BetterKnob Volume Mixer

BetterKnob is a lightweight volume mixer used with rotary encoders or media keys.

I created it because I needed a tool to comfortably control different applications' volume levels from my keyboard.

To use it, run it and change your volume as normal. It is smart enough to figure out which application you want to target and has hotkeys to target specific applications, among others.

Works well with keyboards that have a knob/rotary encoder like the Keychron Q and V series. Works with media buttons and wth any peripherals that can emit vol up/down events.

Example uses:

• Adjust your music's volume without changing global or other applications' volume
• Raise the volume of a voice call quickly and without needing to change windows
• Mute a single application without needing to fiddle with your OS's volume mixer
• Finely adjust your volume levels with dynamic step sizes that get more precise the closer you get to 0%

Features

• Lightweight overlay shows you the current application's volume (after changing it, then goes away)
• Hotkey: Cycle between all currently playing audio sources
• Hotkey: Switch to and control the currently focused application's volume
• Hotkey: Switch to and control the system/global volume
• Set a default application to revert audio controls to after an idle delay
• Smart volume controls allow the same keypress/knob turn to perform fine adjustments when approaching lower values (logarithmic scaling, configurable)
• Rebindable hotkeys
• Single, portable binary. No installer
• Tiny resource footprint
• No network calls or telemetry
• Anti-cheat safe

Usage

Precompiled Binary

Download the latest release and extract it. Run BetterKnob.exe.

Check config.ini for configurable settings

To change the hotkeys in the config file, the included HotkeyFinder.exe tool can help you figure out what values to use in your config

Note

When used in an application with elevated privileges (e.g Task Manager), betterknob won't be able to listen to any keypresses. Run the mixer with admin rights if you need it to work in these cases

Running from source

python -m venv .venv
source .venv/Scripts/activate
pip install -r src/requirements.txt
python src/keyb.py

Config

Tip

Hotkeys can be set using their name or scan codes. Use the included hotkey finder utility to find both

Setting	Required to be set	What it does	Default Value
default_process	✅	Reverts audio controls to this process after some idle time. Set it to your most active audio source	chrome.exe
key_quit	✅	Hotkey to exit Betterknob	f13
key_cycle_audio_source	✅	Hotkey to cycle volume controls to the next (active) audio source	f15
key_currently_focused	❌	Hotkey to cycle volume controls to the currently focused application (won't do anything if it isn't playing audio)	f16
key_swap_to_system	❌	Hotkey to cycle volume controls to the global system audio source	f17
key_volume_up	❌	Hotkey to raise the volume (default = vol up)	scan:-175
key_volume_down	❌	Hotkey to lower the volume (default = vol down)	scan:-174
volume_step_min	❌	Minimum volume step (% change) per volume down event	0.02
volume_step_max	❌	Minimum volume step (% change) per volume up event	0.10
change_system_vol_if_no_audio	❌	Betterknob only activates if there's audio playing. If there isn't, should it adjust the system volume?	true
show_overlay	❌	Whether to show the visual overlay when you use Betterknob	true
debug	❌	Whether to enable extra console logging. If true, also creates a log file in the current directory.	false

How it works

BetterKnob hooks into volume up/down key events (which by default adjust the system volume) and adds more functionality to them.

It strives to be lightweight, invisible, and reduce cognitive load. It's smart enough to adjust its normal behavior when an action would do nothing. For example, if you change the volume of a focused process with no audio, Betterknob will first swap to an active audio source.

If you do not have a keyboard with a knob, you can use media buttons (fn+f11/f12, conventionally) or bind volume up/down to a modifier key like alt + scrollwheel in your mouse's software or with AutoHotKey.

Limitations

• Windows 7+ only
• Some applications (mainly competitive games) use aggressive anticheat software that blocks Betterknob from working when they are focused. This is not a bug and Betterknob does not/will not try to work around these restrictions. If running Betterknob as admin doesn't make it work, then Betterknob will likely never work when that application is focused
• Does not write to disk other than to your %TEMP% folder, and only once on launch (PyInstaller does, not betterknob)

Build

Development

python -m venv .venv
source .venv/Scripts/activate
pip install -r src/requirements.txt -r src/requirements-dev.txt

Binary Executable

If you want to compress the binary, you also need UPX in your path

./build-win.bat

then check the dist folder

Attribution

icon by Freepik - Flaticon