Is "Volume ramps up gradually at startup" working?

Anyone else having trouble with this feature? I can't seem to get it to work. I checked out the known issues list in the readme, and of course the forum, but didn't notice anything about it.

I thought it might be just some kind of flagging issue, so I tried turning it off in emplode, synching, turning it back on, and synching again, but that didn't help.

-Dario
(MK2 in an Impreza 2.5RS)

There are certain situations where ramping doesn't happen. Perhaps Hugo can jump in here with an explanation why the behavior is to the contrary, but my personal opinion is that it should do it more often than it does. But you should still be seeing it happen SOME of the time.

Note that when it does it, it's pretty quick. It ramps up over the space of a few seconds. Perhaps your amplifier doesn't kick in until after it's done.

Another possibility is that your player thinks it's on home power. The volume ramp only happens in the car. Do you have a Dimmer option in your Settings menu?

___________
Tony Fabris

Actually this is a case where a configurable delay (in config.ini?) would be very nice. I hear the ramp, but my amp doesn't turn on until at least half way through.

So a value in milliseconds in the config.ini that the player waits before starting the volume ramp? Do I hear a second?

-Zandr
Mk.I #0150 10GB
RioCar #010101243 10GB (96GB here I come...)

I'm pretty sure the player thinks it's in car mode. I do have the dimmer setting, and it changes when I turn on the headlights. As far as the amp goes, that might be it, but I seem to remember the music kicking in pretty much the same time the default info screen does. If there was a long amp pause, wouldn't the info screen come up first, and then the music after the pause? Just a thought.

Anywayz, I'll check this out a little more closely tomorrow and let you guys know. (It's 1AM here...)

BTW, I second the idea of the ramp up being adjustable. Maybe both for delay, and length?


-Dario
(MK2 in an Impreza 2.5RS)

This is the expected functionality:

Cold boot into active mode: Ramp volume
Cold boot into standby: Ramp volume when the player is brought out of standby
Warm standby into active: Don't ramp

Any chance of having the ramping functionality added to the home personality ? (with the option to turn it off)

I would really like this, as I power my empeg from the home input in the car at the moment.

__
Unit serial number 47 (was 330 in the queue)...

I tried it again this morning, and still can't get it to work. Perhaps somehow my player thinks it's doing a warm boot every time? Not sure. I usually try turning the car off, and waiting until the pulsating light shuts off, and then turn it back on. Same deal.

Also, the music does in fact come on the instant the info screen comes up, so I don't think it's an amp delay.

-Dario
(MK2 in an Impreza 2.5RS)

It Works!

Ok ok... Maybe part of the issue was me not letting it truly power all the way down or something, but I did just notice it working. Twice in a row, I might add. This time I pulled the player out of the dash, let it sit for a few seconds, and then put it back in. Presto.

Also, I think I only noticed it becase I was really looking for it. It happens so quickly it's kinda hard to notice.

Depends on what you're listening to, I guess...



-Dario
(MK2 in an Impreza 2.5RS)

This is the expected functionality:
Cold boot into active mode: Ramp volume
Cold boot into standby: Ramp volume when the player is brought out of standby
Warm standby into active: Don't ramp

This is not the behavior I see. I've been trying to complain about this on the internal bug list, but I don't think I described the problem properly. I think the bug was tagged as "works for me".

The second expected behavior listed...
Cold boot into standby: Ramp volume when the player is brought out of standby...
does not seem to be happening. Cold boot into standby, followed by waking the player, does not ramp the volume, it just goes full volume as soon as it's awakened.

An example of this situation is when I pick up my daughter from day care. I'm only out of the car for a few minutes, so I leave the player in the car. I am gone long enough for it to drop out of standby into full power-off mode, and the timeout is set to 5 seconds anyway so that my keyless-entry system works at full range.

When I get back in the car after picking up my daughter, the player is fully powered off. When I turn on the ignition, the player gets power applied to it via the ignition wire. When the player wakes up out of sleep mode, there is no volume ramp. Even though it did get fully powered off.

Notes:

- I do have the constant power and the ignition power hooked up right.

- I don't think I have the negative spike bug, at least I haven't seen other symptoms of it.

- I am not certain if I have to hand-sleep it before shutting off the ignition in order for this behavior to happen, or if simply turning off the ignition during playback will induce this behavior. From the expected behavior listed above, both actions are supposed to induce volume-ramp when I start the car, whether or not I've hand-awakened it or if it self-awakened after starting the ignition. At least one of those actions, possibly both, makes it skip the volume-ramp.

___________
Tony Fabris

Once again, can we see these settingins in emplode?
The settings box is going to get kinda crowded, but the functionality is great. I personally would like to see it ramp in all cases.
If possible, there could be two settings: pre ramp delay and ramp duration. Pre-delay (1 sec max) would allow amps to turn on before the ramp proper starts. Maybe a default value that it starts at too??

Murray
new styleee

I just wanted to give you guys a little update on what I'm seeing...

I think Tony is on to it, because if I pull my player out of the dash, I'll get the ramp when I plug it back in. That seems to work fine every time. But, if I just turn off the car, leaving the player in the dash, let it sit for a while, and then turn it back on, I won't get the ramp.

I haven't tried letting it sit for a really long time yet, but I plan on checking it tomorrow morning when I get up, so that will be some overnight action. I'll let you guys know if it works.

-Dario
(MK2 in an Impreza 2.5RS)

I personally would like to see it ramp in all cases.

I agree completely. Not only is it a nice feature "The next morning", but I think it's a nice feature in many other cases as well. And to top it off, it's just plain cool! How many other sterio systems can do that...?

Taking it to your friends party, for example...

"Here, just plug this in..."
(Insert really loud music here)
"Sorry... I Forgot I had the volume cranked up..."

A nice mellow ramp would be cool it that situation. Now that I think about it, I really can't come up with any scenarios where ramping would be a bad thing. Anybody else have any thoughts on this?

Anyway, I also think it should be adjustible somehow, either via Emplode or the settings page.

Oh yeah, one other thing I just thought of, (I don't have a Rio remote yet, so just slap me if this has already been implemented...) I think it would be cool if it also ramped up when you turned "Hush" or "Mute" off.

-Dario
(MK2 in an Impreza 2.5RS)

Edited by Diznario on 19/10/01 08:09 AM.

Taking it to your friends party, for example...

"Here, just plug this in..."
(Insert really loud music here)
"Sorry... I Forgot I had the volume cranked up..."

But presumably at a party you'd have the empeg's line-level outputs plugged into an amp with volume control, so you want the empeg to be at 0db in order to be the same volume as the other line-level sources in your friend's hifi system.

Peter

Re: Is "Volume ramps up gradually at startup" working? [re: muzza]

In reply to:

---

I personally would like to see it ramp in all cases.

---

I agree as on a related note, I use the hush for both sat nav voice and phone mute. It sounds a bit harsh after these are completed to just bang on full volume again.



MK2 Home made smoked 32Gb S/n 090000949

OK I re-opened the bug.

Rob

I agree as on a related note, I use the hush for both sat nav voice and phone mute. It sounds a bit harsh after these are completed to just bang on full volume again.


Absolutely! Coming to and from hush should definitely be ramped....

Hmm, I am not sure about ramping down to hush as this would take time. Not a problem with the phone as you would hear it ring on incoming or dialtones on outgoing but with the nav system she just speaks, there is no way to preempt it and all info is important.

Ramp up after hush would be very nice though.

I tested the hush function last night to see how it responds in odd circumstances, ie. phone rings, hush goes on, manually change volume up, hang up. I was half expecting to be blown out of my seat as it came out of hush but it stayed where I put it, IMHO correctly forgetting it was hushed as I had overridden it. Little things like this could have easily been overlooked. Not by our boys!!

MK2 Home made smoked 32Gb S/n 090000949

But presumably at a party you'd have the empeg's line-level outputs plugged into an amp with volume control, so you want the empeg to be at 0db in order to be the same volume as the other line-level sources in your friend's hifi system.

Yeah, you're right...

That would probably be a good use of that fixed gain option they have now.

Hmmm... I still think the ramp would be cool, though...

-Dario
(MK2 in an Impreza 2.5RS)

In reply to:

---

Hmm, I am not sure about ramping down to hush as this would take time. Not a problem with the phone as you would hear it ring on incoming or dialtones on outgoing but with the nav system she just speaks, there is no way to preempt it and all info is important.

---

Yeah... You're right. Ramp down would have to be quite quick, which defeats the purpose. But ramping up is needed!

I think I'd want the ramp in home mode anyway, for two reasons: One, home stereo systems can be much more complex, and I've been surprised by gain differences before. (Especially if you're dealing with a hardcore audiophile who's only ever used the balanced tuner input on his tube preamp, and has no idea what the unbalanced input gains really are. ) Two, the speakers you're about to blow could be soooo much more expensive. Don't necessarily ramp out of pause or anything, but a ramp on coldstart would very cool.

-Zandr
Mk.I #0150 10GB
RioCar #010101243 10GB (96GB here I come...)

Now that I think about it, I really can't come up with any scenarios where ramping would be a bad thing. Anybody else have any thoughts on this?

Here's one scenario that sounds far-fetched, but in my case (probably nbobody else's!) is sufficient that I was very happy to now have the option in emplode to disable ramp-up entirely. (At least, I was told I could do that, haven't actually tried it yet...)

I get some unsuspecting victim in my totally stock appearing Taurus station wagon for a stereo demonstration -- no speakers visible, just the empeg sitting in the dash the only indication that there is anything in the car capable of making music. My demonstration playlist starts out with "Tom Sawyer" by Rush, with that incredible percussive crash at the beginning of the track. Ramping up to that completely negates the impact of the opening. Without ramping, my "victim" immediately starts looking around trying to figure out just where all that sound is coming from.

I know... it doesn't take much to entertain me, does it? :-)

tanstaafl.

"There Ain't No Such Thing As A Free Lunch"

My demonstration playlist starts out with "Tom Sawyer" by Rush, with that incredible percussive crash at the beginning of the track.

Unfortunately, when you first power it up, it starts playing from wherever you left off, rather than starting from the beginning of a playlist... But I definitely see your point.

I guess you could hit play, and then pull out the unit really quickly, but you still risk missing that first note, and that just won't do. For the full effect, you need to have every bit of it.

Perhaps another feature request? A way to make it start playing from the beginning of a certain playlist on next boot up? Might be interesting. Especially if you could through some random elements in there.

Anyway, to get the effect you're looking for, I guess all you really have to do, is have the empeg on, with the playlist already setup, and just hit play with the remote...

Right when they sit down...

Yeah... That might work...

-Dario
(MK2 in an Impreza 2.5RS)

I often use Infernal Dance Of King Kastchei from Tomita's rendering of Stravinsky's Firebird Suite for that purpose.

Dragi "Bonzi" Raos
Zagreb, Croatia
Q#5196, MkII#80000376, 18GB green

You can queue up a song paused.

___________
Tony Fabris

The problem I'm having seems like the sound is muted everytime I turn the empeg on after inserting it into the car sled. The cure is to either change the EQ a notch or push the source button on remote twice, cycling from player to aux back to player then the sound is normal. While I'm at it everytime I slide the player into the sled it boots then shuts off, it use to start playing on it's own.

#695-Mk2/8 colors-12Gig w/Tuner- awaits v2.x & Voice Recog.

You don't have a stock 10-second silent track you could put at the front of that playlist?

I have one hanging around that goes in playlists for silent bits (e.g. gaps before "bonus tracks"). At 10 kilobytes, it's the shortest tune on my empeg (11 kHz mono, 8kbits/s CBR).

--
Toby Speight - 040103385

You don't have a stock 10-second silent track you could put at the front of that playlist?

Actually... I have a short pink noise track I use for that purpose, as it lets me set volume levels, left/right balance, etc.

tanstaafl.

"There Ain't No Such Thing As A Free Lunch"

Hi,

My cheesy stock Blaupunkt CD-radio has one feature I *really* miss on the empeg.

It dictates a certain power-on volume. I do not care if it ramps to it or not.

The ramping feature is OK, but you still have to react very quickly, as you only know you left the car with the volume too high, when it's ramped up too far.

Also I've noticed that the ramping actually FIGHTS you. When the ramping occurs. and you turn the volume down, the ramping continues upwards. Ramping should be aborted if the user adjusts the volume.

These are good suggestions. Have you posted them to the Wish List?

My cheesy stock Blaupunkt CD-radio has one feature I *really* miss on the empeg. It dictates a certain power-on volume. I do not care if it ramps to it or not.

This is a Good Thing only if the dictated power-on volume is one you like. I hate that feature on the radio in the car I just bought (no empeg install yet) because every single time I turn the car on, the radio starts playing about 9 decibels quieter than I want, and every single time I have to reach over and turn up the volume.

Of course, I'm a grumpy old curmudgeon, and was happy to be able to finally disable the volume ramp up on the empeg. Most people don't see things the way I do...

tanstaafl.

This is a Good Thing only if the dictated power-on volume is one you like.

What if that level was adjustable?

You know how you can go into settings/volume and there's an option to lock at the current level? Well, how about another option, to "Make current volume default"? That would be insanely cool.

Oh yeah, of course there would have to be another option to turn this on or off.

Once again, this should be settable in emplode.

checkbox - ramp up volume on power on
checkbox - ramp up volume on wake up
checkbox - ramp up volume after mute
checkbox - ramp down volume on phone mute
_____selector - ramp time (msec)

(selector - tuner ID)
___checkbox - preset volume level in car
_____selector - volume level

checkbox - preset volume level on AC
_____selector - volume level

Would that cover it?

Would that cover it?

Woo-Hoo!

I'd buy that for a dollar!

Wow, I second that.
As a side note, It never worked with me, so far, in any of the modes listed by Rob.

Muzza,

You missed one, which I requested a while ago...

___ ms before starting ramp

I have an a/d/s/ p840 in my car, and it takes a good half-second to turn on. This means that coming out of standby, the ramp is almost over by the time the amp turns on.

I could finally tell that volume ramping works on mine. The other day when installing in the car I guess the amps came on quick enough to tell, I'd say the sound kicked in about midway thru ramp up. Curious does the vol. ramp from nothing to your current setting or from a midway point to current vol. setting?

Curious does the vol. ramp from nothing to your current setting or from a midway point to current vol. setting?

From nothing to your current setting. As far as I know.

In my last post, I wanted to also say that even at a warm boot the ramping should occur. In most situations I don't know why you wouldn't want it to.

Douglas,

It's ofcourse user definable on the Blaupunkt. Otherwise it would be useless, I agree.