Question / Help Dual PC Audio Stream Tangled Mess of Cables

Dre Silva

New Member
Hi everyone,

I am new to this Forum, I came upon it while trying to figure out my audio problem while trying to setup a dual PC streaming setup mainly for twitch. Been wanting to get into live streaming but i have not been able to figure the whole audio mess with a dual PC setup.

I was wondering if i could get some assistance from you fine people here, been reading some of the posts and suggestions here but i still have not been able to lock it down with my setup, i am at my wits end, just about to throw in the towel.

Any help and guidance would be appreciated!

I have attached a picture showing my setup and all the connections
layout.jpg


This is the latest connections i think i have at the moment, I'm so tired of redoing and trying different ways of routing the cables from all the YouTube setups out there. I have been able to capture video with OBS at times but i haven't been able to get audio to come over. It seem i just have not been able to route properly to get control of the audio.

I run TS3 / Raidcall and Skype for online comms and would like to mix in some back ground music keeping TS3, Raidcall and Skype in separate channels, i don't run TS3 and Raidcall at the same time just one or the other . I have 3 sound cards in my Gaming PC, two Sound Blaster Audigy FX's and the on board Realtek audio, at the moment the two SB cards are not in use, I also have a Scarlett USB Audio interface that is not in use at the moment, i know some streamers do incorporate the Scarlett in their setup and i have tried but no joy on that either. The Scarlett was part of my original online gaming setup with the XLR mic and a Mayflower headphone Amp/DAC that i forgot to show. that setup works perfect for a single PC non streaming setup.

Connection as follows:
Nvidia 670 FTW: HDMI out to HDMI splitter (In), Spliter (out) #1 to HD Live Gamer (In), splitter (out) #2 to TV 1. (RED CABLE)
STREAMING PC: 9800GTX video (DVI/HDMI adapter) to TV 2 (RED CABLE)
GamePC: onboard audio (out) to HD Live Gamer audio (In) (BLUE CABLE)
HD Live Gamer: audio (out) to Mixer stereo channel (GREEN CABLE)

Mixer: USB Interface to Streaming PC USB port on back (PINK CABLE)
note: i have tried this connection and i have also tried going analog without USB???

Mixer: main out to Streaming PC onboard sound card (Line In) (BLACK CABLE)
STREAMING PC: onboard audio headphone (out) to Mixer stereo channel (PURPLE CABLE)
XLR and Headphone: mixer (In) respectfully (ORANGE CABLE)

Not sure if i am forgetting anything my brain is so fried, just want to be able to get descent clean mixed and controlled audio. If anyone could help id be your friend for life :))

THANKS!!

higher rez image link
http://picpaste.com/layout-3gvckx90.jpg
 

dodgepong

Administrator
Forum Admin
Oh boy.

Alright, here is what you need to do:

0) Replace that 9800GT. I know, this isn't audio advice, this is a freebie. You might as well have a piece of cardboard in there for your GPU. OBS will not run well with that GPU at all, to the point where there is no use in even using it as a streaming PC. If you have a modern Intel CPU, you might as well use the integrated GPU instead.

The rest of your video setup is fine.

OK, on to the audio:

Inputs

1) All audio goes through the sound board before it goes to the destination. Don't do any passthrough anywhere.

2) Mic goes into channel 1. That is easy. Consider turning up the compressor, and make sure your gain is set at an appropriate level (press the SOLO button and the PFL button next to the volume meter, watch the volume meter and talk into the mic at a normal volume, and turn gain until the meter is peaking at 0db when talking, then switch off SOLO and PFL).

3) The output of whatever device is set as your "default" output audio device on your Gaming PC goes to stereo channel 5/6, label it "Gaming PC". This will be what games will output to, and anything that uses the default audio device.

4) Pick one of your extra sound cards in your main PC, and decide that you will use it for VOIP/voice comms purposes. Plug its output into stereo channel 7/8, label it "VOIP".

5) Whichever sound card you didn't choose in step 4, that will be your Music sound card. Plug its output into stereo channel 9/10, and label it "Music".

6) If you want to get audio from your streaming PC (follower alerts or whatever), plug that sound card's output into stereo channel 11/12, and label it "Stream PC".


Computer Setup

Let's set up the audio devices on your computer first before the next part.

1) Make sure that the "Main PC" sound card is set as the default output in Windows.

2) In your VOIP programs (Skype, TS3, etc) set the output audio device to whatever device you chose in step 4 above. Also, set the Mic to be the Line In on that same audio device.

3) Choose a music program that can change its output device. iTunes and Spotify cannot do this, nor can browser-based players. I recommend foobar2000 personally, but as long as you can change the device that the music player outputs to, you're good. Set the music player to output to the device you chose in step 5 above.

4) In OBS on the streaming PC, mute the Desktop audio device, and set the Mic device to be the Line In input from the sound card. You don't need any other audio, since it is all being routed through the mixer.


Outputs

OK, we're going to do a bit of shenanigans here, but you will end of with a sweet setup, trust me. I use this setup myself and I LOVE it. You got yourself a good mixer with a submix, so you can do some really cool things. I'll get on to it.

1) MAIN OUT goes into the Line In on your streaming PC's sound card. This will be the audio that the stream will hear. I tend to avoid the USB connector, maybe I'm just old school, or have seen too many problems with USB audio devices with OBS in the past...

2) Get a 1/4" Mono to 3.5mm Stereo adaptor and a stereo 3.5mm cable, plug the adaptor into Aux Send 1, plug the cable into it, and connect it to the Line In on the VOIP sound card. This is how your VOIP friends are going to hear your mic.

3) On the row of AUX 1 knobs, press the "PRE" button in. This row of knobs will control what your friends hear over Skype/TS3. Anything you turn up, they will hear, regardless of the fader level or mute status. You'll probably want to start by turning up channel 1's Aux knob so they can hear your mic, and leave the rest off. (You can turn up the Music knob so they can hear your music over Skype/TS3, which is fun, not not recommended for normal use. :P)

4) Plug your headphones into the PHONES jack. This will be what you hear, of course. Alternatively, you can plug your speakers into this port, and then your headphones into your speakers, if you have speakers that let you do that.

5) PREP FOR SHENANIGANS: You should see a knob above the SUB 1-2 faders called PHONES/CTRL ROOM. That knob is your headphones master audio level knob. To the left of that is a box called "SOURCE" with 3 buttons in it. Press the "SUB 1-2" button and leave the others popped out. This means that your headphones will only hear things that are being sent to the SUB 1-2 mix.

6) SHENANIGANS: With this setup, any channel that has its "MAIN" button pressed will be heard by the stream, any channel that has its "SUB" button pressed will be heard by you, and any channel that has its Aux knob turned up will be heard by your VOIP friends. You can independently control what you, your stream, and your VOIP callers hear! Don't want to hear your own mic, but want the stream to hear it? Of course! Press MAIN on channel 1 but leave SUB popped out. Want to hear Skype, but you don't want the stream to hear it? Leave MAIN popped out on the VOIP channel but push it in on the SUB channel and you can hear but the stream can't!


Having buttons to turn on/off audio sources for yourself vs. the stream is amazingly useful. I think you will really like it.

Hopefully this was clear enough. You have the tools for a nice audio setup, and that sound board was a good buy. I'm very happy with my X1832USB.
 
Last edited:

Dre Silva

New Member
WOW...dodgepong!

That is one awesome reply LOL
I really appreciate your time for this DETAILED to do list :) It's like 2:00am here so i will get to working on it tomorrow, I sure hope you can keep an eye on this thread, I'll be posting my progress and stumbles.

Question?
"1) All audio goes through the sound board before it goes to the destination. Don't do any passthrough anywhere."

Do you mean the mixer? and this may be a dumb question but the destination?... is? it's the Live Gamer HD card right?

I guess it's time for a new GPU
Thanks again for your quick replay very appreciated!!
 

dodgepong

Administrator
Forum Admin
Yes, all audio goes through the mixer. You will have multiple destinations: Main output (streaming PC Line In), Headphones, and Aux 1 out (VOIP sound card Line In). The capture card will receive no audio input, as you will be getting your audio via the Stream PC's Line In.
 

Dre Silva

New Member
-Do i still need VAC to route VOIP from the two sound cards to the mixer?
don't seem to be able to choose, a secondary audio source (the two additional sound cards) with with in Raidcall/TS3 and Skype?
 

Dre Silva

New Member
Dodgepong

I pretty much all the cable routing done, I'm not a hardware guy so all your help you've given me is so greatly appreciated!

OK, i have:
CH 1 Mic, working, adjusted levels, i can hear it thru my headset

CH 5/6 Game audio working

CH 7/8 VOIP, have Skype on it now so i can use the Echo/Sound test with it, that works sort of (I'll explain further down)

Aux Send is connected not sure if its working yet need to test that out still, this setup? Is it a Mix-minus setup I'm guessing?

CH 9/10 skipped for now, I'm thinking i can plug an MP3 player directly into the channel and use it that way, saves me on using the other SB card, but i do like the whole Foobar setup may switch to that setup when i iron out all the rest of the bugs

CH 11/12 Stream PC audio, OK here we go, i have general audio coming into the mixer from the Stream PC, like a videos and youtube audio but:
-when i use the Avermedia Recentral software i get video and I am able to capture but no audio? I test just by capturing the gaming computer runing a video with audio but doesn't capture the audio from it, also Recentral doesn't recognize a mic in the setup? I tried to settingup OBS on the Stream PC but it too won't see a mic?

-The Mic, it works when i talk into it, i can hear it thru the headset and levels are good.
-Skype won't see a mic either on the Gaming PC?

I know this is an analog setup, mic connected directly into the mixer, but how would the VOIP's recognize a mic thats not connected to the PC?
 

dodgepong

Administrator
Forum Admin
Did you plug the main outputs of the sound board into the Line In of the Streaming PC? RECentral looks at the audio in of the capture card, but presumably you are using OBS and not RECentral, so just set OBS's mic to the Line In of the sound card.

The "mic" on the gaming PC is the Aux 1 output from your mixer. Aux 1 -> Line In on one of the sound cards, and then you select that Line In device as your Skype mic. Also, make sure to turn up the Aux knob on Channel 1 so that your mic is sent to Aux 1 (which goes to the computer, which goes to Skype).

And remember, if you don't want to always hear your mic, then don't press the SUB button next to that channel.
 

Dre Silva

New Member
Got OBS to capture with video and mic commentary !!!! Did the Happy Dance !!!!
set the "line in" on onboard sound card.

Tomorrow i'm going to do a live test on twitch to see how if looks and sounds on that side of things

Skype: It still says it cant detect a sound card, I can make a call to the sound test service from channel 7/8, audio is set (Aux 1) runs to (Line In) on SB

for:
microphone=none, no other option on the drop down
speakers= SB card on CH 7/8
Ringing=SB card on CH 7/8, i can here it call out

I go to show Advanced options and i can see all "Line In's" and sound devices listed but they are all greyed out and cannot choose (Line In) for the SB card on CH 7/8

On "Aux 1" / "Mic CH 1" i get a lot of feedback on the headphones, Is that just because i need to fiddle with CH 1 gain, pre button down and the knob turn to left for VOIP to hear me plus "Aux send 1" and knob above the headphone knob? I'm a bit confused on that?

Also on the captures i get an awful amount o staticky and electronic noise, any way to remove or minimize the the hum?

Thanks Dodgepong!!

I'm getting there :)

EDIT: when you say my headphones will only hear things sent to SUB 1-2 mix, press SUB 1-2, i still can everything on the headphones? also so kinda confused on that part also.
 
Last edited:

EpicReset

Member
question... does that sound mixer have the ability to auto duck the audio of a channel? for example with dodge's recommended setup, if mic or skype channel recieve input, can it auto duck the game sound channel and or the music channel?
 

Dre Silva

New Member
@EpicReset: From what I've read i think you would have to add a separate Compressor with Side Chain Inputs to the setup for it to be able to do ducking .

@dodgepong: Still haven't been able to get mic line in on SB card, everythin is greyed out on the list, any Ideas?
 

dodgepong

Administrator
Forum Admin
Go into your recording devices in Windows, right click, and show disabled devices. See if the Line In is disabled there, and enable it.
 

Dre Silva

New Member
That did it dodgepong!!
I have full audio control on all my audio sources :) just left is live Twitch testing to get the levels sorted and minor tweaks.

I'm gonna try a Ground Loop Filter to see if that knocks down the ground hum.

So everything seems to be working thanks to you. Can't tell you how much i appreciated your help, THANK YOU!

But you know what?... I still have a "Tangled Mess of Cables" can you help with that?

LOL just kidding :)
 

dodgepong

Administrator
Forum Admin
Also with regards to your question about headphones and the SUB 1-2 mix: in the second-to-last step, I instructed to press the SUB 1-2 button on the "SOURCE" box next to the PHONES level knob, and leave the other two unpressed. That means that anything that is sent to the SUB 1-2 mix will also be sent to your headphones. To send something to the SUB 1-2 mix, press the SUB button on that channel.
 

Sinistercalling

New Member
Hello everyone this is my first post here let me start off by saying dodgepong thank you so much for this in depth explanation of what to do with this setup i have the exact same mixer and similar hardware i am trying to get setup in there i only have one question with this setup i would i work in being able to use the scarlett i purchased it and it seems like a waste to let it sit there so i would very much like to use it. anxiously awaiting your reply thanks in advance
 

Dre Silva

New Member
@Sinistercalling

Hi Sinsinter, I think if you replace your Default game sound (out) with the Scarlett USB interface then (out) into one of the stereo channels on the mixer then set your windows playback device to the scartett that would get your game audio going through. At the moment i have my scarlett used on another PC so i didn't use it on my stream setup.
 

Sinistercalling

New Member
@Dre Silva @dodgepong

Hello Dre thanks alot for replying once i have the chance later today im going to go ahead and give that a try if i need more assistance ill be sure to post back again also i would love to see your working schematic of your completed setup
 
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