Signal Flow (Premium)

Signal Flow provides an interactive, visual representation of how signals route through your WING mixer. See your entire routing configuration at a glance and trace signals from physical inputs through the mixer to physical outputs.

Note: Signal Flow visualization requires a Premium or Pro subscription.

What You'll See

The signal flow visualization displays three layers:

+-------------------------------------------+
|      PHYSICAL INPUTS                      |
|  LCL  AES50-A  AES50-B  AES50-C  USB      |
+-------------------------------------------+
              |
+-------------------------------------+
|           MIXER                     |
|  Inputs: CH1-40, AUX1-8             |
|  Outputs: BUS1-16, MTX1-8, MAIN1-4  |
+-------------------------------------+
              |
+-------------------------------------------+
|      PHYSICAL OUTPUTS                     |
|  LCL  AES50-A  AES50-B  AES50-C  USB      |
+-------------------------------------------+

Three visual layers:

1. Physical Inputs (Top): All physical input sources, aggregated by group
2. Mixer (Middle): Complete mixer block showing all channels and outputs
3. Physical Outputs (Bottom): All physical output destinations, aggregated by group

Accessing Signal Flow

From the Web Interface:

1. Navigate to the Signal Flow tab
2. Upload your snapshot file (or select from your library)
3. The diagram loads automatically
4. Use mouse/touch to pan and zoom

Interactive Features

Pan and Zoom

• Click and drag to pan around large diagrams
• Scroll wheel to zoom in/out
• Double-click to reset view
• Fit-to-view button in controls to see everything

Search

Quickly find specific channels, groups, or elements in your diagram:

1. Use the Search field in the toolbar
2. Type any part of a channel name, group name, or identifier
3. Matching elements are highlighted in the diagram
4. Non-matching elements are dimmed for easy visual focus

Tip: Search is particularly useful for large configurations with many channels. Search for "drum" to highlight all drum-related channels at once.

Trace Mode

Trace mode helps you understand signal flow by highlighting complete signal paths:

1. Click the Trace icon (route symbol) in the toolbar to enable Trace mode
2. Click any node or connection to highlight its complete signal path
3. The path from source through the mixer to destination is highlighted
4. All unrelated elements are dimmed

Multi-Selection

• Hold Shift while clicking to add elements to your selection
• Hold Ctrl (or Cmd on Mac) while clicking for the same effect
• Click on empty space to clear the selection

Note: When Trace mode is disabled, clicking still selects elements but without the path highlighting effect.

View Modes

Toggle between different view modes via the More menu and View Preset:

Channel Source Selection

Control which input source is displayed for each channel via the Channel Source selector in the More dropdown:

This is useful when:

• Comparing what your show looks like with all channels on MAIN vs ALT sources
• Documenting both configurations from a single snapshot
• Troubleshooting alternate source routing

Note: When "Always use MAIN" or "Always use ALT" is selected, direct routes are automatically hidden since they bypass channel input routing and are unaffected by MAIN/ALT selection.

Node Labels

Control how channel elements are labeled in the diagram via the Node Labels selector in the More dropdown:

Key behaviors:

• Aggregation disabled for names: When showing names, each channel is displayed individually (no more "1-8" ranges) since every channel can have a unique name
• Empty names: If a channel has no name assigned, the number is shown as fallback
• Long names: Names are truncated with ellipsis if they exceed the display width
• Clink support: Channel names respect the clink parameter - when clink is enabled on a channel, the displayed name is the source name

Tip: Use "Names Only" mode when verifying that channel names are correctly configured on your mixer. Use "Numbers + Names" when you need both the position and the name visible for documentation purposes.

Hover Information

Hover over connections and elements to see detailed information:

• On edges: Source and destination names, channel count for aggregated connections
• On nodes: Element details and connection summary
• Toggle hover overlays on/off via More menu and "Show hover info"

Working with Groups

Collapse and Expand

Collapse or expand groups to increase readability of your diagram:

• Double-click any group header to collapse it to a compact form
• Click the expand button on a collapsed group to expand it again
• Collapse All Groups: Use the Layout menu (grid icon) and "Collapse All Groups" to collapse every group at once
• Expand All Groups: Use the Layout menu and "Expand All Groups" to expand all collapsed groups

Collapsed groups show a compact representation with just the group name and connection count. This is especially useful when you want to focus on specific areas of your signal flow.

Filter Groups

Hide entire groups from the diagram to focus on what matters:

1. Click More in the toolbar to open the dropdown menu
2. Click the Filter In/Out button
3. Uncheck groups you want to hide (inputs, outputs, or mixer sections)
4. Click Apply to update the diagram

Hidden groups are completely removed from the layout - not just collapsed, but excluded entirely. Any connections that only go to hidden groups will also disappear automatically.

A warning banner appears when groups are hidden, showing you how many are filtered out. Click Show All to restore everything, or dismiss the banner if you want to keep working with the simplified view.

Tip: Filter out unused physical I/O groups (like USB or expansion cards) to create cleaner diagrams for documentation.

Move Groups

Freely rearrange the groups in your diagram to create a layout that works best for your workflow:

• Drag any group to reposition it in the diagram
• Layout auto-saves - your customizations are preserved automatically
• Reset Layout button appears when you have custom positions - click to return to the automatic layout
• Edges adjust automatically - connection lines update their paths based on group positions

Note: Only group nodes (like "LCL", "AES50-A", "Mixer Inputs") can be moved. Individual channel elements stay within their parent groups.

Auto-Layout

Automatically arrange your diagram for optimal readability:

1. Open the Layout menu (grid icon) in the toolbar
2. Click Auto-Layout
3. Groups are repositioned to minimize edge crossings and maximize clarity

Tip: Use Auto-Layout after hiding groups or collapsing sections to rebalance the diagram.

Auto-Compact

When enabled (default), collapsed groups automatically resize to their minimal form:

• Toggle via More menu and "Auto-compact groups"
• When enabled, collapsed groups show minimal height
• When disabled, collapsed groups maintain their expanded height

Undo Layout Changes

After any layout operation (reset, collapse all, expand all, auto-layout):

• An Undo toast appears at the bottom of the screen
• Click Undo within 10 seconds to revert the change
• Click the X to dismiss the toast and keep the changes

Layout Persistence

Your layout customizations can be saved and loaded in two ways:

Local Storage (Automatic)

• Layout changes are stored in your browser per snapshot file
• Your layouts persist across browser sessions
• Clearing your browser data will reset locally saved layouts

Server-Side Layouts (Named Saves)

Save layouts to the server for long-term storage and sharing across devices:

1. Make changes to your layout (drag groups, collapse/expand, hide groups)
2. Click the Save icon in the toolbar (highlighted when you have unsaved changes)
3. In the Save Layout dialog:
   • Enter a name for a new layout, or
   • Select an existing layout to overwrite it
4. Click Save Layout or Update Layout

Load saved layouts:

1. Click the Load icon in the toolbar
2. Select from your saved layouts for this snapshot
3. Or click Show All Layouts to import layouts from other snapshots

Note: When you leave the Signal Flow page with unsaved changes, your layout is automatically saved as "Auto-Saved" for that snapshot file.

Keyboard Shortcuts

Speed up your workflow with keyboard shortcuts:

Understanding Aggregated Connections

Signal flow uses intelligent aggregation to keep diagrams readable:

Physical I/O Aggregation

Instead of showing 48 individual lines, consecutive channels are grouped:

AES-A (1-24) --/24--> CH1-24

The /24 notation indicates 24 channels are aggregated into this single visual connection.

Aggregation Rules

• Only consecutive channels with identical routing are aggregated
• Minimum of 4 channels required for aggregation
• Single channels shown individually
• Gaps prevent aggregation

Example:

Input Channels:  1 2 3 4 5    9 10 11 12
Display:         [1-5]        [9-12]
                   (5 channels shown as range)

Mixer Block Details

The mixer block always shows the complete structure:

Inputs displayed:

• CH1-40 (all regular channels)
• AUX1-8 (all aux channels)

Outputs displayed:

• BUS1-16 (all buses)
• MTX1-8 (all matrices)
• MAIN1-4 (all main outputs)

Note: The mixer internals are not shown (the mixer is a "black box"). Only input and output ports are visible.

Direct Patches

Direct patches (signals that bypass the mixer) are shown as connections that route around the mixer block.

Example use cases for direct patches:

• Stage box splitter: Send mic to both mixer and recording device
• FOH/Monitor split: Distribute inputs to multiple consoles
• Digital snake passthrough: Pass signals through without processing

These appear as red lines in the diagram to distinguish them from normal mixer routing.

Best Practices

For System Integrators

• Use signal flow to document installed systems
• Export diagrams for handover documentation
• Verify all connections before going live

For Live Sound Engineers

• Quickly verify stage box routing
• Identify unused inputs/outputs
• Troubleshoot missing signals visually

For Production Teams

• Archive signal flow for show documentation
• Train new engineers on system architecture
• Compare configurations between venues

Exporting Diagrams

Fullscreen for Screenshots

Currently, the best way to capture your signal flow diagram is through screenshots in fullscreen mode:

1. Press F or click the fullscreen button to enter fullscreen
2. Arrange your layout as desired
3. Use your system's screenshot tool (e.g., Windows Snipping Tool, macOS Screenshot)
4. Press ESC to exit fullscreen

Tip: The Wing Tools logo appears in the corner of fullscreen mode for professional-looking screenshots.

Export Options (Planned)

Future updates will include:

• PNG image export
• SVG vector graphic for scalability
• PDF page included in routing document

Next Steps

• Routing Generator: Generate PDF documentation with routing matrices
• Routing Diff: Compare two snapshots to see what changed
• Audio Engineer Guide: Best practices for Wing console workflow

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Questions about Signal Flow? Check the Reference section for troubleshooting tips.