Sound Lines

 Sound - Sound Card Output
or Objectsettings: double click on a sound object (Timeline or Jingle)



The liveSHOWsoftware has 10 sound lines internally.
Each channel of a sound object can be freely routed to the sound lines.
Any channel of a sound card can be assigned to any sound line.

By default everything is set by the liveSHOWsoftware so that you don't have to change anything here. However, if you want to send sound only to certain speakers or if you have a multi-channel sound card and want to output stereo sound to all channels, you can set this here.

Sound Lines can be thought of as mixer buses.
The input of a sound line can consist of any channels of sound objects, which are mixed in the sound line.
Each sound line can be assigned to any sound card outputs.

Note: If you only use stereo sound files and output the sound only via one sound card, you do not need to change anything here - see below under Default settings.

The liveSHOWsoftware can use several sound cards in parallel and multi-channel sound files can be opened.
Thus the following scenarios are possible:

Assign sound lines to a sound object (input)

Here you set how the channels of a sound object are to be distributed to the sound lines.
These settings are project-dependent and are saved with the project.
  1. Double-click with the left mouse button on a sound object in the timeline or on a sound object in the jingle window.
  2. A window with the object settings opens:
       
    Click on the 'SoundLines' tab
  3. In the table you can see the channels of the sound object on the left. On the right you see the sound lines.
    Click in a checkbox to assign one or more sound lines to a channel.
    If a check box is activated, a text box appears next to the box. In the text box you can change the volume (in decibels db):
    • 0 = The volume is not changed
    • negative value : the volume is reduced (-3 db corresponds to approximately half the sound intensity)
    • positive value : the volume is increased (3 db corresponds approximately to twice the sound intensity)

  4. Confirm the changes with the green OK button  or cancel the changes by clicking the Cancel Button .

Assign sound lines to a sound card (output)
and set a delay for a soundcard channel

Here you set how the sound lines are to be output (distributed to the sound cards).
These settings are independent of the project.
When you exit the liveSHOWsoftware, these settings are saved regardless of the loaded project.
  1. Click in the menu  Sound  on  Sound Card Output.
  2. A window opens in which all sound cards are listed.


    Activate and deactivate a sound card by clicking in the left checkbox of the corresponding sound card.
    Note:
    Please set the sound cards before starting a project. Activating another sound card while sound is currently playing may result in sound dropouts or a slight time delay.
    The same applies when you connect or disconnect external sound cards (Bluetooth or USB).

  3. Click on the right icon  of the corresponding sound card, a window opens with the settings for the sound lines of the sound card.
       

    On the left you see the channels of the sound card and on the right the sound lines.
    You can assign several sound lines to one channel of a sound card. This is described above in the sound object settings.
  4. Each output channel of a sound card can be assigned a delay in milliseconds. Currently, a maximum of 499 ms ( approx. 170m speaker distance) is possible.

    This is helpful in two cases:
    • If several sound cards are used and they have latencies between each other.
      Here you can assign a delay to all channels of the faster sound card so that the sound cards work in parallel.
    • When multiple speakers are used with a large audience:
      Here the sound arriving at the rear audience (rear speakers) is slightly delayed from the front speakers.
      A delay can be entered in the Delay text box for the channels that are responsible for the front speakers,
      so that the sound from the front and rear speakers reaches the rear audience at the same time.
      Note: You can also enter the distance between front and rear speakers in the text field and then press the 'm' key for meters ('i' = inch, 'f' = foot, 'y' = yard).
      The delay in milliseconds is automatically calculated and displayed. (this is valid for approx. 20 degrees Celsius air temperature).

  5. Confirm the changes with the green OK button. or click on  to cancel the changes.

Sound cards under Windows and MAC
(the tiresome driver problem)

The MAC usually recognizes multi-channel sound cards and also displays them with multiple channels. However, not every external sound card is suitable for the MAC.

Under Windows 10 the sound driver model has changed. In the liveSHOWsoftware the Microsoft DirectSound API is used, because this is supported by most multi-channel sound cards (drivers). With the Microsoft DirectSound sound cards with up to 8 channels (7.1 Sourround Sound) can be used.
The Windows 10 32bit version is an exception, since the sound output does not work reliably here. Under Windows 32 bit, all sound cards are only recognized as stereo sound cards. This should be acceptable, since 32bit computers will probably die out.
Partially sound card drivers represent a multi-channel sound card as several sound cards with 2 channels each (stereo). Sometimes multi-channel sound cards are only recognized as stereo sound cards. If this is the case, one must help oneself at the moment with several sound cards (these may also be simple sound cards).
Example: The Behringer X Air 18 mixer has an 18 channel sound card integrated. Under Windows, 8 channels are detected as 4 sound cards with the old Behringer drivers (Behringer 1 and 2, Behringer 3 and 4, ....). With the new drivers, only one stereo sound card (2 channels) is recognized.

Default Settings

Basically, the channels of a sound object are distributed to the sound lines in order:
(Stereo Sound)
Channel 1: 'Front Left' -> Sound Line 1  (for a single-channel sound (mono), channel1 is additionally assigned to sound line 2)
Channel 2 'Front Right' -> Sound Line 2
(additional for 5.1 Sound)
Channel 3 'Center' -> Sound Line 3
Channel 4 'Subwoofer -> Sound Line 4
Channel 5 'Rear Left' -> Sound Line 5
Channel 6 'Rear Right' -> Sound Line 6
(additional for 7.1 Sound)
Channel 7 'Alternative Left' -> Sound Line 7
Channel 8 'Alternative Right' -> Sound Line 8

A one channel sound object (mono) is automatically assigned to Sound Line 1 and Sound Line 2.

By default, the sound lines are distributed to the channels of a sound card in order:
(Stereo Sound)
Channel 1: 'Front Left' <- Sound Line 1
Channel 2 'Front Right' <- Sound Line 2
(additional for 5.1 Sound)
Channel 3 'Center' <- Sound Line 3
Channel 4 'Subwoofer <- Sound Line 4
Channel 5 'Rear Left' <- Sound Line 5
Channel 6 'Rear Right' -> Sound Line 6
(additional for 7.1 Sound)
Channel 7 'Alternative Left' <- Sound Line 7
Channel 8 'Alternative Right' <- Sound Line 8

Sound Lines 9 and 10 are not assigned by default.