Outputs
Output Group is an optional feature.
If your computer has only one soundcard as an output device, you can ignore this discussion on Output Groups. Sound Mill automatically creates an Output Group 0 for the default device. However, if you want to pipe sound to different zones, for example music to the lobby during intermission and production sounds to the stage speakers, read on.
Terminology
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Device - A device is a physical speaker or set of speakers. Examples: "Lobby PA" or "Stage Right Speakers".
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Output Group - An Output Groups specifies group of one or multiple device(s) that a given Sound Item is played on. You configure the Output Groups and assign an Output Group index to each sound item. When you click Play, the Sound Item is played on all the devices specified in its Output Group.
Outputs / Devices Menu
Note: A Sound Item must have the Play Modifier
Use Direct checkbox checked, in order to use Output Groups (not available to non-Wav audio files). If not checked, the sound will play using the WMP audio driver and will play on the default Windows playback device specified in the Windows control panel.
You computer may have one or multiple device I/O channels depending on the type of soundcard or audio interface device connected. You can determine what device channels are available by looking at
Tools -- Outputs/Devices -- View Outputs and Devices. When you start Sound Mill, the list of available devices is redetected. Whenever you connnect or disconnect to/from a different hardware device, you should reset the Device List.
Sound Mill lets you create
Output Groups that can contain one or multiple devices. Each Output Group has an index ( 0 , 1, 2, etc). The
Play Modifiers panel lets you assign an Output Group for each Sound Item. Then when the Sound Item is played, it will be played on every device listed for its Output Group.
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View Outputs and Devices - Lists all Output Groups defined and all hardware devices. (see Example below)
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Output Groups - Edit allows for creating a new Output Group, changing the devices contained in an Output Group or deleting Output Groups. Export saves the current Output Groups to a file. Import replaces the current Output Groups from a file. Import and Export are useful if you frequently swap the audio interface device connected to the computer and you don't want to go through the setup everytime. Reset will reset all Output Groups to the default -- one Output Group per detected device.
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Device Logical Names Every detected device will have a System Name (as detected by Windows) and a Logical Name. Example: the System Name might be "Main Out 1" and a Logical Name could be "Lobby PA". You can give each device a logical name so it will be easier to identify the target device. The default is System Name and Logical Name are the same. This has the same types of edit funtions as Output Groups. Reset re-acquires the list of available devices.
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View Device Capabilities - Lists all DirectX recognized device capabilities. Useful to DirectX experts only.
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Set Default Device - If a device listed in an Output Group cannot be found at play time, the Default Device will be substituted.
Why Are My Devices Not Showing Up?
Device visibility to Windows often depends on the hardware device driver. If your device is not showing in the list , check the manufacturers Website for updated drivers that support DirectX. Only DirectX capable devices can be initialized for use with Sound Mill. For example, a telephone modem with a speaker may appear in the device list but is not likely DirectX capable and will not be initialized.
Maximum Output Groups
There is a default maximum of 16 Output Groups. If you need more outputs, contact Support for pricing.
Example Output Groups
For this example, assume the venue has 3 logical speaker systems: a Lobby PA, Stage Towers, and Theater Rear Towers.
The example below shows three output groups defined (groups 0,1 and 2) . Output groups 0 and 1 contains one device (dev) each. Output group 2 contains two devices.
Device 0 is Lobby PA.
Device 1 is Stage Towers.
Device 2 is Theater Rear Towers.
Figure 1. Output Groups from Example
Below is a print out of this example from the
Tools -- Outputs/Devices -- View Outputs and Devices menu item.
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OUTPUT GROUPS
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Maximum outputs = 16
Output Group 0
Contains 1 device(s).
Device(s):
Logical name: Lobby PA
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Output Group 1
Contains 1 device(s).
Device(s):
Logical name: Stage Towers
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Output Group 2
Contains 2 device(s).
Device(s):
Logical name: Stage Towers
Logical name: Theater Rear Towers
___________________________________
______________________________________________________________________
DEVICES
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Default Device Name: Lobby PA
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Device 0
Logical Name: Lobby PA
System Name: Primary Sound Driver
Initialized: True
___________________________________
Device 1
Logical Name: Stage Towers
System Name: USB Sound Blaster Audigy 2 NX-1
Initialized: True
___________________________________
Device 2
Logical Name: Theater Rear Towers
System Name: USB Sound Blaster Audigy 2 NX-2
Initialized: True
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