One of the powerful features of Axia Audio mixing engines are their virtual mixers. The Element and Fusion mix engines include sixteen virtual mixers which can be used to create mixes of various audio streams. These virtual mixers can be controlled using Logic Flows to dynamically create mixes of audio content based on changes in the system. Additionally, there is a web page for managing these virtual mixers, in effect creating on-screen mixers. To access this user interface, click the Vmix Control link on the navigation bar.
When you first open this web page, the faders will be dimmed out and none of the buttons will function as you first need to define which engine and which Vmixer to control. Select the mix engine from the Select Engine drop down, and then select one of the 16 virtual mixers from the Select Virtual Mixer drop down.
The interface will update to display the state of the selected virtual mixer. You can use the drop-down lists to switch between different Vmixers.
Each Vmixer has five input channels and a master fader. The master fader is labeled as Master and has the red slider. The input channel meters display the real-time metering of the source assigned to each fader. This metering is pre-fader, showing the level of incoming audio. The meter next to the Master fader displays the level at the output of the virtual mixer and is therefore post-Master fader.
Dragging a fader’s on-screen slider up or down will adjust the VMixer channel’s gain.
Clicking the On/Off buttons will turn a fader on and off. Turning a virtual mixer fader on or off is subject to the fade up and fade down time parameters. These can be changed by clicking on the fields next to the up arrow or down arrow in the Fade Time section. Times are entered in seconds. So if you have a fade up time of 1.2 seconds, when you click the On button the audio will fade in to the level defined by the fader over the course of 1.2 seconds. Then the fader control will dynamically allow you to control the level. The same is true when turning the fader off. Clicking the off button will fade the audio out dependent on the fade down time.
Finally, clicking on the source name at the top of each fader will allow you to select a different audio source for the fader. A list of available sources will appear.
Highlight the new source and click take to select the new source for the fader. Or, click cancel to return to the mixer web page.
It is also possible to generate direct links to a particular Vmixer. This can be useful if you wish to create a shortcut on a user’s desktop that will present a specific Vmixer. In order to create such a shortcut in Windows, right click on the desktop and select new shortcut. For the location type:
http://172.16.1.221/vmixcontrol.php?engine=172.16.1.63&vmixer=1
Replace the 172.16.1.221 with the IP address of your Pathfinder Core PRO. Replace the 172.16.1.63 address with the address of the mix engine you wish to control. And replace the 1 at the end of the link with the virtual mixer number within the engine you wish to control. Then click next and provide a name to create the shortcut. And finally, click finish. Or, just enter the address into the address bar of the user’s browser and then add it to favorites.
When you create the link this way, the user will not see Pathfinder Core PRO’s navigation bar or the drop downs to select a different engine or Vmixer. The web page will only present the specified virtual mixer.
