as a video card device?

    What would ever be the point of selecting "Dummy Output"?

    I'm going to ass-pull and assume "ARCTIC P253 BT" is a Bluetooth audio device based on the "BT" in its name. Why doesn't Bluetooth have an icon? It's pretty fucking common, and it has a pretty recognizable icon.

    Why is this a "prefer" type of thing? The way it's worded makes me think that your OS might arbitrarily declare the P311 is too "busy" and start routing audio through the Built-in instead. If that's really how it works, that's fucking awful. Also the word "defer" isn't the opposite of "prefer", it means "postpone". That makes no goddamned sense in this context.

    Why is Communication (which is generally not recording) listed under Audio Recording? What the holy fuck is Video Recording Communication? Like... Skype will use different audio devices if you turn your webcam on than it will normally? Who would want that.

    ...

    Anyway, point is: No, that's a fucking awful UI as even a casual glance at it will show.


  • FoxDev

    @cartman82 said:

    Bullshit.

    Did it about half-hour ago.

    @cartman82 said:

    Needlessly inconvenient.

    Right, so despite it being exactly the same method, somehow the updated version number makes it inconvenient.

    @cartman82 said:

    Fair enough, it ONLY takes 6 clicks to get there instead of one.

    Right-click taskbar, left-click menu option, left-click button... oh, I have the window already.
    Where the hell are you getting the other three clicks from?

    @cartman82 said:

    Also, I can scroll wheel over the speaker icon and change volume.

    And @FrostCat can on Windows 10. Oh, and so can I.

    @cartman82 said:

    I would prefer if I could go through my background image collection before the heat death of universe instead.

    Maybe you should replace that steam-powered hard drive with one that works on this new-fangled thing called 'electricity'.



  • @cartman82 said:

    Or added right-click to mixer shortcut.

    Erm.



  • @RaceProUK said:

    And @FrostCat can on Windows 10. Oh, and so can I.

    I can't two-finger-scroll over it.
    ````Microsoft Windows [Version 10.0.10586]```


  • FoxDev

    I was using a mouse with a scrollwheel; guess @FrostCat was doing the same.



  • Why would a mouse with a scrollwheel work differently?



  • @aliceif said:

    @RaceProUK said:
    And @FrostCat can on Windows 10. Oh, and so can I.

    I can't two-finger-scroll over it.
    ````Microsoft Windows [Version 10.0.10586]```

    Two-finger scroll on touchpad works as well as a mousewheel.



  • @Rhywden said:

    Two-finger scroll on touchpad works as well as a mousewheel.

    Over the notifications area icon? Not for me. With neither mouse nor touchpad, even.


  • FoxDev

    @aliceif said:

    Why would a mouse with a scrollwheel work differently?

    I have no idea, but in this case, it really does work differently; scrollwheel works, two-finger scroll does not.

    @aliceif said:

    Over the notifications area icon? Not for me. With neither mouse nor touchpad, even.

    The single slider has to be open for it to work. Why? No idea.


  • Notification Spam Recipient

    @aliceif said:

    I can't two-finger-scroll over it.

    @aliceif said:

    Why would a mouse with a scrollwheel work differently?

    This is likely because the icon isn't an object with a scrollable view. The app itself listens only for Mouse events, one being the scroll.
    Since the mouse driver doesn't know it's capable of receiving scrolling input, it doesn't attempt to do so.?



  • The real answer is:

    MicroSoft are utter morons who don't test multitouch properly.

    I have noticed that using multitouch scroll in some views in Visual Studio 2015 causes the scrollbar to move but not the content, a bug that doesn't happen when using a normal mouse.

    And Skype's desktop client doesn't support multitouch scroll on Windows 10 at all, while it supports normal mice just fine.



  • @Rhywden said:

    Or added right-click to mixer shortcut.

    Erm.

    Oh for christs sake, I was talking something like right or middle clicking the sound bar popup, which now does nothing. I know about the stupid context menu.


  • Notification Spam Recipient

    @aliceif said:

    MicroSoft are utter morons who don't test multitouch properly.

    It doesn't help that the mouse drivers (non-MS) attempt to workaround and fix these issues (mentioned in my post).

    Most of the time I can't get both Touch and Trackpad working in Chrome simultaneously, for example.


  • BINNED

    @blakeyrat said:

    What's a "Phonon" for example? Is that the name of your OS? If not, what is it controlling audio for? A "phonon"? Whatever that is?

    It's KDE's audio subsystem. And if you look at the title of the window it says "Audio and Video". That's what I clicked in the "System Settings" window... sorry, "Control Panel", in case that's too confusing.

    @blakeyrat said:

    What's a P311? No icon to tell you what that device is?

    It's a bluetooth headset. The name is what the manufacturer assigned to it. Shows up the same way on Windows. The icon could be better, granted.

    @blakeyrat said:

    "Built-in Audio Analog Stereo". First of all, I'm pretty sure those words are in the wrong order to have any kind of actual meaning.

    It's the output of my built-in audio card. Analog stereo and Analog Surround 2.1 are profiles I have configured.

    @blakeyrat said:

    Why is this a "prefer" type of thing? The way it's worded makes me think that your OS might arbitrarily declare the P311 is too "busy" and start routing audio through the Built-in instead. If that's really how it works, that's fucking awful.

    No, it switches the output if, for example, you plug your headphones out.

    @blakeyrat said:

    Anyway, point is: No, that's a fucking awful UI as even a casual glance at it will show.

    That's great for you. Personally, I didn't have a way of setting that stuff up on Windows last I tried, not without sound card manufacturer's software. And those are truly the height of design.

    http://realtek-download.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/06/Realtek-HD-Audio-Codec-Driver.jpg

    Oh yeah, that's the stuff!



  • @cartman82 said:

    @Rhywden said:
    Or added right-click to mixer shortcut.

    Erm.

    Oh for christs sake, I was talking something like right or middle clicking the sound bar popup, which now does nothing. I know about the stupid context menu.

    Weren't you just ranting about the amounts of clicks? And now you yourself demand to increase the amounts of clicks?

    Me: Icon => Rightclick => Leftclick. Done
    You: Icon => Leftclick => Rightclick => Leftclick. Done.

    Deeply impressed by your consistency 😄



  • @Rhywden said:

    Weren't you just ranting about the amounts of clicks? And now you yourself demand to increase the amounts of clicks?

    Me: Icon => Rightclick => Leftclick. DoneYou: Leftclick => Rightclick => Leftclick. Done.

    WTF, are you an idiot?

    Right click or middle click on the volume slider popup and get mixer immediately. Right now, it has no effect. If they don't want to scare the noobs with extra buttons (which I presume is the feverish dream behind this idiotic decision), they can easily add that for the pros.



  • @Onyx said:

    It's KDE's audio subsystem.

    Right; I'm sure Windows' audio subsystem has some fancy name too. The question is: why show it to the user? Is that information useful to them in some way?

    @Onyx said:

    It's the output of my built-in audio card. Analog stereo and Analog Surround 2.1 are profiles I have configured.

    So there's another step here where you have to "configure" your sound card? Why? The OS is too dumb to just ask it what capabilities it has?

    @Onyx said:

    No, it switches the output if, for example, you plug your headphones out.

    That actually makes sense, but it's certainly not obvious from looking at the window.

    @Onyx said:

    Personally, I didn't have a way of setting that stuff up on Windows last I tried, not without sound card manufacturer's software.

    That's because it's letting you do a lot of stuff that doesn't make sense. Like changing your voice communication program's audio based on whether or not the web cam is turned on.



  • @cartman82 said:

    WTF, are you an idiot?

    I'm not surprised by your confusion as you seem to have no clue as to what you yourself just uttered. It only follows that you're thus incapable of making sense of responses to your nonsense 🚎

    edit: The fuck?


  • FoxDev

    @cartman82 said:

    WTF, are you an idiot?

    From the person who's complaining that methods from Windows 7 and 8 work exactly the same in Windows 10.



  • @RaceProUK said:

    From the person who's complaining that methods from Windows 7 and 8 work exactly the same in Windows 10.

    Now you're just spewing nonsense. Windows 10 fumes have completely rotted away your brain.


  • FoxDev

    Ah, I see; the only experience that matters is your experience, because even though you're clearly in the minority and have no clue what you're talking about, you're right because raisins.



  • @RaceProUK said:

    Ah, I see; the only experience that matters is your experience, because even though you're clearly in the minority and have no clue what you're talking about, you're right because raisins.

    Oh boy, sounds like you're descending into another Balmeresque "USERS! USERS! USERS!" meltdown. I better steer clear.


  • FoxDev

    Nah, I'll leave that to @FrostCat, @blakeyrat, or @Rhywden, who all agree that you're talking total bollocks.



  • Windows shill squad ASSEMBLE!


  • I survived the hour long Uno hand

    @cartman82 said:

    Also, how you can't just use your mouse wheel over the speaker icon to change volume, but have to click icon, MOVE THE MOUSE OVER THE POPUP, and then change volume?

    E_NO_REPRO; I was able to click the icon once and scroll without moving the mouse further.



  • @Yamikuronue said:

    E_NO_REPRO; I was able to click the icon once and scroll without moving the mouse further.

    Ok, I'm withdrawing my complaint about that. It was some kind of driver issue on my end.

    All other points stand.


  • BINNED

    @blakeyrat said:

    The OS is too dumb to just ask it what capabilities it has?

    Nope.

    I can just set up different ways of playing audio. Is that such a hard concept to grasp? If I didn't touch a damned thing it would just find an audio device that can spew out audio and use whatever defaults it had.

    @blakeyrat said:

    That's because it's letting you do a lot of stuff that doesn't make sense. Like changing your voice communication program's audio based on whether or not the web cam is turned on.

    It might make sense to some people. Personally, I don't have a use for it, but it doesn't mean there isn't one. For example, how many applications did you see with a setting like this?

    That's two separate audio devices for a single application. Now, in this case I know the use case: it's a SIP phone. So you want your sound output to be the headphones when talking to people, but you might want to use speakers connected to another sound card / output for the ringing sound so you can hear it ringing if you take your headphones off.


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