New noob can't access guide

koala

Active Member
Some of the guides have been withdrawn, probably because they are outdated and don't reflect how you do this today. Keeping links up to date is a neverending chore, so you just ended up at a dead link.

If you tell more about what you want to achieve, we might be able to point you to a guide that reflects current state of the art.
I once collected a number of similar guides, these survived:

And finally, the most advanced method (in my personal opinion) to get the audio of exactly one app, probably not yet in one of the well known guides, is the new win-capture-audio plugin:
 

KX Addict

New Member
Hi Koala, many thanks for your helpful reply.

I only came across OBS for the first time yesterday, and was wondering if it would work for me to create surround sound or 5.1 audio CDs or DVDs. I'm not interested in video or streaming at all. Technical explanation follows:

I was in IT for 20 years (mostly Compaq and IBM PC server hardware tech support), but I had a heart attack and stroke some twelve years ago and huge amounts of my accumulated knowledge simply disappeared overnight. I'm just beginning to recover some of my original technical confidence to try again with my main musical activity, namely recreating classical full orchestral scores using the Sibelius 5 score-writing program and its playback ability.

I'm still using ancient Windows XP Pro SP3 (groan), and I think that v.23.02 is the last x86 version of OBS that might work with XP. I haven't tried to install it yet.

I have a couple of Audigy 2 Platinum sound cards (SB0240) using KX Project drivers, linked together via the optical I/O of their Live! Drives. In theory this gives me up to 64 (or even 128?) channels of MIDI using sound fonts, although I'm attempting to remember how to get Sibelius to work with VSTI instruments using eg Kontakt, Garritan, EWQL, Gigastudio etc. I'm familiar (or used to be) with virtual MIDI cables etc. I don't have any other sound processing equipment at all.

Back in the mid 90's I used to have a Yamaha DSP-E390 (Dolby?) surround sound processor as part of my Hi-Fi set-up, amazing value for the time - but it gave up the ghost a long time ago; this sort of thing is now incorporated into standard receivers.

So - using OBS with my limited setup, is it possible to create a 5.1 audio CD (or more likely DVD) playable on a modern hi-fi multi-channel audio system (or even a PC)? What else might I need in terms of hardware for recording? Thanks for your help, KXA.
 

koala

Active Member
wondering if it would work for me to create surround sound or 5.1 audio CDs or DVDs.
No. OBS isn't a DVD authoring tool. It's a tool to record from original audio and video sources (camera, microphone, PC/console game capture) and create either a file that contains this recording or live stream this to some streaming service.
It's no tool to postprocess existing material, and it's no tool specialized to process audio. It doesn't have an output to create a CD/DVD.

If you want to create music, use a DAW (Digital Audio Workstation). A DAW is a program that records, uses/creates samples and simply produces music. There is a plugin system for DAWs called VST, and everything you might want from a music processing app can be supplied by some VST plugin. (OBS also supports VST plugins, but forget this for your case. You want to create music and no videos, so get a DAW app and forget OBS).

If it comes to your hardware and software, XP and everything around this is completely and utterly obsolete. Hardware and software is dwarved in comparison to today's features. Stuff you do on your system that requires one day to work on, might be one menu option on a modern app today you click and don't even have to wait for the result.

If you want to be productive, get current hardware and software. There is free DAW software. Trying to find software and workflows for your old system is wasting your precious time by dismissing all the modern stuff, and you will not even succeed in finding something. Instead, invest your time with becoming familiar with current operating system and current apps.

Get yourself a new Window 11 PC and start fresh. Keep nothing except your self created sounds and recordings. Drop all apps you're currently using with XP. Every app with no exception. Get everything new. If something is still current for Windows 10 and Windows 11, you can download it from the internet, either free or from some webstore. If you cannot find it on the internet, it's gone, forever, and should not be considered for current productive work.

Even if it comes to CD/DVD - forget these as well. Nobody is using DVDs any more, except perhaps the movie industry, and it's dying out. Today, you stream music and movies, and exchange is done as file with USB media, if you don't use web sharing services. No video or audio CD/DVDs.

To become modern, get a Windows 11 PC, get a DAW app, optionally get VST plugins for missing functionality, and create audio files with your creations.
 

KX Addict

New Member
Wow, thanks for the update and letting me know what OBS can and can't do. I really appreciate your time and effort to drag me into the 21st century. I'll need to learn a whole of new stuff, and I definitely need a new PC and all the rest. I've taken your advice to heart. Cheers, KXA.
 
Top