Max Audio Buffering

[moodboosted]

Analyzer | OBS

OBS (Open Broadcaster Software) is free and open source software for video recording and live streaming. Stream to Twitch, YouTube and many other providers or record your own videos with high quality H264 / AAC encoding.

obsproject.com

Log file above:

I currently stream on twitch and within 1 hour to an hour and a half i face audio buffering issues on various sources. This is sometimes on the game im playing, spotify, or sometimes my microphone. I am unsure how to proceed in fixing this since on OBS it says the best way to fix it is to restart the device which is what I do but it happens every single stream.

Here is a clip to show you guys what I am talking about:

Twitch

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clips.twitch.tv

Upon relaunching the game in this situation it is fixed, but I do not understand how this keeps happening in the first place. This issue has been persisting for months at this point.
I was thinking maybe the error has something to do with this line in the log file but can not find any information about it.

23:51:42.613: Device '[VIRTUAL_AUDIO_DEVICE_PROCESS_LOOPBACK]' invalidated. Retrying (source: Dota Audio)
23:51:45.615: [WASAPISource::TryInitialize]:[[VIRTUAL_AUDIO_DEVICE_PROCESS_LOOPBACK]] Failed to find window
23:51:50.252: Max audio buffering reached!

Anybody have a fix for this?

 

[Nuking]

Are you using the new "Application Audio Capture" source?

I am currently having exactly the same issue, and it happens every time for specifically those sources. My microphone doesn't experience it whatsoever, and I've changed and done everything to try and fix this.

I hope its okay I add onto this post with my own experience; My Audio Problem

 

[moodboosted]

We have the same issue so doesn't hurt to link your same log as well:) In my situation it is not only the OBS audio source scene that faces the issue, I also use the voicemod audio driver so both of them sometimes face this error. I have received a few comments on the OBS discord on how to fix this including:

Install CoreAudio.
Use Simple Mode.
Change audio bitrate from 320kbps to 192kbps in OBS Settings > Output.
Set bitrate to 8000.
In OBS Settings > Stream make sure to link Twitch account.
Tick the box to ignore streaming service recommendations.
In OBS Settings > Video, downscale your output to 720p.

As well as if it happens again check my CPU usage in task manager to see if it is a computer bottleneck but I have a 3070 and ryzen 5

 

[Nuking]

We have the same issue so doesn't hurt to link your same log as well:) In my situation it is not only the OBS audio source scene that faces the issue, I also use the voicemod audio driver so both of them sometimes face this error. I have received a few comments on the OBS discord on how to fix this including:

Install CoreAudio.
Use Simple Mode.
Change audio bitrate from 320kbps to 192kbps in OBS Settings > Output.
Set bitrate to 8000.
In OBS Settings > Stream make sure to link Twitch account.
Tick the box to ignore streaming service recommendations.
In OBS Settings > Video, downscale your output to 720p.

As well as if it happens again check my CPU usage in task manager to see if it is a computer bottleneck but I have a 3070 and ryzen 5

Did anything work for you? I myself haven't tried any of those things and for me I doubt I'd have a CPU bottleneck or GPU, 9980xe with a 2080TI at like half use. Hoping this issue gets improved in a future version of OBS, as I'm still having the issue and am running 1080p 60fps, 8k bitrate with the recommendation off. Just haven't done the 720p as I would love to save the footage off twitch with the best quality.

 

[Yasunaii_]

Hello !
I wrote a post a little too fast I think ^^'

I saw yours only after :x

However I have the same problem as you and so I come to add my experience: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dFdKfdGB4-4

and I still add the message that I wrote in case he is interested I put more information ^^.

OBS STUDIO 29.0.2 Audio bug

-----Message en Français----- 'ai ce problème depuis plusieurs version d'OBS STUDIO, En gros sa fait sa : J'ai cut la scène au bon moment et après c'est juste la fin de la vidéo https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dFdKfdGB4-4 Concernant mes paramètre obs vous retrouverais des screen ci-joint ...

obsproject.com

 

[moodboosted]

Did anything work for you? I myself haven't tried any of those things and for me I doubt I'd have a CPU bottleneck or GPU, 9980xe with a 2080TI at like half use. Hoping this issue gets improved in a future version of OBS, as I'm still having the issue and am running 1080p 60fps, 8k bitrate with the recommendation off. Just haven't done the 720p as I would love to save the footage off twitch with the best quality.

Honestly nothing has worked for me I still have the problem even though I don't really see my CPU spike, I think my problem is with is my computer can't handle so many audio drivers that I am requiring my GOXLR to use since that is when the problem started to occur.

I am going to test changing my audio quality like I wrote people suggested in the OBS discord and I will get back to you:)

 

[moodboosted]

We have the same issue so doesn't hurt to link your same log as well:) In my situation it is not only the OBS audio source scene that faces the issue, I also use the voicemod audio driver so both of them sometimes face this error. I have received a few comments on the OBS discord on how to fix this including:

Install CoreAudio.
Use Simple Mode.
Change audio bitrate from 320kbps to 192kbps in OBS Settings > Output.
Set bitrate to 8000.
In OBS Settings > Stream make sure to link Twitch account.
Tick the box to ignore streaming service recommendations.
In OBS Settings > Video, downscale your output to 720p.

As well as if it happens again check my CPU usage in task manager to see if it is a computer bottleneck but I have a 3070 and ryzen 5

After attempting these fixes this did not stop my audio buffering issues, I will go ahead and uninstall my GOXLR drivers to see if that resolves the problem and give an update.

 

[moodboosted]

My problems are still persisting after all changes. However I have found the following documentation:

Recovering from an Invalid-Device Error - Win32 apps

Recovering from an Invalid-Device Error

learn.microsoft.com

I am starting to think I am sharing too many sources with my GOXLR and it is interfering with the Audio Application Beta source so I am going ahead to make a change and use the Audio output capture to capture my game sound and see if the error still occurs.

 

[moodboosted]

I have fixed the issue on my end. I removed the applciation audio source and made my goxlr gaming driver the default application. This can be done with voicemeter to have individual audio drivers if you do not have the program. But basically it will keep saying audio buffering because OBS will check the sources every few moments and sometimes it will have an access issue. When you add things to the default OBS sound it will always monitor it and never refresh it which will stop all audio buffering errors.

Hope that helps! Sorry I couldnt fix the exact issue but it is a good work around.

 

[HugoWoods]

Could you explain better how you solved it? I'm in a lot of trouble with that. I really didn't get it. I don't speak English very well and even with a translator I don't understand. Could you elaborate a bit more?

thks for the help!

 

[batteryman]

I have the same issue with "Max Audio Buffering" on my iMac using a GreenFeathers IP camera. OBS fails every time at 3:20am, which I don't understand and the issue is always "Max Audio Buffering" . The microphone on the camera is off and the iMac has no other programmes running. I am trying to soak test the camera before moving to a remote site. The iMac is 2013 running Catalina with 2.9 mHz Quad core and 8M RAM. This issue has plagued me for months now so I put the camera on my new iMac ( 2019 3.2 gHz 6 core etc etc) I can't get a more powerful computer and OBS failed on this one, same issue, same time, 3:20 am. Any thoughts?

 

[AaronD]

I have the same issue with "Max Audio Buffering" on my iMac using a GreenFeathers IP camera. OBS fails every time at 3:20am, which I don't understand and the issue is always "Max Audio Buffering" . The microphone on the camera is off and the iMac has no other programmes running. I am trying to soak test the camera before moving to a remote site. The iMac is 2013 running Catalina with 2.9 mHz Quad core and 8M RAM. This issue has plagued me for months now so I put the camera on my new iMac ( 2019 3.2 gHz 6 core etc etc) I can't get a more powerful computer and OBS failed on this one, same issue, same time, 3:20 am. Any thoughts?

I doubt it's the wall clock that triggers it. It might be the total run time. If you start at a different time, do you get the error at a different time too?

 

[iamarra]

Hii @moodboosted could you please explain how you managed to workaround your issues, bc I'm also having max audio buffer and I also use goxlr

Thanks!

 

[therentabrain]

For anyone who winds up here: I think the solution above was that instead of creating separate audio sources that come and go, to create a consistent audio source (under Global Audio Devices in Settings - Audio) which is always present. Because it isn't being opened and closed, it may be more stable and not trigger buffering.

NB: While this makes a lot of sense, the opposite is also a good thing to try: By creating an audio device that opens and closes as needed, it may release resources and allow for better results. That's tech for ya.

 

[MarekPro]

I had the same issue where when I switched scenes i log i got:

16:52:31.935: Max audio buffering reached!

16:52:31.935: adding 874 milliseconds of audio buffering, total audio buffering is now 960 milliseconds (source: playlist yt slow)
I resolved by checking in settings:

 

[moodboosted]

Just following up, the issue persisted even though I thought I fixed it. Turns out the issue was an audio capture bug and it can all be fixed with the windows 24h2 update you can download if you sign up for the windows insider program and opt for the developer version.

Finally a fix a year later lol

 

[MrGhost]

Just following up, the issue persisted even though I thought I fixed it. Turns out the issue was an audio capture bug and it can all be fixed with the windows 24h2 update you can download if you sign up for the windows insider program and opt for the developer version.

Finally a fix a year later lol

Very interesting. When does this 24h2 hit the mainstream? Hard to believe such a glitch. It is literally everywhere on the internet people with this problem.

 

[MrGhost]

nope doesn't help at all. Went out of my way to install it today ( just using the Windows Update Assistant, not the insider plan or anything) and it is installed, but it doesn't help anything with this audio issue.

 

[MrGhost]

Yeah I'm pretty sure it might be an ethernet cable cause I am having no problems after pushing those in. But only time will tell. Also another computer on the network I was able to watch an entire tv show on the studio monitor from it (NDI) so it obviously wasn't having this issue at the same computer that other issue was present on.

 

[MrGhost]

No it was not an ethernet cable. I have replaced that old one now,.
Furthermore I did spend 2 weeks on the Insider build of Windows 24h2 (hated) it's hated because it totally scrawed my computer and disabled a bunch of my programs with its continued forced updating, but I was using it for 2 weeks and somehow it had the fix for that audio issue.
Now I have restored a backup of the computer from Oct 3 (because of all the programs the new version 24H2 had scrawed) and the sound problem is back!.

LOL it was gone for all this time when I was using the (hated) 24H2 insider build! But I put back the old 23H2 and it's right back like a ghost from a trap.