Issue with (or) Confused about 'macOS Audio Capture' - double audio ? picking up muted mics?

[e_v]

Hi!

Long time OBS user on both Mac and Windows platforms.

In my recent streams and testing since the added "macOS Audio Capture" source I have been experiencing some major weirdness.

1. Even though I do *not* 'monitor' any of my input sources in OBS or, well, anywhere, I am getting a 'double audio' effect where there is a second delayed copy of all audio with a few ms of latency after the first... try as I might, I haven't found a solution.

2. I just think I discovered a new issue (or confusion) – I've just noticed that when I have added a mic input source (via Settings > Audio > Global Audio Devices):

Even with the monitoring off on the 'Mic/Aux 2' (macbook mic), AND even with it muted, for some reason it appears to be getting routed through into the "macOS Audio Capture" source!​

This is either a huge bug or I am totally misunderstanding the purpose of that source.

Note: When switching the macOS Audio Capture source to an individual application, this doesn't seem to happen...

I previously would use Loopback for my audio capture on MacOS and just use it as an audio source, and know that the built in MacOS audio capture functionality is still relatively new, so are these known issues or am I just maybe confused about how to use them?

Thanks so much!

xoxo://effie.vision/

 

[AaronD]

Usually, multiple copies of the same thing with a delay in between, indicates a feedback loop that involves:

• OBS's Monitor, and
• Either a global Desktop source, or a scene-specific Audio Output Capture source

And both the Monitor and the Source are set to the same device.

It picks up ALL that the selected device does, and that includes the Monitor if it's sent there too. And because it goes through the OS's audio system to do that, you get a delay equal to the amount of latency that your system has.

 

[e_v]

Usually, multiple copies of the same thing with a delay in between, indicates a feedback loop that involves:

• OBS's Monitor, and
• Either a global Desktop source, or a scene-specific Audio Output Capture source

And both the Monitor and the Source are set to the same device.

It picks up ALL that the selected device does, and that includes the Monitor if it's sent there too. And because it goes through the OS's audio system to do that, you get a delay equal to the amount of latency that your system has.

Yeah! Strange thing is, I do zero monitoring via OBS. Had me perplexed. I'm doing some more testing when I have time.


I solved issue #2-- it somehow was that audio from Camo (used for iPhone as webcam) was coming through the 'System Audio' even though I wasn't using said microphone anywhere... just muted it via Camo.

:shrug:

 

[AaronD]

I do zero monitoring via OBS.

You might not have anything plugged into that physical output, but if OBS is still sending something there, that's enough. You didn't forget to clean up after some tinkering, did you?

audio from Camo (used for iPhone as webcam) was coming through the 'System Audio' even though I wasn't using said microphone anywhere... just muted it via Camo.

:shrug:

Don't know if Mac has the same thing, but Windows has an option for each audio input to "Listen to this device", which sends it to the current default audio output device. That could also be a way to get a supposedly-muted mic into a Desktop or Output capture source.

 

[e_v]

You might not have anything plugged into that physical output, but if OBS is still sending something there, that's enough. You didn't forget to clean up after some tinkering, did you?


Don't know if Mac has the same thing, but Windows has an option for each audio input to "Listen to this device", which sends it to the current default audio output device. That could also be a way to get a supposedly-muted mic into a Desktop or Output capture source.

Welp, issue #1 I believe was also caused by the Camo application some how!

Not sure how to delete or mark a thread as closed / solved here, but... solved!