Audio from Soundflower getting 'knocked out' during live stream

[robin_pens]

Hi all, I have an ongoing audio issue that is causing me a lot of trouble, any help would be hugely appreciated. I'm referring to my iMac setup as per my signature.

I run a Twitch live stream once a week for a few hours and every time, my Soundflower Audio Source gets 'knocked out' at some point during the stream.

It usually happens when I switch to another Scene, and sometimes it happens when an alert is played through a Browser Source (from Streamlabs). The audio stops, and I can see that nothing is being picked up on the meter.

If I click on the settings cog for the device in the Mixer, and click properties, switch to another device and then back again to Soundflower, the audio resumes.

I have Soundflower setup as my main audio output device on my iMac and have the Pretzel desktop player routed into it. I also use iTunes sometimes which is routed via System Audio into Soundflower. Soundflower is setup as an 'audio input device' in OBS. I'm not using any kind of aggregate device.

On my most recent stream (attached Log File was from this stream) I also had a problem where my audio monitoring got knocked out; I'm using an external USB mixer to monitor. I had to go into Advance Audio Properties and select a different option under Audio Monitoring, then re-select 'Monitor and Output' to get things to work.

I had a look through the Log and found 100's of instances of the line ' [input_callback]:[device 'Soundflower (2ch)'] audio retrieval failed: -50 ' - could this point to a problem?

A side note: I have previously used iShowU Audio Capture and had similar problems with that. I've been using Soundflower for years though.

This is driving me crazy! Anyone got an ideas? Cheers, Robin.

Log file : https://obsproject.com/logs/R0EThDOL-84-duiv

 

[robin_pens]

Hi folks.

Streamed last night, and once again having this issue, occurred on several occasions, it's very frustrating.

I can't be the only one experiencing this issue surely!?

Any help is hugely appreciated. Cheers, Robin.

PS. I've had to attach the Log File because I've opened OBS a couple of times since it was created.

 

[clouddancer9]

I too have been using soundflower for years and have had no issues. I currently running mojave as it most stable version and performance version since snow leopard, but I do also run on catalina(so many updates in such short time and removal of features). I will try to test to see if this happens as I am running and testing a new capture card. We did do a live stream and I dont recall it having any issue, some videos are posted on our youtube channel with studio mode used too. But will let you know if we find any issues.

One big suggestion. Make sure you use Mac built in audio for really anything. As Audio and Video drivers are the biggest performance and compatibility issues, so to make sure all works as designed, native is the best. Once you have it stable you can then test other devices which you might like to use. Also make sure(if you use external monitor) that is detected or set correctly. How a device parameter is define and set is important too, to make OS X stable.

 

[robin_pens]

Thank you for your reply @clouddancer9 and thanks for the suggestions.

I understand your points regarding using the native options, and I'm only really using Soundflower nowadays as a means for routing audio into OBS. The issue is happening on my iMac which is running High Sierra and the latest version of OBS. It's possible that this could be causing an issue, but unfortunately I'm unable to upgrade this 'vintage' machine's OS any further.

One thing I'm going to try, is to change the Soundflower Audio Device in OBS from an 'Input' device to an 'Output' device.

I have the Pretzel Rocks player, iTunes and desktop audio going 'in' to Soundflower. So my thinking is that I should maybe be using Soundflower's 'output' as the Device in OBS to grab the audio.

I'll keep this thread updated with my findings; fingers crossed.

 

[robin_pens]

After some playing around with different options and some testing, I have managed to make things more stable with Soundflower, and my audio isn't getting 'knocked-out' every time my Streamlabs Alerts Box is activated. But I still have issues with monitoring, although this is through a separate device, so probably a separate issue.

I was routing all audio to Soundflower and setting Soundflower as my Mac's audio device. The more common method of creating a 'Multi-Output Device' seems to be a more stable option.

In OSX's Audio MIDI Setup i created a Multi Output device with Soundflower and Built-In Output as Output Devices, and kept Soundflower as my input device in OBS. I select the Multi-Output Device as my system Output Device; Soundflower as my output in the Pretzel Rocks player; and everything works as expected. No more problems.

Just though it would be worth sharing this, although I am aware that the Multi-Output Device method is the one most people recommend, with good reason it seems!