Looking for audio solution for multiple devices

TheMcCown · May 5, 2020

Alright, so I've seen a few posts here and some information on Reddit on how to do this in general, but I was wondering if someone here would be able to help me with my specific use case. I understand enough about audio routing to be somewhat dangerous but I also get really confused by it so I'm hoping someone can clear things up for me. I'll start with the hardware that I have and then go into what I am looking to do.

I have my gaming PC, TV, and PS4 all going into my Behringer Xenyx Q1002USB mixer which outputs to 2 JBL monitors. The PC is using just a 1/8" headphone to 1/4" TRS L/R cable into one of the channels on the mixer (though I could use the USB cable on the mixer to have audio input and output on my PC, more on that later) while the TV and PS4 are both on the same channel into the mixer. The PS4 is passing audio over the HDMI input on the TV and the master TV output is going to the mixer from an RCA L/R cable to TRS L/R into the mixer. I currently don't have a microphone plugged into the mixer but want to take advantage of the XLR inputs and eventually get a microphone plugged in.

My question is this: is there a way to have one XLR microphone plugged into the mixer and have the audio input go to both my PC voice chat and PS4 voice chat? I have seen some videos that say my mixer is compatible with the PS4 over USB but I am worried that other audio coming into my mixer (including game audio from the PS4) would be routed back into the input of whatever devices I have it connected it to through USB since all audio getting routed through the mixer would go to the audio output over USB. I want to get an AT2035 or something similar and use my ATH-M50x's for audio monitoring for both devices and would like to have both options running all the time so I wouldn't have to do any weird cable unplugging or digital audio routing through Windows or my PS4. I can't see myself ever utilizing both options at the same time but I am trying to avoid changing up my setup each time I want to play something on either device. I have been playing a lot more on my PS4 recently so I could just not worry about my PC right now but eventually I want to get back into PC gaming again. Thoughts??

P.S.- I know this is all over the place so please feel free to ask questions to better understand my setup.

rimbaud33 · May 5, 2020

(for this answer i assumed that the USB funcionality just converts the analog signal of your master channel into a digital audio through usb, if you have multitrack digital convertion or anything like that then the approach could be different so let me know)

nah, to route them separately id just use buses to get different output channels. I think your mixer has AUX buses, right? i would send the pc audio into a stereo bus (use two buses if theres no stereo aux, one for left and one for right but you need to have panning enabled before you send it through the bus which may not be an option in your setup) and mute the fader stage signal going to the master; you need the mute to be after aux and near the fader for this to work, which is usually the case. If the mute is an input mute and located near the input signal then it wont work. Those kinds of mutes are usually near a PFL or a HPF or Phantom Power button while the mute we need for this to work is usually near a fader and a SOLO button. If you are not sure just put the fader on -infinity, but its not really the pro way to do stuff, also it can be dangerous if you have input monitoring in your computer. After that do the same for the PC audio, send it through its own input and into the same aux, then look for the aux output and connect that to the speakers. The voice mic input would go directly into the ADC and through the USB output but everything else should just exist in the realm of analog audio and thus not get into ps4 or pc. be careful tho because like i said, if the audio output of your computer goes through the same route as the voice mic input and into the master and you have any kind of input monitoring for that you will get a nice surprise lol. especially if you didnt mute the pc input channel especifically

to solve the problem of having multiple setups, i dont have a clear picture of your interface, could you attach one? the one you linked doesnt really show much . What inputs and outputs does your mixer have? Can you link to the manual or a schematic (flux diagram)?

but if it works like i imagine id just buy two USB cables and plug and unplug them any time i want to use voice chat in one of them, you need an ADC to use your mic either in a PS4 or in a PC, both of them have ADCs, but theyre usually not suited for using like actual recording mics so if you want to have a mic that has an XLR output connected to both, you need two ADCs or an ADC with two USB outputs, but i've never really seen one.

There are always other possible ways to solve this buuuuuuut i wouldn't imagine the quality would be as good, like why buy a mic if you're gonna reduce the dynamic range or maybe even degrade the signal? im sure there would be some impedance or signal level problems

another way to solve some of this would be to use a DAW but it can use a lot of resources and idk if you want to go through the hassle of learning how to use it just for that and you would need digital routing or multitrack digital conversion in your interface which idk if you have

EDIT: i made i diagram in paint lol hope that helps

Edited May 5, 2020 by rimbaud33
diagram

TheMcCown · May 5, 2020

To my knowledge, there are no mute buttons and the only traditional fader is the master fader- all of the individual channels are controlled through channel volume knobs and only the 2 XLR channels have gain knobs. When you say stereo bus, are you talking about the 4 aux/dual line inputs? The ones that are line in and are listed as 3/4, 5/6, 7/8, and 9/10? I am currently using all 4 of those but can take one out if needed but I wasn't aware of any audio output that could go from those aside from the master output.

There is a 2-track in and 2-track out, both with L/R RCA connectors. I thought about maybe utilizing the 2-track in for my phone/aux input that wouldn't get used much but is the 2-track out what you're talking about for the aux output? I have attached a picture of the top face- the rear only has a power connector and the USB out. Also, there's the 2 buttons next to the master fader that in my testing haven't really done much besides muting audio going to my headphones. I've also experimented a little with using the CTRL ROOM OUTs as my main outs to see if I could use the "TO PHONES/CTRL ROOM" button as a master audio mute to my monitors for when I want to monitor via my headphones but kill audio to the JBL monitors but that didn't work as I intended. I'm pretty new to the world of mixers so there may some great feature that these enable, but currently they seem a little useless.

TheMcCown · May 5, 2020

Here is an example of how my audio is currently setup (except for the mic, that's what I'm planning on getting setup soon) I've been plugging the USB output into my work laptop since I've been working from home a good bit here recently but I would assume that for what I'm trying to do, I would need to plug the USB output into either the PS4 or PC.