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    <title>Small Projects | denizk0461</title> 
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    <Banner2
        title="My Small Projects"
        subtitle="the ones that don't get the spotlight"
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    <p>Not all of my projects are big, month-long endeavours. Some of them are short and sweet. Sometimes, they're even more rewarding than the bigger ones, because you end up with a finished 'thing' much quicker! And because I like my small projects just as much as my bigger ones, I figured it would be nice to give them a space on my website as well.</p>

    <p>There's more to come here! This page is very new and I will add things here gradually.</p>

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    <h2>Deej0461</h2>
    <p class="subtitle">PC companion audio source controller</p>
    <p class="subtitle">August 2024</p>

    <SubtitledImage
        image="deej0461/finished.webp"
        altText="A golden 3D printed shell with a slider on its left, two LEDs recessed, and four black buttons on its right. The buttons have symbols of speakers, monitors, and headphones printed on them. Three screws at the top are visible. A USB-C cable is plugged into the back of it."
        subtitle="a handful of device for controlling a handful of other devices" />
    
    <p>This little device was inspired by one a friend of mine built his own version of: a <a href="https://github.com/omriharel/deej">deej</a> volume slider panel. This thing allows you to control different applications with individual, <i>physical</i>, sliders. Super cool thing.</p>

    <SubtitledImage
        image="deej0461/printing.webp"
        altText="A Bambu Lab A1 mini 3D printer in the middle of printing casing parts using a golden filament. The printer head has two googly eyes attached."
        subtitle="googly-eyed printer hard at work"
        alignment="left" />

    <p>Except – I didn't need all these sliders, really. A single slider would be cool, I thought. You know what I really wanted? Buttons to control the audio <i>source</i>, because I switch between speakers and headphones constantly, and that's at least 3 clicks every time I want to switch. So I built a device based on deej, but with some expansions.</p>

    <p>I only used few components: a HID-enabled Arduino-compatible Pro Micro with USB-C controls the whole thing. Hooked up to it are four Cherry switches and a Soldering slider I had lying around from my <a href="/projects/daisy">Daisy project</a>, and I added two LEDs for good measure. It's all packaged into a 3D-printed enclosure I designed myself. The slider is screwed in tightly, and so is the top of the case; the key switches are clipped in from the top so they don't fall out; the Arduino and the LEDs are just hot-glued in. For extra flair, the four output buttons are marked with symbols for my outputs: two monitors, a pair of loudspeakers, and a pair of headphones. In the final device, they're arranged so that my two most frequently-used buttons are at the bottom for easier reach.</p>

    <p>Software-wise, I set this up with the original deej software to control main volume. For the audio, I used a program called <a href="https://soundswitch.aaflalo.me/">SoundSwitch</a>. The program listened to key presses for the <code>F21-F24</code> keys, which the Arduino triggers when the output keys are pressed. The red LED lights up when a key is pressed; the white LED has no assigned function. This worked pretty well, but this is no longer the setup I use, since I switched to Fedora Linux, as I needed to adapt/change the software for the new OS!</p>

    <SubtitledImage
        image="deej0461/soldering.webp"
        altText="An Arduino set into a 3D printed case with a slider, two LEDs, and four key switches soldered to it using wires. The components are spread out and hanging out the top of the case."
        subtitle="no PCB? no problem"
        alignment="right" />

    <p>When pressing a keyboard's volume button, Windows raises or lowers volume in increments of 2. Fedora does 5. I found this much handier, so I stopped reaching for the slider and just defaulted to using my keyboard. This meant I didn't bother setting up the slider in Fedora. The buttons work, though, but they needed some adjustment. I think (and I might be wrong??) that Linux doesn't support function keys past F12, so I changed the Arduino script so the buttons trigger <code>Shift + F9-F12</code>. Instead of a separate program (which kept asking to be updated...), I now use KDE's built-in Shortcuts that trigger a script. The script is one line: <code>pactl set-default-sink [sink-name]</code>. The sink name is hard-coded into the file because, as extensive testing proved, Shortcuts does not allow arguments when entering a command. I currently only have two files set up: one for the primary monitor, one for the headphones.</p>

    <p>I much prefer the setup now because it doesn't rely on third-party software anymore.</p>

    <p>This thing is, no exaggeration, one of the handiest things I have ever built, because I use it quite literally <i><b>every single day</b></i>. I often switch between my monitor's speakers and my headphones, and being able to do that with the press of a single button is <i>unbelievably</i> handy. I don't even think about it anymore, I just reach for the buttons whenever I switch. It's a part of my routine now and I wouldn't want to miss it.</p>

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