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Bensam123
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Windows Digital Mixer Board

Thu Nov 28, 2013 10:51 am

Does anyone know of a mixer that will interface with inputs already present in Windows? I've been looking around Amazon and all I see are ones with built in mixers (the inputs go into the mixer itself). I'm looking for one that will allow you to modify the sound settings already in Windows. In other words sliders will correspond to inputs and volume controls already present in Windows, it'll just have a external interface. Like what you find on a keyboard, only sliders for all the controls (programmable or such).

It'd be alright if it has inputs too, it just needs to be able to modify Windows settings or setup to do so. Something cheaper too would be nice.
 
Bensam123
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Re: Windows Digital Mixer Board

Wed Dec 04, 2013 10:07 am

No one has a idea? I thought there would be at least high end variants of this... :(
 
morphine
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Re: Windows Digital Mixer Board

Wed Dec 04, 2013 10:19 am

I half-heartedly follow audio gear, and you can find at least a few million mixers out there, but I've never seen something that messes with Windows levels.

The best fallback would be a USB mixing desk (and running your outputs there), which would get you somewhat close to what you want.
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Bensam123
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Re: Windows Digital Mixer Board

Thu Dec 05, 2013 12:02 pm

Yeah, I thought about outputting everything to the board, but that seems kinda pointless as your PC can be a giant mixer in the first place. It just seems like another level of complexity to cake on top. Although it looks cool, digital was supposed to obsolete all this. I mean I can get a digital windows mixer and change everything on the screen, but that's not the same as having a panel in front of me where I can easily change them. It's like just assigning switches to volume levels as simple as that sounds. Something like Virtual Audio Cable allows for a limitless number of input and outputs, matching that with hardware already in my system... It'd be nice adding some sliders to it.

This isn't my area of expertise, so I really don't know where to start looking... Even the more expensive ones mix everything on the board and output channels to windows (which isn't what I want).
 
morphine
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Re: Windows Digital Mixer Board

Thu Dec 05, 2013 12:06 pm

Bensam123 wrote:
It just seems like another level of complexity to cake on top. Although it looks cool, digital was supposed to obsolete all this.

The words you're looking for would be "a proper audio stack in Windows was supposed to obsolete all this". :wink:
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UltimateImperative
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Re: Windows Digital Mixer Board

Thu Dec 05, 2013 12:39 pm

I think what you want isn't a mixer, but rather a controller. Probably something with MIDI, which you would then hook up with a MIDI interface; an example would be the Behringer BFC2000. You could then control the Windows mixer through a hack using autohotkey.
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Bensam123
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Re: Windows Digital Mixer Board

Sun Dec 08, 2013 3:07 am

Behringer BFC2000 is what I'm looking for!

Do you know of a cheaper version or something similar? I'm not familiar with how it controls stuff? Midi? I thought that was for instruments... why not use USB?
 
Wirko
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Re: Windows Digital Mixer Board

Sun Dec 08, 2013 6:22 am

There are cheapers alternatives. Korg nanoCONTROL2 or iCON i-Controls, for example. These two, and the Behringer too, have USB interfaces.

There's some more choice if you prefer rotary knobs. This list may be helpful - look for items that are not keyboards.

http://geizhals.at/eu/?cat=djmidicon&sort=p&bpmax=&filter=+Liste+aktualisieren+&asuch=&asd=on&v=e&plz=&dist=

The controllers do transmit MIDI data but there's a well supported standard to do it over USB.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MIDI#Alternative_hardware_transports
 
Bensam123
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Re: Windows Digital Mixer Board

Wed Dec 11, 2013 7:49 am

Both of those look nice Wirko. I found a couple others, but they aren't exactly what I'm look for. There is a Behringer with just rotary knobs too. This will give me a starting point to continue looking around on.

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