Individual Volume control on desktop

Moz, to control volume of individual zones while they are grouped via the desktop controller, click the volume slider button (to the right of "Repeat" and to the left of "Mute.")

This brings up the "Zone Equalizer" menu, which allows the individual volume control of zones as well as bass, treble, balance, and loudness settings.

Thanks for the reply. I recognized the equalizer icon, but I didn't realize that it was used for zone-by-zone volume control also.

BTW, I've noticed that the desktop controller has very little right-click functionality. Not sure if this is for potential Mac compatibility, but I think judicious use of right click menus would help the user (e.g., using right click on the volume slider to select individual zones).

I would like to be able to control the volume of my Play 5 using my mac desktop controls (i.e. using the volume controls on the mac keyboard) but currently the only way to adjust the volume appears to be via the on screen volume slider within the Sonos desktop app. This is inconvenient if I am working in another programme as I have to switch to the Sonos App simply to adjust the volume. This seems strange as I can adjust the Play 5 volume using my iPhone's physical volume controls.

I read the above reply but it doesn't make sense to me! Can anyone explain if there's a way to use the desktop volume controls to adjust volume on my Play 5 please?

Thanks in advance!

buddhahat wrote:

I read the above reply but it doesn't make sense to me!

Look at the age of the posts. They're discussing an ancient precursor to the current Desktop Controller.

Can anyone explain if there's a way to use the desktop volume controls to adjust volume on my Play 5 please?

I'm not a Mac user, so I can't speak for its capabilities. However on Windows one can install hotkey tools that can map media keys to the keyboard shortcuts in the Desktop Controller.

Thanks for the quick reply, Ratty. Wow - 11 year old posts. Not sure how I missed that!

I'll investigate your suggestion but not sure how feasible it will be on a Mac. I'm presuming there isn't a simple solution within the Sonos software then? It seems like a bit of a glaring omission to me.

buddhahat wrote:

Thanks for the quick reply, Ratty. Wow - 11 year old posts. Not sure how I missed that!

I'll investigate your suggestion but not sure how feasible it will be on a Mac. I'm presuming there isn't a simple solution within the Sonos software then? It seems like a bit of a glaring omission to me.

The Sonos units can be controlled:-

1) Via the volume buttons on the top of each Play speaker
2) Via the app on your smartphone
3) Via the lock screen volume controls on Android and iOS tablets and phones
4) Via the app on a Mac or PC

I fail to see the glaring omission. But maybe I'm missing something.

Double post

Yes I'm well aware of those other volume controls, thank you. Merely expressing my opinion that the desktop app lacks convenient physical controls. Sonos have built the phone app in a way that allows the phone volume buttons to control the speaker volume. I expected a similar scenario with my iMac where the volume keys on the keyboard control the speaker volume, without me having to access the app itself. An omission IMO.

It seems there are keyboard shortcuts to control the volume (cmd +/cmd -) but these only work within the Sonos App itself.

I tried to map shortcut keys to the Sonos volume functions but unfortunately it doesn't seem to work, but thanks for the suggestion, Ratty.

As the play, pause and skip buttons on the keyboard all control the sonos, I would have assumed the volume controls to do the same but hey ho.

As I use separate spaces on my desktop for different apps, it really is a pain to have to switch to the sonos space to alter the volume, especially when I can play, pause & skip with no trouble from within any space/app using the keyboard. The only workaround I can figure is to have the mini controller open in all spaces, and then it's just a case of clicking on it and moving the volume slider. Still, not ideal.

The Windows hotkey solution also requires that the Sonos controller window be active (i.e. has input focus) to work. There are ways of dealing with this automatically, by noting the currently active window, temporarily activating the Sonos controller window, then re-activating the original window after the command sequence finishes. This works better when the Sonos window is hidden, by a separate tool since Sonos doesn't officially support hiding and/or minimise-to-tray.

Thanks again - In honesty that sounds too complex for me but I appreciate the info!

buddhahat wrote:

It seems there are keyboard shortcuts to control the volume (cmd +/cmd -) but these only work within the Sonos App itself.

Does anyone know if there's a keyboard shortcut for Mute as well? (Mute Sonos, not the Mac, obvs).

EDIT: It's ok, I found the list in the Help menu! D'oh!