Live Mixing System
Live Audio · Systems · 2023 — ongoing
A first-of-its-kind stage mixing idea, patented and on the NAMM 2025 floor
Soundshell arrived with a new way for musicians to mix their own monitors and no product to point at. Edge Audio Labs built the whole system, hardware, firmware and software, over an Audinate Dante network.
- JUCE
- C++
- Audinate Dante
- Client
- Soundshell LLC
- Industry
- Live Audio · Systems
- Engagement
- 2023 — ongoing
- Deployment
- Hardware + software system
- Problem: every musician needs a different stage mix, and no unified product existed.
- What we built: a hardware and software system where each unit shares its own instrument and mixes everyone else's, all-to-all over Dante.
- Result: debuted at NAMM 2025 and patent-protected in Norway. Edge Audio Labs ran the build end to end with a hardware partner.
The Pain
The drummer wants more click, the singer less guitar, the bassist more kick. One shared monitor desk can't give each of them their own.
- One desk, one decision. Whoever runs the console decides what everyone hears, and the players wait their turn.
- No product to copy. The pieces existed separately, never as one device a band could buy and plug in.
- Latency and sync were the whole risk. Audio shared over a network has to stay locked while the band plays, or it arrives as an echo in someone's ears.
What We Did
Two decisions shaped the system.
- No console. Every unit is a peer that publishes its own instrument to the network and mixes everyone else's locally. No central desk to fail, and no queue to wait in.
- Mixing off the box. The unit lives on stage and the control happens on a paired iPad or Mac, where a musician can see what they're doing mid-set.
What We Built
- Personal monitor mixing. Each unit mixes every instrument on stage into a feed shaped for one player's ears.
- All-to-all Dante network. Every unit shares and receives audio with every other over Dante AoIP, sample-locked.
- macOS and iPad control. Dial your mix from a tablet or a laptop, right on stage.
- End-to-end project. We ran the whole build, software and firmware, and coordinated the hardware partner.
- Patent and funding. We helped Soundshell secure a patent in Norway and raise funding.
Every Unit Talks to Every Other
Each box publishes its own instrument to the network and mixes everyone else's locally, sample-locked over Dante. No console in the middle: the mix lives on the player's own iPad.
Where It Got Hard
On the network.
With no console at the center there is no clock authority to fall back on, and drift that would pass unnoticed in a studio lands as a flam in a musician's ears. Around it, software, firmware, board design and manufacturing all had to land together.
Presented at
We helped Soundshell take Alltimix to NAMM 2025 — booth, demo stations and all — putting a first-of-its-kind monitor-mixing system in front of the industry.
Specs
- DeploymentHardware + software system
- PlatformmacOSiPad
- TransportAudinate Dante (AoIP)
- StackJUCEC++
- IPPatent-protected (Norway)
- DebutNAMM 2025
The Value
Soundshell went from an untested idea to working hardware on the NAMM 2025 floor.
No central desk to fail
Every unit is a peer: it shares its own instrument and mixes everyone else's.
The mix lives in the player's hands
Dial it from an iPad or a Mac, right on stage, mid-set.
One team for the whole stack
Software, firmware and the hardware partner, run end to end.
The team includes live sound engineers and working musicians. We knew what had to hold up on a real stage.
What the Client Says
"They delivered on time and were responsive to my needs; a good experience."
