Remote collaboration when you have a pile of outboard synths

[Ben Asaro]

I hope everyone is doing well out there!

As COVID-19 restrictions get tighter and tighter here (and everywhere else) it looks like this is going to be a the new normal for a while. For me personally it has affected the writing sessions I usually have in person.

While there are several online collaboration solutions out there, I've managed to put together one for just about free that works really well and allows me to use all of my outboard gear in real time and supports video as well as recording. Since my songwriting partner is not technically inclined, I needed something that's dead simple to use and, preferably, free.

You will need the following to make this work:
::HARDWARE::
Webcam
Headset with microphone
Mixing desk or mixing desk/audio interface

::SOFTWARE::
Voicemeeter Banana (free)
Voicemeeter Cable A+ Cable B (donationware)
Discord (free)

Audio connections:
AFTER successfully installing Voicemeeter Banana and Cable A+Cable B, Discord.
1. I connect all of my outboard gear as I normally would and feed the main out from my mixing desk into channels 1/2 of my audio interface.

2. In Voicemeeter Banana, I set up Channel 1 as Cable-A Output; Channel 2 is the output of my headset mic; Channel 3 is my audio interface; the hardware output is set to my headset headphones.

3. In Discord, go to User Settings > Voice & Video. Set the Input Device to Voicemeeter Output; set the Output Device to VB Cable-A.

Through Voicemeeter you can now hear whoever is on the call as well as your local sources, and the other person(s) can hear whatever you are passing through VM as well!

Discord has rock solid servers and the video quality is very high. If you have less than 8 people on a call, it's free and has unlimited time. And you can record the session directly from Voicemeeter. Voicemeeter also has simple effects such as compression, EQ, noise gate, reverb, and delay.

I hope you find this helpful, it's been a huge help to me and works great once you get it all set up!

[muzines]

In case anyone is wondering, this seems to be a PC-specific guide, as it requires software that is PC only as far as I could see.

[Ben Asaro]

Ah, that is quite right! Thanks for pointing that out!