by slunnes » Mon Dec 27, 2021 8:18 pm
Hello All, and apologies for explaining the obvious to those who know.
You can skip all this virtual cable stuff by performing a simple loopback on your audio interface, either virtual or wired. This makes your system audio available to the interface as an "external" output, which can be monitored in your DAW Session.
This works with all but the cheapest audio interfaces, most mid level interfaces have it built in nowadays. If it is built in, you will most likely find it in the control softare of your interface (f.ex. Motu CueMix, Rme Totalmix, Scarlett MixControl, UAD Console,...) Just google "your specific model loopback"
In case you don't have built-in LB, you can easily use a pair of spare digital I/o and connect the output back to the input of the same type with a short (correctly spec'd for digital) bit of cable. (The spdif on rca type connectors, are f.ex a good choice, since they carry a stereo signal, and are often unused) This way you stay in the digital domain, and dont add two conversions to your monitoring path per default.
You then have to change the default system audio output, to whatever ports you will (f.ex. virtual 1 and 2 on UAD or spdif L and R in case of a wired LB) On mac you'd do this in the "Audio MIDI Setup>Configure Speakers, on windows somewhere in the audio device prefs.
Your interface will then see your system audio as external input, without any loss of quality or level.
In my daily use, I have a tiny logic project (every DAW will do) running which I call my "output section". It consists of 2 Stereo Auxes which act like input channels for my DJ Mixer (Line In 7 and 8) and my Mac Audio (Loopback 1 and 2) ((In this case I use auxes because I don't have to arm them, or worry about software monitoring settings, in any other DAW, Audio tracks will do, just don't forget to enable software monitoring.))
Those input channels then get summed to another stereo aux, which acts as my virtual master bus. This bus is routed to (1-2 mostly, or whatever it is in your setup) + a pre-fader send at 0dB to your headphone outputs. (in most interface they can be individually adressed by the DAW, look for something along the lines of "cue" or "HP")
Finally this enables you to put ARC on your "Speaker" output track, while having a dry copy of your Master Bus on your "Headphone" output track.
This section is the base of every session I work on, where a third stereo aux called MIXBUS is added next to SYSTEM AUDIO and DJ MIXER. This is where all my mix tracks are getting sent to. In this way, I can on the fly solo between my mix and a reference on spotify and I have a fader at hand to level match.
Another advantage is thatall the audio is passing through your DAW at all times, which enables you to record your computer audio in a breeze.
Finally, this system always leaves you with a "uncorrected" version of the Master Bus, for bouncing (in logic you simply bounce the Headphone Out, in other DAW's you select the Master Bus and not the Stereo Output as bounce source).
Obviously, you can leave this mini logic session open in the background.
Yes that implies having open your DAW open at all times you want to have audio passing,
and yes, you will need to add this output section to older sessions, but all the audio you hear is corrected, you can easily reference between sources, and even your vinyl player, or other external output, is going to be monitored through ARC.
I hope this could be useful to anyone, the system has proven its use to me over many years.
Cheers