Volume Control

For long-time Windows users who want an alternative to the now-defunct Volume Mixer, Volume Control offers the perfect combination of customizable hotkeys, minimalist design and ease-of-use for managing all of your audio devices and media players.

Thanks to its portable nature, the program can be a valuable addition to on-the-go setups, eliminating the need for lengthy or unnecessary installation wizards. After the initial startup, the app runs in the background and can be interacted with via its system tray icon or taskbar, where the user can summon it at will.

Left-clicking the icon brings up its main interface, which displays a list of the available audio output devices and their respective volume sliders and handy mute buttons in horizontal orientation, similar to Microsoft’s redesigned Sound Mixer that can be accessed in the native Settings app.

The app window can be placed anywhere on the screen, with the option of making it always stay on top of the other windows, for situations when users want to be able to continuously monitor and change the volume levels of other opened media players while listening to podcasts and playing video games at the same time, for instance.

The second tab adds extra functionality in the form of hotkeys for the default volume increasing, decreasing and muting shortcuts. Users whose keyboards do not have dedicated media controls will rejoice at the sight of the ability to reprogram the default volume keys in order to avoid using the special Function button in conjunction with other key combinations.

A special option can be enabled in order to grant users the freedom of assigning a vast number of functions to other keys, ultimately enabling them to mute devices individually and bring up the interface or send it in the background.

One of the most important features offered by the program refers to being able to select and control each active application’s volume directly via hotkeys, thanks to an extra window where users can focus on the media player whose sound intensity they want to change. Finally, the app also lets users disable or re-enable the active devices, removing the need for accessing the built-in Sound Mixer.

Whether you want to assign media functions to certain buttons on your keyboard, you want a modern-looking replacement for the archaic Windows Volume Mixer, or you like listening to podcasts, music and video game sounds at the same time, Volume Control can be an incredibly useful tool for staying in control of your audio devices.