Input Channels
Every sound enters Aura Mixer through an input channel, and every channel has a type that defines where its audio comes from. You pick the type when adding a channel in the Channel Manager (menu → Channels), and it's shown as a badge on the strip.
You can run many input channels, in any mix of types — the Free version includes a few, and Premium removes the limit (see Accounts & Premium).
🎙 PHYS — microphone / line-in
Captures a physical recording device: a USB microphone, an audio interface input, a line-in jack.
- Use it for: your voice, instruments, anything plugged into the computer.
- Setup: SELECT the channel → SETUP → pick the device under Physical Input.
- Extras: PHYS channels get a PAD button on the HOME tab (−20 dB attenuation for hot signals).
🔄 LOOP — device loopback
Captures everything playing on an output device. Pick "Speakers", and whatever Windows sends to those speakers — all apps together — lands on this channel.
- Use it for: "just give me all system sound on one fader", or apps that can't be captured individually.
- Setup: SELECT → SETUP → pick the output device under Loopback Source.
- Mind the loop: capture a device that Aura Mixer itself plays into and you've built an echo feedback loop. Capture devices Aura Mixer doesn't output to.
Loopback means recording a device's output as if it were an input — the audio "loops back" inside Windows. No cables involved.
🎯 APP — application capture
Captures one application — a music player, a browser, a game — directly, with no virtual cable drivers. This is the most precise way to take control of a single program's audio.
- Use it for: music on its own fader, separating game audio from voice chat, muting just the browser on stream.
- Setup: SELECT → SETUP → pick the process under Application Process. The ↺ button refreshes the list; Include child processes also captures helper processes the app spawns (browsers and games often need this).
- Requires: Windows 10 build 20348+ or Windows 11.
- Good to know: if the app is closed, the channel simply goes silent and resumes when the app is back. Apps that play through exotic audio paths may not be capturable — fall back to a LOOP channel then.
A third-party virtual cable (VB-Cable, Voicemeeter, VAC…) shows up in the device list like any other recording device — pick it as a PHYS channel, same as a microphone. There used to be a separate VIRT type for this, but since a cable is just another WASAPI device it behaved identically to PHYS in every way, so it's been folded into PHYS. The VIRT badge is reserved for Aura Mixer's own virtual driver (in development), which will assign it automatically once it ships.
Choosing at a glance
| You want to capture… | Type |
|---|---|
| A microphone, interface input, or virtual cable | PHYS |
| One specific program | APP |
| Everything on a device | LOOP |
Channel mode — mono, stereo, surround
Independent of its type, each channel has a channel mode (SETUP tab) describing the source's shape:
- Mono — single-channel source (most microphones).
- Stereo — two channels, left and right. The default.
- Stereo → Mono — downmixes a stereo source to centred mono.
- 5.1 / 7.1 Surround — multichannel sources (games, movies). The strip's VU meter splits into one bar per speaker, and the SPATIAL tab can fold the surround image down to convincing 3D on ordinary headphones using HRTF. A ⚠ next to these options means the source currently delivers fewer channels than the mode expects.