Has using ALSA input for Desktop Audio source been deprecated?

[jtg567]

I had for years used OBS with an external USB audio interface (EMU 0404) as the Desktop Audio source without issue

After a recent update I've found that Desktop Audio sources can only be ALSA output? My existing setup didn't have incoming sound from the interface (no activity on meters) and pw-top showed only the output side of the interface with +OBS whereas the input side was still feeding ProjectM like usual

I had to select the interface as Mic/Aux input 2 to get sound to work, which works fine, but I'm a bit confused why the existing functionality changed?

 

[stephematician]

ALSA is lower level than pipewire; whatever pipewire (pw-top) is showing has nothing to do with whether or not OBS is going to see the device via the ALSA API. Check arecord --list-pcms to see which devices you can record sound from via ALSA API.

Otherwise, if the device is appearing OK with PipeWire - why not use the PipeWire audio plugin for OBS (https://obsproject.com/forum/resources/pipewire-audio-capture.1458/)?