A universal, portable, and extensible hotkey framework that lets you control specific applications .
Designed for adjusting the volume of your music independently of other programs, such as games and VoIP.
:new: Volume Control CLI
There is also a commandline version of Volume Control without the hotkeys.
It is intended for use in shell scripts, and allows you to control both input and output audio devices/sessions.
You can find it here:
Provides you with an alternative to media keys if you don't have them
Adds a fully configurable hotkey framework that can be extended via user-created addons
Provides a superior alternative to Windows' Volume Mixer
And more!
How does it work?
Volume Control maintains the concept of a "selected" audio session - also called a "target" - that is used to specify which audio session you want to perform an action on. Some actions only affect the current target; others, such as the media key actions, simulate context-sensitive key presses; and others, such as the next/previous target hotkeys, simply switch to the next or previous target regardless of context.
In Volume Control, a hotkey is just a combination of keys that can be made to execute an action. Any number of hotkeys can trigger the same action.
A wide range of actions are provided by default, and you can add more via user-created addons.
Because Volume Control is portable, there is no installation required.
Simply move VolumeControl.exe to a location of your choice, and run it.
If you're unsure about where to choose as a location, create a directory in your user folder and place it inside of that: C:\Users\<USERNAME>\VolumeControl\VolumeControl.exe
Setup
Before starting the program for the first time, you have to unblock the executable from the properties menu.
This is necessary because Windows Defender requires a paying >$300 a year for a Microsoft-approved publishing certificate in order to prevent Windows Defender from blocking it. If you're unsure, you're can always run it through VirusTotal first, or check the source code yourself.
R+Click on VolumeControl.exe in the file explorer and select Properties in the context menu.
Check the box next to Unblock:
Click Ok to save the changes.
Usage
First, enable the Volume Up & Volume Down hotkeys from the Hotkeys tab by checking the box to the left of the hotkey name. If you don't have a volume slider, change the key from the dropdown. You can also set a modifier key with the checkboxes to the right of the dropdown.
NOTE: Hotkeys cannot be enabled if their associated key is set to None.
Next, let's set a target application to test the hotkeys with.
Start playing some audio from any application, then return to the Mixer tab, click Reload, then click the Select button next to the test application, and try using the volume hotkeys.
In the settings tab, you can change how the application behaves such as which audio device is controlled, enable or disable the toast notification, enable advanced hotkeys, set the volume step (how much the volume will increase on decrease when the hotkeys are pressed), tell the application to run on startup, and more!
By enabling notifications, you will see a toast notification in the bottom right of your screen when you switch target sessions. This tells you which session is currently selected. Using the Un/Lock Session hotkey, you can prevent changing the targeted audio device. The border of the toast notification will be red when the currently targeted session is locked. You can press the hotkey again to unlock the session.
If you want to add or remove hotkeys, you can press the Edit Mode button in the Settings tab to enable the advanced features. Now the Hotkeys tab will have additional customisability so you can create new hotkeys, and change the action of each hotkey when it is pressed. You can reset all hotkeys to their default value by pressing the Reset Hotkeys button in the Settings tab. Note that this will also remove any additional hotkeys you have created.
Addon Development
Want to develop an addon for Volume Control?
Get started with the tutorial!
We also have doxygen-generated API Documentation available online.
![[Volume Control Banner]](https://i.imgur.com/rMbNIhU.png)
