Category Archives: tech

Tech contains posts about my tech hobbies. Some of my tech hobbies include: Linux, VOIP, Asterisk PBX and Networking.

Power Mixer and VolumeLock Review

July 16, 2019 Eric "smurph" Murphy Leave a comment

Sometimes I feel like I have an amazing talent of finding or creating the most obscure tech issues ever. My latest headache started when my lovely wife bought me an Audio Technica 2020+ USB mic for Christmas. I was ecstatic. I hooked that baby up, and that’s when the problems began. After a lot of troubleshooting and sending it to Audio Technica for a warranty repair, I finally figured out the cause of the biggest issue that had been plaguing me. It was my own damn self.

I probably shouldn’t be so hard on myself. It was technically Auto Hotkey, but I only blame myself because I always try to find the most clever solution to every problem, and this was no exception. I set up an Auto Hotkey script to monitor and adjust the volume on my new mic, just like I had in the past with my Blue Snowball. The problem was, the script was doing something very strange with the volume. Instead of just adjusting the volume, it was also adjusting the balance of the mic. Yes, so every time I turned the volume up, it would also shift my recording to the right channel, and when turning the volume down, it would shift to the left channel. Absolutely bizarre!

To make matters worse, there is no way to see or change the balance settings for a mic in WIndows 10. To be honest, this was not surprising at all to me. That’s where Power Mixer comes into play.

Power Mixer

Power Mixer from Actual Solutions is a software volume mixer for Windows that gives you way more control over your sound devices. You can easily see the volume and balance of every device and application that is hooked into the OS. With one click, you can also enable or disable devices, which is much handier than attempting the same task in Windows.

Beyond simply giving you control over every aspect of your system’s audio, Power Mixer also allows you to monitor the sound going over each channel with VU and PPM meters. This is really handy if you need to be able to mix multiple channels and you want to keep an eye on your levels.

You can also assign hotkeys in Power Mixer to adjust volume, balance, and mute devices or other channels. Unfortunately, it only adjusts by increments of 20 though, so you’ll still need to pull up the mixer itself to do fine tuning. However, this fixed the problem I created when I was using Auto Hotkey to adjust my recording volume. No more balance shift when I touch my volume hotkeys!

Probably my favorite feature is the ability to define presets. You can set up presets for specific tasks, like gaming, working, streaming, etc. and switch between them. There doesn’t seem to be a way to quickly save a preset though, so you’ll have to pull up the preset screen to adjust any settings you’ve changed in the preset in order to make them permanent. That’s a little awkward, but once you set things up how you like them, you probably won’t be messing with that much anyway.

VolumeLock

Actual Software also has a solution for another audio pet peeve of mine. Don’t you hate it when Skype or some other voice chat software thinks it’s being smart by adjusting the input volume of your mic? When using a quality mic, it’s capable of picking up a lot of background noise if you’re not careful, and Skype and the like are notorious for thinking background noise, like a TV or children talking in the background, are important sound bits. As a result, they crank the input volume way up to pick up that background chatter, and then the next time you actually talk, you’re loud enough to blow out your friends’ speakers and eardrums. And even if you tell the offending program to not adjust the input volume, something inevitably does. So why not just prevent it entirely?

VolumeLock does just that. You set your levels where you want them, lock them independently, then forget it. For example, you can lock your input balance but leave your volume unlocked so that nothing will mess with your balance, but you can still adjust your volume from other programs. It has presets, just like Power Mixer, and hotkeys to jump to your different presets. All very good… in theory.

My issues with VolumeLock are a bit frustrating. It works great if all you want to do is lock your levels and set up presets. The problem is that it actually works against Power Mixer. You’d think these two applications should be combined or at least make them work together. Maybe set an exception for Power Mixer so that any other programs are prevented from adjusting your levels except for Power Mixer. Alas, that is not an option, so if you lock something in VolumeLock, it is the end-all be-all. You’re stuck going into VolumeLock to adjust and re-lock your levels.

The Verdict

While these applications have some glaring issues, I can definitely recommend Power Mixer at least. It’s very powerful and it is the best low-cost mixer I’ve been able to find. VolumeLock has great potential, but without better integration with Power Mixer, it really works against the best features of Power Mixer. This is unfortunate since they’re clearly developed by the same small developer, and even have some of the same features and appearance.

Disclaimer: I have written this review based on a 14-day trial of both applications with the assumption that I can acquire a 50% discount on the full license.

gaming, tech

Microsoft Just Made Me Lose My Shit

July 20, 2013 Eric "smurph" Murphy 2 Comments

I’ve been on Xbox Live for 9 years, and generally I’ve been pretty happy with it, despite some weird issues on occasion. The last few years we’ve subscribed to Xbox Live Family where we get 4 gold accounts for $100. That’s an incredible savings. Unfortunately, Microsoft discontinued that subscription level after about two years of minimally supporting it. Everyone I know has complained about how the family accounts are set up. It’s not a big issue for me since my wife is fine with me controlling/managing everything. For other families, it’s frustrating because only one account is the “parent” and others are locked down “child” accounts. It really hasn’t been a problem for me, until today.

The Problem

This morning, my girls wanted to play Kinect Party together, so I fired up the Xbox and tried to sign in under Emma’s account. It acted like I’d never signed in as her before and prompted for credentials. In the past, it had always accepted my account credentials for logging them in. Well that must have changed and I didn’t know her credentials. I skipped logging in and let them play. Then I went to my office and tried the same thing on my Xbox. I ended up resetting her password and that worked just fine.

If you’re having this problem with a child account, and don’t want to read all my ranting (I wouldn’t blame you), skip down to “The Solution” and save yourself some time.

THEN things got really interesting. Xbox said I had to add proofs. I’ve done this on my account and my wife’s, so whatever, punched in my digits, got a text message with the code, entered the code, done… right?

Nope, now I need to verify that proof by checking my email and clicking the link. *Groan* alright, whatever *click*.

Now I need to log in as Emma again. Alright, I’m in.

Now Emma needs her parents’ permission. She can either have an email sent or have her parent come to the PC. I’m already here, let’s do this.

Parent, log in. FOR FUCK’S SAKE. Ok, I’m in.

[paraphrase]Hey Eric, we know you’ve been an Xbox Live subscriber for 9 years, have a credit card on file, you’ve used that credit card dozens of times on our service, we’ve verified your identity and age numerous times, but we’re going to charge you 50 cents (don’t worry PART of it is going to charity… we won’t tell you WHICH charity) just to verify your age…[/paraphrase]

…

WHAT IN THE MOTHERFUCKING HELL?

At this point I’m on the verge of losing my shit, but I figured I can either contact support and give them an earful, or just deal with the 50 cent charge and get it over with. It’s only 50 cents, not that big of a deal, but still, it’s utter nonsense and I shouldn’t have to jump through all these hoops.

*Deep breath* ok, here’s my credit card number. Oh look, you’ve already filled in my address and phone number. Gosh, I guess you guys really do know me, so WHY AM I STILL DOING THIS? (And no, it wasn’t my browser filling it in)

*Submit*

We’re unable to complete your request
Microsoft account is experiencing technical problems. Please try again later.

Shit has been lost, folks.

They don’t even apologize for being incompetent. If it had said “We’re sorry…” I might not have been quite so mad. Ok, that’s a lie.

The Support Call

Ok, contact support time. They conveniently provided a link under the error, so I followed the link and filled in a support request. Here’s what I said:

When I attempt to verify my age using a credit card, it says “We’re unable to complete your request
Microsoft account is experiencing technical problems. Please try again later.

All I’m trying to do is log in to my two daughters’ Xbox Live accounts on our Xbox (their profiles are already on this Xbox). It’s telling me to add proofs, so I add my phone number, I get a text message with a code, enter it on the Xbox, then it tells me I have to verify that by checking my email. So I click the link you sent to my email, it tells me to log in to my kid’s account. Then it tells me (well, my kid) that she needs her parents permission. So I have to log back into the site with my credentials and for some reason I need to verify my age even though I’ve been an Xbox Live subscriber for 9 years and I’ve used credit cards on Xbox Live (and other Microsoft sites) many times before.

FOR SOME STUPID REASON YOUR SITE STILL REQUIRES THAT IT CHARGES ME 50 CENTS TO VERIFY MY AGE?!?!? You know who I am, you’ve verified my identity and age before. Why do I need to do it again in order to add proofs to my daughters’ accounts? Why is this process so much of a pain in the ass? Why doesn’t your credit card processing system work? Why do I need to pay 50 cents to do this?

This is why people complain about your service, don’t trust you, and leave you in favor of competitors. You make everything so god damned complicated and impossible. Like I said, I’ve been a subscriber for 9 years, and I’ve had to deal with a lot of ridiculous issues like this. I’m a very tech-savvy person, so these issues usually aren’t a big problem for me, but I can only wonder what the average user must go through, and how many of them GIVE UP because they get so frustrated with your policies and other nonsense (like me, right now).

Anyway, if you could help with the credit card issue, I’d appreciate it.

I’m so tired of big companies doing this BS. I appreciate that they take security seriously and encourage you to use two factor security and all that, but this is ridiculous. Microsoft has the ability to make this process as streamlined as possible, yet it requires all sorts of logging in/out, checking email, clicking links, verifying a dozen things we’ve already verified. It’s too much. The average user will not put up with this much nonsense. They’re going to give up, tell their kid they can’t use their profile anymore, or create a new profile. Both options heavily degrade the user’s experience to the point that they’ll start looking elsewhere for entertainment. Microsoft, and other companies (they’re not the only offenders), need to get their heads out of their asses and fix this.

Oh, it gets better. While typing this post, I got a response from support:

Dear Eric Murphy,

Thank you for contacting Windows Live Hotmail Plus Billing Support. [Wow, is that who I contacted? That’s quite the name. -EM]

We sincerely apologize for the inconvenience you encountered in trying to complete the age verification process. To further assist you in getting an accurate resolution to this issue, We need to direct you to www.answers.microsoft.com where you will be given a step by step direction by a Moderator. You can also use our xbox chat support at http://support.xbox.com/en-US/contact-us?xr=footnav.

You can also try the following links:
1. http://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/Search/Search?SearchTerm=live+age+verification&CurrentScope.ForumName=&CurrentScope.Filter=&askingquestion=False
2. http://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/windowslive/forum/liveid-signin/how-do-i-change-the-dob-for-a-child-account/9e202b21-8b9a-4ed2-92d4-2014a2dbe0ea

To further explain why Microsoft charge you when creating an account for a child in compliance to Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA), please visit our website at http://windows.microsoft.com/en-US/windows-live/family-safety-why-does.

Windows Live Hotmail Plus Billing Support do not have any fix for Windows Live Age verification. Rest assured that we value your feedback and whatever issues our customers encounter online will be fixed.

Sincerely,

Wianne
Windows Live Hotmail Plus Billing Support

The two links given are amusing. The first one is a huge list of posts on their answers forums from people experiencing the same issues with the credit card system. The second explains why this step is needed and provides alternate methods for verifying your age. They are… wait for it… FAX, or MAIL. That’s snail mail, not email. As in put your sensitive info (photocopy of your driver’s license) in an envelope, write the address on it, slap a stamp on it, drop it in a mailbox and wait a couple weeks for it to be delivered and processed. Granted, this is probably due to COPPA, but it’s still a load of crap. Microsoft, how about you fix your damn credit card processing so I don’t need to deal with this?

At this point, I think it’s ridiculous that customer service is sending me to a different division of support to handle this, and they’re not even passing the torch. They’re just saying “not our problem, ask these guys” and sending me on my way. No, Microsoft, no. This is not service, this is lazy.

Since I’ve never liked answers.microsoft.com for dealing with this type of thing, I started an Xbox chat support session. I was connected to Francis and he was very helpful. I had to explain the issues twice to him but I think part of it was me not quite understanding that I shouldn’t have had to go through any of this nonsense to begin with. He said child accounts don’t need to set up proofs since you log in with the parent’s account credentials (see, I knew that didn’t seem right).

The Solution

The solution Francis provided seemed absurd at first. He told me to delete MY profile (the parent of the child accounts), download the parent profile again, and then the child accounts should log in without the prompts to add proofs.

Well dagnabbit, it worked. Emma’s profile logged in instantly using my credentials. Then I downloaded Payton’s profile and it logged in instantly. Cool. Then I tried the same thing on my other Xbox. I didn’t have as much luck there. I deleted/re-downloaded my account, but still had the same problem with the child accounts. I deleted and re-downloaded the child accounts, same problem. Then I deleted and re-downloaded my account AGAIN, and suddenly stuff started working again. I still had a weird problem with Payton’s account, but turning off/on the Xbox solved that. Might have been a fluke connection problem or something.

Closing

Anyway, after all is said and done, both accounts are able to log in to the Xbox, but if they ever need to do anything on a different Microsoft website, I imagine I’ll still need to verify my age and give them access. I can’t believe it’s 2013 and the internet/technology is STILL such a clusterfuck when it comes to credentials, parental controls, and credit card transaction processing. I can’t believe I wasted four hours on a Saturday to get my girls signed in to Xbox Live. I’m just glad I opted to contact Xbox support and that Francis knows his shit. I guess Xbox caused the problem to begin with, but at least they were able to identify the issue and correct it without too much hassle. This has been one incredibly frustrating experience.

geek, IRL, tech

I Cut the Cable

May 25, 2010 Eric "smurph" Murphy 5 Comments

My memory is a bit foggy but we’ve been cable TV free for about a year now. There are a few things we miss but honestly, those few things are not worth ~$45 per month. I did some research, went to RadioShack, argued with a sales guy about UHF and VHF, bought a $70 UHF/VHF antenna, installed that sucker in the attic, and cancelled our cable. We get ABC, NBC, CBS, Fox, My New TV, CW, and PBS all over the air. Using the federal DTV transition program, we got two DTV converters for $40 total and eventually bought an HDTV. Our savings from ditching cable will pay for the TV in just over a year!

We also bought Playon around the holidays when they had a ridiculous sale going on. With Playon, we can stream all kinds of media from various sites (like Hulu) to our TV via our Xbox 360. It’s a great deal even at the regular price. Since we enjoy movies so much, we also subscribe to the three dvd Netflix plan which includes instant view which also streams to our TV with Xbox 360 and Xbox Live. For $17 per month, it’s a fantastic deal if you watch a lot of movies.

If you haven’t figured it out already, it was well worth it! If the price of cable packages drops dramatically, we may consider signing up again, but I find that pretty unlikely. We’re pretty happy with our media options and we’re saving quite a bit. If you’ve been thinking about cutting the cable but are holding back, let me know! Maybe I can help you pick out hardware, software, and alternate service plans. Just leave a comment!

tech

Google Voice Just Got Better

October 28, 2009 Eric "smurph" Murphy Leave a comment

Google Voice recently added a feature that really appeals to me. There are times where I work in buildings where I have no service on my cell phone. Google Voice has helped this situation by allowing me to forward my Google Voice number to wherever I am. The problem is, not everyone has my Google Voice number, and even if they did, they’d still see my cell number whenever I call them. If someone calls my cell phone and leaves a message when its out of service, I don’t get the message until I’m on the road, which is usually too late.

The new feature Google Voice has added is allowing me to using Google Voice for voicemail on my cellphone. It doesn’t work with all cell providers but they hit the major ones including US Cellular (who I use) which usually is left by the wayside. Not only does it consolidate voicemail boxes, it also allows me to forward my cell calls to my Google Voice number which then dials any number I set up. So now I can even receive those calls that I would normally miss and I don’t really need to hand out my Google Voice number.

If you’re tired of me raving about Google Voice and just want to try it, I have three invites to hand out. Leave a comment or dm me on twitter with your email address and I’ll hook you up! (If you leave a comment, I’ll already have your email so you don’t need to include it in your comment)

Also, sorry for the lack of posts lately. We’ve been very busy the past few months. I’ll be posting some gaming stuff soon (hopefully).

gaming, tech

Announcing XBL Accept

August 28, 2009 Eric "smurph" Murphy Leave a comment

XBL Accept is a command line program that runs on most Linux distros. It might run anywhere you can run python but I’m not much of a python programmer so I can’t be sure. Basically, all this tiny app does is connect to Xbox Live and it accepts any pending friend requests. This is perfect for groups who want to be able to meet up but don’t want to add everyone to their personal list. The usual problem with group gamertags is that someone has to keep an eye on it to accept friend requests. Those days are over! Just run this from a startup script on a Linux server and forget about it. We’re using it over at Co-Optimus for a few gamertags.

XBL Accept is a modification of XBL Status by Chris Hollec. All credit should be directed his way for now. I honestly did not do much to his program in order to get this up and running. If you’d like to contribute to either project, let me know!

Hit the link below, check out the README for prerequisites and instructions on how to run it. If you have any questions, reply to this post for now. Maybe I’ll set up a page in the future.

xblaccept-0.0.1