Audio crackling at ranom interval with "Application Audio Capture"

[Neryss]

As the title says, I have random audio issues where the sound crackles kind of like if you put your speaker in front of a big fan. It only happens with App audio capture, no issues with my microphone for example, also it only happens on the stream, I can't hear in in my headphones.
I've tried disabling audio enchancements in the Windows settings, everything audio wise is set 48KHz, same issue if I lower the audio quality.
The issue doesn't seem to be related to CPU charge or anything, no patterns as far as I can see, it can happen in any game or even with a Spotify capture.
I've been using the App Audio Capture for years and never had issues before swapping my hardware to AMD, issues seem to have appeared when I got my new CPU.
Here are my specs:
Ryzen 9 7950X
Radeon RX7900 XT

Also here's a link to the issue happening live: https://www.twitch.tv/videos/1814807029?t=3h27m34s
I can send anything else needed, I've been trying to solve this issue for months now I'm desperate.

Thank you for the help!

Edit: wanted to precise that the issue appeared when I was using the new CPU only, at this time I had a GTX 1080ti

 

[Neryss]

As the title says, I have random audio issues where the sound crackles kind of like if you put your speaker in front of a big fan. It only happens with App audio capture, no issues with my microphone for example, also it only happens on the stream, I can't hear in in my headphones.
I've tried disabling audio enchancements in the Windows settings, everything audio wise is set 48KHz, same issue if I lower the audio quality.
The issue doesn't seem to be related to CPU charge or anything, no patterns as far as I can see, it can happen in any game or even with a Spotify capture.
I've been using the App Audio Capture for years and never had issues before swapping my hardware to AMD, issues seem to have appeared when I got my new CPU.
Here are my specs:
Ryzen 9 7950X
Radeon RX7900 XT

Also here's a link to the issue happening live: https://www.twitch.tv/videos/1814807029?t=3h27m34s
I can send anything else needed, I've been trying to solve this issue for months now I'm desperate.

Thank you for the help!

Edit: wanted to precise that the issue appeared when I was using the new CPU only, at this time I had a GTX 1080ti

And I didn't note this, but to temporarely fix this issues, I need to change the source of the audio capture, set it back to the game, and hit ok. Then it fixes it for an indeterminate mount of time.

 

[Neryss]

Also, here are the logs from the stream I linked earlier, if you check line 1931, there seems to be an error at 23:42 which corresponds to the moment my audio went crazy on the stream as shown on this part:

23:42:47.551: Device '[VIRTUAL_AUDIO_DEVICE_PROCESS_LOOPBACK]' invalidated.  Retrying (source: game audio)
23:42:47.551: WASAPI: Device '[VIRTUAL_AUDIO_DEVICE_PROCESS_LOOPBACK]' [48000 Hz] initialized
23:42:48.868: [win-wasapi: 'game audio'] update settings:
23:42:48.868:     executable: Control_DX12.exe
23:42:48.868:     title: Control 0.0.344.1879 (FINAL|release)
23:42:48.868:     class: AppWindowClass
23:42:48.868:     priority: 1
23:42:48.868: Device '[VIRTUAL_AUDIO_DEVICE_PROCESS_LOOPBACK]' invalidated.  Retrying (source: game audio)
23:42:48.869: WASAPI: Device '[VIRTUAL_AUDIO_DEVICE_PROCESS_LOOPBACK]' [48000 Hz] initialized
23:42:52.856: [game-capture: 'Game Capture'] ----------------- d3d12 capture freed ----------------
23:42:52.863: [game-capture: 'Game Capture'] Found D3D12 device on swap chain: swap=0x2843EC7DD70, device=0x2841F13C980
23:42:52.863: [game-capture: 'Game Capture'] Remembering D3D12 queue from present: queue=0x2843EC65E10
23:42:52.864: [game-capture: 'Game Capture'] Found D3D12 device on swap chain: swap=0x2843EC7DD70, device=0x2841F13C980
23:42:52.864: [game-capture: 'Game Capture']     queue=0x2843EC65E10
23:42:52.864: [game-capture: 'Game Capture'] d3d12_init: device=0x2841F13C980
23:42:52.864: [game-capture: 'Game Capture'] DXGI_SWAP_CHAIN_DESC:
23:42:52.864:     BufferDesc.Width: 1920
23:42:52.864:     BufferDesc.Height: 1080
23:42:52.864:     BufferDesc.RefreshRate.Numerator: 0
23:42:52.864:     BufferDesc.RefreshRate.Denominator: 0
23:42:52.864:     BufferDesc.Format: 87
23:42:52.864:     BufferDesc.ScanlineOrdering: 0
23:42:52.864:     BufferDesc.Scaling: 0
23:42:52.864:     SampleDesc.Count: 1
23:42:52.864:     SampleDesc.Quality: 0
23:42:52.864:     BufferUsage: 32
23:42:52.864:     BufferCount: 2
23:42:52.864:     Windowed: 0
23:42:52.864:     SwapEffect: 4
23:42:52.864:     Flags: 2050

 

[Spoonker]

Hey,
I have the exact same problem, hope you get an answer.
It's really horrible because we don't hear it ourselves, especially when we just release a record and then edit it. (I am French)

 

[AaronD]

It's good to keep getting these reports. Maybe eventually the Application Audio Source will be fixed. It's a good idea, but not quite there yet.

In the meantime, use the older methods, like VB Cable or Voicemeeter.

VB-Audio Virtual Apps

VB-Audio Virtual Cable and App's

vb-audio.com

VB-Audio VoiceMeeter

VoiceMeeter Virtual Audio Device Mixer by V.Burel

vb-audio.com

VB-Audio VoiceMeeter Banana

VoiceMeeter Banana, the Advanced Virtual Audio Mixer by V.Burel

vb-audio.com

VB-Audio VoiceMeeter Potato

VoiceMeeter Potato, the Ultimate Virtual Audio Mixer for Windows

vb-audio.com

You only need one of those. Pick the one that works for you without too much clutter. All of them create virtual audio devices that work exactly like physical mics and speakers as far as any app is concerned.

VB Cable simply passes audio directly from its virtual speaker to its virtual mic. Nothing more. You can install up to 5 of them if you really need that: 1 individual at the top of the page, and 2 pairs farther down the page.

Voicemeeter and its variants add a mixing console between their virtual mics and speakers, which can also connect directly to physical devices. Now you can send things to multiple places, instead of just popping out in only one place.

 

[Neryss]

It's good to keep getting these reports. Maybe eventually the Application Audio Source will be fixed. It's a good idea, but not quite there yet.

In the meantime, use the older methods, like VB Cable or Voicemeeter.

VB-Audio Virtual Apps

VB-Audio Virtual Cable and App's

vb-audio.com

VB-Audio VoiceMeeter

VoiceMeeter Virtual Audio Device Mixer by V.Burel

vb-audio.com

VB-Audio VoiceMeeter Banana

VoiceMeeter Banana, the Advanced Virtual Audio Mixer by V.Burel

vb-audio.com

VB-Audio VoiceMeeter Potato

VoiceMeeter Potato, the Ultimate Virtual Audio Mixer for Windows

vb-audio.com

You only need one of those. Pick the one that works for you without too much clutter. All of them create virtual audio devices that work exactly like physical mics and speakers as far as any app is concerned.

VB Cable simply passes audio directly from its virtual speaker to its virtual mic. Nothing more. You can install up to 5 of them if you really need that: 1 individual at the top of the page, and 2 pairs farther down the page.

Voicemeeter and its variants add a mixing console between their virtual mics and speakers, which can also connect directly to physical devices. Now you can send things to multiple places, instead of just popping out in only one place.

Thanks for the tips, I was using the Audio App Capture so I didn't have to go through all this process but I guess I won't have any choice until something is done about it.

I've tried some things on my side and it seems the issue is less frequent, I'll try some more things during my next stream and I will update the post if I find something.

 

[vanyaindigo]

Same issue here. Every stream it appears after 2-3 hours, but dissapear after minute or two.

 

[Neryss]

Same issue here. Every stream it appears after 2-3 hours, but dissapear after minute or two.

I would really like more people to note the time the issue stays without changing the source and changing it back again.
I tried something earlier this stream, I've had one lag after 4 hours on a spotify capture which diseappeared after literally a second so it's weird.

 

[vanyaindigo]

Here how it sounds like

 

[vanyaindigo]

and never had issues before swapping my hardware to AMD, issues seem to have appeared when I got my new CPU.

I'm on Intell CPU actually always have this issue with Application Audio Capture.

 

[Suslik V]

23:11:14.718: [win-wasapi: 'game audio'] update settings:
23:11:14.718: 	executable: Control_DX12.exe
...
23:42:43.704: [game-capture: 'Game Capture'] ----------------- d3d12 capture freed ----------------
...
23:42:43.788: [game-capture: 'Game Capture'] shared texture capture successful
23:42:47.549: [win-wasapi: 'game audio'] update settings:
23:42:47.549: 	executable: DiscordPTB.exe
...
23:42:47.551: Device '[VIRTUAL_AUDIO_DEVICE_PROCESS_LOOPBACK]' invalidated.  Retrying (source: game audio)
23:42:47.551: WASAPI: Device '[VIRTUAL_AUDIO_DEVICE_PROCESS_LOOPBACK]' [48000 Hz] initialized
23:42:48.868: [win-wasapi: 'game audio'] update settings:
23:42:48.868: 	executable: Control_DX12.exe
...
23:42:48.868: Device '[VIRTUAL_AUDIO_DEVICE_PROCESS_LOOPBACK]' invalidated.  Retrying (source: game audio)
23:42:48.869: WASAPI: Device '[VIRTUAL_AUDIO_DEVICE_PROCESS_LOOPBACK]' [48000 Hz] initialized
23:42:52.856: [game-capture: 'Game Capture'] ----------------- d3d12 capture freed ----------------

...

I see nothing strange here - the "game audio" source captures different applications (DiscordPTB.exe and Control_DX12.exe), thus previous session was invalidated. It is normal. You captured ~30 minutes Control_DX12.exe then captured ~1 sec DiscordPTB.exe, and then again captured ~35 minutes Control_DX12.exe (....then some SearchHost.exe for ~1 sec etc etc).

 

[vanyaindigo]

I don't think it's OBS, more like the plugin itself, which captures the sound.

 

[Neryss]

I see nothing strange here - the "game audio" source captures different applications (DiscordPTB.exe and Control_DX12.exe), thus previous session was invalidated. It is normal. You captured ~30 minutes Control_DX12.exe then captured ~1 sec DiscordPTB.exe, and then again captured ~35 minutes Control_DX12.exe (....then some SearchHost.exe for ~1 sec etc etc).

Thank you for the insight, I didn't really know what I was looking for at this moment.
I have seen people haivng problem with some audio buffers etc, but I didn't see any trace of that in my logs...
The issue might come from something else than OBS then?

 

[Neryss]

I don't think it's OBS, more like the plugin itself, which captures the sound.

I guess, someone advised me to use Voicemeter or other programs like that. I've never tried to handle the sound of my stream with only the desktop audio for example. Everything was fine before switching to AMD so I din't try anything else,

 

[Suslik V]

Just to clarify.

In the log I see 3 sources in one scene, they are named:

• spotify
• game audio
• discord

1. I assume that the source named "game audio" should capture only "Control_DX12.exe" application (the game named "Control"). But during the capturing, this source started to capture different application named "DiscordPTB.exe" (it is not the main game "Control" as you can guess) and this lasted about 1 second, and then the source named "game audio" started to capture the "Control_DX12.exe" application again. Thus you got silence/crackling in the stream until sources were reinitialized.
2. Second assumption was that you heard the silence/crackling in the stream (somebody informed you) and you did some manipulations with the "game audio" source to resolve the issue and these manipulations were logged by OBS.

Edit:
What was during the stream (1 or 2)?

Never mind, I missed this:

...I need to change the source of the audio capture, set it back to the game, and hit ok. Then it fixes it for an indeterminate mount of time.

 

[Suslik V]

The issue might come from something else than OBS then?

Hard to say. OBS didn't register major anomalies in its log-file. One small memory leakage and that is all. Maybe system logs (OS event viewer) has more info for this date and time (when you streamed).

 

[Neryss]

Just to clarify.

In the log I see 3 sources in one scene, they are named:

• spotify
• game audio
• discord

1. I assume that the source named "game audio" should capture only "Control_DX12.exe" application (the game named "Control"). But during the capturing, this source started to capture different application named "DiscordPTB.exe" (it is not the main game "Control" as you can guess) and this lasted about 1 second, and then the source named "game audio" started to capture the "Control_DX12.exe" application again. Thus you got silence/crackling in the stream until sources were reinitialized.
2. Second assumption was that you heard the silence/crackling in the stream (somebody informed you) and you did some manipulations with the "game audio" source to resolve the issue and these manipulations were logged by OBS.

Edit:
What was during the stream (1 or 2)?

Never mind, I missed this:

Oh yes my bad, I was writing this post after my stream so it was kind of late (hence the lack of clarty in my words lol).

When the sound issue happens, I usually change the capture to another application (Discord here) then change it back to the old one (Control) and it fixes it.

One important point is that it only happens to the audio capture, not my microphone input. If I have several Audio Capture it usually happens with the one from my game (it happened to spotify but something like once or twice in 4 months, usually while I'm on my "waiting screen" so without any game sound capture).

 

[Neryss]

Hard to say. OBS didn't register major anomalies in its log-file. One small memory leakage and that is all. Maybe system logs (OS event viewer) has more info for this date and time (when you streamed).

Sadly ater taking a look through the event viewer, nothing came out as a culprit during the period I've done 3 different streaming sessions. Even before (except random Epic Games error and other stuff like that).

 

[vanyaindigo]

I had the same issue with "win-capture-audio" plugin.

 

[Neryss]

I had the same issue with "win-capture-audio" plugin.

It was thee plugin I used before OBS released their own version (Audio Application Capture (beta)) and I've never had issues with it before.

Since I've had problems with the OBS one, I tried going back and used the "win-capture-audio" plugin several weeks ago and same issue.
So it seems to be AMD related, and from my OBS logs, not really OBS related sadly, I don't know where else to search now.