Question / Help Audio Q. can i separate audio sources while still monitoring them without everything going to the desktop source?

[zackmatic99]

Im trying to have
-game/desktop on channel 1
-mic on channel 2
-music on channel 3

the problem im having?
by monitoring all three channels, it causes all three of them to go into channel one.
i want to hear my entire broadcast without everything going into one channel.
why? because if i am listening to potentially copyrighted music during my stream, i want to be able to pull it out in post, so i can post it to youtube without worrying.

so far i can only get my plan to work if i turn off monitoring for channel 2 and 3. then i cant hear the music!
i want to monitor channels without them going on the "desktop" source!

 

[vapeahoy]

either get virtual audio or add a 4th card or a mixer with more channels or send it over fx send to a channel where you don't send output to stream in a mixer setup, hw or daw.

 

[zackmatic99]

either get virtual audio or add a 4th card or a mixer with more channels or send it over fx send to a channel where you don't send output to stream in a mixer setup, hw or daw.

thanks for your response. what is a 4th card? fx sends are part of obs or separate software? im glad solutions exist but not sure how to run with this info

 

[vapeahoy]

What gear do you have? You need to output to a channel that isn't in use by anything else in a traditional mixer hw route. In software the routing can be stopped and not enter back in, in some cases.

 

[zackmatic99]

just trying to wrap my head around this is making me question my own IQ .

so i downloaded the virtual cable app..

it seems to solve my problem i would have to send each audio source through two different cables ?
so each source goes to my OBS separately, and each source goes to my headphones separately.
i want to hear everything. and i also want the stream recording to be able to separate everything.
i dont even know if im making sense or even close on the trail here lol
fml right now

 

[carlmmii]

All you need is a single virtual audio cable. Set this virtual cable to be your default audio output device.

In windows settings -> system -> sounds, go to Advanced Sound Options at the bottom. Set OBS's output to go to your headphones.

In OBS, make sure your audio is set up correctly with your channels (specifically with channel 1 being the virtual cable now), and your monitored output from each should now go directly to your headphones.

This will need to be undone each time after OBS is closed, since you won't be able to hear your normal audio otherwise.

 

[vapeahoy]

This will need to be undone each time after OBS is closed, since you won't be able to hear your normal audio otherwise.

This is the cheap and viable option. Another is buying a mixer, there are some that will do multi track in a unique way so that each physical channel becomes an audio device in windows/operating system. Soundcraft mtk 12/22 will do that, as will one from zoom, and i think some of the motu devices. It's sort of a mystery to me why there isn't a filter for this in price checking search engines for products, as it is a really useful feature. Buying just any multi track mixer does not mean it will necessarily do this, infact most won't. And a lot of the hardware on the market are old products, so research will be necessary. Im not buying the 12 mtk, as it is a bit dated, and are lacking some other features that most modern mixers have, tho at a bit higher price point. This feature or not, practically all mixers with enough channels will be able to help you out as long as you can separate the output to it's own device, be it from the mixer or a separate physical unit.

Infact there is a niche market for a good stream mixer here that i don't see a really strong contender for that has f.ex audio ducking, power button, decent build quality overrall etc. in addition to being multitrack/with separate devices output.

 

[zackmatic99]

All you need is a single virtual audio cable. Set this virtual cable to be your default audio output device.

In windows settings -> system -> sounds, go to Advanced Sound Options at the bottom. Set OBS's output to go to your headphones.

In OBS, make sure your audio is set up correctly with your channels (specifically with channel 1 being the virtual cable now), and your monitored output from each should now go directly to your headphones.

This will need to be undone each time after OBS is closed, since you won't be able to hear your normal audio otherwise.

so i spent hours screwing up your advice and changing things back and forth and somehow it eventually worked. i brought the recording into premiere pro and my game, mic, and music were neatly in 3 separate audio tracks. though i admit i am still confused, but i was smart enough to screenshot every single audio setting i could possibly think of anywhere,in case i screw it up again. haha. anyways thank you for lending your expertise both of you.

 

[carlmmii]

Looks like you followed the directions perfectly! Glad you got it working.

 

[vapeahoy]

"App volume and device preferences" - is capable of saving device settings. I've been asking and reporting on this for years to MS.
It is working quite well to some extent now, but i have noticed it is a bit fidgety in remembering, and i need higer VCCSA voltage with several devices to have it working consistently. Before Windows 10 was capable of saving default audio device for an application/program/game, we had to resort to third party programs that only served the purpose of saving and re-routing audio to "saved" audio devices.
You should be aware of this as you delve into virtual audio and any potential updates to that..
It's one of the features that offer a unique benefit for tasks such as streaming, but even just for regular VOIP/gaming use cases, or actual work related stuff. The audio stack in win10 is still messy but it's getting there.

 

[zackmatic99]

Looks like you followed the directions perfectly! Glad you got it working.

so it backfired.
i went on stream and they tell me my mic doesnt work even though i hear everything properly in my headphones. so i end stream.
i pull the archive video into premiere pro, and all the tracks are there, my mic audio and everything!
so it didnt stream it, but it recorded it properly. could there be a conflict with the input settings or something short circuiting it for the broadcast? bizarre

 

[zackmatic99]

maybe i need to make a separate topic for this strange issue

 

[zackmatic99]

i think i solved it actually . didnt realize only one track could stream and i have to put every source through one track

 

[vapeahoy]

i think i solved it actually . didnt realize only one track could stream and i have to put every source through one track

That's how it works. Otherwise viewers would have to be able to change the audio channel. There are pro's and con's to either single or multi track. What would be fun would be if we could stream at so high bitrate we could have several streams, both audio/video, so that viewer could look into what's going on in each one separately. Well we can do it, it's just a matter of service support and bitrate. OBS isn't there yet tho.
Most seem to prefer setting all sources to track 1, as that is the native track to start playing off in players like VLC, previously we sorta had to set it to the last track due to issues now fixed.