Balance control

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glynnw

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Balance control
« on: 8 Aug 2017, 09:35 pm »
Any progress on my suggestion that the balance control maintain constant volume when used?

kernelbob

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Re: Balance control
« Reply #1 on: 8 Aug 2017, 10:14 pm »
i reiterate my opposition to the "constant volume" balance control unless it's a user switchable option.

The point is that to have constant volume when changing balance, one channel has to be increased and the other channel decreased the same amount.  This means that if the attenuator has descrete steps (as in the Tortuga), then the minimum amount of change is two steps... one channel up one step and the other channel down one step.

When using the balance control to compensate for a L/R volume difference due to speaker, amp, room, source, or recording imbalances, the smaller the available change the better.  So, for a constant volume shift, you have to change the net L/R balance two steps, twice as coarse as the channel attenuator steps.

glynnw

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Re: Balance control
« Reply #2 on: 8 Aug 2017, 10:28 pm »
I understand and agree that the steps would need to be smaller.  I am hoping Morton can figure out a way to do that.

kernelbob

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Re: Balance control
« Reply #3 on: 8 Aug 2017, 11:02 pm »
It doesn't matter if the steps are smaller.  If changing the balance one "step" in a constant volume configuration, the net change will be a minimum of two steps.  You could add another LDR inline with the volume control, but that add complexity and degrades the sound.

So, the only solution I see is if it is a user-configurable setting.  The default (current) setting changes one channel at a time.  The new option would be to change both channels at the same time-- one up and one down.

glynnw

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Re: Balance control
« Reply #4 on: 9 Aug 2017, 12:38 am »
I am in no hurry on this - I hope we all will be here in 10 years making comments, etc.  In that time perhaps Morten will think of a way that pleases us all.  In the meantime, I love this unit as is.  I just figure that bringing it up every year or so might keep the idea in his mind.

tortugaranger

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Re: Balance control
« Reply #5 on: 9 Aug 2017, 02:52 pm »
This has already been implemented in the V25 controller but have not yet updated the V2 firmware. It works well with no artifacts that I can discern.

Technically it doesn't maintain constant volume. However, it does maintains volume within roughly 0.25 db which is good enough for practical purposes.

Here's how it works. Let's say you want to shift balance to the right. Step 1 increases right channel by 1 step (~0.5 db with V25) while left channel remains fixed. So now the average increase in volume is roughly 0.25 dB - arguably not noticeable. With the next step to the right there's no change to right channel but instead the left channel is reduced 1 step (~0.5 db down). At this point right is +1 (0.5 db) and left is -1 (-0.5 db). After 2 steps right there's a net shift right of 1 dB relative to the left but averaged volume change is 0 dB.

Rinse and repeat.  :thumb:

glynnw

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Re: Balance control
« Reply #6 on: 9 Aug 2017, 03:58 pm »
Great!!  Let us know when you do update the V2 software - at this time I am not in the market for your V25 card (retired guy on fixed income), but maybe later.  Thanks for listening to us and constantly improving things.