As part of the Easy Start registration process, you’ll install Vocaster Hub software on your computer. Vocaster Hub gives you access to additional Vocaster Two features - most importantly, it lets you balance your and your guest’s voices against any other audio in your mix.
Note
You can download a separate Vocaster Hub user guide from downloads.focusrite.com. This describes the use of Vocaster Hub in full detail. The following section of this user guide is limited to an overview of the software’s primary features.
To open Vocaster Hub: After you install Vocaster Hub on your computer this icon appears in your applications:
Click it to open Vocaster Hub.
If your Vocaster Two interface is not connected to your computer and powered on, you will see a welcome page.
Note the Help Centre or Contact Support links. You can always return to this page by turning the interface off. More guidance on using Vocaster Two, including tutorial videos, are available at these links.
When you connect the interface and power it on, the computer icon lights white to confirm the interface is communicating with your computer, and you’ll see Vocaster Hub’s Control Page:
If the computer icon lights red, it shows Vocaster Two has not been able to communicate with your computer, and you should check the cable is plugged in correctly.
The Host Input and Guest Input panels are where you adjust Vocaster Two’s microphone channels:
The Mic Level displays for the two microphone inputs work identically. Each is both a level meter and a level control. Click and drag a grey bar to adjust the gain. This control duplicates the rotary gain knob on the interface, and you can adjust the gain with either control.
The colour bar shows the microphone signal level, and again, this duplicates the signal level halo display on the interface.
The bar should remain green most of the time, with amber showing only on the loudest ‘peaks’. If it goes red, the gain is set too high.
Below the meter/level display are three buttons which duplicate those on the interface top panel:
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Mute
– click on this to mute the microphone; the button and the level display show red when mute is active. On the interface, the Mute and Auto Gain buttons light red and the relevant arc pulses red. Click again to unmute.
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Enhance
– click on this to activate the Enhance feature; the on-screen and hardware buttons both light green. Click again to deactivate.
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Auto Gain
– click this to start the Auto Gain function; speak normally into the microphone for 10 seconds to calibrate the gain setting.
The Mix section of Vocaster Hub allows you to balance the audio inputs and computer outputs making up your Show Mix.
Like the Mic Level control, the ‘sliders’ are both meters and level control. The sliders affect the headphone/speaker mixes and Show Mix recording but don’t affect the level of each channel into your software. The channels of the mixer are (left to right):
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Host (mono) – this is Vocaster Two’s Host microphone.
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Guest (mono) – this is Vocaster Two’s Guest microphone.
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Aux (stereo) – use this when you have connected a phone to the rear panel connector. It adjusts the audio level being received from the phone.
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Bluetooth (stereo) – use this when you’re streaming audio wirelessly from a phone or other device using Bluetooth.
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Loopback 1 and Loopback 2 (stereo) – these control the level of two audio sources within your computer: these could be feeds from the internet, prerecorded files, or other sources. In the image below, Loopback 2 is ‘clipping’ so the source level needs turning down to stop the red clip bar appearing.
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Show Mix (stereo) – this shows and controls the overall output level of the mixer.
On the Loopback 2 channel, the red part of the meter is the ‘Clip Indicator’. This shows you the source is too loud and may distort in your recording. Bluetooth and Loopback are an exception and may show as clipped more often.
Turn down the track’s source, not the slider in the mixer. If the Show Mix clips, turn down the tracks in the mixer.
Vocaster’s Loopback feature lets you record audio sources from within your computer (e.g., the audio output from a web browser).
There are two stereo Loopback sliders on the mixer; these use Vocaster Two’s ‘virtual’ inputs. The virtual inputs don’t have connectors on the interface, but you can record them in your DAW in the same way as any other input.
You can feed each Loopback input from a different software application. Which application you use with each Loopback input is configured in the application’s output settings.
If you’re a Mac User and wish to use both Loopback inputs, we recommend you read this support article.
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Loopback 1 – this input gets its signal from software with its output routing set to Playback 1-2, or software that doesn’t support output routing. The software you can use with Loopback 1 includes:
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Internet browsers
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Music playback software such as Spotify or Apple Music
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Video calling and conference software
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Loopback 2 – this input gets its signal from audio software with its output routing set to Playback 3-4. You can configure this in the software’s audio settings, but not all software allows output routing selection, so please check your software’s user guide for this feature. Software with the ability to feed audio to Loopback 2 includes:
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Other recording or playback software you’re using
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VOIP and video conferencing applications
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You might want to use both Loopback inputs when you’re recording a show, but need independent recordings of other software sounds to mix later. For example, in your show, you want to record your conversation with a guest in a video call in addition to including a sound or jingle playback from another audio playback software.
Your video call software (e.g., Zoom), routes its output to Playback 1-2 by default. This appears as Loopback 1 in the mixer. You can then route the output of your playback software to Playback 3-4, which becomes available as Loopback 2.
In your recording software, you can now have separate tracks for recording:
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Loopback 1 appears on your DAW channels 11 and 12
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Loopback 2 appears on your DAW channels 13 and 14
For all further details, please refer to the Vocaster Hub User Guide.
Depending on which recording software you use, you can pick from up to 14 channels to record from, to separate tracks.
The fourteen channels you’ll see are:
|
DAW Input Number |
Vocaster Input |
Use |
|---|---|---|
|
1 |
Video Call L Video Call R |
A mix of all inputs excluding Loopback, this is a mix-minus so a video call guest can hear your whole show without hearing (minus) themselves. |
|
2 |
||
|
3 |
Show Mix L Show Mix R |
A stereo mix of all the inputs to record your whole show. |
|
4 |
||
|
5 |
Host Microphone |
The Host microphone input. |
|
6 |
Guest Microphone |
The Guest microphone input. |
|
7 |
Aux L Aux R |
Two channels fed from a device connected to the phone input on Vocaster. |
|
8 |
||
|
9 |
Bluetooth L Bluetooth R |
Two channels fed from the Bluetooth input. |
|
10 |
||
|
11 |
Loopback 1 L Loopback 1 R |
Signal from software fed from software playback 1-2. |
|
12 |
||
|
13 |
Loopback 2 L Loopback 2 R |
Signal from software fed from software playback 3-4. |
|
14 |