Need Help with Virtual Audio Cable setup...

[garyfriedman2005]

Hi, all. I have what I think is a unique requirement and I need help in configuring OBS to achieve it.

I'm using OBS to host Zoom lectures. I use a Bluetooth headset for both microphone and speaker. That all works great. But when I play a video on my laptop I want zoom participants to hear the audio (of that video) in addition to my voice. I can't figure out how to make that work. I have to resort to using Zoom's screen sharing feature (and enable system audio) each time.

I purchased Virtual Audio Cables (A-B, C-D) thinking it would be necessary. But don't know how to configure anything.

Help me Obi Wan Kenobe... GF

 

[koala]

If you play your video within OBS, you need to get the audio of that video out of OBS to some Windows mic audio device to make the audio available to Zoom. You can use the monitoring function of OBS to get audio out of OBS and your virtual audio device to mix this audio with your mic.

1. Choose and configure one of your virtual audio devices as device you configure in Zoom
2. Go into the Windows settings and open the old sound control panel: Settings->Sound->Sound control panel
3. In the Recording tab, locate your mic device, open the properties and activate the "Listen to this device" option. As playback device, configure the virtual audio device you chose in 1. This way, you duplicate your mic to the virtual audio device, so your mic is audible for Zoom.
4. In OBS, go to Settings->Audio->Advanced and set the virtual audio device you chose in 1. as monitoring device. Then in OBS select the scene that included your video. Then go to Edit->Advanced Audio Properties and locate your media source. In the drop down list for "Audio monitoring", set "Monitor and output". This makes OBS playing the audio of that media on the stream (which you do not use) and to the monitoring device, which is your virtual device your set for Zoom.
5. Now you have both audio available in Zoom. Keep in mind you're hearing nothing of it, only your participants, because OBS is playing the audio to zoom only and not to any speaker or headset device you might use. To make this happen, you need to use a mixer app like Voicemeeter. Unfortunately, you're unable to duplicate that audio to the virtual mic as well as to your speakers or headphone without a mixer app. You can enable the "Listen to this device" option in the virtual audio device from 1. and direct the audio to your speakers or headset, but if you do this, you will hear your voice as well, and this may sound very strange and not exactly reflect what your participants will hear.

 

[garyfriedman2005]

Thank you for this very thorough answer! I'll give this a try in a couple of days. Should it be obvious how to configure voicemeeter? :-)

 

[koala]

No, it's not obvious to configure Voicemeeter if you never used professional or almost professional mixer devices or apps. You have to work it out yourself (and with the Voicemeeter manual) how it works.

 

[garyfriedman2005]

No, it's not obvious to configure Voicemeeter if you never used professional or almost professional mixer devices or apps. You have to work it out yourself (and with the Voicemeeter manual) how it works.

May I pay you to log into my laptop remotely and configure this for me? It would save a lot of time (and I have too much other stuff going on right now to teach this to myself!) You can reach me at Gary@FriedmanArchives.com .

 

[koala]

I'm sorry, but I'm not going to provide any personal assistance for OBS issues - it's strictly a hobby for me. Either it's here in the forum or nowhere. I try to tell people how to do establish a workflow and to understand things, but I'm not going to tell each and every button to click.