Create an Audio Device and Route Audio

Last updated 6 August 2026

Audio reaches the world the same way video does: through an output. An Audio Output represents a set of channels on a physical audio device, and until one exists a sequence's audio has nowhere to go.

Before you start

  • The audio device is connected and visible to the machine
  • You know which of its channels this output should use

Steps

1. Create the audio output

In the Outputs window, create a new Audio Output.

2. Choose the device and its channels

In the Inspector:

  • Audio device — pick one of the devices available on this machine.

  • Channels — tick the channels of that device this output should use. An output does not have to take the whole device; a 16-channel interface can carry several outputs, each owning a few channels.

  • Name — name it for what it feeds, not for the hardware. "Front of house" survives a device swap; "Interface 2" does not.

An output mixer is created for you. Every audio output carries an internal output mixer with the same name, made automatically. That mixer is what a sequence's audio channel targets for a direct route, and its input and output counts are fixed by the device — they are deliberately not editable. When you need different counts, that is a matrix mixer.

3. Route audio to it

Open the Audio Routing window. It is a matrix like Video Routing: audio streams and mixers on one axis, audio outputs on the other. Connect what should reach this output.

4. Send a sequence to it

In the Sequencer, add an audio channel to a sequence and choose this output's mixer as its destination.

The destination list distinguishes the two kinds as you hover — an output mixer offers "Assign directly to output", a matrix mixer offers "Assign to Matrix mixer". A destination whose device is not currently available is marked (missing).

Done when: the output appears in the Audio Routing matrix and as a destination on a sequence's audio channel — and playing that sequence produces sound on the device.

Common Mistakes

  • The output exists but there is no sound — nothing is routed to it. Creating an output and assigning a channel are two different steps; the Audio Routing matrix is the one people skip.

  • A destination is marked (missing) — the project names a device this machine does not have. Expected when a project moves between machines; point the output at a device that exists here.

  • The channel counts cannot be changed — you are looking at the automatic output mixer, whose counts come from the device. Add a matrix mixer when you need different ones.

  • Two outputs fight over the same channels — channels are ticked per output and nothing stops an overlap. Give each output its own channels on the device.

Audio Output — the Audio Output reference

Audio Routing Window — the Audio Routing window

Audio Channel — audio channels in a sequence

Remote Control: Audio Mixers (Output and Matrix) — setting levels and mutes from outside Backstage