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Simpler Option for Intercom
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Joined: 8/9/2020(UTC) Posts: 11 Location: St. Paul, MN Was thanked: 1 time(s) in 1 post(s)
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Hi!
As I'm doing more events with vMix, I'm trying to figure out a good way to cobble together an intercom system, and I have been only partially successful.
My feature request would be to have a dedicated, routable intercom within vMix. A low bandwidth voice channel along the lines of vMixCall, perhaps. Something that a vMix operator, a producer and maybe a cameraperson or two could be grouped into.
I've seen a few script solutions which are quite clever, but aren't terribly flexible...especially if you have 7 or 8 vMixCalls inputs.
Having a small addon within vMix (and maybe also mobile apps, who knows?) would seem to be very helpful.
(If anyone has a way to implement this already, please let us know. :-)
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if you just wanted a traditional talkback setup you can use audio busses ? if you want a wifi thing going to tablets or phones in theory it could be done using NDI but it would need a two way comms oriented app which i dont think currently exists.. maybe vmix team could make something ? it would be a handy tool and cool project for someone who can code.. if you want some help with the traditional audio intercom routing i can offer some tips for that..
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Joined: 8/9/2020(UTC) Posts: 11 Location: St. Paul, MN Was thanked: 1 time(s) in 1 post(s)
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Your tips would be most welcome!
Originally I'd dreamed it was something separate from the bus routing and integrated...but perhaps a bundled app a la GT Title designer or vMixSocial would be more practical. Just something that accommodates having a remote producer, perhaps an exectuive producer and a vMix operator to have conversations and call cues. For me, then I'd dial the Master into, say, mostly the right channel of my headset and the comm channel into the left channel.
Again, I'm open to your tips for what's available now.
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if you have 4x crew (at the same physical location), take a mic input for each of them into vmix.. then route those 4 mic inputs to buss G... then in settings setup buss G to send to an output on your audio interface. then use a headphone splitter off that output to split and amplify the signal into 4 sends.. then each of the 4 crew members takes an output off the headphone splitter to their headphones. that is basically it.. so whenever anyone talks their mic goes into vmix and is routed to buss G which all 4 people hear because buss G goes out to the headphone splitter and on to each persons headphones.. if you want other audio to be heard by the crew also just route whatever you like to buss G.. also if you use headsets that have a mute option for the mics then you can leave them muted unless someone wants to speak.. that keeps background noise out of the talk back channel.. here is an example of a headphone splitter box.. https://www.sweetwater.c...4-ch-headphone-amplifierEDIT: forgot to mention.. also turn off the talk back mics in the master buss(or whichever buss is sent to the stream) so crew conversation stays in the talk back channel..
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Joined: 9/13/2020(UTC) Posts: 5 Location: DFW
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We have been using Unity Coms since we are doing virtual events with produces and multi locations going back and fourth
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Joined: 5/28/2020(UTC) Posts: 35 Location: London Thanks: 3 times Was thanked: 1 time(s) in 1 post(s)
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Audio buses are a partial solution. The other part is scripting and shortcuts. You might want to script out opening a channel where only one operator (or multiple) at a time are put into an audio bus for an intercom conversation, and then after the convo, another script to put all the audio back the way it was.
That's what we've been doing. One script to talk to the talent in his ear during interviews. Another to put him back on Master audio.
Same with us 2 operators. Only for the two operators to communicate, the script puts us both on Bus G and then solo's the other operator so that I can just hear him. Another script puts it all back to normal and takes him off solo.
All run through vMix call.
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Joined: 4/23/2017(UTC) Posts: 1,200 Location: Germany Thanks: 3 times Was thanked: 168 time(s) in 150 post(s)
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Birddog offers an intercom solution with their NDI products. Another seperate option (no matter where you are on the planet as long as you have internet) is the usage of Talki Walki Apps ona mobile device. There is Zello, just to name one. You can create groups where you can organize the members of the production. Totally free.
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Joined: 8/9/2020(UTC) Posts: 11 Location: St. Paul, MN Was thanked: 1 time(s) in 1 post(s)
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I'm enjoying the number of solutions people have utilized, and amazed at the variety of solutions. Please, anyone else who's solved this creatively, please add your experiences.
So here's my question: if vMix *had* an integrated intercom solution, would you consider using it? (This might be a good place to weigh in on the idea...give it a "+1" or something to show the fine folks developing vMix how much interest the may (or may not) be.
C*
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1 user thanked mntechnogeek for this useful post.
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Rank: Advanced Member
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the busses which are already there is the traditional way of doing an intercom.. the only other way i could see vmix adding something different would be to write an app for phone/tablet and use wifi..
you could add a dedicated intercom buss that routed audio via wifi to phones/tablets.. the app would also need to send audio back to allow for crew mics, which would mean adding "intercom" as a new input device in vmix.. the app screen could have a big mute/unmute button to prevent ambient noise in the channels and you could probably use mix minus also..
for the most part this is mostly what vmix call already does anyway.. maybe it could be adapted to use as an intercom ? just remove the video, make it usable on a local network and write a dedicated app for the phone/tablet.. i imagine that would still be a fair undertaking but it would be useful..
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Joined: 9/19/2020(UTC) Posts: 2 Location: Munich
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+1! I tried using VMIX for intercom for a while but gave up:
- No way to create a Push to talk shortcut for keyboard or mouse (you can create a toggle but not momentary switch) - Audio bus labels cannot be changed (although I saw another feature request for that in the forum) - Can be dangerous - easy for volunteers/newbies to accidentally route intercom mic to main program
And... what makes things more frustrating is that if you want to try and run a separate Intercom application (e.g. Teamspeak 3) on the same machine as VMIX, you can't (at least I tried and VMIX doesn't seem to like someone else grabbing sound drivers).
A Talkback input similar to what you see on PA consoles would be great.
Alternatively maybe some way for Teamspeak to develop a 3rd party plugin for VMIX.... that would be super cool. With call lights and NDI integration so you can route your talkback mic to any NDI sink, plus Dante Virtual Soundcard patching as well.
Would be interested if anyone else came across a solution to run an Intercom app on the same machine (something simple which doesn't involve a hypervisor!!).
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Joined: 7/1/2020(UTC) Posts: 88 Location: Earth Was thanked: 18 time(s) in 16 post(s)
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I prefer to keep the vMix computer focused on the important issue of switching the show. My solution has always been for intercom to be completely separate and standalone. When things go wrong, it's nice to have another path of communications outside of the broken thing. To that end we have a RTS coms system locally for our shows. This ties into something like Unity or Discord for remote techs via another computer. There are also IFB ports available to feed vMix for return audio to guests as needed. It's extra hardware, but works very well.
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Joined: 8/6/2021(UTC) Posts: 1 Location: Ottawa
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What if you route the VMix audio output to a Google Meet or Zoom call hosted on the same computer (or alternate laptop via NDI with audio) and just enable the audio portion - video not necessarily needed. Volunteers can use their own phone, their own headset or earphones with a mic to talkback to the conference (good for Covid concerns). They can mute/unmute themselves to speak on the talkback channel. The incoming audio shouldn't be heard by VMix because it wouldn't be using an audio input in VMix at all. An alternative would be to take an output from the mixer and plug that into a separate PC or phone which is hosting the call. The live output audio should be heard by all and anyone connected to the Zoom/Meet would be able to speak to each other?
Anyone see an issue there?
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Joined: 2/9/2021(UTC) Posts: 24 Location: Oslo Thanks: 2 times
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Joined: 6/8/2015(UTC) Posts: 3
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I’ve been trying to use Birddog Comms but it is just to unstable. I’m brining my press box announcers into vmix using dante. I’m also sending IFR back to them on Dante via bus B.
I found the app called NDI Intercom. So far it works great. I setup each users as an NDI input and assign them to bus C. I have a shortcut button setup that sends my producer mic to either bus B or C. I also have it setup where I can send them program audio. Bus C shows up as an NDI output and they can select it on their app running on iPhone. We were trying to do this with NDI monitor app but it was only one way and required the phone to be “on”. This works better as you can close the phone and use the headphone button as a push to talk.
I also gave a two way radio coming in on Bus C if we need to hear that.
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