Hi Everyone!

So I've been using Vmix to transform a Twitch channel from SD with Zoom conferencing to HD and clearly superior quality. So Im already in love with what we can do with it. Not just 1 step ahead, but 2 or 3 steps ahead of our competition now thanks to Vmix.

My own background is a bit of a mix of disciplines, but my main occupation is Audio Operating, so thats where Id love to chime in some simple and less simple tweaks that could improve Vmix in my eyes. Ive separated them into what I believe how hard I think they would be to achieve.

Most of my suggestions are to enhance Vmix's in the box features, moving away from the hardware boxes to a software solution, just like it did for video.

The simple:
- Add per bus volume options in the routing window. I want my actors to get the video feed, but not at full volume, while the stream does get full volume.
- Talkback option (this has been suggested on this same page too) Basically, the option to send an audio channel to specific Vcalls without going in any bus.
- Negative gain (attenuation) to allow for leaving a fader for tweaking on the go.
- Gain slider per channel (Left and Right separate) to compensate uneven sources
- Panning tools on channel (in addition to the toggles)
- Phase inversion option per channel (Left and Right separate)
- Soloing options: Pre/Post fader toggle, Sum to mono, Solo in place (mutes everything but the soloed channel, so you can hear the master without the rest, this needs a warning) External input (always hear a specific channel in headphones)

The intermediate
- Parametric EQ with shelving options
- More parameters on the compressor like Attack, Release, Filter, Sidechain options.
- More parameters on the noise gate like Attack, Release, Depth
- Broadcast style expander added
- Ducker added
- Mastering tools like:
- Maximizer
- Dynamic EQ and/or Multiband compression
- True peak limiter


The Hard

Built in analytical tools:
- Broadcast metering (LUFS/LU EBU standards). Im personally in love with the TC Electronic radial metering as an example.
- Frequency analyzer

Mixer window overhaul
- Option to re-order channel as I want them without being tied to video order
- Tabs for audio channels
- Coloring options on the title bars
- Longer faders in pop out window

Bus structure changed to true Auxiliary structure.
- Mimic the way professional audio desks are structured.
- 3 types of busses: Aux, Group and Matrix
+ Groups are as we have our A and B bus right now
+ Auxes are like groups but with their own dedicated send level, with the option to be pre or post master fader
+ Matrixes only mix together auxes and groups
- The typical use case is that Auxes are used to send to effects, monitoring (vcall) and external feeds. Groups are used to pre-mix channels and apply compression or EQ to a group as a whole (guests for example) just like we currently use Busses. Matrixes are typically a system feature, where you combine the different busses to be sent to an output (Program, Vcall etc).

Routing window. Personally my most useful one. One screen with a grid routing overview. On the left all origins, on the top all destinations. Connect the 2 to make a connection.
The true potential is restructuring the mixer with generic mixer channels that can be named, instead of auto generating an audio input on every video input. Create an input route a analog or digital (video) input to it. Ofcourse there could easily be a Auto-create and Auto route checkbox to keep the current style of channel creation. I own a Dlive audi console, and their routing grid is a great example of routing done right. Even though I cant loop back outputs to inputs.
This opens up the way for:
- In-line channel inserts (for hardware inserts)
- External Multitrack recordings
- Networked audio options (Dante/Waves soundgrid sends/returns etc) allowing for DAW or hardware mixer mixing of every single input.

Cheers,
Bastiaan

Absolutely correct there on both ends. Though having some broadcast style functions built in instead of relying on external software can be a good thing.
Thing is, I own almost all waves and izotope plugins, but doubling on the licenses is quite expensive for my clients. Just getting Ozone in there was a world of difference.

Also, Im now troubleshooting on a large preset that crashes after 5.5 hours when running waves plugins..

For most of these requests, I'm fine with vst3 plugins. I agree some cost a lot of money, but the fact we can choose between thousands of plugins, is enough for me.

+1 for aux busses though, MAB + DCDEFGHIJ could be nice in the future :)