NORMSONIC LIVE 0.1.0-beta.1 — Windows x64 beta
Free live mixer, routing console, VST3 effect rack and raw multitrack recorder
https://normsonic.com/live/
Support: info@normsonic.com
Published by Normstudio: https://normstudio.si/en

START WITH A REHEARSAL PROJECT
1. Extract the complete official ZIP into a writable folder, not into Windows,
   Program Files or the ZIP preview. Keep ui/ and the notices with the executable.
   Run NormsonicLive.exe. No NORMSONIC installer or account is required.
2. The Microsoft Edge WebView2 Runtime must be installed. If the application
   requests it, obtain it from Microsoft:
   https://developer.microsoft.com/microsoft-edge/webview2/
3. Connect the interfaces and install their manufacturer's signed Windows driver
   when needed. Turn the physical loudspeaker/monitor levels down first.
4. Click New project and choose Band rehearsal, Live stage, Podcast / talk or
   Multitrack recording. Choose your input slots and actual input interfaces, then
   Main speakers. For two UMC404HD cards, select one full IN 1-4 endpoint from each
   card. Select one output card for the main speakers. Review every assignment.
5. Create project draft does not start audio. The master starts muted, effects
   start off and unavailable inputs remain unpatched. Check the draft and use
   System > Apply session locally, while audio is stopped.
6. If recording, set its directory locally before starting audio and arm the
   wanted physical input strips. Then Start audio. Confirm input meters, unmute
   Main deliberately and raise the physical speaker levels gradually. Avoid
   pointing microphones at speakers. Set hardware preamp gain before mix levels.
7. Click a strip for Input, Tone, Dynamics, Effects, Sends / output and Record.
   Use the bottom faders to mix. Focus faders makes more room for live controls;
   Advanced exposes extra setup options. Each device may choose its own view.
8. Stop recording and wait for Complete before moving a take. Save complete
   session creates a .normlive project with the actual VST state. Stop audio
   before device, routing topology, insert-chain or native scene changes.

WHAT IS IN THIS PACKAGE
The Windows x64 application, its bundled local HTML/CSS/JavaScript interface and
binary-use/third-party notices. NORMSONIC's C++ audio-engine and host source are
private and are not included. The bundled web interface assets are required for
the application and remain proprietary. There are no macOS, Linux, Raspberry Pi,
ARM or ASIO binaries here.
NORMSONIC's twelve VST3 plugins are separate downloads; install the effects you
want from https://normsonic.com/downloads/ before adding them to the mixer.

REQUIREMENTS AND PORTABLE STORAGE
Windows 10/11 x64 with the current Microsoft Edge WebView2 Runtime are intended
targets. The tested Windows workstation does not certify every Windows version,
driver, interface or computer. The oldest Windows build is not separately
qualified. CPU, driver and memory requirements depend on your session.
The application uses a static Microsoft C++ runtime and a static WebView2 loader;
it does not require a separately bundled Visual C++ runtime DLL. Edge WebView2
itself remains an external prerequisite, with its own Microsoft terms.
The writable private-webview-profile/ directory is created beside the executable
for the local UI. Keep important .normlive sessions and audio takes in folders
you back up. Extract upgrades into a separate folder and retain the old version
and sessions until you have tested the replacement. Closing the application
ends LAN sessions; enable LAN control and set a password again after reopening.
No password is saved as a project setting or persistent pairing credential.

CHANNELS, BUSES AND ROUTING
Add mono or stereo strips and ordinary summing buses. A reverb return and Main
L/R are channels receiving other channels, so they also have processing and
insert racks. Set prepared send levels and choose pre/post-fader taps to build
monitor mixes, groups or shared effect returns. Cyclic routes are rejected.
For a shared reverb, add a stereo bus, add ULTRAVERB with a wet setting, connect
it to Main, and bring individual prepared sends up gradually. Adjust the return
fader for the overall reverb level. Disable unused inserts before applying the
session to avoid instantiating/processing them. Bypass keeps an enabled plugin
loaded and follows the prepared, latency-aligned bypass path.
Physical inputs and outputs belong to the host computer. Each compatible strip
can be assigned to selected physical output lanes. Stereo pairs need two
distinct lanes. Keep phase-sensitive stereo sources on the same physical card.
The software capacity is up to 128 audio nodes and 16 insert slots per strip;
these are model bounds, not tested promises of 128 live channels or 2048 effects.
DCA controls change member levels/mutes and do not create additional audio buses.

BUILT-IN TONE AND DYNAMICS
The pre-fader path is input, trim/polarity, built-in channel processing, VST
inserts, fader, sends/outputs. Built-in processing includes a 12 dB/octave
high-pass filter, four parametric bands (bell, low shelf or high shelf), a
stereo-linked peak gate/expander and a compressor. Sections start disabled.
Frequency, gain, Q and dynamics controls are smoothed. Gain-reduction indicators
show actual gate/compressor attenuation. The EQ plot is a filter transfer
response, not an FFT analyzer, room measurement or automatic correction.
This causal channel processing has no explicit added sample delay. The complete
system still has driver, converter, adapter queue and possible VST latency.
There is no built-in lookahead limiter or guaranteed loudspeaker protection.

VST3 EFFECTS
Installed Windows x64 VST3 effects are discovered in the standard user and common
VST3 folders. No plugin binary is copied, installed or relicensed by this mixer.
Choose Effects, add an insert, then Apply session locally with audio stopped.
After preparation, Editor opens the plugin's own native window on the host.
Parameters exposes the plugin's writable parameters to local and LAN controls;
native editor changes also update the shared parameter state. Read-only values
cannot be edited. Remote browsers do not embed a Windows plugin window.
Loading/unloading, enable/disable, reorder and actual native state capture/recall
require stopped audio. Prepared bypass and writable parameters can change live.
Check actual plugin latency: linear-phase filters and lookahead compressors may
add significant monitoring delay. The host does not automatically substitute a
low-latency plugin algorithm. Third-party effects run inside this process; a
faulty or incompatible plugin can affect the application. Qualify your actual
chain and save sessions before a rehearsal/performance.

MULTIPLE USB INTERFACES
The UI uses WASAPI shared mode. The requested graph block size does not mean the
Windows endpoint runs at that same period. Shared-mode formats/periods and useful
latency depend on the device driver and Windows configuration.
UMC404HD drivers can expose full 1-4 and overlapping 1-2/3-4 endpoint aliases.
Select one full endpoint per physical card and direction. Do not count the
aliases as extra inputs. Capture and output on the same card are allowed.
Overlap grouping uses Windows labels; it is not a verified hardware serial ID.
Independent cards have independent clocks. Bounded adapter queues and adaptive
sample-rate conversion follow their clock differences; this is not a shared
hardware clock, sample-accurate cross-card phase alignment or calibration.
Prefer one output card and keep stereo microphone/drum/keyboard pairs on one
interface. After unplugging or renaming a device, stop and recheck assignments.
Development used two UMC404HD cards, eight capture lanes and a four-lane output
endpoint at 44.1 kHz. Earlier observations included about 10 ms endpoint periods
and about 22/24 ms capture adapter queues. These are setup-specific period/queue
observations, not measured analog input-to-output round-trip latency. The release
qualification report on the product page is the authority for the tested run.
Five cards/20 inputs and all USB models are not certified by these observations.
Use System health/xrun counters and listen to your actual configuration. Growing
ongoing acquisition faults or render overruns need investigation before a show.

RAW MULTITRACK RECORDING
Select a writable recording directory locally, choose Multitrack input tracks /
Raw input and arm physical input strips. Start audio, then recording. Each armed
mono/stereo input strip gets a float32 WAV with its lane order preserved.
The recording tap is before software trim, EQ/dynamics, inserts, mute and fader,
after the device adapter's synchronization/resampling. Hardware preamp gain is
already in the captured signal. Moving a fader or muting the mix does not change
this raw tap. Processed, post-fader and Main L/R recording are unavailable here.
Preparation and finalization show their progress; recording starts only after
preparation completes. Controls remain available while a take finalizes. Wait
for Complete, check any reported error, and keep the manifest/health files with
the WAVs. Disk drop counters and USB capture-health counters describe different
problems: an intact WAV may still contain missing USB input frames.
Recording needs substantial free disk space. Eight float32 lanes at 44.1 kHz
produce about 5.1 GB per hour before small container/metadata overhead.
Never overwrite or move an active take. Preserve an interrupted/failed take and
its metadata. Internal recovery support exists, but this beta does not expose a
take-recovery button; contact support rather than guessing repairs. A partial
WAV must not be treated as a certified complete recording.

WAV VIRTUAL SOUNDCHECK
With audio stopped, choose Recorder > Browse WAV files on the host. Select the
finalized take's WAV tracks or your own aligned files; the UI does not import a
take manifest. Map each loaded file lane to the wanted channel, then Apply
session. Start audio before Play. Play/pause, seek and whole-take loop operate
on the already-prepared playback graph and are available from LAN controls.
Files share frame-zero start; shorter tracks pad with silence. This is not a DAW
with clip offsets, time stretching, editing or disk-streaming playback.
Accepted containers are RIFF WAV/RF64 with PCM16/24/32 or IEEE float32 samples.
Compressed WAV, MP3, float64 and other formats are unavailable. Loading/resampling
runs outside the audio callback and reports phase progress. A rejected load
retains the previous loaded audio. Progress is per phase, not an overall ETA.
The working-memory budget is at most 512 MiB, including old/new audio and staging
overhead. Long multitrack sessions may exceed it; use shorter soundcheck excerpts.
File paths remain local to the host. A saved project refers to its audio files;
it does not embed/copy them. Retain the referenced files when moving a project.

PHONE, TABLET AND LOCAL NETWORK CONTROL
Apply a session locally first. Open System / LAN control, enable the server,
choose the port and set your own password. Open its displayed
http://HOST-LAN-IP:PORT/ link on a device on the same trusted local network and
sign in. A browser reconnect/reload may require another sign-in.
Connected clients share canonical fader/send/processing/parameter values and live
meter snapshots with the host. Each client can keep its own selected channel,
Simple/Advanced/focus view and scroll position. Simultaneous edits resolve through
the server state. A network outage does not turn a phone into an audio engine:
processing and audio remain on the Windows host. Remote control sends controls
and meters, not audio, and provides no microphone/speaker access on the phone.
Set recording folders, devices, file loads and structural changes locally. Remote
recording uses the host's selected folder and shared armed inputs; it cannot
choose arbitrary paths. Prepared playback transport can be operated remotely.
Authentication uses a password over local HTTP; this is not encrypted HTTPS.
Use a trusted LAN, preferably wired Ethernet for the host, and a reliable access
point. Do not expose this service through router port forwarding/public Wi-Fi.
Windows firewall policy may require allowing this app on the Private network.

COMPLETE SESSIONS AND SCENES
Save complete session / Open complete session use .normlive files with routing,
channel/processing settings, file references, scenes and actual native VST
component/controller state. Native state capture and scene recall need audio
and recording stopped. Scene safes preserve the selected categories; channel
topology, device settings and recording transport/folder are always protected.
The wizard's initial preview scene is not an actual captured VST state: capture
or update it with the native engine stopped before using native recall.
Export preview JSON is for interface/design fields and cached parameter values;
it is not a substitute for Save complete session when preserving plugin state.

IF SOMETHING IS WRONG
No input: check the hardware preamp, driver, Windows microphone permission,
selected endpoint, mono/stereo lane assignment and input meters.
No output: check selected clock/output endpoint, Main physical lane assignment,
master/channel mute, prepared sends and hardware output level.
Editor/Parameters unavailable: verify the insert exists, is enabled and has been
applied locally while audio was stopped. Missing plugin: install its Windows x64
VST3 in a standard folder and Refresh; VST2 and instruments are not certified.
Slow/unstable audio: reduce costly effects, inspect driver/queue/xrun health and
try a larger block. A larger software block does not override shared-mode driver
periods. Check background workload and the complete audio chain before a show.
Phone cannot connect: check the displayed LAN address/port, same network, firewall
Private policy and correct password; after restart, re-enable/pair locally.
Send reproducible steps, Windows/interface/driver versions, sample rate/block,
plugin chain, .normlive session description and relevant take-health details to
info@normsonic.com. Send private recordings only when you intend to share them.

TESTED SCOPE OF THIS FIRST BETA
Release checks include 18 native test suites, 482 interface fixture checks and
a 30-minute two-UMC404HD run with eight capture lanes and eight installed VST3
effects at 44.1 kHz. After startup, that run had no ongoing acquisition faults
or render deadline overruns. Six raw WAV files matched the callback sample
frames and hashes. A separate actual-host workflow checked recording, live
controls, native VST session/scene restoration and callback-driven WAV playback.
Outputs were muted and no instruments or analog loopback cable were attached.
Analog round-trip latency, physical jack identity and all-device compatibility
are not measured or certified by these checks.
Native editor parameter handling and DSP changes were tested through the host
API. Final manual mouse-gesture checks in native plugin windows and Windows
file-selection dialogs remain pending. Report reproducible issues to support.

USE AND STATUS
Free for personal and commercial audio use; no account or activation required.
Read LICENSE.txt, THIRD-PARTY-NOTICES.txt and keep the third-party/ directory.
This is a beta, qualified for the documented tests/configuration, not a guarantee
for every device, plug-in or live venue. Rehearse and test your complete setup.


UI REVISION 2
UI revision 2: single-line + View button and aligned SVG scene indicator; audio engine unchanged. Clock master lists only selected output endpoints, with clearer startup instructions.
