BandEar

Free · Open source · Personal monitoring

Every musician gets their own in‑ear mix, on their own phone.

Plug your mixer's USB audio — or any audio interface — into a computer running BandEar. Each musician joins the same Wi-Fi, opens the app and mixes their own ears — while the engineer keeps control from the desk.

Download Other platforms

v0.2.0 Windows · macOS · Linux · Android 10+

The BandEar console: one tab per musician, channel strips, groups and the master with its limiter

How it works

From your mixer to every pair of ears in three steps

A mixer's built-in USB audio interface (or any audio interface) feeds a computer running BandEar, which sends one mix per musician to their phones over Wi-Fi. Mixer · USB audio USB BandEar desktop Singer Drummer Keys 1 2 3

  1. Connect your mixer

    Most digital mixers have a USB audio interface built in — BandEar uses it. A standalone audio interface works too. Plug it into a Windows, macOS or Linux computer, open BandEar, pick it and press Start engine.

  2. Run the desk

    The desktop app builds one mix per musician with channel processing, limits and presets. No mixer at hand? The demo source plays eight generated channels.

  3. Connect the phones

    Musicians join the same Wi-Fi and open the BandEar app. Their phones find the desk on their own — no IP addresses to type — and everyone mixes their own ears.

Features

A real monitor desk, without the extra hardware

Personal mixes

  • One mix per musician, from their phone or the desk
  • Up to 32 inputs, stereo pairs and groups
  • Engineer limits and locks, presets, copy and mirror mixes
  • Saved sessions and automatic mix backups

Processing

  • High-pass, 4-band EQ, gate and compressor on every input
  • A limiter on every musician's master
  • Shared reverb and delay with sends and per-mix returns
  • 0 ms of added latency

Recording

  • Multitrack: every input on its own WAV track
  • Markers, disk-space estimate and crash-safe files
  • Virtual soundcheck: play a take back as if the band were playing
  • A local mix for the computer's own outputs

Network you can trust

  • Link health per musician: loss, glitches and round trip
  • Set each phone's buffer from the desk
  • Redundancy: every packet sent twice when Wi-Fi gets rough
  • Engine load meter, log file and a demo source

A closer look

Built for the desk

Download · v0.2.0

Get BandEar for every device in the band

The desk runs on a computer; musicians use the Android app. All files come from the latest GitHub release.

Windows 10 / 11

BandEar_0.2.0_x64-setup.exe

First run: More info → Run anyway — the installer is not signed yet.

Download .exe

macOS Apple Silicon

BandEar_0.2.0_aarch64.dmg

Drag to Applications. First run: right-click → Open.

Download .dmg

macOS Intel

BandEar_0.2.0_x64.dmg

Drag to Applications. First run: right-click → Open.

Download .dmg

Linux x86-64

BandEar_0.2.0_amd64.AppImage
BandEar_0.2.0_amd64.deb

chmod +x the AppImage and run it, or install the .deb.

AppImage .deb

Android 10+ · musicians' app

BandEar_0.2.0_android.apk

Allow installs from your browser, then open the APK.

Download .apk

iPhone iOS

Coming soon

An iOS app for musicians is on the roadmap.

See the roadmap

FAQ

Questions musicians ask

Is it free?

Yes. BandEar is free and open source under the MIT license — no subscriptions, no accounts, no ads.

Do I need special hardware?

No. You need a computer, a mixer with USB audio (or any audio interface the computer sees as an input) and a Wi-Fi network. Musicians use their own phones and in-ear headphones. A dedicated 5 GHz access point close to the stage works best.

Which phones work?

Android 10 or newer. Each phone finds the desk on the same Wi-Fi by itself.

What about latency?

Processing adds 0 ms: filters and dynamics have no look-ahead and effects are wet returns. The engine builds every mix once per 5.3 ms block, and with 32 inputs and 16 musicians it uses about 18% of each block. The total delay you hear depends on your Wi-Fi and each phone's buffer, which you can set from the desk.

Is there an iOS app?

Not yet — an iOS app for musicians is on the roadmap.

Why does my computer show a security warning?

The installers are not signed yet. On Windows choose More info → Run anyway; on macOS right-click the app and choose Open the first time. Signed installers are on the roadmap.