Windows – Per-application audio control that works in Windows 7 64 Bit

64-bitaudiomixerwindows 7

Added: Last item that I could not gain (per-app) control of is "System Sounds" I do not know what executable or window to "talk to" to control this item.

On Windows 7, I'm still looking for a per-application adjustment of the focused program audio playback with control capability. Preferably it should have keyboard shortcuts.

List of things I've tried:

  • NirCmd: shortcuts for it pop-up auto hide taskbar, and it did not work on 50% of the programs.

  • Volumouse: acts like it is going to work, but after spending hours trying to get various configurations to work it might sporadically function, still pops full screen games. Scroll wheel still is sent to the application in focus, not the audio control.

  • Sound Control: Still doesn't do Per-Application

  • Volume2: Not tested, see answer that shows testing.

  • IndieVolume: not tested, but many users on the web say it does not work with 64bit , that may have changed.

  • Various sidebar/gadget and toolbar items – they only provide main volume adjustments.

Every time I still have to bring up Windows' oversized mixer panel, to "fix" the mess, to try and figure out what did and didn't work. There's no fully functional control of anything other than the Main volume, which is better than nothing.

At this point I am fed up with testing applications that are good ideas, but do not work in half the situations. I would even go for a way to shrink the present panel (like one could do in XP), or a replacement panel.

Instead of pointing me to more applications, tell me if you achieved what I need.

Expectations – What could I work with, by priority (for the Windows per-application mixer):

  1. Being able to set a keyboard control for the application, when the application is active.
  2. Being able to set a mouse control that works on the focused application.
  3. An application that puts a mixer in the status bar or title bar of every application.
  4. Some small(er) desktop replacment of the huge Windows mixer.

This is an idea of the programs, some worked, some worked then failed to work in the next scroll/click. The ones that need control:

  • Microsoft Agents (text to speech speech to text)
  • Media Player Classic (watching video)
  • Virtual Dub (editing and converting video)
  • Goldwave (audio edit)
  • Maxthon browser (doing Flash)
  • System Sounds (telling what is going on with the system, e-mail
    arrival)
  • Gadgets (Internet radio)
  • An MP3 player (local music play)
  • Qdir (select clicks)

Things that fill the mixer, even though I do not need sound in them:

  • True Launch Toolbar
  • Volumouse itself

Add to that, more programs that will use sound:

  • Super (video convert)
  • Edius (pro video edit)
  • Odd but necessary Terracopy (signal copy done)
  • Nero (signals fail or finish)
  • TMPEG (signals encoding done, and copy done)

enter image description here This picture shows the volume mixer when it is all accessable without having to scroll. it takes up 3/4 of one monitor.

If it seems like, why would there be all that running or in need of control? Because some are Players, and others are editors/converters. Listen to radio while editing, switch to watch a move while something is converting etc. Different things need to be turned down for a few minutes.

Best Answer

Volumouse seems to do what you want. But you will have to set it up.

Main Window of Volumouse

In my example setup, I click the More button of first slot and choose "Change the volume for application in focus" under Windows 7/Vista/2008 Options.

More options window for first slot

I can now hold Alt key and roll my mouse wheel to control volume of the window (focused) window. It works in Firefox, Opera, Steam and itself but fails in Chrome (probably because of the multiple processes). So I use slot 2 specifically for Chrome and I click the More button to set it up like this:

More options window for second slot

I also chose to use hot-keys (keyboard shortcuts) instead of mouse wheel to showcase that feature here. I can now control Chrome's volume using the keyboard shortcuts anywhere (no need to switch to Chrome first), another advantage of exe-specific volume control. Note that you don't need to specify full path, but it's safer to do so. You can also just specify the file name (chrome.exe).

Using Volumouse with keyboard shortcuts: Combining the settings "Use hot-keys instead of mouse wheel" (blue method) and "Change the volume for application in focus" (red method) worked better for Psycogeek as the hot-keys were functioning in applications where the mouse wheel didn't.

Another tip: If you want an easy way to bring up the standard Volume Mixer of Windows, you can create a shortcut to C:\Windows\System32\SndVol.exe and assign a keyboard shortcut in the shortcut's properties. Or you can pin it on the taskbar.

Another thing to note: When using a 64Bit system, volumouse is running 2 processes a 32bit and a 64bit. If your having problems with it controlling only 32bit or only 64bit programs, check to see if both 32&64 were installed and running.

Related Question