AudiFlux

Getting started

AudiFlux is installed and activated through the Harmovant Audio Hub, the free Harmovant app that installs, activates and updates all Harmovant products.

1. Download the Harmovant Audio Hub at harmovant.com/downloads (sign in with your Harmovant account) and open it.
2. To try AudiFlux, start the 14-day trial on harmovant.com (Try button in the Hub Store). To buy, use the site as well.
3. In the Hub, open My Products › Softwares and click Install next to AudiFlux.
4. The first time you install anything, macOS asks for your administrator password once. After that, the Hub installs and updates without asking again.
5. The Hub installs AudiFlux and activates the license on this Mac. Open AudiFlux from the Applications folder.

What gets installed: the AudiFlux app, a macOS audio driver that creates the virtual devices, and a background service (the engine) that moves the audio even when the window is closed.

You can also activate from inside AudiFlux: click the gear (Settings) › License, then sign in with your Harmovant account and activate.

You need internet only to activate. After that, AudiFlux works offline.

Concepts

AudiFlux works like a patch bay for the whole Mac. Everything that produces audio is a source; everything that receives audio is a destination.

• Sources (TX) are the columns of the grid: audio an app plays into a virtual device, the inputs of an interface, or an AES67 stream received from the network.
• Destinations (RX) are the rows: what an app records from a virtual device, the outputs of an interface, or an AES67 stream sent to the network.
• A route connects one source channel to one destination channel. Each destination takes exactly one source. One source can feed many destinations. The grid does not mix signals.
• Virtual devices are audio devices created by AudiFlux. Every app on the Mac sees them as normal interfaces, with the channel names you choose.
• Mac interfaces are the audio interfaces connected to the Mac. Each one keeps its own clock; AudiFlux corrects the drift between them, with no clicks.
• AES67 is an open standard for audio over a wired network. AudiFlux sends and receives AES67 streams and follows the network clock (PTP).
• The engine is the background service that applies the routes. It starts with the Mac and keeps running with the AudiFlux window closed. The app only edits; the engine plays.

The window

• Routing grid: sources in columns, destinations in rows, grouped by device. Groups can be collapsed. A filter field narrows the list.
• + buttons: the grid starts empty. Use the + for sources (columns) and the + for destinations (rows) to bring in virtual devices, Mac interfaces and network streams.
• Device menu: each device in the grid has a menu to remove it from the grid and to reach its options.
• Side panel: devices and presets. It can be collapsed, and so can each of its sections.
• Gear (Settings): Audio network, License and General tabs.
• Bottom bar: driver and engine status and the license state. Click the license state to open the License tab.

Closing the window does not stop the audio. AudiFlux stays in the menu bar and the engine keeps routing.

Virtual devices

AudiFlux comes with a virtual device called AudiFlux. You can create more, each with its own channel count, and they show up in every app and in Audio MIDI Setup.

1. Click a + button and create a virtual device. Choose the name and the channel count.
2. Double-click a device or channel name to rename it. The new name goes straight to the driver and appears in your recording, mixing and streaming apps.
3. To remove a device, use its menu in the grid.

Some apps only read the device list when they start. If a new device or name does not show up, restart that app.

Routes and presets

• Click a crossing to connect that source to that destination. If the destination already had a source, the new one replaces it.
• Click and drag to patch a whole block at once.
• Connect 1:1 links channel 1 to channel 1, 2 to 2 and so on between two devices in one go.
• Clear routes removes every route. It asks for confirmation twice.
• Presets save the whole routing, with devices and names. Save, load and delete them in the side panel, for example one for rehearsal and one for the show.

Everything is saved automatically: routes, names, devices, the network port and the window layout. After a restart, the Mac comes back with the same routing.

Step by step: common jobs

Take the sound of one app into another app.

1. In the app that plays the sound, choose a virtual device (for example, AudiFlux) as the output.
2. In the app that receives the sound, choose a virtual device as the input. It can be the same device or another one.
3. In AudiFlux, add the first device as a source and the second as a destination with the + buttons.
4. Click the crossings you need, or use Connect 1:1.

Record every channel of a live console on the same Mac.

1. Add the interface that receives the console as a source.
2. Create a virtual device with enough channels (for example, 64) and add it as a destination.
3. Use Connect 1:1 and name the channels (Kick, Snare, Vocal…).
4. In the recording app, choose the virtual device as the input. The tracks already show the names.
5. Save a preset.

Send audio to the AES67 network.

1. Connect the Mac to the audio network with a cable. In Settings › Audio network, choose that network port.
2. Use Publish on AES67 network on the device you want to send. AudiFlux creates the outgoing stream and connects it 1:1. Each stream carries up to 8 channels.
3. On the receiving device (console, stage box, another computer), subscribe to the AudiFlux stream with that device's own controls.

Receive audio from the AES67 network.

1. Make sure the sending device has its AES67 stream turned on (48 kHz, multicast).
2. Streams on the audio network show up in AudiFlux on their own. Subscribe to the one you want: its channels become sources in the grid.
3. Route those channels to a virtual device (to record) or to an interface output.

Network audio (AES67)

AudiFlux sends and receives AES67 streams on the network port you choose, follows the network PTP clock and announces its streams so other devices can find and subscribe to them.

• Use a wired network port. A port used only for audio is recommended, so the internet and the audio network never mix.
• Streams are multicast.

Dante® networks via AES67. AudiFlux works on Dante® networks through the AES67 standard. Dante devices with AES67 mode turned on show up by name; AudiFlux receives their AES67 multicast streams and sends AES67 streams that they can subscribe to. On the Dante side: AES67 mode on, 48 kHz, multicast, PTPv2, 1 ms, up to 8 channels per stream. Native Dante without AES67 is a proprietary protocol and is not supported. (Dante® is a registered trademark of Audinate.)

Dante devices show their sending channels by name, but not their receiving channels. To send from AudiFlux to a Dante receiver, make the subscription on the Dante side, pointing to the AudiFlux AES67 stream.

Settings and clock

Click the gear to open Settings.

• Audio network: the network port that carries AES67 audio. The choice is saved right away.
• License: sign in and activate, check the license, forgotten password, start the 14-day trial or manage it on the site, and deactivate this Mac.
• General: automatic saving, engine status and the data folder.

Clock and sample rate. Virtual devices pass audio between apps as data, with no conversion. Each Mac interface keeps its own clock, and AudiFlux converts between clocks automatically so different interfaces do not click. On the network, the clock is PTP.

Use the same sample rate in every app and interface. If the routing touches the AES67 network, use 48 kHz.

License

• Permanent license: buy once and keep it. Each license works on 2 Macs at the same time.
• Activating on a third Mac frees the one used longest ago, automatically.
• 1 year of updates is included. After that, nothing stops working: you keep every version released during your year of updates. Renewing updates for another year is optional.
• 14-day free trial with every feature. It starts on harmovant.com with a card. Cancel in My account before the end and nothing is charged; otherwise the license is charged once.
• Purchases, trials and renewals always open harmovant.com in the browser. There is no payment inside the app.
• Works offline after activation. When there is internet, the license renews in the background.
• To move a license, use Deactivate this Mac in Settings › License, or deactivate the Mac remotely in the Hub (Licenses & Devices).

The license never cuts the audio. The engine runs on its own, apart from the app, so a license check never stops a show.

Troubleshooting

• The virtual device does not show up in an app: open Audio MIDI Setup and check that it is listed; restart the app. If it is missing everywhere, reinstall AudiFlux from the Hub.
• No sound on a route: check that the app plays into, or records from, the device you patched. Check the engine status in Settings › General.
• A device shows OFFLINE: it was disconnected. Its routes go silent and the rest keeps playing. Reconnect it: it comes back on its own with the patch intact.
• Clicks or pitch problems: set every app and interface to the same sample rate.
• An AES67 stream or device does not appear: check that Settings › Audio network points to the port connected to the audio network, that everything runs at 48 kHz and that the sender has AES67 multicast turned on.
• A Dante® device does not hear AudiFlux: the subscription must be made on the Dante side, to the AudiFlux AES67 stream. Native Dante without AES67 is not supported.
• License problems: connect to the internet and use Check license now in Settings › License, or open the Hub. To free a Mac you no longer use, deactivate it in the Hub.

Still stuck? Use Contact support in the Hub or go to harmovant.com/support.

Specifications