Mixer Architecture

Updated: April 19, 2023

This section describes the mixer architecture.

You can usually build an audio mixer from a relatively small number of components. Each of these components performs a specific mixing function. A summary of these components or elements follows:

Input
A connection point where an external analog signal is brought into the mixer.
Output
A connection point where an analog signal is taken from the mixer.
ADC
An element that converts analog signals to digital samples.
DAC
An element that converts digital samples to analog signals.
Switch
An element that can connect two or more points together. A simple switch may be used as a mute control. More complicated switches can mute the channels of a stream individually, or can even form crossbar matrices where n input signals can be connected to n output signals.
Volume
An element that adjusts the amplitude level of a signal by applying attenuation or gain.
Accumulator
An element the adds all signals input to it and produces an output signal.
Multiplexer
An element that selects the signal from one of its inputs and forwards it to a single output line.

By using these elements you can build a simple sound card mixer:

Figure 1. A simple sound card mixer.

In the diagram, the mute figures are switches, and the MIC and CD are input elements. This diagram is in fact a simplified representation of the Audio Codec '97 mixer, one of the most common mixers found on sound cards.

It's possible to control these mixer elements directly using the snd_mixer_element_read() and snd_mixer_element_write() functions, but this method isn't recommended because:

The element interface is the lowest level of control for a mixer and is complicated to control. One solution to this complexity is to arrange elements that are associated with a function into a mixer group. To further refine this idea, groups are classified as either playback or capture groups. To simplify creating and managing groups, a hard set of rules was developed for how groups are built from elements:

If you apply these rules to the simple mixer in the above diagram, you get the following:

Playback Group PCM
Elements B (volume) and C (switch).
Playback Group MIC
Elements E (volume) and F (switch).
Playback Group CD
Elements L (volume) and M (switch).
Playback Group MASTER
Elements H (volume) and I (switch).
Capture Group MIC
Element N (multiplexer); there's no volume or switch.
Capture Group CD
Element N (multiplexer); there's no volume or switch.
Capture Group INPUT
Elements O (volume) and P (switch).

In separating the elements into groups, you've reduced the complexity of control (there are 7 groups instead of 17 elements), and each group associates well with what applications want to control.