Bug Report OBS Mac and Pro Tools works fine. OBS PC kills audio on Pro Tools PC

[Monty Montego]

I was streaming on Mac with Pro Tools just fine. Was feeding the headphone out of my interface to the line in on the computer and telling OBS to use line in as audio.

I need to port over Pro Tools to my PC now for various reasons. Got everything set up. I can hear audio in pro tools, everything works. But the moment I click "preview stream" in OBS, not only does my Pro Tools audio cut, but my ability to make pro tools sounds at all (like make the meters move in pro tools) stops. When I click "Stop Preview" Pro Tools starts working again just fine.

So this isn't simply an audio signal routing issue. This is an "OBS does something to Pro Tool's inner workings" issue.

Again, on the Mac, going out of the headphone jack into the line in works well and neither the Avid audio or Mac audio compete or interfere. But on PC, OBS cuts Pro Tools.

Log: https://gist.github.com/14bb140e80356bd704c3

 

[Cryonic]

If you use ASIO driver on PC for ProTools, then you need a second soundcard for OBS. On OSX you got the nice stuff called Core Audio, that can handle multiple software working with the same device in low latency mode. On Windows you are limited to ASIO drivers for low latency or maybe if you are happy, you can grab WASAPI (shared) drivers, which OBS is refusing to support for ages now.
So if you need to run ProTools or any other DAW under Windows with OBS recording audio - grab a second soundcard (onboard would do, but expect the usual crap quality) and route your master-output to the line in on the second soundcard. Make sure NOTHING on Windows will try to take over the audio interface you are using for ProTools.
I have no expirience with ProTools, i`m the Ableton Live and FL guy, but they work all on the same basic system when it comes to low latency audio under Windows.

 

[Monty Montego]

I appreciate the reply. I feel up against a wall with this right now.
So I'm using an HD Omni Interface with an HDX card for Pro Tools.
So Pro Tools is not using ASIO, as far as I can tell.

It's as though OBS is hijacking the HDX driver when it starts up and I'm not sure of a way to tell it not to do that.
I downloaded ASIO4ALL last night but couldn't seem to get it to work. Maybe I just didn't troubleshoot enough.

But with that said, I basically do have a separate audio card with the HDX setup right?
So it's probably something else?

Like I said, I have no idea.

Thanks again though...

 

[Cryonic]

Forget the ASIO4ALL stuff. Forget every other solution.
You have to split the software at a hardware level, that means 2 different soundcards, in this case your HD Omni audio interface (and whatever is attached to it) is ONLY for ProTools, dont even try to hijack this - it will result in high latency in the best case and software crash/bluescreen in the worst case.
You have a basic soundcard built into your motherboard? If yes - use it. If not (would be really strange but anyway) - get one, PCIe or USB, doesnt matter - but it should have a line in input.
Then you go to settings>audio>Micropone/Auxiliary Audio Device and set your line in on your onboard (or second external soundcard) as your input. Leave the Desktop Audio Device at default, there is no way in OBS to disable it.
Then you route your master out from ProTools via cable to the line in on the second soundcard and you are ready to go. Remeber that people would not hear what you have in your Preview/Cue output in ProTools, because you are capturing only the master output.
And also remeber to remove the "Default device" and "Default communication device" from your HD Omni audio interface.

This is a mess, but this is the only way to make sure that OBS is not gonna mess around with your audio gear that is used in ProTools or any other DAW.

Do this, if it doesnt help - give me a couple of days, i have to look into ProTools under Windows to tell you more about it, i have no idea about this DAW and how the audio system is built.

 

[Monty Montego]

Again, thank you thank you for the reply.

I'm currently doing everything you just said (physical separation, cable out from audio interface to line in of onboard audio card).

It's as though OBS is trying to hijack the Pro Tools routing internally and I don't know how to tell it not too.

But I haven't tried this: Quote "And also remember to remove the "Default device" and "Default communication device" from your HD Omni audio interface."

I'm not sure where to do that but I will try tonight.

By the way, how you explained it above is exactly how I was doing it on the mac side too. DAW Audio Interface Out to MAC Line In. Told OBS to use Line In as input and nothing else. I've attempted the same thing on PC but again OBS wants to use the audio interface or something when I hit preview or stream so the whole thing crashes... well not crashes, but seizes up Pro Tools until I stop preview/stream.

Thanks a million. I still have hope.

 

[Cryonic]

The "default" settings under Windows are just normal audio settings, you rightclick on your audio icon in the taskbar, go to playback and recording devices and rightclick all your stuff that is used by ProTools and make sure that they are not selected as default devices or default communication devices.
Then you go to properties of each used device > advanced > disable Exclusive Mode there. It may vary, because i have Windows 10 right now, but i remember this being the same stuff on Windows 8 & 8.1.
No idea about Win7 anymore.
Then make sure that OBS is using your audio gear for the DAW. OBS > Settings >Audio > select in the top 2 lines your onboard soundcard. You can always set your desktop audio to 0% in the main window if you dont want your system audio and background software screaming while recording/streaming.

What happens right now, is pretty simple but deadly for any DAW:
OBS is grabbing your audio interface. This stuff is based on low latency drivers and they usually work only with 1 application, giving it an exclusive access. If this gets interrupted, the driver will usually stop working or it will kill the application that is using it.
The problem: even if you are using a low latency ASIO driver, Windows will still see your audio interface and use WDM drivers to utilise it.
Believe me, the solution is universal for any DAW and works not only with OBS, but also with any other software. You may use Skype or Teamspeak where your audio interface is set as a device. Have fun searching for the reason why your driver is crashing :P

This is also one of the reasons why DJs and musicians prefer OSX and not Windows - OSX fixed that issue ages ago.

 

[Monty Montego]

Ahh, ok. I see what you mean.

So that's where I'm hitting the wall. The HDX Card (Pro Tools Audio Card) doesn't show up anywhere accept under Sound, video and game controllers in the Device Manager Section.

When I right click my audio and go to recording or playback only the pc hardware is there... So I can't click the exclusive mode button.
That response was very clear though, thanks.

Know a way to make the interface show up?

 

[Cryonic]

Mh try to find drivers for that thing.
But this is strange, if it`s not in the windows audio gear list, it should not appear in OBS.
Look at the OBS settings first, make sure that only the onboard soundcard is selected for desktop and aux there.
Actually i have no clear idea what the heck is going on with your stuff, thats quite a challenge to find the problem.

 

[Monty Montego]

Ok. So I can get Pro Tools to not choke if I set the latency really really high. If I'm working with no-latency plugins, it works. But the second I start loading more stuff in like VI's or native plugins it bogs down.

So F**K it. I'm going to get a streaming PC and feed the Mac Pro Tools in. LOL.

 

[Cryonic]

Thats really strange. I just know that ProTools is bound to hardware and it doesnt have the options and settings that other DAW offer in this area.
But a second streaming PC is actually the best way to do it, you dont want your workstation to be full with all kinds of junk and workarounds, specially not if you use Windows :-) Its a huge risk for studio work, where you can actually lose progress in your project.

 

[hypnotoad]

If you want to capture your DAW's sound in Windows, you need to use Voxengo Recorder VST (http://www.voxengo.com/product/recorder/). There's no way to capture ASIO itself without another physical sound card. I know nothing about ProTools (it doesn't work with VSTs i think), but there's some utilities that can provide you with VST support, google says. Or you can find some sort of analogue to Voxengo Recorder.
https://obsproject.com/forum/threads/how-to-stream-daw-audio-with-an-audio-interface.14792/
If you don't have that "microsoft sound mapper" virtual device, you could use Virtual Audio Cable instead.
//I was wrong about sound mapper:

The Microsoft Sound Mapper is not a real input/output. All that it does is to set the default input/output for Windows.
If you go into the Windows Sounds control panel, then whatever are set as the default input/output device will be the device(s) that are used when you select Sound Mapper.

But if you use this kind of setup (with sound mapper), you'll get some sort of delay. If it's not an option, you may point Voxengo Recorder to a virtual input device (using Virtual Audio Cable) and select it as mic in OBS. Then your DAW should work in pretty standard way, there will be a minor delay only on stream which is kind of irrelevant.
And if your ProTools hangs when you run OBS, try to disable sound capture of windows's sound in OBS (Desktop audio device). I think you should be fine using solution above (with virtual audio cable). Basically, you need to route all the sounds from you DAW to VAC with Voxengo, and then capture virtual audio device to not to interfere with actual audio device, used by ProTools.

 

[WTFisJuice]

Forget the ASIO4ALL stuff. Forget every other solution.
You have to split the software at a hardware level, that means 2 different soundcards, in this case your HD Omni audio interface (and whatever is attached to it) is ONLY for ProTools, dont even try to hijack this - it will result in high latency in the best case and software crash/bluescreen in the worst case.
You have a basic soundcard built into your motherboard? If yes - use it. If not (would be really strange but anyway) - get one, PCIe or USB, doesnt matter - but it should have a line in input.
Then you go to settings>audio>Micropone/Auxiliary Audio Device and set your line in on your onboard (or second external soundcard) as your input. Leave the Desktop Audio Device at default, there is no way in OBS to disable it.
Then you route your master out from ProTools via cable to the line in on the second soundcard and you are ready to go. Remeber that people would not hear what you have in your Preview/Cue output in ProTools, because you are capturing only the master output.
And also remeber to remove the "Default device" and "Default communication device" from your HD Omni audio interface.

This is a mess, but this is the only way to make sure that OBS is not gonna mess around with your audio gear that is used in ProTools or any other DAW.

Do this, if it doesnt help - give me a couple of days, i have to look into ProTools under Windows to tell you more about it, i have no idea about this DAW and how the audio system is built.

So I read this whole thread and tried everything you guys talked about, great info btw.

Now when I via auxiliary cable line in my device (im using an M Aduio Fast Rack) OBS does pick up the Pro Tools sound, however, there is huge feedback or an annoying high pitched hum. the feedback occurs as soon as i plug in the aux into the back of my computer. do I need to get another cable that accounts for no feedback?

Also, I want my headset mic to still pic up audio so I can talk to the stream while streaming audio from Pro tools. Am I still set up for this?

Thanks

 

[Cryonic]

Yes, it is possible to include multiple audio inputs into OBS Studio, just look at the audio settings.
For the feedback - check what is going on, lower the volume and try a second external soundcard. Cant tell you more without additional information.