Devices

Terminology

A device is generally the physical sound card that a speaker or set of speakers is connected to. In the example in Figure 1, if each Zone has a distinct set of speakers connected to its own sound card on the computer, there would be 3 devices: "Stage Speakers", "Lobby PA" and "Courtyard PA" devices. Every detected audio sound card device has a System Name (Figure 2) as assigned by Windows. The System Name is usually the manufacturer's name and model of the sound card (ex. "Sound Blaster X-Fi 24") or may be output port name on a multi-output sound card (ex. "Output Port 1", "Output Port 2" etc. ). You can assign a Logical Name to each device to more easily identify which speakers are hooked to the device (ex. "Lobby PA"). Each device is assigned a Device Index Number (ex Device 0, 1, 2 etc) in the order that Windows detects the device. The System Name is prefixed with the Device Index Number in the System Name textbox. There is also a GUID (driver global unique id) associated to each device. The GUID is generally only useful for debugging purposes.

Editing Devices

Refer to the program window Output Device Settings section (Figure 2) for these instructions. These device settings are saved with configuration files.

1. Select the Device - Click the Devices selector to select the audio output device to edit. The Devices selector always shows the System Name of the device.
2. Adjust Volume - Use the Volume slider to adjust the device volume. Check the Apply as Master checkbox if you want a volume adjustment to apply to ALL devices at once. When unchecked, any Volume changes will apply only to the selected device. The Minimum, Center, and Maximum buttons move the slider position to 0%, 50%, and 100% respectively.
3. Change Logical Name - In the Logical Name textbox, enter a recognizable name for the device (ex. "Courtyard PA" ). The Logical Name defaults to the System Name when a new configuration is created. Keep it short since it is used in some selection lists.

About Volume

The Matrix Mic Volume setting is a relative percentage to the Windows Speaker Playback Volume setting. As an example, if the Windows Speaker Playback Volume is set to 50% of maximum speaker volume, and your Matrix Mic device volume is set at 50%, the effective device volume would be 25% of the maximum possible speaker volume (50% of 50% = 25%, or 0.5 * 0.5 = 0.25). Windows Speaker Playback Volume is set via the speaker taskbar icon or in the Windows Control Panel -- Sound -- Playback tab.

Separate volume for each device can be set for each device in case you want to adjust zones to different volume levels. If you don't want to adjust volumes differently, you can just check the Apply as Master Volume checkbox and adjust the volume slider to a value.

Devices Refresh

If you add or remove physical audio devices while the program is running, you need to perform a Refresh Devices. See the Refresh Devices description for details.

Why Are My Devices Not Showing Up?

First, try doing a Devices Refresh, then see if that fixes the problem. Device visibility to Windows often depends on a hardware device driver. This is usually installed by Windows Plug and Play the first time the hardware is detected. 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 Matrix Mic. For example, a telephone modem with a speaker may appear in the device list but is not likely DirectX capable and will not be successfully initialized.

Some multi-output devices need a special DirectX driver installed so that the Windows OS will recognize all the output ports. If not, see the device manufacturer Website for instructions regarding special drivers. Drivers are usually provided as a free download from the device manufacturer.

What is the Primary Sound Driver Device?

When you Reset Devices, Windows performs a device discovery and returns a list of all connected audio devices with the System Name of the hardware device sound card. A device called the Primary Sound Driver (or similar name depending on your Windows OS version) is usually the first in the list. This is the Windows Default Sound Playback device specified in the Windows Control Panel. It is usually a duplicate to one of the other physical hardware devices in the list.

Tip - Primary Sound Driver - As a best practice, you should not include Primary Sound Driver device in any Output Group. This is because when you change the Default Playback device, the Primary Sound Driver is changed (they are two names for the same Windows control). Use the device with System Name equal to the physical hardware name instead.

Example Devices

For the example in Listing 1, assume the venue has 3 logical speaker systems: Stage Towers, a Lobby PA, and Courtyard PA. You can get this listing from Tools -- View Configuration Summary

===================================
DEVICES
===================================
Default Device = 0, Primary Sound Driver
___________________________________
Device 0
Logical Name: Primary Sound Driver
System Name: Primary Sound Driver
Guid: 00000000-0000-0000-0000-000000000000
Volume: 50%
Initialized: True

___________________________________
Device 1
Logical Name: Lobby PA
System Name: USB Sound Blaster Audigy 2 NX
Guid: bd6dd71a-3deb-11d1-b171-00c04fc20002
Volume: 60%
Initialized: True

___________________________________
Device 2
Logical Name: Courtyard PA
System Name: SoundMAX Digital Audio
Guid: bd6dd71a-3deb-11d1-b171-00c04fc20000
Volume: 75%
Initialized: True

___________________________________
Device 3
Logical Name: Stage Towers
System Name: Sound Blaster X-Fi 24
Guid: bd6ce43a-4ef5-13e4-bed5-00e245fd0004
Volume: 100%
Initialized: True

Listing 1. Devices Example