Comments on: About

By: Steve

Steve — Fri, 06 Jan 2012 01:56:00 +0000

I agree that a digital volume control will probably not give you the quality of a good potentiometer. I don’t have much experience in high-quality audio control, but I would guess your best option is to get a motorized pot like the Alps RK168 Series with multiple resistive elements. I imagine you will need at least one element per audio channel (2 for stereo, maybe 3 if you also have a dedicated mono-bass channel), plus one extra element that you can use to check the voltage level from your reference voltage and display a volume level number. You’d need to use something like the Arduino that I’m using and create some mapping between the resistance of the pot and a number, so when the volume is all the way down, the pot voltage is 0 (you’ll need a pull-down resistor, maybe 100K to pull it down to GND), and screen displays 0 and when it’s all the way up, the resistance is 0 and voltage is +5VDC (or whatever your reference voltage is), and the screen displays 100 (or MAX or whatever you want). To make an LCD display work, you should get a controller like the Arduino, and get a serial LCD display, then you just connect the power and the serial wires to the controller; download the LCD’s Arduino library, and in the Arduino code, you’ll use commands like

Serial.Send("Volume Level: 37");

based on your pot check. For a 7-segment LED display like I’m using, you’ll need a serial to parallel LED driver since there are more LEDs than output pins on the Arduino, then you can get an Arduino driver and send it commands similar to that of the LCD display. I buy almost everything from SparkFun Electronics because they have a wealth of information about every product (here’s a serial LED Driver, for example: http://www.sparkfun.com/products/9622).

By: Steve

Steve — Fri, 06 Jan 2012 01:37:28 +0000

I have heard this also from someone else, unfortunately, I presently have no extra cycles to correct the problem.

By: scott

scott — Thu, 05 Jan 2012 23:43:29 +0000

I could really use that tech you have on the mouse. I would like to make a preamp and while there are several on the net I am not sure a chip will change volume better than a alps pot. I would like to have an lcd display an remote control both of which i can buy. i just can’t get how to make the disiplay work. I am not a total idiot i have built two 300b tube amps that sound great it just would be nice to have some volume control. Any ideas?

By: Benjamin

Benjamin — Tue, 03 Jan 2012 10:13:44 +0000

Hi Steve,
I am trying to use your Piwik Mobile Analytics plug in but it seems it is not compatible with Piwik 1.6…
Am I doing something wrong or is it a known issue? If it is known, do you have any fix?

Thanks a bunch!

By: Dwight Ringdahl

Dwight Ringdahl — Tue, 25 Oct 2011 17:22:09 +0000

Do you have install instruction for the mobile analytics app you have for piwik?

By: Steve

Steve — Wed, 14 Sep 2011 20:39:11 +0000

I’ve finally got around to updating my about page – these startups just take so much time and energy!

By: Steve

Steve — Mon, 12 Sep 2011 17:01:33 +0000

Actually, I am the COO of ScientiaMobile in the Washington DC Metro area (http://scientiamobile.com/about) . I really need to update my info!

By: Bob Worley

Bob Worley — Mon, 12 Sep 2011 16:46:58 +0000

Do you still work for the Defense Contractor or are you out on your own?

By: Steve

Steve — Mon, 28 Feb 2011 05:24:45 +0000

You’re welcome – I’m glad to see it helped out!

By: Gabe

Gabe — Mon, 28 Feb 2011 05:16:28 +0000

Hi, Steve! Would just like to thank you for sharing your comment on how to “send image data to a mobile phone” in the PHP header manual page: http://php.net/manual/en/function.header.php . That was exactly the solution I was looking for for a project I’m currently involved in ! Thanks again!