Scenic 3 - Voice Volume Boost
Quote from Deleted user on 30.10.2021, 18:54Guido, Scenic 3 was worth the wait and you have done an amazing job!
One question - in Scenic 2, there was a voice volume adjustment to boost the voice turn guidance above all other audio, like music. This used to go up to 130% and solved the issue of not needing to turn music up too loud to hear the voice guidance.
In Scenic 3, the voice volume only goes to 100% and is back to the same volume as all other audio. Will there be a way to boost the voice turn by turn guidance volume again?
Thanks so much for your efforts!
Guido, Scenic 3 was worth the wait and you have done an amazing job!
One question - in Scenic 2, there was a voice volume adjustment to boost the voice turn guidance above all other audio, like music. This used to go up to 130% and solved the issue of not needing to turn music up too loud to hear the voice guidance.
In Scenic 3, the voice volume only goes to 100% and is back to the same volume as all other audio. Will there be a way to boost the voice turn by turn guidance volume again?
Thanks so much for your efforts!
Quote from Guido on 30.10.2021, 19:50Hi... sorry... I decided to remove this option. From a code perspective it was a horrible 'Frankenstein' solution. It caused lots of problems and didn't work for half of the scenarios. Scenic 3 does offer some pre-recorded voices. Have you given those a try? They might be a bit louder (but won't tell you the street name to turn in to).
Hi... sorry... I decided to remove this option. From a code perspective it was a horrible 'Frankenstein' solution. It caused lots of problems and didn't work for half of the scenarios. Scenic 3 does offer some pre-recorded voices. Have you given those a try? They might be a bit louder (but won't tell you the street name to turn in to).
Quote from Deleted user on 11.11.2021, 17:21Any chance to revisit this feature or look for new ways to accomplish the same? The pre-recorded voices are the same volume as the default.
This feature worked flawlessly in Scenic 2 and allowed phone audio to remain low or normal, while the turn by turn volume was boosted and clear, without needing to adjust the phone volume many times. In Scenic 3, the volume has to be turned too high for normal audio in order to hear the turn by turn clearly.
Perhaps add as a toggle or optional feature under fine tuning?
Thanks for considering!
Any chance to revisit this feature or look for new ways to accomplish the same? The pre-recorded voices are the same volume as the default.
This feature worked flawlessly in Scenic 2 and allowed phone audio to remain low or normal, while the turn by turn volume was boosted and clear, without needing to adjust the phone volume many times. In Scenic 3, the volume has to be turned too high for normal audio in order to hear the turn by turn clearly.
Perhaps add as a toggle or optional feature under fine tuning?
Thanks for considering!
Quote from Guido on 11.11.2021, 18:05OK. I'll add it to the list, but can't make any promisses.
The reason why I added this in Scenic 2 was because I myself had the same issue that you are experiencing. I found some voices in the new framework come close. E.g. the pre-recorded US male voice works good for me.
OK. I'll add it to the list, but can't make any promisses.
The reason why I added this in Scenic 2 was because I myself had the same issue that you are experiencing. I found some voices in the new framework come close. E.g. the pre-recorded US male voice works good for me.
Quote from Matt on 13.11.2021, 07:39Adding another vote for bringing this back!
My setup is an iPhone and a Cardo head unit. To have directions going in Scenic, music playing in the background, and be able to chat with my riding partners it's important to be able to balance volume levels. There's no built-in mixer on iOS so I would set the Cardo headset volume (to be able to speak and hear other riders), then set the volume on iOS to have music playing comfortably - and then finally set the Scenic volume boost to 130% so it was audible without having to crank the music too loud.
I will try the other voices, but I would really love the ability to increase nav volume above that of music.
Adding another vote for bringing this back!
My setup is an iPhone and a Cardo head unit. To have directions going in Scenic, music playing in the background, and be able to chat with my riding partners it's important to be able to balance volume levels. There's no built-in mixer on iOS so I would set the Cardo headset volume (to be able to speak and hear other riders), then set the volume on iOS to have music playing comfortably - and then finally set the Scenic volume boost to 130% so it was audible without having to crank the music too loud.
I will try the other voices, but I would really love the ability to increase nav volume above that of music.
Quote from TimeStandStill on 13.12.2021, 21:42Bumping this one in hopes it can be added back to Scenic 3 before Spring 😊
Bumping this one in hopes it can be added back to Scenic 3 before Spring 😊
Quote from Kam on 04.01.2022, 08:34I have a music related question. I recently upgraded to Scenic 3. Now my Apple iPhone music stops playing. When I try starting my music with my SENA 20S intercom, I cannot. Something causes my music to stop playing. I am using a Garmin Montana 700 which supports Bluetooth, iPhone XR, Sena 20 S intercom. Seems like something is interfering with my apps or my intercom. Not sure if anyone else is experience this with new Scenic version.
I have a music related question. I recently upgraded to Scenic 3. Now my Apple iPhone music stops playing. When I try starting my music with my SENA 20S intercom, I cannot. Something causes my music to stop playing. I am using a Garmin Montana 700 which supports Bluetooth, iPhone XR, Sena 20 S intercom. Seems like something is interfering with my apps or my intercom. Not sure if anyone else is experience this with new Scenic version.
Quote from Guido on 04.01.2022, 08:48Hi Kam,
Have not heard similar feedback yet, but it’s low season so there might be others.
How are your devices linked together? Are your phone and Garmin linked directly to the Sena, or is the phone linked to the Garmin and Garmin linked to Sena? And finally what is your setting for ‘Voice Output’ in Scenic Settings > Sound & Haptics?
What you could try to rule out Scenic is to run another navigation app and see if it happens with that too, or not.
Hi Kam,
Have not heard similar feedback yet, but it’s low season so there might be others.
How are your devices linked together? Are your phone and Garmin linked directly to the Sena, or is the phone linked to the Garmin and Garmin linked to Sena? And finally what is your setting for ‘Voice Output’ in Scenic Settings > Sound & Haptics?
What you could try to rule out Scenic is to run another navigation app and see if it happens with that too, or not.
Quote from TimeStandStill on 11.02.2022, 17:26Know this voice volume boost is low priority compared to all the new features and excellent updates recently. Still possible to add it back before Spring?
Know this voice volume boost is low priority compared to all the new features and excellent updates recently. Still possible to add it back before Spring?
Quote from Guido on 11.02.2022, 17:43I'm very reluctant to do this, because of what I said above: https://scenic.app/forum/topic/scenic-3-voice-volume-boost/#postid-2158
I'm afraid going back to previous audio manager will cause more problems than it will resolve.
I'm very reluctant to do this, because of what I said above: https://scenic.app/forum/topic/scenic-3-voice-volume-boost/#postid-2158
I'm afraid going back to previous audio manager will cause more problems than it will resolve.
Quote from TimeStandStill on 11.02.2022, 18:07Does the new audio manager have any source volume mixing options? It’s a limitation that IOS has not solved on its own but ideally external audio (from outside of app) should be able to have volume settings different from audio generated by the Scenic app.
Does the new audio manager have any source volume mixing options? It’s a limitation that IOS has not solved on its own but ideally external audio (from outside of app) should be able to have volume settings different from audio generated by the Scenic app.
Quote from Guido on 11.02.2022, 18:30The new audio manager is provided by the HERE framework. So it's proven code, used by many other apps. It has volume mixing options, but those are limited by iOS possibilities.
The problem is mostly with synthetic voices. You can set the volume of synthetic voice (or any In App Audio really) as a fraction of the overall music volume (the volume you control through control centre or the hardware volume buttons). This fraction can be between 0 and 1. So, you can only play as loud as the overall volume. Not louder. You can duck the music volume while you play, but this is an On/Off switch, you can't choose how much you want to duck.
On top of that (and maybe even the biggest issue) there seems to be a bug in iOS specifically when playing audio over some bluetooth connections. The audio ducking does not seem to work properly in all scenarios. I.e. the music ducks, but the voice itself is also ducked, while the voice should play at factor 1. I have a little bit of hope that Bluetooth 5 will solve this. I just ordered a new Cardo Freedom 4x (which has bluetooth 5 capability). When it arrives I will do some testing with it.
In the old audio manager that I wrote myself, I worked around this by capturing the audio output of the synthetic voice in a stream and then applying equaliser effects to boost volume of certain frequencies. All in all a pretty horrible workaround which brought along many problems. Mostly related to performance, because this all needed to happen in real time for the instructions to play on time.
It's really a shame... because in an earlier version of Apple Maps, Apple Maps had the option to boost the voice volume. (can't seem to find it in current version anymore though, not sure what happened to it). I had high hopes this would eventually also be made available to 3rd party developers. But so far, no luck.
My hopes are set on Bluetooth 5 at the moment. I'll keep you posted.
The new audio manager is provided by the HERE framework. So it's proven code, used by many other apps. It has volume mixing options, but those are limited by iOS possibilities.
The problem is mostly with synthetic voices. You can set the volume of synthetic voice (or any In App Audio really) as a fraction of the overall music volume (the volume you control through control centre or the hardware volume buttons). This fraction can be between 0 and 1. So, you can only play as loud as the overall volume. Not louder. You can duck the music volume while you play, but this is an On/Off switch, you can't choose how much you want to duck.
On top of that (and maybe even the biggest issue) there seems to be a bug in iOS specifically when playing audio over some bluetooth connections. The audio ducking does not seem to work properly in all scenarios. I.e. the music ducks, but the voice itself is also ducked, while the voice should play at factor 1. I have a little bit of hope that Bluetooth 5 will solve this. I just ordered a new Cardo Freedom 4x (which has bluetooth 5 capability). When it arrives I will do some testing with it.
In the old audio manager that I wrote myself, I worked around this by capturing the audio output of the synthetic voice in a stream and then applying equaliser effects to boost volume of certain frequencies. All in all a pretty horrible workaround which brought along many problems. Mostly related to performance, because this all needed to happen in real time for the instructions to play on time.
It's really a shame... because in an earlier version of Apple Maps, Apple Maps had the option to boost the voice volume. (can't seem to find it in current version anymore though, not sure what happened to it). I had high hopes this would eventually also be made available to 3rd party developers. But so far, no luck.
My hopes are set on Bluetooth 5 at the moment. I'll keep you posted.
Quote from Guido on 11.02.2022, 18:35Perhaps a workaround for the moment: You could try and change the Voice Output to 'Handsfree HFP' (Scenic > Settings > Sound & Haptics). This has its own disadvantages (lower quality sound, a small delay to establish handsfree connection every instruction, music is cut off), but perhaps, for now, it might work for you.
Perhaps a workaround for the moment: You could try and change the Voice Output to 'Handsfree HFP' (Scenic > Settings > Sound & Haptics). This has its own disadvantages (lower quality sound, a small delay to establish handsfree connection every instruction, music is cut off), but perhaps, for now, it might work for you.
Quote from TimeStandStill on 26.02.2022, 20:20Any luck testing with the new headset?
I used a BT5 headset with Scenic 2 and never ran into an issue with that custom solution you developed. The music would lower and the voice directions were boosted clearly.
I appreciate all of your efforts to keep Scenic the motorcyclists application of choice!
Any luck testing with the new headset?
I used a BT5 headset with Scenic 2 and never ran into an issue with that custom solution you developed. The music would lower and the voice directions were boosted clearly.
I appreciate all of your efforts to keep Scenic the motorcyclists application of choice!
Quote from Guido on 28.02.2022, 08:35Yes. It seems the audio-ducking thing is no longer an issue with BT5 (at least not on the Cardo 4x). Still the voice is quite low in volume. I also tried with Google Maps and even with Apple Maps. There are small variations between the voices, but they are all too low in volume for my taste (as far as I can tell at least).
I really don't want to go back to the Frankenstein solution I did with Scenic 2, but I can look into boosting the volume of the audio files of the pre-recorded voices of Scenic 3. (I.e. after downloading the sound files of the pre-recorded voices, do some processing on them to boost the volume.) However this is not the highest priority at the moment. So it will take me some time to look into this. Hope you understand.
Yes. It seems the audio-ducking thing is no longer an issue with BT5 (at least not on the Cardo 4x). Still the voice is quite low in volume. I also tried with Google Maps and even with Apple Maps. There are small variations between the voices, but they are all too low in volume for my taste (as far as I can tell at least).
I really don't want to go back to the Frankenstein solution I did with Scenic 2, but I can look into boosting the volume of the audio files of the pre-recorded voices of Scenic 3. (I.e. after downloading the sound files of the pre-recorded voices, do some processing on them to boost the volume.) However this is not the highest priority at the moment. So it will take me some time to look into this. Hope you understand.
Quote from TimeStandStill on 01.03.2022, 21:41Three cheers for Guido!!
Three cheers for Guido!!
