Power Mixer

Siftware Review: Better control over your windows audio

I had been looking for some better controls for my system audio and finally found a great solution in Power Mixer from Actual Solution. The windows mixer replacement boasts a wide array of features for the audio enthusiast and hobbyist alike.

When I find good software I like to share it with others - especially little gems like this that are somewhat difficult to find.

In my case I was looking for something to help manage the 5 different audio devices in my primary system + 4 more in my secondary that is also linked through to the primary via SPDIF. I wanted more control per-application on both systems and adjusting for different sets of volumes with a bit of metering.

The windows mixer can do a lot of that already but for me it had some major problems. The volumes for all the various applications are linked so when you turn down the main output volume it dynamically reduces all the others as well. I have a few rails that are kept very low (speech output for notifications in growl for example) so turning down the volume effectively muted these. Then turning the volume up again didn't restore them since they had already hit zero.

Power Mixer solves all this by allowing "Presets" so you can create preset batches of volume setting across any applications and devices that you want. You can also control master-fader volume completely independently from any others and, the best part, build your own deck of meters and faders for any application/device you want. Finally it allows you to add hotkeys to control all this - which when combined with something like AutoHotKey it gets really interesting - especially when dealing with multiple systems. I'm sure I have yet to truly find the best automation between the various systems and linking hotkeys for volume set control.

The interface is intuitive and it's lean on resources. So if you're looking for a bit more control over your system audio give Power Mixer a try. It's about $20 to purchase but has a 14 day eval to try it out.

Learn more at the developer's Web Site:
http://www.actualsolution.com/power_mixer/

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