Question / Help Media Source silent on stream - NOT a monitoring issue

[Meldj]

Hi all,

I've done a lot of reading before resorting to posting here. I've just moved from SLOBS to OBS and for the most part I'm very glad.

However, I'm having one issue that I cannot get my head around. I have a media source that I've added to one scene. I've followed the usual settings of:
Local file (it's an MP3)
Loop
Restart playback when source becomes active
Use hardware decoding when available (tried this both on and off)
Show nothing when playback ends (tried both on and off)
Close file when inactive (tried both on and off)
Speed is set to 100%
YUV Colour range Auto

Now - I can see the audio metre moving up and down when the source becomes active. If I turn on monitoring, I can hear the source. No matter what I set that Audio Monitoring to, the media source cannot be heard on stream. It's being output through all tracks 1-6. I'm totally stumped - Any suggestions?

TIA.

 

[vapeahoy]

Yeah you need to enable the audio track for the audio track that is being sent to stream. audio mixer -> advanced properties. also check your settings, in obs..

 

[Meldj]

Yeah you need to enable the audio track for the audio track that is being sent to stream. audio mixer -> advanced properties. also check your settings, in obs..

I've enabled audio track one for the stream in the output settings for OBS.
I've sent the Media Source to track one via the mixer settings.
Still no sound on stream

 

[vapeahoy]

The only event that should cause something like that to happen is a hardware conflict, bad cabling work or defect part.
u need to post a log file with stream attempt. or record attempt if it happens on recording as well.

 

[Meldj]

Here's a link to a log of my current stream where' I'm having this issue: https://obsproject.com/logs/X13bYhtwGaLpRjbm

 

[vapeahoy]

you have a conflict with VoiceMeeter. Not an obs issue if it doesn't allow to be controlled from obs. You should uncheck "allow exclusive control " for audio devices and see if that helps.

 

[Meldj]

you have a conflict with VoiceMeeter. Not an obs issue if it doesn't allow to be controlled from obs. You should uncheck "allow exclusive control " for audio devices and see if that helps.

Thanks for the info - I'm surprised to hear that as I know Voicemeeter is a common choice amongst streamers.

I've tried unchecking allow exclusive control but this hasn't changed the issue. Still having a play around with various means of monitoring and outputting but nothing seems to be doing the trick

 

[vapeahoy]

Windows isnt up to date. I would try a different container for the media source, as in "what if" testing and see what happens. Find the entry point of problem. One culprit could be adding an audio filter that does something weird which you've simply forgotten if u have a lot of stuff.

 

[Meldj]

Windows isnt up to date. I would try a different container for the media source, as in "what if" testing and see what happens. Find the entry point of problem. One culprit could be adding an audio filter that does something weird which you've simply forgotten if u have a lot of stuff.

Updating windows now - It won't be far out of date.

Can you clarify what you mean by a different container?

I'm fairly sure it's not a filter, my scenes aren't too busy but will double check

 

[Meldj]

Updating windows now - It won't be far out of date.

Can you clarify what you mean by a different container?

I'm fairly sure it's not a filter, my scenes aren't too busy but will double check

What really gets me is that I can hear in when I monitor it, I can see it moving in the mixer, the audio is clearly there. I just don't know why it isn't going to the stream?

 

[Meldj]

To add to the confusion - I have a browser source in my scene (an alert box for followers etc). I can set this to source to monitor off, or monitor and output, and it still plays on stream. The alert box is working fine, but i cannot get the media source to copy its behaviour!

 

[Meldj]

I've found a work around - I really am not convinced that this is a Voicemeeter issue.

What I've done is set my Monitoring device to be a single channel in Voicemeeter. I've then routed that channel so it doesn't play in my headphones but re-routes the audio back into Voicemeeter output to go back to the stream, mixed in with my desktop audio. Not ideal but it works for now.

This will eventually cause an issue when I have something that I want to monitor and actually hear, without the stream hearing it.

 

[vapeahoy]

Working with virtual audio cables will eventually lead to messy solutions. There's not an api communication between obs and your other software outside of OBS's control. Perhaps consider finding a suitable hardware solution. Tho I say that and i'm not too happy about the current choices out there. One can gain certainly quite a lot of control but in some cases questionable quality control. I would lookup voicemeeter's support and check with what other users are doing, gain an understanding if you have met the limit of options or if there's something else you can do.
The fact that you dont see this as a voicemeeter issue is quite revealing tbh.

 

[Meldj]

Working with virtual audio cables will eventually lead to messy solutions. There's not an api communication between obs and your other software outside of OBS's control. Perhaps consider finding a suitable hardware solution. Tho I say that and i'm not too happy about the current choices out there. One can gain certainly quite a lot of control but in some cases questionable quality control. I would lookup voicemeeter's support and check with what other users are doing, gain an understanding if you have met the limit of options or if there's something else you can do.
The fact that you dont see this as a voicemeeter issue is quite revealing tbh.

Man there's no need to get shirty and make sly comments about being revealing. I'm just trying to share my thought process and I'm frustrated enough as it is.

My reasoning behind thinking it's not a voice-meter issue is as follows: I know alot of streamers using Voicemeeter to split audio from discord etc off of their stream. This functionality is working fine for me. The ONLY issue here is that sounds generated from WITHIN obs do not reach the stream. I.e. everything I send to obs via voicemeeter is heard on stream, dicord, mic, desktop audio. The issue only comes in when I'm trying to play an audio source inside of OBS - it just doesn't seem to send it anywhere.

 

[Meldj]

One other test I've just run which also makes me think this is not a voicemeeter issue

I set my monitoring device to default (meaning use system default device playback, right?). This sends monitoring to a voicemeeter channel where it gets mixed with my desktop audio/game sounds. This channel is then routed to a 2nd voicemeeter channel, where I can mix in any additional audio such as discord or spotify (being sent in from yet more voicemeeter channels). I send this fully mixed and ready to stream channel as an input device in OBS. Everything goes to the stream and works as expected. But Ideally, I don't want my monitor only audio to get sent to voicemeeter and be mixed with my desktop audio and sent to stream.

So, I set my monitoring device to be my headphones (bypassing voicemeeter alotogether). Now, if I set the source to both Monitor and Output, I can hear it in my headphones, but not on stream.

This is true of my alert box as well.

 

[vapeahoy]

Quite fascinating, your not reading your own analysis of what you're writing. If what you say is the case, then whatever is set as the output of OBS is the device that goes into Voicemeter or a fixed set device - *thats the problem* (*edited, its late and tired). Windows 10 now remembers programs default audio device. And since you have plural audio devices..You cannot do multiple variations of the monitor device. Consider drawing up your own audio chain in MS Paint, if only just for fun.

My reasoning behind thinking it's not a voice-meter issue is as follows: I know alot of streamers using Voicemeeter to split audio from discord etc off of their stream. This functionality is working fine for me. The ONLY issue here is that sounds generated from WITHIN obs do not reach the stream. I.e. everything I send to obs via voicemeeter is heard on stream, dicord, mic, desktop audio. The issue only comes in when I'm trying to play an audio source inside of OBS - it just doesn't seem to send it anywhere.

 

[Meldj]

I've drawn it out on paper, see attached

I'm really sorry if I'm being truly dense. Even after drawing it out, I don't see why I should have to monitor something and then feed that signal back to OBS in order for it to be output to stream. Am I missing something blindingly obvious? I'm not a complete noob to streaming and I've had this exact set up working on other streaming software. OBS gives me by far the best performance, just need to sort this one issue out.

 

[Meldj]

In short - I want to monitor a media source and have it output to the stream without playing in my headphones. This is a functionality that definitely exist in OBS. The normal way to do this is to set the media source to be monitor off/output only. If I do this with my monitoring device set as my headphone, it does not output to the stream.

The only way I've been able to get it to output to the stream is by setting my monitoring device to be something that's already being captured/inserted into obs and turning monitoring on for the media source. It's essential the source does not play in my monitoring device.

 

[vapeahoy]

That's one terrible audio chain... If you are serious about monitoring you would have a dedicated headset for it. That's sort of the point with a monitoring solution. And yes this is blindingly obvious. Even if it worked like you wanted as you describe it here, the first thing that would happen is that everyone else who does audio monitoring in obs would be pissed off. The way to set this up would be a mix minus solution in hardware.

 

[Meldj]

Could you draw me the audio chain as you would set it up?

I do have a dedicated headset. MONITORING IS NOT THE ISSUE! I can monitor the audio of any media source on any device I pick and it works.The issue is that the audio doesn't go to the damn stream

The only control I have over what OBS sends from a given scene to the stream is on, or off aka Monitor+Ouput/Monitor off(output only), or Monitor Only, as far as audio is concerned. That's it. No matter what option I pick the audio does not get played on the stream. If I select monitor only or monitor +output I can hear it the monitor just fine. But never on the stream.

My stinger sounds work, my desktop device and mic audio work, they all get sent to the stream as long as I haven't muted them or selected monitor only.

Why then does the media source not get sent to the stream?!