Microsoft Surface Dial Integration PLEASE!

As Jeff pointed out earlier in this thread, it would be very unlikely that the Roon team would devote precious development resources to this project. However, someone looks as though they are considering it as an interesting project to do:

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Time to test.

Itā€™s very nicely made and works a treat. I made a custom setting and can play/pause and skip tracks from the dials software. You can map it to whatever you like.

Itā€™s not the same as native app support but Iā€™m happy with OS support.

My laptop now lives on the sideboard out of harms way. I can select the album with my laptop and sit down on my sofa with the dial only to skip track play/pause and change volume using my amplifier remote.

Well worth it :slight_smile:

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Thought some more about what you say.
I donā€™t use a Windows machine for Roon much, mostly iPad.
But I could use your idea if the volume control, separately.
I have a Windows desktop machine, used for other stuff, fairly close to my music room. Close enough for Bluetooth. I could leave that with Roon running, aimed at the music room.
I would still use the iPad to select music.
But the Dial could sit on the coffee table, doing volume control ā€” next to the iPad, but not actually connected to the iPad. Just a loose volume control. Pretty cool.

Iā€™ll see how I feel about it in practice. Reliability is central. Canā€™t have the desktop go to sleepā€¦

That didnā€™t work. Of course.

Dial is an interaction device.
It interacts with the currently active program.
When the Windows machine does not have my attention, when it sits in the other room, I canā€™t be sure that Roon remains ā€˜theā€™ program. It worked ok but after a while some other program popped up and took the focus.

And I donā€™t think direct Roon support would change this.
Maybe Roon could hijack the events, but that would be very unnatural.

It was great while it worked.
A very nice volume control with no wires.
But it works with a Windows machine.
My stunt to have it sit next to an iPad was ill-conceived.

Given it uses Bluetooth 4.0 LE I imagine it will pair with the iPad and if integrated into Roon it would work.

With regards your desktop hibernation you can change the power settings so it does not go to sleep. If you have Roon running in full screen on the PC it will remain the primary application.

I installed Spotify on my laptop (only for music discovery) and when the dial is pressed a new option appears. If Roon integrated dial they would have a customer setting appear like it does in Spotify.

Even in its current state I love it.

P.S. I found the dial for Ā£70 if anyone is interested.

I just saw the Surface Dial and instantly thought of Roon integration. Seems like it would be a perfect match.

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Totally agree with you :slight_smile:

The actual Win 10 support shortcuts for the dial (push button, rotate left/right)

Heck, Iā€™ve got one of these:

Letā€™s do that, too!

I had one of these years ago and Iā€™m it was discontinued even then. I sold it as my keyboard has a roller on it I could use for volume (Corsair K70).

Someone wrote an Extension for the Griffin I think.

Yes, I figured it should be possible to do it as an extension. Just waiting for my new Core machine to be deliveredā€¦

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I have a Surface Book 2 and Surface Dial. For those wondering, you can get the Roon shortcuts in ā€œSettingsā€ then top right of the window ā€œKeyboard Shortcutsā€. You can use these to customize Surface dial behaviour.

Current limitation is there is only one custom tool valid for all applications. I was able though to make it work as reported for endpoint volume and play/pause (spacebar).

I also confirm that the regular horizontal scrolling is much to fast in the album view for instance but working well in queue history mode (vertical scroll).

Beyond the standard level of tools you can add tools for each app as @AndersVinberg have been able to do. I have not yet been able to understand how to make that work when opening Roon. I still get the standard tools menu when clicking on the surface dial.

I was able to add specific tools in Surface Dial in other programs such as File Explorer on my Surface Book 2 but not in Roon.exe neither RATTserver.exe (tried just in case!). This is may be because Roon is installed as remote on that computer and not as core?

So I will keep using the first level customization as mentionned in previous message (volume endpoint/pause).

No chance for now on customized tools for Roon application!

Can you elaborate on how you did this? Thanks.

I currently work on a solution with a low cost RaspberryPi zero W.
The Surface Dial connects to it via bluetooth. On the other side the Pi connects via WiFi to your home LAN.
The software on the Pi is a roon extension. So you see it in roon and also can configure the function of the Dial inside roon. This means determine what happens if you klick or double click the Dial and also control the sensibility of the Dial.
I guess until end of December I will have prepared a ready to run Pi image for download.
This solution works with all devices that can be used with roon. In roon just select the zone you like to control. So no need to use a Win PC for playback.
In my home I installed v0.1 today and really had fun :slight_smile:

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But I gather WinPC is not possible as this is a Pi-specific solution. :slightly_frowning_face:

Kal, shure WinPC is also possible! Starting roon on a WinPC is nothing else but another roon player.
So my answer is: YES it works also with WinPC or even a MAC!

Just for your understanding:

The roon extension running on the RaspPi zero W (I will call it rooDial) communicates via WiFi with your roon core, no matter where in your house it is located. This communication enables roon to show the menu of rooDial in each roon frontend, on an iPhone, an iPad or a PC. In this menue you can select which playback zone you like to control with the Surface Dial. This may be the roon ready streamer in your living room, a RoPieee device in your kitchen or the PC in your office.

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I am sorry if I do not comprehend fully. You say the ā€œroon extension running on the RaspPi zero Wā€ and, to me, that says one must have a RaspPi zero W somewhere in the network. It does not run ON a WinPC.

Of course, the RaspPi zero W is cheap enough to buy just for this purpose. What is its effective BT range with the Surface Dial? That has been an issue for me in the past.