I have Digi 001 with ASIO sound drivers installed on WinXP, how can I control the volume?

December 6, 2005 8:18 AM

For all ye audiophiles: I have Digi 001 with ASIO sound drivers installed on WinXP, how can I control the volume?

I have Pro Tools 5.3, and I used to use the WaveDriver driver, but I couldn't use Shoucast with it, but it came with an app to control the gain of the sound (DigiGain). The ASIO drivers don't come with any such thing, and the volume control on Winamp doesn't do anything anymore. I have two active studio monitors hooked up to the sound card, so each have their own volume dial, and it's a pain in the ass to align them. What can I do? If I have no choice but to buy a preamp, are there cheap ones on the market?

posted by Edible Energy to technology (3 comments total)

I think that is the point of ASIO, all windows processing of the sound is completely stripped.

All you need is a dual gang potentiometer - sometimes called a passive preamp. No doubt lots of people can come up with reasonable links to finished products, but it wouldn't cost more than $20 to built a pretty nice one from scratch.
posted by Chuckles at 8:51 AM on December 6, 2005

Here is the direct passive preamp link.
posted by Chuckles at 8:54 AM on December 6, 2005

if what you're doing is using winamp with the ASIO driver (and that's what it sounds like), try finding a winamp plugin that uses an internal DSP algorithm to change the volume.

though really, i don't recommend going straight from a soundcard to your monitors. it's never fun when something locks up and your soundcard is creating horrible noises and the only thing you can do is yank out the cables or turn off the monitors.

behringer makes good, cheap mixers. another good reason to have a small mixer as the last step before your monitors is that you can run other sources of audio out to your monitors without having to run them through your Digi 001. i recommend getting this or this or this , depending on what you think you need. zzounds is a pretty good retailer; if you end up not liking it for whatever reason, you can just send it back and you'll get a refund.
posted by tumult at 9:16 AM on December 6, 2005