Mixer
The Mixer

The mixer is where you can control the various overall aspects of your SoundStation environment.  Packed within the confines of this component are many different items which allow you to adjust the sound and operation of your system.  There is also a digital clock for your convenience.  To find out more about a particular portion of the mixer, click on the desired area on the picture, above.

See Also:  General SoundStation Help


The Remote Button

Pressing the Remote button will bring up one of the remote controls and remove the rack system from the screen.  See the topics on the Remote Controls for more information.


The Power Button

The Power button turns SoundStation off.  That is, it exits the program completely.  When you are finished using SoundStation and want to remove it completely from the screen, just press the Power button.  Of course, like all well-mannered Windows programs, SoundStation will also exit if you press the Alt-F4 key combination.

Note that if you exit SoundStation while it is playing Wave or MIDI files, or if SoundStation was controlling your CD audio, then all playing will stop.  If you want to continue playing your music, but don't want SoundStation taking up all of your screen real estate, see the topics on Remote Controls or Component Selection Buttons.


The Mute Buttons

All of the Input Level Controls and the Master Volume Control have Mute buttons.  The mute buttons are used, in all cases, to temporarily decrease input or volume levels all the way to minimum.  Note that the previous setting for the particular channel that is muted is saved and is still displayed in the associated control's bar graph display.  When the mute is released, the previous level is restored.

By pressing the Mute button for a particular Input Level Control, you decrease the volume only for that particular device.  However, if you activate the Mute for the Master Volume Control, you cause all audio output to be decreased to minimum.  This is handy when you need to talk on the phone, or need to hear if the baby is crying.  Once the distraction is taken care of, press the Master Mute again and you'll be back to your previously selected volume and input levels.

It's easy to tell when Mute is activated for a particular input or the Master.  Each activated Mute button will have it's red LED lit.  If it's off, then the displayed input or output level should be set.  Each mute button is a toggle.  That is, pressing it once turns it on and pressing it again turns it off.  Note that if the flashing LED is annoying, the flashing LED can be set to solid on through the "Setup" button.

Note that you may still change the volume level of a muted input, although you will not hear the change until you release the mute.  The indicated level will be set when the mute is released.


The Record Input (Rec) Buttons

The record input buttons determine what input or inputs will be used when recording on the Wave player component.  All of the record input buttons have green LED indicators which will light up when that input has been selected to record from.  In general, the record input buttons toggle their state, meaning that pushing the button once turns it on and pushing it again turns it back off.

However, some sound boards may not allow you to record from more than one input source at a time.  In that case, turning on a record input button for one device will turn off any other record input button LED's, indicating that only the new device is selected.

Some sound cards do not have selectable record input lines, or all devices can be generally recorded from and are always active.  In this case, the mute buttons generally provide the same functionality and the Record Input Buttons are therefore not presented.  If you do not see the Record Input Buttons on your particular setup, then this is probably the case.


The Default Button

The Default button is a quick way to return all mixer volumes, and the Master volume, back to a user defined setting.  The states of the mute buttons are also saved as part of the default setting.  To set your desired default, first set all of the mixer levels to your desired settings.  Also, set any mutes on or off that you would like set in the default settings.  Then, refer to the topic on The Setup Button for information on saving you default settings.

Note that you can have SoundStation use these default settings on startup, also.  Refer to the topic on the Preferences Dialog for more information.


The Component Selection Buttons

There are three component selection buttons along the bottom row of the mixer panel of the rack system, one each for the Wave Player, the MIDI Player and the CD Player.  When each control is activated, the corresponding component will appear below the mixer panel in the rack, stacked on the bottom.  If one of the buttons is turned off, the corresponding component will disappear, and any components below it will move up.

It is not necessary to have the particular component visible in order for it to play.  For instance, you could load a CD and start it playing.  Then, you could deactivate the CD player button to make the CD component disappear and the CD will continue playing.  Of course, in order to do anything with the CD player other than work with the volume level, you would either have to re-activate the component or switch to one of the Remote Controls.


The Setup Button

The Setup button brings up the setup dialog.  In the setup dialog, you can configure SoundStation for your hardware, or select one of several other dialogs to configure particular portions of the program.

To preset the current input and volume levels as well as the states of the Mute buttons as a defined default setting, press the "Set" button (labeled Mixer Default) and all of these items will be saved.  Pressing the default button on the rack system will return these settings whenever you wish to return to them.

The "About" button presents an About Box Dialog that shows you information pertaining to the program and it's developers, etc.  Click your left mouse button, or move the mouse across the screen to get the About Box to go away.

Select one of the following topics to see more information on the different setup dialogs available from this dialog.

The Preferences Dialog

The Info Dialog

The Wave Player Setup Dialog

The MIDI Player Setup Dialog

The CD Player Setup Dialog


The Help Button

The Help button brings up the main Help File contents.


The Input Level Controls

The Input level controls cover several components, including the Wave player, MIDI player, CD player, Line input and Mic input.  For each level input control, there is a level display and two buttons, one each for increase and decrease input level.

To increase the input signal level for the selected component, press the button with the upward pointing arrow.  To decrease the input signal level for the selected component, press the button with the downward pointing arrow.

On boards which allow separate left and right level adjustments, pressing the left third of either level adjustment button will only adjust the left channel input level, pressing the right third of either button will adjust only the right channel input level, while pressing the middle third of either button will adjust both left and right channel input levels simultaneously.  This provides a sort of inherent balance control.

The input level display shows two columns of 15 horizontal bars.  The left column indicates the relative input level of the left channel of the desired control, while the right column indicates the relative input level of the right channel of the desired control.  When all of the display elements are bright cyan (light blue), then the particular control and level is at the board's full setting.  If all the bars are a darker blue color, then the particular control and level is at the board's lowest setting (usually off).  Anything in between is shown as a relative level depending on the number of brightly colored (lit) bars in the display.


The Master Volume Control

The Master Volume Control allows adjustment of the overall output of all input sources in one control.  The Master volume control has a level display and two buttons, one each for increase and decrease output level.

To increase the output signal level, press the button with the upward pointing arrow.  To decrease the output signal level, press the button with the downward pointing arrow.

On boards which allow separate left and right level adjustments, pressing the left third of either level adjustment button will only adjust the left channel output level, pressing the right third of either button will adjust only the right channel output level, while pressing the middle third of either button will adjust both left and right channel output levels simultaneously.  This provides a sort of inherent balance control.

The output level display shows two columns of 15 horizontal bars.  The left column indicates the relative output level of the left channel, while the right column indicates the relative output level of the right channel.  When all of the display elements are bright cyan (light blue), then the output volume level is at the board's full setting.  If all the bars are a darker blue color, then the output volume level is at the board's lowest setting (usually off).  Anything in between is shown as a relative level depending on the number of brightly colored (lit) bars in the display.

When a particular setup allows individual input level controls for each component, but does not support a master output control, the program will often simulate this feature by internally adjusting all of the input controls by a proportional amount.  This adjustment will not be reflected on the individual inputs display controls.


The VU Meter

The VU Meter allows you to visibly see the output from the sound card via a pair of bar graph meters.  There are several options for operating the VU meters, selectable by the buttons along the right side of the meters.  The VU Meter is always turned off whenever SoundStation is started.

There are two basic modes to the VU meter.  The first mode is normal mode.  Select normal mode by clicking on the VU meter's ON button with the left mouse button while the pointer is over the left half of the button.  The button will change states to where the left half of the button is depressed, and the word "ON" will light up in bright green.  The VU meter should now be active if some input is present on the sound card.

The second mode of operation of the VU meter is peak hold mode.  Press the left half of the PEAK button and you will see peak hold mode in action.  The meter will hold the last highest level it recorded for approximately one second.  The peak is indicated by a red bar that stays steady for a second or so.

By selecting the right half of either the ON button or PEAK button, you select the single bar display mode of operation.  This mode shows the current VU level with only one "floating" bar instead of a stack of bars.

The two Sensitivity buttons, labeled with a minus (-) and plus (+) sign, allow you to change the sensitivity of the VU Meters.  On low level inputs, you can increase the sensitivity of the VU Meters to cause more meter activity by pressing the + button several times, as desired.  To decrease the sensitivity of the VU Meters for higher level inputs, press the - button one or more times until the meter activity is as desired.

On sound cards which cannot record from more than one input source at a time, you will need to select the active source with the appropriate Record Input (Rec) Button on the mixer panel.  This will allow that input to be monitored by the VU meter.  Also note that when the Wave player device is playing, that the VU meter becomes a mirror for the VU meter in the Wave component.  Also, this means that any other inputs to the sound card will not be reflected on the VU meter while the Wave device is playing.

On sound cards where a conflict exists between the VU Meter and the MIDI synthesizer on the sound card, the VU meters will automatically turn off when you start playing a MIDI song in the MIDI player.  You will need to turn the VU Meters back on, if desired, once you are done using the MIDI player.


The Clock Display

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The Clock Display shows the current time.  Just like most other digital clocks, the time is shown along with an AM or PM indicator.  It's mainly just another nice feature that we've thrown in for your convenience.  If you prefer, the clock can also present the seconds by choosing the appropriate option in The Preferences Dialog.