Mixer and Routing

Mixer & Routing

The live mixer lets VxSound process Game, Music (Media), Chat and Aux separately before combining them into one physical stereo output.

Current routing model

Each VxSound channel can be assigned a different installed virtual playback endpoint:

Source app → virtual playback endpoint → VxSound channel → mix → personal EQ → master processing → physical output

VxSound does not currently install its own signed virtual audio driver.

Setup

1. Make sure compatible virtual playback endpoints are installed and visible in Windows.
2. Open Mixer in VxSound.
3. Assign a different endpoint to each channel you need. With one cable, assign only Game and leave Music, Chat and Aux unassigned.
4. Play audio in a source app, then select its channel and press Apply route in App Routing, or drag it in Routing Board. You can also choose the matching cable directly in the app or Windows Volume mixer.
5. Select your real headset/speakers as VxSound's physical output.
6. Press Start live mixer.

Example:

Source	VxSound channel	Windows/app output
Game	Gaming	Endpoint assigned to Gaming
Music player	Music	Endpoint assigned to Music
Voice chat	Chat	Endpoint assigned to Chat

VB-CABLE example

Download VB-CABLE from the official publisher, extract the package, run its setup as administrator and reboot as instructed by the publisher.

Setting	Choose
Game/source app playback output	CABLE Input (VB-Audio Virtual Cable)
VxSound input for the chosen mixer channel	The same CABLE Input playback endpoint
VxSound physical output	Your real headset or speakers

VxSound reads the playback endpoint through WASAPI loopback. CABLE Output is the cable’s recording endpoint and is not the input used by this mixer path. Start the live mixer and play audio in the source app.

One standard VB-CABLE gives one independent path. Do not assign that same endpoint to several independent channels. Additional cables, such as the publisher’s A+B package, provide separate paths when needed. VxSound does not install these drivers.

App Routing and Routing Board

Both views read audio sessions in your Windows user session and use the cable choices from Sound Studio. Each routing column shows its actual cable name or a specific setup problem. The headset is the physical output, not a channel input.

• Start playback in an app and press Refresh sessions. Apps without an audio session are not listed.
• Explicit choices update Windows per-app playback preferences and are saved in %LOCALAPPDATA%\VxSound\app-routing.json for your user. Saved choices are checked while VxSound runs.
• Suggested channels are labels only until you explicitly choose them. Aux is never chosen automatically.
• Windows Default clears the app's playback preference, even if no cables are available.
• Some apps need playback restarted or their own audio output changed. If Windows rejects a preference, use the Windows Volume mixer button.

These views no longer require a session list from the Windows audio service. Cable inputs currently need a mono or stereo Windows mix format; a device's name containing “16ch” does not by itself tell you its current format.

Important behavior when VxSound stops

An application still routed to a virtual input may become silent when VxSound is not running or the mixer is stopped. Change that application's output back to the physical device when you are not using live routing.

VxSound intentionally does not silently rewrite every Windows default or per-app route.

Route validation

The core rejects:

• duplicate inputs assigned where they would create ambiguous routing;
• an input that is also the selected output, which would create direct feedback;
• unsupported routing shapes.

The preview expects mono or stereo virtual inputs and produces one selected stereo physical output.

Profiles per channel

Every channel has its own:

• profile;
• EQ-enabled state;
• compare/original state;
• volume;
• mute state;
• input-device assignment.

Personal EQ is not duplicated per mixer channel. It is applied once after the channels are mixed and only when its saved physical-output binding matches the selected output.

Latency

VxSound does not currently advertise a measured end-to-end latency number. Buffer duration, DSP execution time and total source-to-ear latency are different measurements. Windows shared mode, virtual endpoints, hardware buffers and independent device clocks all contribute.

Long-session clock behavior

The current preview does not implement clock-drift recovery between unrelated virtual/device clocks. Very long live sessions across independent devices are therefore an area for future development.

For implementation details see docs/ROUTING.md.