Need help finding soundcard/mixer with specific output requirements

jsbruns · May 19, 2010, 07:32 PM

Greetings-
I apologize for the vague title, however I'm not really sure what it is I'm looking for. I'm a software developer and part time fireman in the Washington, DC area. I recently wrote a software application that we're running in our firehouse to set off audible and visual alerting when our station is dispatched to a call. My reason for posting here is to try and find a solution to a problem that we've been dealing with regarding the volume level of our dispatch radio when the station is alerted for a call.

Between the alerting system and the sound of apparatus starting up, it's often difficult hear the dispatcher from the overhead speakers throughout the firehouse. What we'd like to do is be able to run our dispatch radio (via radio shack scanner) through the alerting computer (standard Dell box running Windows 7) and have the computer boost the output volume of the radio when the alerting system goes off for a new incident.

The alerting system software would ideally interface with the hardware via an API of some sort or a relatively flexible driver. Since the radio is such a critical component to normal firehouse operations, I was to hoping to find a device that would basically allow the input (dispatch radio) to be automatically redirected to an output, without the need to have any type of software involved.

I'd be okay if I need to use software to interface with the hardware in order to initially enable and set volume levels, etc on the output. I just don't want to rely on some background software process processing the audio input and piping it over to the output. That's just going to introduce more processing overhead on the part of the computer and increase the risk of a failure and us loosing the radio.

Initially I was picturing a PCI mixer card, but I'd be fine with something external, so long as I can control it via USB or COM port from a some type of software interface.

Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

May 19, 2010, 07:32 PM	#1
jsbruns HardwareHeaven Newbie Join Date: May 2010 Posts: 1 Rep Power: 0	Need help finding soundcard/mixer with specific output requirements Greetings- I apologize for the vague title, however I'm not really sure what it is I'm looking for. I'm a software developer and part time fireman in the Washington, DC area. I recently wrote a software application that we're running in our firehouse to set off audible and visual alerting when our station is dispatched to a call. My reason for posting here is to try and find a solution to a problem that we've been dealing with regarding the volume level of our dispatch radio when the station is alerted for a call. Between the alerting system and the sound of apparatus starting up, it's often difficult hear the dispatcher from the overhead speakers throughout the firehouse. What we'd like to do is be able to run our dispatch radio (via radio shack scanner) through the alerting computer (standard Dell box running Windows 7) and have the computer boost the output volume of the radio when the alerting system goes off for a new incident. The alerting system software would ideally interface with the hardware via an API of some sort or a relatively flexible driver. Since the radio is such a critical component to normal firehouse operations, I was to hoping to find a device that would basically allow the input (dispatch radio) to be automatically redirected to an output, without the need to have any type of software involved. I'd be okay if I need to use software to interface with the hardware in order to initially enable and set volume levels, etc on the output. I just don't want to rely on some background software process processing the audio input and piping it over to the output. That's just going to introduce more processing overhead on the part of the computer and increase the risk of a failure and us loosing the radio. Initially I was picturing a PCI mixer card, but I'd be fine with something external, so long as I can control it via USB or COM port from a some type of software interface. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.