Audio Monitoring: Monitor and Output Issues - Audio Sometimes Fails to Monitor unless reset switching to Monitor Off then back to Monitor and Output

[Beastmages]

Hello OBS folks, I only very recently noticed the option under Audio Monitoring to use "Monitor and Output" so I could hear the sounds/videos I play on stream. While this option has brought me great joy, i noticed a consistent bug every few streams where the sound/video would bug and i wouldn't be able to hear the sound/video during my stream even though the Audio Monitoring setting was set to "Monitor and Output". To fix this bug I'd simply go into my audio properties, go to audio monitoring, and switch it to Monitor Off, then back to Monitor and Output, & then it'd work again. Well, i have a ton of videos/sounds on my OBS and i was going to adjust all the clips to "Monitor and Output" but now i have this fear that i'll have to do this constant resetting of any video/sound that fails to be heard by me the streamer (luckily the sound even if it fails to be Monitored goes out to the stream). I've already thought of a workaround where I'd save my Scene Collection and duplicate it up to 10x or more after adjusting every audio monitoring to "Monitor and Output", then switch to an unused scene every stream, but that's a lot of effort.

I was wondering if what i'm experiencing is happening with anyone else, or if this can perhaps be patched? Any folks that heavily use sounds/clips and use Monitor and Output have the same issues?

Thank you!

 

[roadbeef]

I too have been experiencing an identical issue and have not found a permanent fix.
I monitor four things while streaming with vanilla OBS:
- elgato game capture
- sayitnow text tospeech web app
- 2x soundalerts web apps
Every other stream, or sometimes every stream, someone in my chat will play a sound alert or give a follow and I won't hear it.
My fix has been the very same as Beastmages - I open advanced audio properties, and "turn it off and then on again." Once I've done this, sounds will play thru my headphone monitoring output fine until the next stream the following day.
Very frustrating because it seems to happen randomly. I have not been fiddling with scenes nor audio devices. I refresh each web app in OBS prior to going live, too. I am lost as to what I should do to permanently fix this issue.

Can anyone offer some ideas? Thank you in advance

edit: attached my audio properties window as it exists this morning

 

[SSBCSound]

I am having the same issue. With "monitor and output" set for my audio mix, it will be working fine. Then I unplug the headphones, then plug them back in, and no monitor. I change the setting to "Monitor Off" and change it right back to "Monitor and Output" and it works again until the next unplug.

 

[jtemplin]

Sigh. I suffer from this too. And our streamed church services make use of audio and video clips. I'm always having to toggle to "Monitor Off" back to "Monitor and Output" for my monitor output to work. Meanwhile, the audience has missed the first few seconds of the clip while I make that toggle. Very frustrating.

Windows 26.1

 

[jtemplin]

After getting fed up with this, and doing a lot of research, I have a workaround that seems to be bulletproof: don't use the "Media Source" sound source. Install VLC (64-bit if you have 64-bit OBS, 32-bit otherwise), and use the "VLC Video Source" sound source to play your video and audio files. Make sure you set your Audio Monitoring to "Monitor and Output" for that source (the default seems to be "Monitor Off").

I've been switching scenes with abandon and haven't been able to break monitoring.

 

[Jeffry Weidner]

After getting fed up with this, and doing a lot of research, I have a workaround that seems to be bulletproof: don't use the "Media Source" sound source. Install VLC (64-bit if you have 64-bit OBS, 32-bit otherwise), and use the "VLC Video Source" sound source to play your video and audio files. Make sure you set your Audio Monitoring to "Monitor and Output" for that source (the default seems to be "Monitor Off").

I've been switching scenes with abandon and haven't been able to break monitoring.

Thank you Thank you! This works great after reboot of the system. You are mighty crafty, and we appreciate you!

 

[djjayo]

After switching computers we have been experiencing the same as listed above:
Our sound is being routed through a TC helicon Blender, (so myself and one other can monitor, as well as using it as an input source for a rode mic.

The monitoring and mic has dropped twice while live but seems to happen more frequently now pre going live. (losing both the rode mic input as well as the monitor to both of our headphones (all plugged into the blender mixer).

If I go to advanced audio and toggle the "monitor and output" > "output only" > "monitor only" and back a few times, i can get both the headphones and mic back.

I will try what Jtemplin has suggested above, and am wondering if there is anything else I should be looking for.

We have swapped computers in the last few weeks, however this issue presented itself on the previous pc as well. (after about a year of streaming without the above mentioned issue)

 

[CodeRushed]

I have also started seening this issue in the last four weeks. The workaround is exactly as described. I turn "Audio Montoring" to "Off", then back to "Monitor and Output", and everything works as expected. Then if I restart OBS the problem is back. I have about 300 scenes, and about 150 of them have these audio problems. Isn't there some kind of fix? Rebuilding all of these scenes by hand to work in VLC sounds like it will take days.

 

[peesoup]

I also have this problem, it's really annoying. I switched to Streamlabs just to avoid it but ended up back with OBS because it's overall better. I have 8ish audio sources I have to do this with for every stream. (I'm on a Mac but couldn't find anyone talking about this issue in Mac support)

 

[Tyr808]

I'm having this issue myself, OBS 27.1.3 (64-bit, windows 11). It happens with my microphone as well as other sources, just need to be toggled off and on again. Not a big deal and an easy fix with my fairly simple set up, but I'd LOVE to not have to ever worry about it or forget it again

 

[paedlorida]

yep. toggle off, toggle on

 

[jchriswell1231]

I too have this exact issue everyday. It is not terribly difficult to go in before each stream everyday and in each scene toggle monitor to off then back on. However sometimes I have forgotten and then a viewer pays bitties for a sound alert or hard earned channel points and their sound doesn't play. Yes I can fix it and go on and manually play it for them. However usually these sounds are timed perfectly by a viewer to play at just the right moment and I cannot get that moment back for them and it's super frustrating. Big companies like slobs or obs should not have to deal with such miniscule problems. DO BETTER OBS, SLOBS..

 

[mewdeline]

I made an account just to say that this is annoyingly still a problem in 2024....

 

[Orobou]

I was looking for a thread about this problem too, can't believe this bug has been untouched since 2021, how do professional streamers deal with that problem or do they not use the monitoring feature?

 

[Dan Driggs]

Just wanted to chime in; I'm consistently having this issue as well. Sometimes toggling it on and off does the trick, but other times it just refuses to monitor the audio properly.

 

[FarLive]

I have the same problem but found no solution. Was using the monitor to feed a shoutcast stream and some sources just did not play - dead air. Installed virtual cable to feed my shoutcast to cure the dead air, but still have occasional dead monitor. Very annoying!