Supported Devices

MixPad currently features support for playback to ASIO, DirectSound, Windows Core Audio and MME devices and recording from ASIO, Windows Core Audio and MME devices.

NCH recommends ASIO or Windows Core Audio for both playback and recording. ASIO and Windows Core Audio will provide the best performance and the lowest possible latency and offer the greatest accuracy when synchronizing recordings. ASIO will also allow you to play and record from multiple channels of the same device. If you don't have an ASIO capable sound card then you should choose Windows Core Audio as your playback and recording option.

Another option is to install the driver from ASIO4ALL which provides a layer over the regular soundcard, allowing it to be used as an ASIO device by software such as MixPad. You can download it for free from http://www.asio4all.com/.

Setting up the Project Audio Options

Open the Options dialog (File --> Options...) and click on the General tab. Here you are able to set the playback device you would like MixPad to use. If you select an ASIO device then you will also be able to select which channel to allocate as your primary left and right outputs. This option is not available for DirectSound or MME drivers.

Setting up the Track Audio Options

To set audio options that are specific to an individual track, select the track and click either the 'Audio Options' button under the 'Recording' tab or click the 'wrench icon' button to the right in the track's control panel.

The Select track's settings displays the track you are editing by it's Track Index number. You can switch to any other of the tracks listed from the drop down list. If you make a change to the any of the options below, choose Apply Settings by clicking Apply or click OK to apply those settings to the track. If you make a change then click Apply, Choose Apply Settings to all tracks it will apply the change to all tracks.

Here, you will be able to set the recording device you wish to use for this track. If you choose an ASIO device you will also be able to select which channels to use for multichannel devices.

To set up recording using an audio device, select the Record using an audio device option and select the device you want to record. You can specify whether to record as mono or stereo and if the device can record multi-channel you can specify which two channels will be recorded.

To set up recording using a MIDI device, select the Record using a MIDI device option and select the device you want to record. For more information about MIDI recording, see the MIDI Recording topic in this manual.

This feature will allow you to record streaming audio such as internet radio, webcasts and VOIP conversations conducted with softphones such as Zoom or Skype.

To record audio being played in your PC's default sound player, select the Record using an audio device option and select Record Streaming Audio. This feature is highly recommendable when you want to record Zoom or Skype meetings.

Here you are able to select the output channel for this particular track. Please note, this is only available if you have selected an ASIO device as your main playback device (see Setting up the Project Audio Options, above). If you want to use the default project left and right channels, you can set these options to Main Output (Left) and Main Output (Right). If you wish to use different outputs from the default project settings, you can change them here and override the project settings.

This section allows you to choose between a MIDI device or a Virtual Instrument for playback.

If you are using ASIO hardware then you can check the Enable monitoring for ASIO devices box which will allow you to hear what you are recording through your headphones. However, a better approach to monitoring your recording is to use your hardware directly. Most external soundcards will allow you to directly monitor your input via a headphone output. This option will provide you with the best performance and zero latency."

If you are recording from a MIDI device (such as a MIDI piano keyboard) then you can monitor your recording using a VST instrument to synthesize the MIDI into sounds. To do this check the Enable MIDI monitoring via VST instrument for ASIO devices box and select from the drop down list which instrument you would like to use.