Simple Mode

Aura Mixer has two views of the same mixer:

• Simple — your sounds on big, friendly faders with plain-English controls and most of the setup done for you. Built for getting a clean, separated sound fast, without learning any audio jargon.
• Advanced — the full mixing console (the rest of this guide): every knob, every tab, total control.

They are the same mixer underneath — not two separate setups. Anything you do in Simple shows up in Advanced and the other way round, and switching never loses a thing.

Simple is the default — it's what you see the first time you open Aura Mixer, on purpose. It deliberately keeps the controls that can misconfigure the audio engine out of reach — driver mode, buffer size, sample-rate calibration, the routing matrix, dithering, phase. You can freely set levels, mute and shape each sound, but there's nothing here you can touch that stops your audio working, so a newcomer gets a clean, separated mix in minutes with no way to accidentally break it.

Advanced unlocks everything. Flip the toggle and the full console appears — every knob and tab, plus the engine and routing controls Simple holds back. Because those can misconfigure playback, Aura Mixer gives you a heads-up when you switch to Advanced; but it's still one mixer, and Simple is always a click away.

The layout

• Top bar — the output device you're playing to, and a Sound on / Sound off button that starts and stops the audio engine (click it to toggle). Switch back to Advanced from the Simple / Advanced toggle in the menu bar.
• Your sounds (left) — one card per source, with a counter (e.g. 3 / 4 — three of your four Free slots used).
• Output (right) — one card per destination. Main L+R (your master output) is pinned to the right edge and always visible.
• If you have more cards than fit, a small ◀ 1 2 ▶ pager appears under the row.

Adding a sound

The cards show the sounds you already have. To add one, open Channels in the menu bar and + Add a source — or repurpose a card from its ⚙ gear → Source. Either way you pick a type:

Outputs work the same way (menu bar → Channels → OUTPUTS).

A sound card, top to bottom

Each card is one source. Nothing is scattered around — everything sits in tidy blocks, and each processing block has its own ON / OFF button:

• Name — with an icon and colour. The ⚙ gear (top-right) opens its full settings (below). A card that's beyond the Free limit shows a ⭐ instead of the gear.
• Gate — ON/OFF plus three dials (Threshold, Attack, Release). Mutes the sound whenever it drops below the threshold — kills keyboard clatter and room hum between words.
• Comp (compressor) — ON/OFF plus Threshold, Ratio, Attack. Evens out the volume so quiet and loud moments sit closer together.
• EQ — ON/OFF, a small preset picker and a tone curve. The ⚙ gear opens the full 12-band editor — the same one Advanced uses — to drag bands, change type, add or remove, and save presets.
• 3D Surround — ON/OFF plus a preset picker. Places the sound around your head or widens it in stereo. The ⚙ gear opens a quick-edit window with the same diagram, position controls and Stereo / Binaural HRTF mode switch as Advanced. The everyday model is free; advanced spatial models are Premium.
• Effects — a list of extra effects (reverb, delay, de-esser, noise suppressor and more). The ⚙ gear on this block adds, removes and reorders them. (Premium — Free shows a 🔒 Premium badge.)
• Fader + meter — drag to set the level; the bar shows it live. Double-click the fader to reset to 0 dB.
• MUTE — silences this sound.

Turning a block ON for the first time loads a sensible starting point; from then on your own tweaks are kept. Gate, Comp, EQ and 3D Surround each have a small preset picker above their dials — pick one for a starting point, or Default at the top of the list to reset that block back to factory values.

The ⚙ gear — a sound's settings

The gear on a card opens everything else about that source:

• Name & look — rename it, pick an icon and a colour.
• Source — what it listens to: switch between a mic, system sound or a specific app, and pick the exact device or app (a virtual cable's device works here too, if you use one).
• Level — Pan (left/right placement) and Trim (input gain).
• Goes to — which outputs this sound feeds. Send it to Main L+R and a Streaming bus, for example; flip each on or off.
• Open in Advanced — jump straight to this source in the full console.
• Remove — delete the source.

The output cards

An output card is a destination — your headphones, speakers, or a feed to OBS/Discord:

• EQ and Limiter — tone shaping (with the same ⚙ full band-editor gear as sources) and a clip-protection safety net (on by default). Both free.
• A large level meter and a fader.
• A device picker — choose which headphones or speakers this output plays to.
• The ⚙ gear adds the rest: the output type (a device — speakers or a virtual cable — or Capture for OBS/Discord, a hidden helper that OBS or Discord can grab without any virtual cable), Auto-level (keeps loudness steady — Premium), and Sync (a delay to line audio up with video, with optional automatic clock-drift correction).

Main L+R is your master output. It's always there, pinned to the right, and can't be removed.

Free vs Premium in Simple

Locked features always show a visible 🔒 Premium badge — never a silent dead control. Click it to upgrade.

Full details: Accounts & Premium.

When to switch to Advanced

Simple covers the everyday 90%. Reach for Advanced when you want to:

• fold 5.1 / 7.1 surround to headphones, or choose a specific spatial model (Enhanced / Immersive / Custom HRIR),
• use VCA groups, the routing matrix, sidechains, or output loudness targets,
• change the driver mode, buffer size, sample-rate calibration, MIDI, dithering or phase.

The fastest route is a card's ⚙ gear → Open in Advanced, which lands you on that exact strip. And remember — flipping between Simple and Advanced never changes or loses your setup; anything you set in Advanced that Simple doesn't show is quietly preserved.