1275389 Posted October 15, 2016 at 10:41 PM Posted October 15, 2016 at 10:41 PM (edited) I've noticed that volumes really vary on VATSIM. I've had controllers/pilots with volumes ranging from near-silent to hurting my ears. Right now, I don't think the % volume really works that well. What I think might be better would be to limit/amplify the current volume to a specified decibel value (using a slider). That way, all pilots/controllers would nearly be at the same volume. Edited October 20, 2016 at 09:05 PM by Guest Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
1275389 Posted October 20, 2016 at 09:05 PM Author Posted October 20, 2016 at 09:05 PM Anyone else have thoughts on this? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lindsey Wiebe 1101951 Posted October 21, 2016 at 06:34 PM Posted October 21, 2016 at 06:34 PM Ya that would be awesome, but sounds like it could be a real chore to code! I think Ross is busy with CTP at the moment! Mr. VATSIM P2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ross Carlson Posted October 21, 2016 at 09:11 PM Posted October 21, 2016 at 09:11 PM What I think might be better would be to limit/amplify the current volume to a specified decibel value (using a slider). That way, all pilots/controllers would nearly be at the same volume. I don't know much about audio processing in code (I didn't write the vPilot audio code, that was already written in the form of the VATSIM Voice Library (VVL)) so I may be missing something fundamental, but I don't really see how this could work. Audio is sent over the network in small packets, each representing a fraction of a second of spoken audio. The loudest sound within each of those packets is going to vary from packet to packet. So there is no way (that I can think of) that the software could immediately establish an amount of amplification or limiting for a given user. For example, when the first packet comes in, that packet may contain the audio for the start of a word, but not the entire word, and just that starting portion may need to be kept quiet, relative to other parts of the word that have yet to come down the wire, for the whole word to still sound natural. Maybe it could work if the code waited to apply any amplification/limiting to the stream until after a certain number of seconds of audio had been received from the transmitting user. We can look at the loudest sound within that several-second sample, and use that to determine the required amount of amplification or limiting needed to normalize the stream from that point forward. And because a given user's overall volume can change during a session (e.g. they move the mic further from or closer to their mouth) this amplification/limiting factor would have to be re-evaluated constantly, perhaps by always looking at the max volume over the previous two or three seconds. Definitely not trivial, and probably quite error-prone. Interesting idea, though. Ideally, we'd totally replace VVL and implement a much better voice infrastructure, and that infrastructure would include proper normalization of the volume within a voice stream as it is being sent, rather than have the receiving end have to deal with normalizing each incoming stream before mixing them. I think Ross is busy with CTP at the moment! I don't actually have anything to do with CTP. I did fly in the last one though ... Developer: vPilot, VRC, vSTARS, vERAM, VAT-Spy Senior Controller, Boston Virtual ARTCC Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lindsey Wiebe 1101951 Posted October 21, 2016 at 11:25 PM Posted October 21, 2016 at 11:25 PM ah ya that sounds like a mess... thought they'd drag you into the organizing since your program feature in it so much! But glad you get to enjoy it once in a while. Hopefully, the codec doesn't get changed to Pilot Edge style; as perfectly clear and readable as that is... it is SO not realistic. Having RL commercial flying experience real radio is much closer to Vatsim than to pilotedge. There are a lot of [Mod - lovely stuff]py airplanes flying around that you can't figure out WHAT they are saying, with ATC comms there are so many disturbances around (i.e mountains, LOTS of rain attenuation, static, lightening, you name it) that keeps it from being perfect. I listen/watch twitch streams of people on pilotedge and it's actually changing into a turn off rather than a perk, IMO. Mr. VATSIM P2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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