catright/wale

Windows Audio Loudness Equalizer

Wale

Windows Audio Loudness Equalizer

Wale calculates appropriate volume of each app in real time from app's average peak level and try to equalize peak levels of each app to desired level. You can configure several parameters such as action timing, period of average, volume recovery function, target peak level, and so on.

Wale is an open-source app which means it's not verified with a commercial certification, hence, some sensitive AVs will alert Wale could be a virus. If you got such alert, please report to your AV provider or open a new issue. Anyway, You must run an app that you trusts only. So if you can't trust Wale, you have to stop using it.

Wale is distributed under MIT license, however it's restricted to my own codes. Icons and 3rd party libraries are NOT included in this license. They are copyrighted on their right holders.

Full License

CAUTION!!!

Always pull down your speaker volume when update WALE or change your settings.

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Before use

First

If you just want to control every apps manually, I recommend EarTrumpet which is much more stable, fancy, and easy to use. I also using it more than several years. You can download it on Microsoft store.

The purpose of Wale is automatic control of system wide sound output.

Second

If your sound card driver provides 'Loudness Equalization' or its equivalent, please use it. Your driver is also much more reliable and easy to use. Many sound drivers support this feature these days. Most of them can be accessed by following way.

1. Open Sound setting panel. Fastest way is Run(Win+R) control mmsys.cpl sounds
2. Double click to open your playback device.
3. Switch to Enhancements tab.
4. Check Loudness Equalization.

Accessing method varies with sound card vendors. On-board sound card users also can use this feature same way.

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Usage is on Wiki page

View Wiki

In the media

• WALE: Windows Audio Loudness Equalizer controls volume levels for different apps (TheWindowsClub)

wale's Issues

Install via Scoop

In case anyone interested in installing this cool tool via Scoop.
Here is the "Scoop App Manifest" I'm using:

{
  "homepage": "https://github.com/catright/Wale",
  "version": "0.5.9",
  "license": "MIT",
  "url": "https://github.com/catright/Wale/releases/download/0.5.9/WalePortable_0.5.9.zip",
  "hash": "09d7667d12374bf6b569c1ecfebdec0bdb9854480e8685fdb10d04d4621edfb2",
  "bin": ["wale.exe"],
  "checkver": "github",
  "autoupdate": {
    "url": "https://github.com/catright/Wale/releases/download/$version/WalePortable_$version.zip"
  }
}

By the way, thank you for providing this cool program.
Finally my headphones aren't too loud anymore.

[Bug] v0.1.15 Save Button not always changing colour

Also noticed that since v0.1.14 the "Save" text seems to mess the button up:

The "Saved" text seems to be fine, the Reset-Button seems to be fine as well.

Crash on device change

I am unsure is this is related but It may be the result of the computer automatically switching the In use audio device. I frequently have WALE on my laptop crash when loading a full screen game because this changes the display mode. As my stereo is connected to the TV via HDMI the crash appears to be caused by the brief period when the laptop switches from Display Audio out to the internal realtek speakers and than back to Display Audio device when the resolution has changed. Issue also occurs when the TV is turned off even if the computer remains awake and running services in the background.

Originally posted by @mikeloeven in #10 (comment)

Questions

I tried to make it drop volume quickly and raise slowly but I don't understand this application or it doesn't work correctly on my computer:

• up rate has no effect.
  If I set Up Rate to 0 (or 0.00001) then I expect the volume not to rise (or very slowly). But it still raises with the same speed.
• What is Comp Rate? It does do something but I don't know what. Setting it to 1 or higher seems to disable volume changes. 0.5 seems to be the best value, but tooltip says it should be >1
• If I set Function to none then I expect no volume changes, but it still changes volume.

Can't completly uninstall

Hi!
I've installed this cool app for the worng reason. Then I've uninstalled this app by windows regular way. But with the next restart, this app came just like nothing happened. Can anyone, please, teach me how to completly uninstall it. I'm getting serious issues with another sound utility.
Sorry about my english :)

Thanks in advance

Wale reduces the volume of apps to 0 if they don't make sound for 20 seconds.

If an application doesn't produce sound for 20 seconds Wale just sets its volume to 0. Even if you change it in the volume mixer, 20 second later Wale sets it to 0 if it isn't producing sound. How can we stop Wale from doing this? It's pretty annoying coming back to a Youtube video or an episode of anime and having the sound have to ramp up over 1 second before it reaches normal volume, usually making me have to rewind so I can hear the audio from that period of time. If you close Wale it just leaves the applications at that volume too.

The app is lowering the volume of Windows when not using it

After we use this app the volume of windows is considerably lower, there is a way to fix this?
I have put all the settings on the maximum volume but still very low when the app is closed.
Only when we use the app the volume become normal. I tried to uninstall but the volume still very low.

Cpu Usage

consumes too much cpu usage, occured after changing core audio library. reason is known.

Localization

I am saddened that the program is in English only.
I suggest to localize the program.
I am ready to assist in the translation into Russian.
(For example, you can use the service Crowdin or any other. Crowdin is free for Open source projects.)

Optimal settings? (Question)

Often, programs or games launched for the first time are too loud. Wale seems very useful to me in this problem. I did not find anything else to deal with this problem on Windows, and my drivers do not provide the necessary options that can help. But my question is, can I just limit the volume of all new applications with this program, say, 50%, but without dynamically changing the volume? This is very unpleasant when listening to music due to the constant abrupt change in the volume of songs. At this moment, Wale loads the 4-core processor by 5-8% (this is not very much, but it seems to me noticeable).

Seems to have issues hooking into Firefox

I didn't have my computer for awhile so I'm not sure what changed over the last two months but now Wale refuses to hook into Firefox the vast majority of the time. I haven't had issues with it hooking into any other program. Even reopening Wale or reopening Firefox doesn't fix it nor does running Wale as administrator. It's pretty weird.

Multiplier not applying without opening the panel

Hey,

I've noticed that when you start a new program, Wale does pick it up and controls the volume, but it doesn't apply the multiplier unless you open the panel.

I also noticed that the program-specific settings reset sometime, but I haven't found a to reproduce it.

some anti-virus programs reports positive

some anti-virus programs reports positive such as gen:variant, trojan, etc from Jan 20.
now finding problem.

[Suggestion] Permission lists for applications / sound devices

I want Wale to adjust the volume only when I am using a specific application or a specific sound device.
In my case, I only want automatic volume adjustment when streaming video in Chrome.
I also don't want to adjust the volume on the headphones built into the VR headset, so I only want to adjust the volume on the USB DAC.
However, currently Wale allows me to define an exclusion list of applications, but not an allow list.
So, it would be very useful if we could define a permission list for applications and a permission list for sound devices in Wale's settings.

Question : If it safe to use with CSGO? Can it trigger a VAC ban?

I love the software but was wondering if it is safe to use in CSGO. Can it trigger a VAC ban?

Thanks for your job and sorry for asking here.

[BUG] v0.1.15 Auto Include/Auto Control Enabled not working

There is not really much to say, it doesn't include any of the new programs that show up in Wale:

My Settings:

My log file:
WaleLog-20200324-092635.txt
My config:

Exempted applications volume sliders set to 0 when WALE Initially launched

If you have a program that needs to be exempt from WALE for example VOIP or other communication software WALE seems to initially set all volume sliders to 0 when the programis first launched. This includes software that has auto Include disabled. This has been causing some issues with Discord and Guilded Please add code to make sure that when the program launches it will not set volume sliders for exempted applications to 0

Unexpected exit

Dear Mr. or Ms. Catright,

Thank you so much for creating this impressive software. It has proven to be immensely helpful to me. However, I have encountered an issue with the Wale application. It appears to stop functioning after a period of inactivity or when the sound is not playing for a while. I have attached the log file or your reference.

I eagerly await your response and appreciate your attention to this matter.

log :

2023/6/26 21:54:44: Set process priority High
2023/6/26 21:54:44: OK1
2023/6/26 21:54:44: [Start] Audio Control Task
2023/6/26 21:54:44: [Start] Controller Clean Task(GC)
2023/6/26 21:54:44: OK2
2023/6/26 21:54:44: [Start] CheckFirstLoadTask
2023/6/26 21:54:44: [Start] UpdateSessionTask
2023/6/26 21:54:44: [Start] UpdateStateTask
2023/6/26 21:54:44: [Start] UpdateVolumeTask
2023/6/26 21:54:44: AppStarted
2023/6/26 21:54:44: [End] CheckFirstLoadTask
2023/6/26 21:54:45: New MeterSet: System Sound(0) af0d9929-7fbb-48da-bb22-23874084d66a
2023/6/26 21:54:45: New MeterSet: chrome(30136) 6ae609a7-b592-43d1-bfbf-1980820f0423
2023/6/26 21:54:45: Reset CoreManager. Reason: MMDE_DevicePropertyChanged [9855c4cd-df8c-449c-a181-8191b68bd06c/0] [Digital Audio Interface (Sony Audio){0.0.0.00000000}.{45b31307-036a-4a07-a991-304a45f337db}]
2023/6/26 21:54:45: Remove MeterSet:System Sound(0) af0d9929-7fbb-48da-bb22-23874084d66a
2023/6/26 21:54:45: Remove MeterSet:chrome(30136) 6ae609a7-b592-43d1-bfbf-1980820f0423
2023/6/26 21:54:47: New MeterSet: System Sound(0) 1b10e7dd-7925-4556-be3b-57e5e2388545
2023/6/26 21:54:47: New MeterSet: chrome(30136) d1452330-b4cb-4da9-b650-d696d4aedfed
2023/6/26 22:07:24: New MeterSet: WeChat(31044) 8366ba3e-74ab-4fcf-9d1b-bdc29b99c075

2023/6/26 23:37:38: Set process priority High
2023/6/26 23:37:38: OK1
2023/6/26 23:37:38: [Start] Audio Control Task
2023/6/26 23:37:38: [Start] Controller Clean Task(GC)
2023/6/26 23:37:38: OK2
2023/6/26 23:37:38: [Start] CheckFirstLoadTask
2023/6/26 23:37:38: [Start] UpdateSessionTask
2023/6/26 23:37:38: [Start] UpdateStateTask
2023/6/26 23:37:38: [Start] UpdateVolumeTask
2023/6/26 23:37:38: AppStarted
2023/6/26 23:37:38: [End] CheckFirstLoadTask
2023/6/26 23:37:39: New MeterSet: System Sound(0) 20f57143-fb7f-4c4a-b96b-8e7ab3032d25
2023/6/26 23:37:39: New MeterSet: WeChatPlayer(39236) 56ee56a3-5b54-4288-8d54-4612cfb93569
2023/6/26 23:37:39: New MeterSet: chrome(30136) 449364ab-8266-4f77-b955-a854fc4b87cd
2023/6/26 23:37:39: New MeterSet: WeChat(31044) c0a9b48e-05dc-4283-ac9f-4619da68f2bb
2023/6/26 23:37:42: Re-aligned

Hibernation issue

After resume from hibernation, Wale need to be restarted to continue working property.

Greetings and thanks for the program.

[Suggestion] Lower volume "smoothly" as well

Hey buddy,

what would you think about smoothly lowering the volume just like it does when it increases it? With another textbox just like the "Up-Rate" one that has a default value of like 5 or maybe 7.5 (Every user has to find their sweet spot obviously). That value controls the amount of volume down so the clipping isn't there anymore in really loud situations and so on.

I will most likely take a look at it myself, but I'm not sure if I will be able to find it and figure it out myself.

keep files in WalePortable folder

nice tool, like it
but is it possible to keep the files
%localappdata%\Wale[folder][folder]\user.config
and
%appdata%\WaleAudioControl\Walelog-*.txt
in the WalePortable root folder

if not i have to make a PAF [portableapps.com] to cleanup after running
thx

Wale 0.7.1 or later does not recognize more than 6 processes.

Since Wale 0.7.1, the volume control works correctly if up to six processes are outputting audio, but the seventh and later processes do not appear in the window and the volume control does not work for those that do not appear.

Versions below Wale 0.7.0 do not have this problem.

[Enchantement/Bug?] Saving each individual application settings

Hey,

so I have been searching for something like this for quite a while now and I'm glad that I finally found something that fulfills my needs, so thanks fou for that. But I noticed that after you restart the application that it resets the application-specific settings which is kind of annoying because I have to set them up every time after I restart my machine.

Could you please save the application based settings as well?

Thanks

Sound seems to fluctuate

Hi. I have been desperately trying to find a volume equalization program for my gaming. I have some sounds quiet and some sounds are deafeningly loud. I tried WALE and it IS trying to equalize the volumes, however, it sounds like the overall volume is fluctuating up and down. I looked at the settings and don't understand them. All solutions I found are for Realtek onboard, which I hate as my 5 speakers sound tinny and the bass from my sub sounds flat. I have a Sound Blaster X3 USB sound card. When I search for volume equalization programs, apart from WALE everything else is all just graphic equalizers, which are already present in the Creative app. This program is the closest I can find. Can you give me some tips to get the loudness equalized and not have fluctuating overall volume?