Reverse-engineering my speakers' API to get reasonable volume control

Hey OP - if your thinking about a smart knob with haptic feedback etc - check this open source project out that you can build yourself - its amazing:

https://github.com/scottbez1/smartknob

Video demo here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ip641WmY4pA&t=1s

That seems like it could be perfect. Thanks!

Oh man, this has been on my to-build list for ages, right up there with the 6 axis “3D mouse” build. I love the attention to detail.

Wow!

I had dreamed of physical "analog" controls as a standard feature on keyboards and input devices for various applications -- would be great productivity booster for power users.

I wish this catches on and gets mass adoption.

"you can build yourself"

Technically yes, but that is a serious project.

Yeah - I actually asked on the Discord if anyone was selling them pre-made - I would buy some if available.

I dont have time/tools etc to do this.

Yeah - me too - I dont have the time/tools to build these myself - but would happily pay for them as a product.

Logitech has such a keyboard: https://www.logitech.com/en-us/products/keyboards/craft.920-...

If it’s $200 in parts then a premade item would be at least $400 and probably $500. There probably isn’t much of a market at those prices.

The bill of materials needs to come way down to sell it for much less than that. Buying the parts in hobbyist-level bulk (100 pcs) probably would only shave $100 from the final price.

I made a SpaceMouse the other day, it was really easy, mostly just the print. It took around an hour to assemble everything, I think? It also worked very well.

Easily $600. Especially considering how niche this is.

Which one did you make?

This one is my make:

https://www.printables.com/model/908684-spacemouse-mini-slim...

Nice - be interesting to see what kind of integrations they have for the knob (at a bare minimum I better be able to play break out and scrub video in da Vinci).

I use a Keychron Q2 which has a dial at the top-right - it's mostly pretty good though I wish it were a little bit easier to program and of course it doesn't have haptic feedback.

https://www.keychron.com/products/keychron-q2-pro-qmk-via-wi...

The Das keyboard has a volume knob that’s pretty nice

Very cool. Thank you!

Dell had this. Also a button to get instant silence, and an USB port for the mouse.

https://universaldatasystems.org/shop/wp-content/uploads/201...

You're welcome! It's a really cool project, and fairly easy.

Ah right, the one I was thinking of was this one which seems like a bit more work... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iHBgNGnTiK4

Yours looks great too, though, and it seems a lot more accessible than the fancy one. :)

Ah yeah, that's much more work and I don't think it uses the official driver, which does a lot of the heavy lifting. I think maybe start with the other one and see how you like it, since it's mostly a few minutes of soldering.

Same

While I wish I had the time and talent to pursue this as a hobby - and I dabbled in PCBs and DIY electronics in youth - life has other plans.

I see some sibling commenta that link to keyboards with a knobs-- that is cool - but I am imagining having access to more than one knob so I have a bank of at least 5-6 knobs, slightly smaller than the DIY project, so I can program them for multiple uses like we do for Function Keys today.

Imagine stream deck with knobs instead of buttons - and available either as a separate USB/wireless device or as a simple "nuneric keypad" / "function keys /media keys" kind of addition to keyboards

https://www.lilygo.cc/products/t-encoder-plus looks like the HW part is taken care of, and they have some sample code on github