I think I begin to understand how audio works in vMix. I want to use the "Advanced" mode for recording, as I want to use an external mixer with sliders. Typical scenario is that we feed microphones into the external mixer, and route the vMix audio output (eg when playing vides) to inputs on the mixer. The Master Audio meter only shows the audio sent from vMix to my mixer. That is, nothing about my microphone levels.

One thing, that I can't find a solution for, is to monitor the audio which will be recorded/streamed/external (or rather just check levels).

Of course I can open vMix's Audio mixer, press record and get a hint on the levels. Or, I can add an audio input module (mute it so that it's sound does not go into vMix's mixer and creates a feedback loop). Both these solutions uses screen estate in a dominant way (obscuring inputs).

Is there a better way to do this?

It for sure would be nice to be able to see the recording audio instead of master in the center meter. Ideally it would be nice to also listen to the Recording audio.

In addition the possibility to route audio from input modules to a particular sound device would be useful. But that's rather food for a feature request.

Grateful for any tips/thoughts.